Unit 2 Course Content

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

the underlying relatively stable psychological structure and processes that organize human experience and shape a person’s activities and reactions to the environment

Question 2

What forms a psychological core?

Answer 2

Traits (assertive, warm, friendly, trusting, etc.)

Question 3

States

Answer 3

momentary feelings and thoughts that change as a function of the situation and time

Question 4

What are the “Big Five” personality traits?

Answer 4

Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism 

(OCEAN)

Question 5

Which two of the “Big Five” have been found to consistently relate to competitive athletes?

Answer 5

extraversion (social optimists, risk takers, highly sociable)
neuroticism (more resilient to aversive stimuli, more confidence, and less anxious)

Question 6

Openness

Answer 6

• artistically sensitive vs insensitive
• intellectual versus unreflective
• refined vs crude
• imaginative vs simple

Question 7

Conscientiousness

Answer 7

• fussy and tidy vs careless
• responsible vs undependable
• persevering vs quitting

Question 8

Extroversion

Answer 8

• talkative vs silent
• open vs secretive
• sociable vs reclusive

Question 9

Agreeableness

Answer 9

• good natured vs irritable
• not jealous vs jealous
• gentle vs headstrong
• cooperative vs negativistic

Question 10

Neuroticism

Answer 10

• calm vs anxious
• composed vs excitable
• emotionally stable vs moody and unstable

Question 11

What does the biological approach to personality emphasize?

Answer 11

heredity, constitutional, and physiological determinants in shaping personality

Question 12

What is the logic behind the biological approach to personality?

Answer 12

because individuals innately possess bio-physiological factors, it is believed that they are predisposed to show certain behaviours given supporting environmental or situational conditions

Question 13

Describe the constitutional theory of William Sheldon (1940)

Answer 13

suggests that physical characteristics are associated with personality types and that there are 3 major body types (endomorphs, mesomorphs, and ectomorphs)

Question 14

List the personality traits associated with the endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph body types

Answer 14

endomorph - sociable, content, talkative, lover of easy/good life
mesomorph - energetic, assertive, competitive, powerful, muscular, courageous
ectomorph - introverted, shy, quiet, intellectual, and inhibited

Question 15

What is the main criticism of Sheldon’s constitutional theory?

Answer 15

that the body types and descriptions should be considered stereotypes

Question 16

Describe how the psychodynamic model views personality in sport

Answer 16

Children go through stages of psycho-sexual development, depending on how they experience things they go through the structure of personality (id, ego, and superego), child is faced with having to deal with libido (psycho-sexual drives), and how the child copes and resolves conflict defines his or her adult personality

Participation in sport has different symbolic meanings to different athletes

Question 17

Describe the humanistic model view of personality in sport

Answer 17

• opposite of psychodynamic theory
• humans are motivated by reaching their potential (actualization)
• the growth process is determined by cognitive and experiential factors
• people assumed to be good and they grow because of free choice and determination

Question 18

Behavioural model on personality in sport

Answer 18

• all behaviour (including personality development) is determined by experience (conditioning)
• personality is shaped through cumulative effects of reinforcement from social factors and situations

Question 19

Situationism and Interactionism on personality in sport

Answer 19

personality reflects the environment or situation that a person is in, and is not determined just by traits

(people act different in various situations)

Question 20

Mental toughness

Answer 20

personal characteristics that allow individuals to cope with challenging situations to attain important achievement goals

Question 21

What things contribute to the development of mental toughness?

Answer 21

1. Personal characteristics (skills or resources like tough attitude or resourcefulness)
2. Interactions with the environment (person-environment interactions including positive, supportive relationships & motivational climates that encourage mental toughness)
3. . Progressive development (continual opportunities for athletes to master skills, gain independence, and improve performance)
   Breadth of experience (critical events that encourage adaptation and growth as athletes learn to cope with pressure)

Question 22

What are the limitations of personality in explaining sport performance?

Answer 22

1. accurate prediction is limited because of error in personality measurement
2. the ability to predict athletic potential depends on more than knowledge of personality traits
3. the relationship between personality factors and athletic performance are not a priority of most contemporary sport psychologists.
4. there are no consistent research findings that show consistent dispositional personality differences between individual sport athletes and team sport athletes