Chapter 4 (sports psych)

Types of motivation

Intrinsic, extrinsic

Research generally demonstrates that athletes who are intrinsically motivated

report higher levels of enjoyment of and commitment to their sport

Strategies for Increasing Intrinsic Motivation

- Create Motivating Environments - Emphasize Effort, Not Outcome - Recognize Individual Differences - Use Appropriate Reinforcement - Give Positive and Personal Feedback

Approach Versus Avoidance Motivation

-An athlete could pursue performance goals with either a focus on approaching a desirable goal, such as being faster than one's teammate, or avoiding an undesirable goal, such as not being outscored by an opponent. -An athlete could pursue mastery goals with an approach focus, such as improving one's skill at a particular task, or with an avoidance focus, such as not failing to show improvement at a particular task. -Athletes' focus on approach versus avoidance goals impacts intrinsic motivations performance. Focusing on approaching mastering skills predicts greater enjoyment and performance, whereas focusing on avoiding poor play actually leads to worse performance.

Recognize Individual Differences

-Athletes are motivated by different strategies (having fun, making friends, winning scholarships, losing weight, learning new skills, gaining status, etc.). -Motives may change over time, even within the course of a season.

Give Positive and Personal Feedback

-Athletes need feedback about their performance, which helps mark progress towards goals and demonstrates that coaches are genuinely interested in helping them learn and improve, which increases intrinsic motivation. -Verbal and non-verbal praise can help motivate. -Coaches need to use specific types of feedback when the want to help athletes change their behavior. This type of feedback is empathic, gives choices, provides clear and attainable objectives, includes specific solutions to improve performance, and delivered in a respectful tone of voice. -When players receive positive feedback, they see that the coach valued their hard work, realized that mistakes are part of learning, and believed that their high effort will lead to improved performance over time. -Coaches need to give personal feedback whenever possible so that athletes recognize their own individual contributions are noted.

Impact of Environment on Motivation

-Coaches can create a mastery-focused environment by emphasizing working hard, developing skills, showing improvement over time, and valuing each athlete's role. Mastery-Focused environments lead to higher levels of perceived competence, self-esteem, enjoyment, intrinsic motivation, and the experience of flow. -Performance-focused environments emphasizing outperforming others, avoiding making mistakes, and rewarding only the top athletes. Such environments lead to extrinsic motivation, pressure, anxiety, use of maladaptive coping strategies. -Athletes' goal orientation can change over time based on the climate they are in.

Emphasize Effort, Not Outcome

-Coaches should focus on developing all athletes' skills (not just the best players), rewarding improvements over time, and emphasizing the importance of effort. -This type of focus helps athletes believe that their coach expects they can do well and increases intrinsic motivation, which in turn leads to better performance. -Emphasizing effort instead of outcome reduces pressure on athletes. **Impact on Youth** -Atkins, Johnson, Force, & Petrie (2015) surveyed 12 to 15 year-old boys, assessing the types of messages they received from others about the motivational climate of their main sports team. The boys also rated their own self-esteem, port competence, sport enjoyment, and intentions to continue playing their main sport. Boys who perceived a task-focused motivational climate reported higher levels of all measures as well as greater intentions to continue playing their sport.

Create Motivating Environments

-Create different types of environments for different people (older adults, pregnant women, intramural leagues). -Intrinsic motivation increases when people are able to experience some type of success (ex: t-ball, lowered basketball hoops, smaller soccer balls). -Set realistic performance goals. -Intrinsic motivation increases when people have some choice over their environment (ex: let athletes choose what skills they will practice, create team goals or rules, develop game strategy).

Self-Efficacy Theory

-Describes the importance of having a belief in one's own ability to carry out a given task -Self-confidence refers to a person's overall view of him or herself as being generally capable, self-efficacy refers to a person's self-confidence within a specific domain. -People with high self-efficacy are more likely to exert effort, and in a given domain will set more challenging goals and persist longer in the face of a challenge. -Self-Efficacy is influenced by four factors: -A person's own experiences -Vicarious experiences -Observational learning -Verbal persuasion -Athletes' own emotional and physiological states -Self-efficacy predicts athletic performance across a range of different types of tasks. People who are high on self-efficacy have higher expectations about their performance, and in turn perform better than those who are low in self-efficacy. -Self-efficacy may be a better predictor of performance than actual ability. Self-efficacy is a stronger predictor of future performance than past performance.

Need Achievement Theory

-Describes the role of personal factors and situational factors in predicting achievement behavior. - People vary in their motivation to avoid failure and achieve success. -People take into consideration the specific achievement situation they are facing, including their probability of success and the incentive value of that success. -The interactions of these personal and situational factors influences athletes' resultant, or behavioral, tendencies as well as their emotional reactions.

Sport-Confidence Model

-Focuses specifically on people's enduring beliefs about their competence within athletics, and the impact of these beliefs on performance. -Beliefs are influenced by athlete's own achievements, self-regulation, and the social climate. -Sport confidence is described as a combination of cognitive efficiency, physical skills/training, and resilience. -Athletes who are high on sport-confidence show better levels of performance, use more effective strategies for achieving desired goals, are able to block out distractions and maintain focus, and are able to bounce back from adverse experiences.

Influence of the Group on Motivation

-Social loafing: individuals' tendency to reduce their own individual output when their contributions on a task will be combined with those of other people. -Social loafing is more likely to occur when individuals' own output isn't clear or measurable, the other members on a person's team are high in ability, and the person doesn't feel his or her output will make a meaningful difference. -Athletes swimming in a relay tend to swim faster than in an individual competition if they are in the later positions, whereas starting swimmers show no difference in times (Huffmeier & Hertel, 2011). -Huffmeier, Kanthak, & Hertel (2013) found that swimmers in the second, third, and fourth relay positions swam faster during the relay than they did in their individual event, but only during the freestyle relay. -Swimmers may engage in more self-comparison when all four are swimming the same stroke, which leads to less social loafing.

Achievement Goal Theory

-States that different people are motivated by different types of goals. -Task (or mastery) goal orientation: focused on improving skills and ability over time, focus is on themselves, tend to choose challenging tasks, prefer competing against high quality opponents. -Ego (or performance) goal orientation: focused on outperforming others, tend to choose relatively easy tasks, prefer to compete against those they can beat. -Those who focus on mastery goals, rather not than performance goals, experience better outcomes, including higher levels for enjoyment in athletic events. The pursuit of mastery goals is also associated with greater effort and higher levels of intrinsic motivation, and lack of fear of performing poorly. -Self-handicapping: adopting or claiming impediments to success as a way of maintaining self-esteem. Those who are low in self-esteem are especially likely to engage in self-handicapping. -Athletes who focus on mastery goals show greater sportsmanship than those who focus on performance goals, and tend to like their teammates and coach more. Athletes who are focused on performance goals show more willingness to break a rule, lie to an official, and cheat, and are more likely to engage in aggressive and anti-social behavior in an attempt to outperform both opponents and teammates. -Social approval goal orientation: focused on the desire for social acceptance and avoiding embarrassment and defeat, may be particularly important for interactive and team-sport athletes.

emphasize effort, not outcome, impact on youth

Atkins, Johnson, Force, & Petrie (2015) surveyed 12 to 15 year-old boys, assessing the types of messages they received from others about the motivational climate of their main sports team. The boys also rated their own self-esteem, port competence, sport enjoyment, and intentions to continue playing their main sport. Boys who perceived a task-focused motivational climate reported higher levels of all measures as well as greater intentions to continue playing their sport.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

CET extends self-determination theory by focusing specifically on the causes of intrinsic motivation, and the factors that may increase and decrease such motivation. -The impact of external rewards varies depending on how these rewards are perceived. -People may see external rewards as a factor outside of themselves controlling their behavior, which leads to decreases in intrinsic motivation. -People may see rewards as informational, providing information about performance. -Athletes can perceive the function, or role, of a reward in different ways. Athletes see positive feedback as more informational and less controlling than negative feedback. Also, athletes who receive positive feedback show increased intrinsic motivation, whereas those who receive negative feedback show decreased intrinsic motivation as well as lower perceived competence. -A coach's behavior may have a stronger impact on motivation than the presence of an athletic scholarship.

Competence Motivation Theory

Describes the importance of feeling worthy and competent. If you experience successful results in a given domain, you increase in self-efficacy and positive feelings, and in turn increase in perceived competence. If, on the other hand, you experience negative results, you experience negative feelings, such as shame and anxiety, which in turn leads to decrease in competence motivation. -Athletes who receive positive feedback, from coaches and peers, increase in perceived competence, which in turn leads to higher levels of intrinsic motivation. -Athletes who receive more frequent praise and information report feeling higher in perceived competence, whereas those who receive more frequent corrective information following a mistake feel lower in perceived confidence. -Athletes at different levels of skills us different types of information to assess their competence.

(Focus on Neuroscience) Testosterone increases power motivation. Elite male athletes with high levels of testosterone choose harder voluntary workouts, experience greater increases in strength and body mass, and are more likely to win games

Female net ball players with high levels of testosterone both selected more vigorous training sessions than those who are low on testosterone and performed at a higher level during these sessions.

Research in Action: Why Owners Should Be Wary of Big Contracts

NBA and MLB players showed worse performance in the year after signing a new contract compared to the year in which the contract was signed or even than the prior year (White & Sheldon, 2014).

Theories of Achievement Motivation

Need achievement theory, self-efficacy theory, competence motivation theory, sport-confidence model, achievement goal theory

Hazards of External Rewards

Overjustification, Fortier, Vallerand, Briere, & Provencher (1995) found that recreational college athletes are higher in intrinsic motivation than competitive athletes Medic, Mack, Wilson, & Starkes (2007) found that college athletes who are on an athletic scholarship report that their intrinsic motivation to perform well would decrease if the scholarship were taken away, and athletes not on athletic scholarships report their intrinsic motivation would decrease if such a reward were given. Sturman & Thibodeau (2001) found that MLB players who received a new contract (and a big raise) showed a decrease in immediate post-contract performance. Cameron & Pierce (1994) showed in a meta-analysis of 96 studies examining the effects of reinforcement/reward on intrinsic motivation that overall, external rewards do not decrease intrinsic motivation. Verbal praise actually leads to an increase in intrinsic motivation. McFall, Knoeber, & Thurman (2009) studied the playing of top ranked professional golfers, and found that having a financial incentive to perform well seems to lead to improved performance for players who are close to attaining a very lucrative prize.

The model of the integrated theory of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in sport

Social factors, such as experiences of success and failure, coaches' behavior, and whether a situation emphasizes cooperation or competition, influence athletes' beliefs about themselves. -Self-perceptions then influence feelings of competence, autonomy, and ability to relate to other people. -These feelings (psychological mediators) then influence the type of motivation athletes feel, which leads to particular consequences.

Use Appropriate Reinforcement

Types of reinforcers: material reinforcers (ribbons, medals, t-shirts, awards), social rewards (praise and gestures), activity rewards (day off from practice, scrimmage instead of drills), outings (seeing a movie, having a party). -Reinforcement will vary based on athletes' interests, ability, personality, and age. -Frequent reinforcement is very helpful to young or new athletes. Coaches should also reward behavior that is close to the desired behavior. -Rewarding performance (effort) is better than rewarding outcome. -Coaches should reward both physical skills and social/emotional skills, such as showing good sportsmanship, being a "team player", and following team rules

Achievement Motivation

a desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for attaining a high standard

People who exert considerable effort toward the pursuit of their goals are high in

achievement motivation

The model also describes a motivation continuum, with

amotivation at one end, intrinsic motivation at the other, and different types of extrinsic motivation falling in between: external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrated regulation

Athletes who are high on self-motivation show

better performance later on. Experimental research reveals that self-motivation does lead to better performance.

People who are high in achievement are often described as being high in

competitiveness.

Introjected regulation

describes an athlete who is partially intrinsically motivated, but is also motivated by controlling external factors.

External regulation

describes behavior that is entirely motivated by a fear of punishment or a desire for a reward.

Athletes who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to experience

flow, and are more likely to practice.

Integrated regulation

involves internalizing the external pressures on behavior and seeing behavior as freely determined. This motivation is essentially as effective as intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is also a better predictor of participation in a particular sport, and

leads to higher levels of performance.

Identified regulation

means being motivated by external factors but feeling personal choice over participation.

Extrinsic motivation

motivation that comes from an external source, such as awards, trophies, money, praise, or social status.

Intrinsic motivation

motivation that comes from an internal source, such as the fun of competing, a desire to learn new skills, and the excitement of performing well

A study by Radel, Sarrazin, & Pettelier (2009) shows a causal effect between being primed with autonomous words and

performing a task more quickly and with more effort, and reporting greater interest, enjoyment, and satisfaction, than those primed with neutral or controlling words.

Men tend to be higher in competiveness than women. Sex differences may be linked to

social factors of biological factors (testosterone is linked with higher levels of competitiveness).

Motivation

the direction and intensity of one's effort

Research generally supports self-determination theory, and in particular

the integrated theory of motivation in sport.

People who exert considerable effort toward the pursuit of their goals are high in achievement motivation, meaning

they are focused on mastering a task, achieving at a high level, and persisting even when confronted by obstacles.