The Use of Positive Psychology Technique - Research Paper Example

? Positive Psychology In today’s sporting world use of positive psychology technique remains as a significant element in nurturing athletes to become successful in the competitive and challenging sporting environment. As a result, coaches use positive psychology orientation as they train athletes using increased language of strength and vision as a way of motivation rather than language weakness and pain as a way of establishing a ?rm foundation upon which successful coaching work rests. More significantly, sport psychology aims at explaining, predicting and linking the style, attitudes and behavior portrayed by athletes during their sports preparation and performance. Considerably, it is critical to analyze how positive psychology influences the performance of athletes in training and competition as a way of motivating them to overcome their personality differences and achieve their goals successfully. More significantly, positive psychology is important in the development of athletes while making them physically and mentally strong in activities they undertake during training and competition. More so, coaches should focus on imparting the use of positive psychology skills in the development of the athletes’ confidence and mental stability as they interact in both training and competition. As a result, sports psychologists should use positive psychology as a motivational influence of creating an easier understanding and effective communication between the athletes and their coaches. This is because, athletes should posses the qualities of confidence, optimism, hope and resilience as a way of achieving goals set successfully in training and competition (Gable et al., 2004). Even though, positive psychology does not interfere with the physical and technical training of the athletes it aims at improving their ability to endure pressure and be consistent in their sporting profession. More considerably, use of positive psychology is relevant as most coaches mainly deal with the physical well-being of the athletes while they do not focus on the mental conditions that influence their outcome in competitions. This is because, it remains difficult for athletes to succeed, especially if coaches focus more on their good physical fitness rather than mental fitness during training and competition. As a result, the use of positive psychology should be emphasized as it uses ritualistic behavior in improving athletes’ performance at both the amateur level and elite stage. Considerably, sport psychology use of positive psychology is recommended as it mainly deals with stress management, self-regulation, setting goals, mental strength and level of concentration (Snyder & Lopez, 2002). More than often, positive psychology aims at reducing the arousal and anxiety levels of athletes in training and competition. More so, as a way of motivating athletes’ perception when it is low, coaches use positive psychology to reduce the level of physical and psychological discomfort endured by athletes during training and competition. Especially when they lack stable mental state, athletes fail to coordinate well when they are put in teams as they make irrational decisions due to lack of mental stability (Bandura, 1990). Therefore, coaches should use positive psychology to change the athletes’ perception on things they feel are more threatening as a way of making them composed and confident in training and competition. As a result, positive psychology use influence right decision making as it gives both mental stability and confidence acquired in training and competition. In most cases, positive psychology provides the athletes with mental visualization as it establishes strong mental and emotional state. This mainly involves the coaches training athletes on visualization of the game plan before undertaking competitions. As a result, athletes remain relaxed in their mental and emotional state as they rehearse on how best they can embark on achieving successful competition goal as they have a clear view of their strategy focus on the competition. In addition, positive psychology skills assist coaches to develop a clear plan focused on visualization as a way of creating good working relationship between the coaches and athletes. As a result, both the coaches and athletes are able to understand what is required from them in training and competition while making their minds focused on main issues. Positive psychology as a therapy focused on enhancing emotional and mental stability assists the coaches to advise the athletes in setting achievable successful goals. As a result, coaches are able to devise ways on how best the goals set can be achievable during both training and competition (Fujita & Diener, 2005). Therefore, coaches are able to guide the athletes in setting effective goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, and relevant and time bound. Concurrently, positive psychology remains relevant in the setting of goals by athletes because it establishes positive perception on the activities they undertake as it focuses on increased confidence, optimistic, hope and resilience as a way of achieving goals set successful in training and competition. More considerably, positive psychology helps coaches in understanding athletes and enable them formulate the best way to motivate them. This is because motivation is very critical in improving and maintaining the athletes’ successful performance as it enables them to focus on their goals as they work towards achieving them. More so, coaches should focus on using positive motivation in recognizing, rewarding and praising athletes for performing well in either training or competition. As a result, coaches can boost the morale of the athletes by preparing them not only physically but also mentally and emotionally in making them perform even much better in their actual performance, as they stay focused. This is because; motivation can either be intrinsic or extrinsic depending on the behavior of the athletes and mental state. Intrinsic motivation makes athletes’ more concerned of their own performance as they derive satisfaction from their success (Fujita & Diener, 2005). As a result, athletes become mentally steady and can keep on competing even though they do not get material rewards. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is the drive to perform best because of material rewards such as money and trophies. As a result, positive psychology reinforcement tends to drive positive behaviors in athletes to make them perform at their best. It is critical for the coaches to understand the behaviors and know what best motivates athletes in order to make them perform well. In most cases, self-efficacy and positive psychology are interlinked in their application by coaches during the training of athletes. More than often, self- efficacy and positive psychology focus on the mental belief of athletes to execute a task successful. As a result, positive psychology helps in maintaining good mental and physical condition in training and competing while self efficacy depends on the positive psychology in order to make athletes to compete well by using motivating and reducing anxiety levels in goal setting to influences the self-efficacy of the athletes on training and performing (Seligman et al, 2005). As a result, coaches need of positive psychology to understand the perception of the athletes and to strengthen their physical and psychological state as a way of achieving goals successfully. In conclusion, positive psychology remains relevant in motivating, goal setting and reducing anxiety of the athletes in training and competition. More so, coaches should posses’ positive psychology skills in training to ensure they understand the athletes’ mental and emotional state. This is because, athletes should posses the qualities of confidence, optimistic, hope and resilience as a way of achieving goals set successful in training and competition. As a result, athletes’ mental toughness is developed using positive psychology as a way of handling challenging situation through mental and emotional preparedness during training and competition. References Bandura, A. (1990). Perceived self-efficacy in the exercise of human agency. Applied Sport Psychology, 2, 128-163. Fujita, F., & Diener, E. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(1), 158–164. Gable, S., Reis, H., Impett, E., & Asher, E. (2004). What do you do when things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal bene?ts of sharing positive events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(2), 228–24. Seligman, M., Steen, T., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology process: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421. Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More