Motivation That Boosts the Psychology of a Sportsperson - Term Paper Example

Sports Psychology – Motivation Introduction Motivation is an important factor as far as the sport psychology is concerned. Sport is not only a physical activity but also a psychological affair. Human psychology plays significantly important role as far the performance is concerned. Performances of the sports persons are significantly dependent on the psychological situation of the athletes. Motivation certainly provides boost to the psychology of a sport person. According to the 34th president of USA, motivation is an art through which people can achieve what they want to achieve. Sports psychology and motivation has deep rooted relationship between them. Both the factors are substantially interrelated with each other. Presence of motivation in the sports psychology is very traditional in nature. Day by day athletes, coaches and support staffs related with the sports are identifying the importance of the motivation in the sports psychology. Over the years motivation has become an inseparable part of the sport psychology and at the present situation no one can deny this. There are several motivational theories or factors which are related with the sports psychology. All those motivational theories are different from each other. Due to the varying nature of the different motivational theories, effects are also different. It is very important to know all the motivational factors related with the sport psychology. During the course of this paper all those motivational theories have been described and how and why those theories can affect the sports performance also has been discussed. Step 1 It is very important to define the motivation. Motivation can be defined as a collection of all factors which cause humans and other animals to act or behave the way they want to do. Motivation is an energy force that comes from our insight and channelizes all the aspects of human behaviours. It has significant impacts on human thinking, feeling and interaction with other people. It can be defined as an internal drive to achieve the desired goals of the human being. In other way motivation is a reason or a set of reasons for behaving or acting in a particular way. Motivation can be the external or internal factors or reasons which generates energy and desire in human being to make consistent and dedicated efforts to achieve goals or targets. Motivation can be the result of conscious and unconscious interactions. It is a theoretical element to explain human behaviour1. In the field of sports it is a globally accepted requirement for the athletes, to use their potential up to full extent and to reach towards the goal it cannot be replaced. According to the views of scientists, hypothalamus of the human brain is significantly responsible for the motivation. Motivation is a process or an act of providing human being a reason for doing or achieving something. Motivation is not an individual trait it is a force that guides the behaviours of each and every individual. Motivation can come from various sources like incentives, rewards, accolades and success. Step 2 Trait Centred Trait centred view is also known as the participant centred view. According to this theory, motivated behaviour is nothing but a result of specific characteristics related with an individual. The theory describes that there are certain factors which motivate athletes. Those factors are personality, goals and needs. According to this view, motivation is the fundamental function of an individual. As far as the view is concerned, it has neglected environmental influences2. So, the scope of this theory is somewhat narrow in nature. According to this view, some human being have extra bit of attributes to be more motivated than other people. But as the environmental aspect has been ignored, the sport psychology has not given that much of importance towards this view. According to this view, all the people do not have the extra bit of attributes to get highly motivated and that makes the difference between highly motivated people and averaged motivated people. Trait centred view is too much dependent on the personality and only personality cannot predict the sports performances. Environmental influences are significantly important for the sports personnel. But that influence is missing in this view. For example if coach of a boxer does not create an environment of motivation during or before the fight then motivation of the boxer as well as the performance of the boxer will decline. There is absence of motivational climate so sports fraternity does not buy this view too seriously. They consider it as an assistance of the situation centred approach. Situational Centred According to the view of situation centred theory, motivation levels of the individuals are primarily determined by the situations. This view gives significant importance to the situational and environmental influences. According to this theory, situational and environmental influences are much more important than the traits. There are certain factors related with the situation centred view. Those factors are perceived ability, achievement behaviour and achievement goals. There is certain limitation of this view also. According to the nature of this view, all the negative situations do not force people to respond in negative ways. The view has categorically ignored individual traits or attributes which is also significantly an importance for the performance of a sports person. For example a cyclist can be significantly motivated during the training session before a world class cycling competition like Tour De France. That high motivation level can force him to work hard during the training session. But suddenly during the time of Tour De France the cyclist become unmotivated then automatically his efforts will decline during the competition and his performance will also decline. This example is showing that situation and environment always cannot be the deciding factor. In the above example performance of the cyclist will be negatively affected. That is why coaches and psychologists across the world do not blindly follow this motivational view for the sports persons. As far as the sports psychologists are concern they always do not recommend this view because it can negatively affect the performance of the sports persons. Interactional Interactional view incorporates situational and trait centred view. Due to this combinational approach it is the most widely used or famous view as far as the motivation is concerned. According to the basic principal of this view, motivational outcomes are neither solely directed or influenced by trait factors nor solely influenced by the situational factors. It is a combination of both. Both the factors are equally important as far as this view is concerned. No factor can be ignored3. It is evident from the name of the view that, the theory talks about an interaction between trait factors and the situational factors that guides the motivations among human being. This theory has a suitable culmination of trait and situational approaches. The theory is free from all the limitations that the previous two views had. Intrinsic and Extrinsic It is significantly important to understand whether the view is intrinsic or extrinsic in nature. Intrinsic motivations are such kinds of motivations which come from the inside of the sports persons or human being. This type of motivation includes a sense of enjoyment and pride by doing something. Intrinsic motivation provides required desire to overcome any problem or barrier. Intrinsic motivation is spontaneous in nature. There is no influence of external factors are related with this motivation. Intrinsic motivation is not materialistic at all4. Outside rewards have significant influence on the extrinsic motivation. It comes from the outside of an individual. Public recommendations, prize money and popularity are the common extrinsic motivations for the sports persons. Here in this type of motivation all the motivational factors are external. Extrinsic motivation is significantly materialistic in nature. Here in this case of motivation, sports persons are motivated by the external rewards only. Attribution Theory According to this theory, casual attributions towards individual achievements affect motivation and behaviours of the sports persons. The theory has a primary assumption i.e. sports persons will try to interpret their surroundings or environment in such a way which would maintain a positive self-image. According to this theory sports persons try to depict the success or failure on the basis of three characteristics. Those characteristics are control, stability and locus of control. According to this theory, it is normal and obvious for sports persons to search for the reasons which can be attributed to their successes or failures. It is one of the most contemporary motivational theories as far as the sports persons are concerned. This theory is significantly concerned with the achievements. There are certain factors affecting attributions. Those factors are effort, ability, luck and difficulty of task. Positive Positive motivation is a kind of response that occurs when performance of an individual is inspired or driven by the earlier reinforcing behaviours. Positive motivation stays in the minds of sports persons for the longer period of time. Positive motivation of sports persons depends upon consistent self reinforcement and reinforcement from the outside sources. Outside sources can be coaches, friends, media and family. Positive motivation has significant impacts on the performance of the sports persons5. Positive motivations always try to bring the best out of the sports persons and encourage sports persons to compete in the best possible manner. This is only concerned with the positives of the sports persons and tries to give significant emphasis on the positive aspects and discards all the negativities of an individual sport person. Positive motivation is significantly important for the success of the people related with sports. Negative Negative motivation has the objective to control the negative efforts related with the works and try to create a situation of fear and uncertainty for a sports person. The main reason for this kind of negative motivation is lack of good performance in the earlier occasions. A sense of punishment related with failure is significantly attached with this kind of motivation. Negative motivation can be dangerously harmful for the self confidence and self esteem of a sport person. There are several ways through which sports persons can be motivated in a negative way. Those ways are criticism, intimidation, guilt and mockery. Negative motivation is somewhat complex in nature. It always provides emphasis on the negative sides of the individual performances of the sports persons. It is a delicate way to motivate people and it requires significant expertise to bring best out of sports persons. Future expectations of success and failure It is also an important way through which sports man are motivated. This idea is somewhat similar with the attribution theory. According to this theory, motivational level of the sports persons are significantly dependent upon their future expectations related with a sporting event. If sports persons expect that success in the future they feel significantly motivated by the anticipation of the future success6. On the other hand sports persons expect failure in future they do not feel that much motivated, because they have already anticipated failure in the future the events. This theory has significant influence on the preparation level of the sports persons. Here in this case ecstasy of future anticipated success and fear of failure are significantly influential as far as the motivation levels of the sports persons are concerned. Develop a motivational climate Motivational climate is an environment often in which sports persons discover themselves. Under the motivational climate sports persons gets significant positive inputs which helps them to gear up for the performances. This kind of climate provides significant importance on the cooperation and teamwork. An air of positivity surrounds the minds of the sports persons. It helps them to prepare in a suitable way free from any confusion and fear of failure. It is a situation where sports persons are motivated by the surroundings and the atmospheres. Motivational climate can be developed with the help of motivational music’s, pictures and storytelling7. It is one of the most important and modern ways to increase the level of motivations among the sports persons across the world. Step 4 Trait centred theory can affects the performance of the of the sports persons because if a cricketer is only concerned with the opponent not the playing environment then his performance can be poor. If a cyclist is highly confident about his pace but has very less knowledge about the road condition can affect his performance in negative way. Situational theory can impact the performance of the sports persons for example a footballer feels significantly motivated during his home match but during the time of away match that motivation is gone, then away match performance will be disastrous. If a person fond of volleyball then whatever may be the practice facilities, he would enjoy the game. This enjoyment will be the reason of good performance. Interactional theory has significant positive impacts on the sport persons. If a cyclist has good knowledge related with the road condition and the capacity of competitors then it can be significantly beneficiary for the cyclist. Here the main reason is adequate interactional knowledge related the traits and the situation. Performance of a fast bowler can be great if he has a significant self belief and suitable bowling conditions. Intrinsic motivation can change the performance of a badminton player in highly positive way. Because the real love towards the game will automatically increase the motivational level hence performance will be amazing. Here the badminton player does not require any kind of external motivating factors; the whole things come from the inside only. A 23 years old, Danish badminton player performed well in their university match. Badminton was not a favourite sport for him. But high compensation has motivated him to choose this game. Here high compensation is the extrinsic reason. Attribution theory certainly affects the performance of the sports persons if a sports person says that he did not bowled well to wine match it will help him to improve its performance in the near future. On the other hand if a bowler says that he could not bowl well due to the flat nature of the pitch then it can hamper the practice and performance of the bowler. Positive motivation has significant impact, if a reputed news paper writes good things about a swimmer it will certainly motivate them to work harder. The result will be better swimming performances in future. If a cricketer is awarded with prestigious national honour then it will increase the hunger of success inside him and he will certainly perform well for the country. Negative motivation can affect the performance. If a batsman is always criticised by the certain section of the media then it will create significant psychological pressure on that batsman. Performance of the batsman can decline much more due to lack of self confidence. After a failure if a footballer is abused by his coach then it can demoralise the footballer which could affect his performance in a negative way. Future expectation related with successes and failures also influences the performance of the sports persons. If a boxer comes to know that the most challenging competitor has opted out from the competition, then he anticipates great success from the competition. This anticipation can motivate him significantly and can have a clear reflection as far as the performance in the competition is concerned. On the other hand if an athlete comes to know that the track and field competition will be hard and chances of failure are high then he may not try to motivate himself. It can result in dismal performance. Motivational climate is significantly important factor as far as the performance is concerned. If a team is always exposed in front of a proper motivational climate comprising of motivational movies and music’s then their performance will be more consistence. Coach of a 25 years old boxer; always try to create a climate of motivation by sharing the success story of Md. Ali. That 25 years old boy always remains gear up for the competitions. This can improve his performance immensely as he is always prepared for the competitions. Step 5 Success, values or importance of the theories All of the personality and motivational theories possess has certain impact on lives of an individual. However these effects vary as certain theories may not be appropriate for a sports person. For instance situational theory cannot be applied easily to the sports field. This theory is more inclined towards management field as it describes behaviour of an individual in different situations. The psychology of a sports person do not change often while playing for state level in comparison to international level. Personality or motivational level of a sports person cannot be predicted successfully on the basis of situational theory. This theory is more focused towards identifying the effect of diverse situations on personality of an individual but in case of sports psychology the situation remains quite similar for the sports person8. On the other hand Trait theory which was proposed by Gordon Allport states another dimension of personality and motivation. This has neglected environmental influences on the personality attributes of an individual. Hence this theory cannot be applied properly to sports philosophy as personality traits are not able to determine performance of a sports person. This factor is greatly avoided in this theory and motivation is only stated as underlying component of an individual. Motivational climate as stated in this theory is essential for an individual but it is stated that external conditions develop this climate which is not always true9. This condition cannot be aligned effectively with the performance of a sports person. However the necessity of a motivational atmosphere is well described in the theory which can be related to sports philosophy of achieving their desired goals and objectives. Attribution theory is another theoretical framework related to personality and motivation. It can be stated that the casual attributions which the theory highlights has a significant impact on the motivational and personality aspect of a sportsperson. The concept of achievements and its impact on the overall attitude of a sports person also makes this theory effective and successful. To be more precise the three components which has been highlighted in this study such as control, locus of control and stability makes this theory more influential in context of sports philosophy. Interactional theory is also successful in explaining the various elements associated with sports person and their goals and mission. The efficiency of this theory is in the interactional knowledge which it outlines that brings forth a balance between traits and situation10. In sports field it is essential for a sports person to be aware of their respective traits along with the situations in which they need to perform exceptionally. This balance governs the degree of success of an individual in this field and in comparison to other theories it is able to explain well the personality and motivational components of an individual. Intrinsic theory states that motivation is not influenced by any external conditions but love towards a game inspires an individual to outperform in any field. The description about the attitude of a sports person is well highlighted in this theory and it supports the behavioural aspect of a sports person. Conclusion As per the study personality and motivation has an impact on sports performance. These factors are more elaborately described in various theories such as attribution theory, situational theory, trait centred theory, etc. All of these theoretical frameworks contain specific components which outlines the behavioural approach of a sportsperson. In sports field it is often observed that traits of an individual needs to be aligned with ultimate goal so that positivity in their overall behaviour can be maintained. On the other hand these traits are of various types and each of them is greatly affected by external influences. The theories which have been incorporated in the study are of diverse nature and some of them are not aligned with the framework of sports philosophy. In most of the theories the common factor was the importance of motivation in overall performance of an individual. Motivation has been considered as an underlying factor in performance of a sports person. Sport is regarded as a field that deals with enthusiasm, self-control and high motivational level. However there are lot of external influences on the attitudes, personality and behaviour of an individual. These external conditions can be growing demand of people towards sports or desire for better performance of their preferable sports person. This in turn affects the performance level of a sports person as there is need towards achieving desirable targets. On the other hand the study even reveals certain theories such as situational, attribute theory, etc., which are not well aligned with sports philosophy in the modern world. References Burton, D. & Raedeke, T. Sport Psychology for Coaches. Human Kinetics, New York, 2008. Dweck, C. Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. New York, Psychology Press, 2013. Elliot, A. & Dweck, C. Handbook of Competence and Motivation. New York, Guilford Press, 2005. Hagger, M. & Chatzisarantis, N. Intrinsic Motivation and Self-determination in Exercise and Sport. Human Kinetics, New York, 2007. Horn, T. Advances in Sport Psychology. Human Kinetics, New York, 2008. Matthews, G., Deary, I. & Martha, W. Personality trait. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003. Olsson, F. New Developments in the Psychology of Motivation. Nova Publishers, New York, 2008. 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