Application and Principles of Cognitive Sports Psychology for Achieving High Results - Essay Example

?The effect of Psychology on sport figures In order to completely comprehend sports psychology, it is imperative that we ask ourselves two major questions: firstly what is sports psychology and secondly, what is it for? In layman terms, sports psychology is essentially a paradigm of psychological knowledge, principles or methods which are applied to the world of sports. Bunker and Maguire, two psychologists claim that sports psychology is not just for psychologists, but can also be applied to sports and its participants. Nonetheless, it is also debatable that sports psychology can be solely for psychology, similar to the way it can be for sports scientists, managers, teachers, coaches and administrators (Carr, 2006). Sport psychology is one such branch that differs from the whole of psychology. Everything including history, learning, teaching and training is different but still it remains a part of psychology. Not to forget, one cannot deny the importance of sport psychology. Sports and leisure have their toll on industries in the western and eastern world. Even Media today is dominated by sports. A survey said that almost two third people in Great Britain read the sports section first thing in the morning. One can determine the importance of sports by the regular exercise that people incorporate in their lives. Sport psychology has a lot to do with narrow minded knowledge regarding present day. Strong institutions and publications came into prospect in the 1960’s which marked the era of modern sport psychology. But even today, a lot of aspects of sport psychology remain undiscovered. It is imperative to determine the uses of social psychology too. Social psychology is used to determine the behavior of someone. Instead of psychological differences, scientists use sporting differences. The psychologists delve into 3 areas while conducting a research. Firstly, the search for winning a profile, the ability to differentiate between athletes and non-athletes and last but not the least, the various personalities of the athletes. The personality traits in the athletes cannot be neglected. The psychologists help the athletes deal with daily pressure in two ways i.e. test anxiety and achievement motivation. (Carr, 2006) Competitive State Anxiety Inventory or CSAI-2 helps to calculate the intensity of anxiety existing in an athlete. It consists of anxiety questionnaires and these questions need to be attained with time. The zeal to do better, healthy competition and motivation form the core aspects of sport performance. The recent advances have been inspired by the Atkinson model. It comprises of two factors, the motive to achieve success (M) and the motive to achieve failure (M). The following formula represents the relationship: nAch= (M – M) x (P x [1 –P]. Through this model, the position holders will be motivated to encourage into competition and challenges. On the other hand, low achievers will never strive to work hard because for them, failure is the ultimatum. Some of the aspects of sport psychology have their similarities associated with cognitive psychology. The environment can also be altered by applying Traditional behavior modification techniques. However it has been argued upon that it not only the environment but the individual’s perceptions such as their own thoughts and feelings that matter. Indeed, this helps to improve the treatment. Meichenbaum's Stress-Inoculation Training (SIT) is a useful technique in reducing anxiety and improving performance in athletes and coaches. Besides that, there are other eminent programs such as the Smith's Cognitive Affective Stress Management or SMT and Suinn's program of Anxiety Management Training or AMT. "SIT and SMT have also been designed for use in sport and both sketch out the same four stage process. The first stage is when the athletes explore the stress reaction. The next stage is when they develop a way of coping with stress which comprises of relaxation training and the use of cognitive skills. Next comes the practice phase. SIT motivates practice in dealing with stressful situations. The final stage is when they judge whether the individual has been able to meet the needs. This also determines the effectiveness of the program (R.M, 1980). Imagery and visualization also are a part of cognitive sport psychology. Imagery is used to guide the coaches and athletes towards competition, proper usage of skills and the ability to acquire control. Empirical investigations focal point is acquiring of skills through mental practice. Studies indicate that successful athletes use imagery as compared to unsuccessful athletes. Besides, a number of studies also explore the variables that mediate imagery effects. But what needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that although there have been supportive findings, even then they have blamed for not using an organized scheme to describe their imagery effects. Although suggestions have been pouring in but the research efforts have not succeeded in following the guidelines set for imagery utilized in sport. Inner game is another way of mitigating psychological performance. This expression was created by Gallwey in the 1970’s which has laid the foundation for a number of psychology books. He laid emphasis on golf, skiing and tennis. His view was that in sports, one’s opponent is his own self. Inner game is a conflict between self 1 and self 2. Self 1 is regarded as mindful and linguistic and has control over information that it is provided to them. It helps to view things critically and analyze the actions of the athletes. On the other hand, Self 2 is only concerned with visual information which is why they disassociate themselves from visual and spatial elements. They distribute the resources in such a manner so that both of them can work in peace and bring out their best performance. There are some methods of sport psychology that lay emphasis on clinical psychology. One such example could be relaxation techniques. This technique assists in decreasing tension and lays focus on breathing and the easy let go of stress in the body. Initially, when the body is not use to it, it takes some time but gradually; it does have its toll (Zaichkowsky, 2006). Edmund Jacobson introduced the Progressive Relaxation Training in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It is how one feels tension in his body and develops a solution of getting rid of the tension. There are three steps involved in this process. The athlete must lie on a mat that has very restrained lighting. Between 5 and 7 seconds, the athlete is required to assess the first 16 muscle groups. After the tension is free, the athlete relaxes for 30 to 45 seconds. For 15 to 20 minutes, the same routine is followed for each muscle set on a twice a daily basis so that gradually only four are used. Eventually the athlete will become so perfect on this that he’ll be able to relax just by recalling the sensation in his body that occurred previously (Zaichkowsky, 2006). Autogenic training is another method which calls for sensations that is associated with other sensations and demands from the athlete a type of self-hypnosis. J.H Schultz, German psychiatrist was the one who developed the training in the early 1900’s. This type of training was developed in the early 1900's by the German psychiatrist, J.H. Schultz. Athletes are well-versed in self-relaxation that helps to create feelings of warmth in the body. On the other hand, imagery relaxation works for some people but not for others. Its how to you place yourself in an environment where you are at complete ease. This could be a vacation, beach, home or any other place where one feels good about them self. The individual will feel relaxed when putting them self in imagery and with regular practice; the athlete will feel more confident about himself (Prusak, 2003). Another aspect of sport psychology is motor behavior which can be easily attained with practice. Apparently, many individuals are not aware of how distribution of practice has an impact on how well the skill is perfected. Distribution of practice is defined as the space between different sessions. Studies indicate that the hour of practice sessions is wiser. Teachers and coaches are also concerned with how well the skill is learned. They contemplate whether skills should be disintegrated or presented in their original form. It was eventually concluded that whole methods was a better way of training. A frequent problem that the teachers and coaches face is how to impart these essential skills during the practice session. They have two choices. Either they let the learner spent considerable time on one task, approving it before the next task starts(blocked practice) or the learner has the freedom to spin around several tasks, never playing one task for a long period of time (random practice). The problem of blocked vs random practice has created a lot of buzz since the late 1970’s. It was evaluated that subjects under blocked conditions fared better than the random conditions. However, when a test experiment was conducted after10 days, it was proved that random conditions performed better. These findings help to reach a conclusion that random tests are more effective. Amongst coaches, mental rehearsal has become extremely popular. In mental practice, the learner thinks about performing the task in his mind but doesn’t attempt to it physically. After spending over 60 minutes on mental training, Feltz and Landers said that performance can be made better through mental training. Tasks that contain a large cognitive component seem to benefit from mental practice as compared to those tasks that require a huge amount of power. As per these findings, it’s hasty to substitute physical practice with mental practice (Prusak, 2003). Sport psychology is another branch of social psychology. This says that if one improves their performance in something, then it also helps to enhance the performance of the other person. But if one is attempting a skill for the first time, he is likely to fail if he is incompetent which is referred to as social facilitation. Aggression in sport is another aspect of social psychology. This can be described in satisfactory and unsatisfactory ways. Aggression is when one has developed a hostile behavior and this is unacceptable behavior. When an athlete is showing intensity in sport then it is socially acceptable. But aggression in a sport can be treated because one cannot deny that with sport, comes aggressive behavior. However it should be on the level of healthy competition (Cotterill, 2003). Another branch that relates to sport psychology is Occupational Psychology. This is when the sport coaches. Many psychologists hold this belief that a better way of getting their message across is by approaching the coach before than the athlete. Psychologists come and go but it’s the coach that stays forever with the athlete. If the coach passes the message to the athlete, it is likely to have a profound impact on the athlete. Coaches are taking sport related courses and this will help to train the athletes. Occupational psychologists have made their place in goal setting. The reason behind goal setting is to conduct our behavior in an effective manner. On this note, it’s imperative to describe the theory of Edwin Locke’s goal setting theory. His theory said that it’s essential for a person to have a goal in his life. It helps the person to do better and better and enhances determination. SCAMP is another way of teaching athletes how much they can measure and improve. One should set goals for themselves that can be achieved and that which are personal. Over the years, a lot of attention has been drifted to theories and models that deal with participation motivation in sports. This emphasizes on how individuals can show their promises to sports (Murphy, 1995). To conclude, a lot still needs to be done in sport psychology. There are many questions whose answers need to be discovered. For example, Psychologists have founds ways of decreasing anxiety but not a way of completing getting rid of it. Although there are many things that are unresolved but one can say with a lot of confidence that sport psychology has a lot of scope especially when the youth is concerned (Poczwardowski, 2004). References Carr, Christopher, Psychological issues and Applications, Published in 2006, http://www.donhcs.com/hsr/13_june/doc/Carr%20Sport%20Psychology%20issues%20and%20applications.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 R. M, Sunin, Body thinking for Olympic champs, In Psychology in Sports: Methods and Application, Published in1980, http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/imported/42036.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 Zaichkowsky, Leonard, Industry Challenges Facing Sport Psychology, Published in 2006, http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol8Iss3/IndustryPDF.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 Prusak, Keven, Validity, Reliability, and Invariance of the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS) Across Diverse Physical Activity Contexts, Published in 2003, http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/documents/2003_StandageTreasureDudaPrusak_JSEP.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 Cotterill, Stewart, LTSN Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism, Published in 2003, http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/resource_guides/sport_psychology.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 Murphy, Shane, Sport Psychology Interventions, Published in 1995, http://bibvir.uqac.ca/archivage/24590708.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 Poczwardowski, Artur, Professional Philosophy in theSport Psychology Service Delivery:Building on Theory and Practice Published in 2004, http://ses-gcremades.barry.edu/Service%20Delivery/ServiceDelivery_04.pdf, Accessed 30th October, 2011 Read More