Mark Eys

Wilfrid Laurier University | WLU · Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and Psychology (joint)

Though interdependent teams have received the most empirical attention in sport group dynamics research, scholars have also asserted the need to consider the dynamics of individual sport teams (e.g., wrestling, swimming). Indeed, athletes participating in prototypical individual sports have a group identity, and their experiences are significantly...

The effects of having new individuals join a team introduce competitive and cooperative actions that are challenging to groups. Employing socialization tactics that provide tailored role information and cultivate opportunities for social connection is positively related to perceptions of cohesion. However, the socialization process likely relies on...

Research exploring the benefits of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) with youth is emerging and promising for the improvement of resiliencies. We developed an arts-based mindfulness intervention to make learning mindfulness accessible for children who had experienced trauma. Arts-based methods are engaging, enjoyable, and developmentally relev...

Previous research highlighted gaps between socio-cognitive factors (e.g., intentions, social norms) and physical activity (PA) participation. Recently, researchers have asserted that considering affective processes may help bridge this gap. Leveraging the affective-reflective theory of physical inactivity and exercise, this study examined whether i...

Compared to the performance of individuals, groups and teams perform surprisingly well in some situations and surprisingly poorly in others. Therefore, this chapter aims to clarify under which circumstances one or the other applies and which phenomena and processes play a role in sport contexts. First, important definitions and theories concerning...

Objective: Despite the usefulness of social norms for changing behaviour, injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of what others approve) from significant others tend to be a weak predictor of physical activity (PA) engagement. A potential explanation is that injunctive norms encompass pressuring social influence that undermines autonomous PA engagemen...

Playing together with other people can be an extremely fun aspect of taking part in sports. It can also be challenging when some people are not team players. This article focuses on the topic of group cohesion, which we describe as the glue that helps teammates to stick together. We might also define cohesion as the amount of unity or harmony in a...

As interest and participation in physical activity later in life increases, evidence is needed to inform the promotion, design, and delivery of community-based sport for older people. One important consideration is the dynamics of the group, which may influence experiences of team sport among aging populations. A qualitative study was undertaken to...

Effective leadership is a collaborative effort, requiring a degree of complementarity in how people enact roles of leadership and followership. Using a novel online vignette methodology, we experimentally tested how three contextual factors influenced coaches’ responses to challenge-oriented acts of followership, as well as investigated two potenti...

Ethnic diversity is a complex group characteristic that has important, but inconsistent, effects on group functioning. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to examine the effects of ethnic diversity on group processes and emergent states across various group contexts. Objective: In the present study, we examined how ethnic diversity influences te...

Role clarity/ambiguity represents the degree to which group members understand their role responsibilities within their group. Previous research has shown that greater role clarity perceptions held by athletes are associated with numerous adaptive outcomes. Most research in this area has used the Role Ambiguity Scale (RAS) to assess role clarity; h...

Role commitment, defined as “a dynamic and volitional psychological bond reflected in the dedication to and responsibility for one’s role” (Eys et al., 2020, p. 91), is suggested to be a critical perception contributing to sport group functioning (Carron & Eys, 2012). As such, understanding what facilitates athletes’ commitment to their role respon...

Team sports are a group environment in which individuals from various backgrounds often come together in pursuit of a common goal. Building on the findings of recent research that examined the effects of ethnic diversity in professional and intercollegiate sport contexts, we examined the association between ethnic diversity and youth athletes' perc...

Group Dynamics in Sport, 5th edition, provides readers with the most current theories and practices of group dynamics in sport teams. In this updated edition, each chapter identifies and discusses key theoretical concepts of group dynamics and offers extensive and relevant examples that reinforce the principles covered. Topics include: the nature,...

Objective: Though engaging in physical activity (PA) is associated with several health benefits, physical inactivity rates remain high. Previous research revealed that descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions of others’ PA) positively relate to PA intentions/behaviours. This study tested whether self-efficacy mediated the influence of descriptive norms...

Socialization tactics for integrating newcomers into sport teams can be key to the evolution of relationships within the group and can lead to positive or negative consequences throughout the season. For this reason, across two studies with distinct contexts, we sought to unpack the mechanisms through which socialization tactics are related to grou...

Recent literature identified several informal roles (i.e., those that naturally arise without coaches’ delegation of responsibilities) that may be relevant for sport teams. Among them, team comedians are defined as those who consistently use humor in their environments. Given humor is an integral component of interpersonal relationships and intragr...

Aim Recent literature suggested that informal roles can naturally arise in sport teams and impact team functioning. This case study aimed to identify the key factors involved in informal role emergence in sport teams. Method Data were collected from 27 players from one male and one female intercollegiate basketball team using multiple methods. Que...

Given the prevalence of group contexts in sport and the importance of the social environment for motivating youth participants, understanding and enhancing group dynamics are critical to facilitate youths’ participation in, and development through, sport. The current objective was to report on a scoping review that was employed to summarize researc...

Moving in and out of voluntary groups is an important feature of our social lives. We integrated theory on the functional benefits of group membership with a process termed the innuendo effect (Kervyn et al., 2012) to test how the absence of warmth or competence information shapes desire for group membership. Across three studies (Study 1a, N = 185...

Informal roles (e.g., team comedians, informal leaders, and distracters) can emerge in sport teams and influence overall team functioning. Thus, more research is warranted to investigate the factors/processes involved in the emergence and influence of these types of roles in sport. The current study examined the link between athletes’ personality c...

The purpose of the present study was to examine parental involvement in youth athletes’ task role development through the perspectives of important youth sport stakeholders (e.g., athletes, parents, and coaches). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants (4 athletes, 7 parents, and 5 coaches) from four different types of compet...

Group-based settings are valuable for promoting physical activity when individuals perceive high groupness, or when they feel like they are exercising in a true group (Spink, Wilson, & Priebe, 2010). Guided by basic needs theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), we tested a mechanistic model that examined the extent that groupness perceptions within fitness cla...

Cultural diversity has the potential to influence important individual and group outcomes in sport contexts. Prior to examining these relationships, a clear understanding of how cultural diversity is defined and measured is required. Recognizing equivocal findings in relatable domains (organizational psychology), the present study reviewed empirica...

Objectives: Existing literature consistently demonstrates that subjective norms within the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) are a weak predictor of physical activity (PA) intentions, which contradicts humans’ innate need to relate to others. A potential explanation relates to methodological shortcomings. Previous studies often ignored individuals’...

Almost all mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are delivered in group format. Given the benefits of group work for children/youth, the authors wondered how researchers studying MBIs discussed and analyzed the group-work component of the MBI. The authors conducted a scoping study with the aims of analyzing relevant research regardless of design t...

Objective: How can we distinguish between a collection of individuals exercising alongside one another from group that is exercising ‘together’? This question is central to research on the extent that individuals perceive their fitness settings to entail core features of groups. To advance understanding of the nature of groupness and its implicatio...

Group contexts such as fitness classes are popular forms of physical activity, and studying them can uncover new ways to promote exercise adherence. Focusing on the potential for group fitness experiences to vary from class-to-class, we examined how exercisers’ dynamic perceptions of groupness relate to recalled perceptions of exercise enjoyment, a...

The objectives of this study were to (a) develop a conceptualization of role acceptance, later situated within the broader concept of role commitment, pertinent to the sport environment; (b) develop a measure integrating direct perceptions of role commitment and the bases of this variable; and (c) determine if role commitment could predict athletes...

Team building (TB) is recognized as one of the most prevalent and promising group-development interventions applied in sport. However, most coaches lack the necessary information to effectively and efficiently target and enhance specific group characteristics and processes. The aim of this study was to develop and apply the Team Environment AssessM...

Although researchers have offered insights across a range of topics (e.g., cohesion, leadership, roles, etc.), a recent review suggested that the field of group dynamics in physical activity has a strong potential for growth as an area of focus for research (Eys & Spink, 2016). The objectives of the present review are to (a) highlight the importanc...

Objectives: The current manuscript describes two studies that examined the relationship between athletes' big five personality characteristics and their occupancy of informal roles as identified by self-nominations and teammate-nominations. Design: A cross-sectional design was used to collect data on athlete personality and informal role occupancy....

The purpose of this research was to develop a questionnaire to assess the multidimensional construct of teamwork in sport and to examine various aspects of validity related to that instrument. A preliminary questionnaire was first created, and feedback on this instrument was then obtained from a sample of team-sport athletes (n = 30) and experts in...

In a mixed methods study, we explored the suitability of a 12-week arts-based mindfulness group program for adults experiencing anxiety/depression. We were interested to learn if an arts-based mindfulness intervention would be suitable and beneficial for these adults. We compared findings from this intervention with adults who attended a 12-week co...

The purpose of this research was to develop a questionnaire to assess the multidimensional construct of teamwork in sport and examine various aspects of validity related to that instrument. A preliminary questionnaire was first created, and feedback on this instrument was then obtained from a sample of team sport athletes (n = 30) and experts in sp...

This case study investigated the selection process of a high-performance military team, and explored potential implications for sport through an organizational psychology perspective. An instrumental case study was undertaken, comprised of an observational visit and semi-structured interviews with candidate (n = 3) and veteran (n = 2) pilots. Thema...

Within the framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the purpose of the present study was to examine adolescents’ perceptions of cohesion in relation to psychological need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation through a cross-sectional design. The study included 264 Canadian youth participants (Mage = 15.50) from eight different team sports who...

Sprint interval training (SIT) protocols involving brief (≤15 s) work bouts improve aerobic and anaerobic performance, highlighting peak speed generation as a potentially important adaptive stimulus. To determine the physiological and psychological effects of reducing the SIT work bout duration, while maintaining total exercise and recovery time, 4...

Drawing from theory on social hierarchy and intragroup behaviors, the current study examined whether status conflicts attenuate willingness to help newcomers. Using experimental vignettes with high-level team sport athletes, the results demonstrated that athletes were less willing to help high status newcomers who played the same position than newc...

Intra-team communication is a fundamental process that underpins many important components within sport group dynamics. The frequency, types, and quality of communication among team members can influence the transmission and clarity of role expectations, the degree to which group members are coordinated, and ultimately both individual and group per...

Social norms are unwritten rules about how to behave in a group, and have been shown to impact health behaviour change. There are equivocal findings regarding social norms in the context of physical activity, which may be attributed to inconsistencies in their conceptualization and measurement. This scoping review explored the literature examining...

Performance benefits resulting from short (10-15 s) sprint interval training (SIT) bouts suggest that peak speed generation may be an important adaptive stimulus, though the optimal work and rest period duration has not been established. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of manipulating SIT work and rest period durations while maintaining total exe...

Using a social identity approach as a theoretical framework, the current research sought to better understand the conditions under which female athletes may be particularly prone to derogate and chastise teammates. With a focus on behaviors enacted toward teammates, we examined whether the relationship between perceived ingroup antisocial norms (i....

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of teamwork interventions that were carried out with the purpose of improving teamwork and team performance, using controlled experimental designs. A literature search returned 16,849 unique articles. The meta-analysis was ultimately conducted on 51 articles, comprisin...

PRISMA Checklist. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Checklist [82] for this review is presented in the S1 File. (DOC)

Summaries of Interventions. Summaries of each study and intervention included in the meta-analysis is provided in the S1 Table. (DOCX)

The ways in which newcomers are integrated into sport teams may have broad consequences for the athletes entering the group, as well as existing team members. Drawing from organizational socialization theory, the current research developed a questionnaire to assess athletes’ perceptions of how newcomers are socialized into their group. Across four...

Sprint-interval training (SIT) is a viable method to improve health and fitness. However, researchers have questioned the utility of SIT because of its strenuous nature. The current study aimed to determine if manipulating the sprint and recovery duration, while maintaining the 1:8 work to rest ratio, could uncover a more favourable SIT protocol. N...

The purpose of the current research was to (a) develop and establish the factor structure of the Czech and Slovak versions of the Youth Sport Environment Questionnaire (YSEQ; Eys, Loughead, Bray, & Carron, 2009) and (b) examine the relationship between team performance and cohesion with a sample of European elite youth sport teams. At time point on...

Although proactive followership behavior is often viewed as instrumental to group success, leaders do not always respond favorably to the actions of overly eager followers. Guided by a constructivist perspective, we investigated how interpretations of followership differ across the settings in which acts of leadership and followership emerge. In th...

Many athletes experience a discrepancy between the roles they expect to fulfil and the roles they eventually occupy. Drawing from met expectations theory, we applied response surface methodology to examine how role expectations, in relation to role experiences, influence perceptions of group cohesion among Canadian Interuniversity Sport athletes (N...

Objectives Athletes are constantly engaging with teammates, coaches, and opponents, and rather than treating emotions as manifested in the individual as is often the case, psychological analyses need to treat emotions as social and relational. The purpose of this research was to explore athletes' accounts of emotions as social phenomena in sport us...

The purpose of the present study was to examine the reciprocal relationship between peer-initiated motivational climate and group cohesion. Measures of peer climate and cohesion were completed across the first half of a competitive season. Controlling for early season perceptions of the dependent variables, hierarchical regression results from 189...

Socialization tactics are often used to manage initial group member interactions in a way that facilitates transition experiences. Although this process is heavily researched in organizational contexts, we sought to extend this line of inquiry to sport by examining the nature of socialization tactics used to integrate new members into existing team...

We discuss qualitative and quantitative research findings from a study exploring the benefits and effectiveness of a 12-week arts-based mindfulness group program for vulnerable children (children who were involved with the child welfare or mental health systems and experienced a variety of challenges). Using post-group individual interviews with ch...

Athletes' precompetitive appraisal is important because it determines emotions, which may impact performance. When part of a team, athletes make their appraisal within a social context, and in this study we examined whether perceived team cohesion, as a characteristic of this context, related to appraisal. We asked 386 male and female intercollegia...

When reminded of the impending end to their athletic career, it may benefit athletes to prioritize other identities and goals that will be more important in the future. However, by applying a general process model of psychological threat and defense (Jonas et al., 2014), we conducted two studies to test the idea that individuals may actually report...

A descriptive phenomenological approach guided our examination of athletes’ perceptions regarding group member interactions following an injury event. Semistructured interviews were conducted with male members (N = 10) of Canadian Interuniversity Sport basketball teams. Athletes described experiences in which a single injury elicited strategic shif...

A previous meta-analysis examining the relationship between cohesion and performance (Carron & Eys, 2002) revealed that this relationship was significantly stronger for female teams as compared with male teams. The purpose of the current study was to explore perceptions of the cohesion-performance relationship by coaches who have led teams of both...

The formulation and dissemination of athletes' role expectations are critical to the psychological structure within sport groups. However, the ways in which athletes come to understand their roles in a sport group is a dynamic process; beginning upon initial group entry and continuing to evolve throughout the competitive season. The purpose of the...

The degree to which team members believe that they rely on one another to perform successfully and achieve collective outcomes may relate to perceptions about the extent that they integrate the group within their own identity. This study examined the relationship between interdependence and social identity among 422 high school team sport athletes....

The intensity and interpretation of precompetitive anxiety symptoms are associated with athletes’ performance and adherence. Whereas the optimal symptom intensity is task- and individual-dependent, a facilitative symptom interpretation is generally adaptive. Past research has identified several variables thought to influence symptom intensity and i...

Previous research demonstrates that the cohesion of a group can influence the perceptions of its individual group members. The purpose of this study was to examine group cohesion and perceptions of positive youth development (PYD) in team sport athletes. Male and female adolescent athletes (N � 424) from 35 high school sport teams completed measure...

The current study examined the influence of a motivational climate intervention with recreational youth soccer coaches on athletes' perceptions of group cohesion. Results of a repeated-measures MANOVA demonstrated a significant Time x Condition interaction, p < .01, eta(2)(p) = .09, with follow-up univariate tests indicating differences between gro...

Athletes' perceptions of the nature and transmission of roles were explored through 2 projects. First, interviews were conducted with 15 athletes from Canadian interdependent sport teams (e. g., basketball, football, soccer) to understand the types of roles that they self-identified with, and how the expectations for these roles developed. Our resu...

Across two studies, we tested the proposition that interdependence structures (i.e., task interaction among teammates during competition, competition against teammates, presence of a collective outcome) influence interdependence perceptions among teammates as well as perceptions of group cohesion, competitiveness, and satisfaction. Study 1 was a pa...

The purpose of the present article is to provide a summary of recent developments for select constructs that reflect the social environment of groups (Shaw, 1981) and have the potential to add to our knowledge relating to group processes in sport—cohesion, groupness, social identity, roles, conflict, and cliques. For each construct, we provide (1)...

The perceptions athletes hold about their role responsibilities are proposed to influence their team’s success (Carron & Eys, 2012). The general purpose of the present chapter is to highlight role concepts that have only recently received research attention within the context of sport. The specific objectives of this chapter are three-fold. First,...

The general purpose of the two studies reported here was to examine perceptions of team cohesiveness in children aged 9 to 12 years. In Study 1, focus groups were used to examine individual perceptions of cohesion from the perspective of group integration—the group as a totality. In Study 2, open-ended questionnaires were used to examine individual...

The purpose of this study was to investigate teammate interpersonal influence in individual sport. Fourteen elite individual sport athletes (i.e., 6 mid- to long-distance runners, 6 cross country skiers, 1 mountain biker, and 1 wrestler) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews exploring their sport experiences with teammates. Athlete...

The general purpose of the present study was to examine the link between cohesion and motivational climate in youth sport. The first specific objective was to determine if relationships demonstrated in previous research with adult basketball and handball participants would be replicated in a younger sample and with a more heterogeneous set of sport...

The purpose of the present study was to gain insight into athletes' perceptions of role acceptance. Semistructured interviews with 15 male and female intercollegiate athletes from a variety of interdependent sport teams were conducted, followed by interviews with 4 additional athletes recruited for the purpose of verification. Clear trends regardin...

The pervasiveness of injuries in sport has led to a great deal of research concerning the social contextual factors (e.g., negative social comparisons, pressure from teammates) that influence athletes’ experiences following an injury (Podlog & Eklund, 2007). The importance of these factors on group-member interactions suggests that injuries may hav...

Using the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (HMIEM) and self‐determination theory as theoretical frameworks, the purpose of the present study was to assess the role of motivation‐related variables in the relationship between perceptions of social support and intentions to be physically active. Undergraduate students completed...

Objectives This review aims to demonstrate the utility of integrating the insights of evolutionary psychology with sport and exercise psychology. Specifically, we offer a primer on evolutionary psychology that we then discuss in the context of several research avenues in sport and exercise. Next, we discuss how evolutionary psychology can inform ou...

The purpose of the present study was to test the validity evidence of the Child Sport Cohesion Questionnaire (CSCQ). To accomplish this task, convergent, discriminant, and known-group differ-ence validity were examined, along with factorial validity via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Child athletes (N = 290, M age = 10.73 ± 1.13 years) from si...

The general objectives of the present article are to provide an overview of the group dynamics phenomenon known as “cohesion” and convey useful information to practitioners with regard to its conceptualization, measurement, and development. Within these broad areas, a focus is placed on recent advances in our understanding of cohesion in sport by d...

Background: Numerous municipal active living-related charters have been adopted to promote physical activity in Canada throughout the past decade. Despite this trend, there are few published critical examinations of the process through which charters are developed and used. Purpose: Thus, the purpose of this study was to establish greater understa...