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The head and shoulders psychology of success project: An examination of perceptions of olympic athletes
Abstract
This project investigated the psychology of success among current and former Olympic athletes. Four themes were targeted: the impact of fan support, perceptions of the home field advantage, the importance of preevent rituals, and perceptions of attributes that lead to athletic success. Participants were 325 Olympic athletes from 13 countries who had competed in one of 34 different Olympic sports. The results indicated that the athletes a) viewed fans as an important part of their support network and as influencing both their performance and confidence, b) tended to believe in the home field advantage, c) had many pre-event rituals, and d) perceived that psychological factors (e.g., drive, ambition, confidence), natural ability, and physical appearance were important to success.
... The mental state can signi icantly affect the athlete's performance on the ield. Furthermore, an athlete's "perceived psychological factors (drive, ambition, con idence, etc.), natural ability, and physical appearance are critical to the athlete's future success [24][25][26]." This success impacts an athlete's mental state and is a self-perpetuating cycle of positive emotions and performance. ...
Introduction: Sports injuries can affect athletes across all ages, sexes, and levels of competition. The mental aspect of acute sports injury is often overlooked by coaches, trainers, and medical professionals. This study investigated if and how an acute traumatic sports injury affects an athlete’s psychological well-being, adherence to sport, and athletic identity. Methods: The study consisted of surveys sent to former or current athletes over 18 with one or more athletic injuries. The Qualtrics surveys were anonymous, and participants consented to the study within the survey. Results: There were 101 total participants (20.2% response rate) with an average age of 36. All reported one or more acute athletic injuries throughout their athletic careers. Specific survey sets were compared against each other using a variable correlation analysis (p - value < 0.05) and via Pearson’s Correlation. Conclusion: The results indicated that injury impacts the lives of athletes most significantly on the field and can harm their performance based on their perception of the severity of the injury. However, this decline in performance and decrease in confidence does not correlate to an athlete’s desire to leave their sport or how they identify as being an athlete. Takeaways: 1) The stronger an individual identifies as being an athlete, the more likely they are to continue their sports career after an injury. 2) An athlete’s self-worth after an injury significantly impacts their feelings outside athletics. 3) For athletes emotionally impacted by their acute traumatic injury, the injury was a significant factor regarding their athletic performance.
... The mental state can signi icantly affect the athlete's performance on the ield. Furthermore, an athlete's "perceived psychological factors (drive, ambition, con idence, etc.), natural ability, and physical appearance are critical to the athlete's future success [24][25][26]." This success impacts an athlete's mental state and is a self-perpetuating cycle of positive emotions and performance. ...
Sports Injury and Athletic Identity: Poster Presentation
... Studies demonstrate that elite athletes have different rituals before the competitions (pregame rituals) and believe that these rituals help their performance. Thus, pregame rituals are important for elite athletes (Fischer, 1997;Wann, 2012;Womack, 1992;Bleak & Frederick, 1998). The interviewed athletes also believe that these rituals contribute to their performance. ...
Identifying as a regular exerciser has been found to effectively alter stereotypes related to warmth and competence for adults with a physical disability; however, it remains unclear how sport participation can influence this trend. Therefore, this study aimed to examine warmth and competence perceptions of adults with a physical disability portrayed as elite and nonelite athletes relative to other athletic and nonathletic subgroups of adults with and without a physical disability in the context of the stereotype content model. Using survey data from able-bodied participants (N = 302), cluster analyses were applied to a behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes map for displaying the intersection of warmth and competence perceptions. The results demonstrated that adults with a physical disability who are described as elite athletes (i.e., Paralympians) are clustered with high warmth and high competence, similar to their able-bodied athletic counterparts (i.e., Olympians). The findings suggest that perceiving athletic and elite sport statuses for adults with a physical disability may counter the stereotypes commonly applied to this group.
Today, 3.2 million girls play high school sports, and women represent 41.7 % of NCAA athletes (2011–2012 High School Athletics Participation Survey, National Federation of State). For many, the benefits of this increased participation have been life changing. Even with these well-documented life-long benefits, significant material challenges remain in getting girls involved in sport and keeping them involved. By the age of 14 years old, girls drop out of sports at a rate two times greater than boys (Sabo and Veliz, Girls Drop-Out at a different rates depending on where they live. Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in American, East Meadow, NY, Women’s Sports Foundation). In our efforts to continue to improve the quality of the sport experience for girls and provide them with opportunities to compete at the highest levels, we have to consider both the personality of the athlete as well as the environment in which that athlete trains. In this chapter, Dr. Silby will identify some of the more prevalent psychological issues female athletes face and outline how mental skills training can be leveraged to address these challenges at each stage of development.
This project examined the role of sport confidence among a large, multinational sample of novice, intermediate, and advanced skill athletes. Four topics were investigated: the development of trait confidence, factors impacting state confidence, the role of confidence in athletic success, and the impact of sport participation on confidence in other areas of life. Participants (N = 6,039 persons from Russia, China, & the United States) completed an online questionnaire containing demographic items and nine questions targeting the four thematic areas. Results indicated that inner confidence was viewed as highly important, physical appearance was an important component of confidence, sport participation has a large impact on confidence in other areas of life, and self-perceived ability level was a key variable. The effects were often magnified for persons with an advanced level of skill.
Sport programs are often charged with creating a sense of community (SOC), and it is thought that doing so will benefit participants on and off the field of play. Since SOC is specific to the setting (Hill, 1996) and most research has been conducted outside of sport, the literature has not yet fully demonstrated how and when SOC is created within a sport context. Utilizing a grounded theory and phenomenological approach, this study investigated the mechanisms for creating SOC within a sport setting. Twenty former US college athletes were interviewed regarding their sport experiences. The results revealed that Administrative Consideration, Leadership Opportunities, Equity in Administrative Decisions, Competition, and Social Spaces were the most salient factors that fostered SOC. The results contribute to community building theory, and provide practical solutions for enhancing the participant experience.
The current research addresses the psychological benefits of superstitious rituals in top sport, examining the circumstances under which top-class sportspersons are especially committed to enacting rituals prior to a game (ritual commitment). Consistent with the hypotheses, findings revealed that ritual commitment is greater when (a) uncertainty is high rather than low; and (b) importance of the game is high rather than low. Complementary analyses revealed that the state of psychological tension mediated both effect of importance and uncertainty on ritual commitment. Moreover, players with an external locus of control exhibited greater levels of ritual commitment than did players with an internal locus of control. The results are discussed in terms of the tension-regulation function of superstitious rituals in top sport.
We obtained indices of home advantage, based on the medals won by competing nations, for each event held at the Winter Olympics from 1908 to 1998. These indices were designed to assess home advantage while controlling for nation strength, changes in the number of medals on offer and the performance of 'non-hosting' nations. Some evidence of home advantage was found in figure skating, freestyle skiing, ski jumping, alpine skiing and short track speed skating. In contrast, little or no home advantage was observed in ice hockey, Nordic combined, Nordic skiing, bobsled, luge, biathlon or speed skating. When all events were combined, a significant home advantage was observed (P = 0.029), although no significant differences in the extent of home advantage were found between events (P > 0.05). When events were grouped according to whether they were subjectively assessed by judges, significantly greater home advantage was observed in the subjectively assessed events (P = 0.037). This was a reflection of better home performances, suggesting that judges were scoring home competitors disproportionately higher than away competitors. Familiarity with local conditions was shown to have some effect, particularly in alpine skiing, although the bobsled and luge showed little or no advantage over other events. Regression analysis showed that the number of time zones and direction of travel produced no discernible trends or differences in performance.
Belief structures categorized as superstitions were investigated among members of six selected Intercollegiate athletic teams enrolled at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada during the 1971-72 aca demic year. A mailed questionnaire was employed as the survey instru ment and distributed to 174 athletes chosen by systematic random sampling from lists supplied by the Department of Athletics. The over all return rate was 73.3 percent (team sport athletes 78.3%: individual sports athletes 68.4%). Using the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient to determine differences between rankings of superstitions in sub-groups, it was found that: (a) the rankings for sport superstitions were similar between team and individual sport athletes, (b) there was a greater similarity in the rankings of sport superstitions among males. Team sport athletes provided greater support for superstitions related to equip ment and its use; order of entering the arena or their playing position; dressing room activities; repetitive rituals; and sports personalities. In dividual sport athletes gave higher support for superstitions related to wearing charms; lucky lane numbers; team cheers; and crossing one self before participation. Sport superstitions were identified with par ticular activities, for example, (a) Hockey - equipment, order and player position; (b) Basketball — sinking the last warm-up shot; (c) Volleyball — superstitions pertaining to food; (d) Swimming — colour of suit; (e) Track — clothing, lane numbers and superstitions related to shoes; and (f) Tennis — weather and lucky balls (by brand). The recourse to su perstitious beliefs and practices as determinants of success or effective participation was found to be particularly prevalent among the athletes of the sample. The fact that 137 respondents endorsed 904 superstitions (with repetition) which could be grouped into 40 categories clearly in dicated the strength of superstition in sport.
Although an empirical and theoretical examination of sport fans and spectators appear to be increasing, there is still limited information on cross cultural analyses of fandom. To partially fill this research void, the current investigation involved an examination of sport fandom in Greece. Specifically, four research questions were reviewed: 'To what degree do male and female Greek university students engage in behaviours commonly associated with sport fandom?', 'To what extent do parents, friends peers, school and community contribute to their socialisation into the sport fan role?', 'Which one of the aforementioned socialisation agents is most influential?' and 'How strongly do students identify with their favourite team?' The questions were answered by testing a convenience sample of 351 students at the department of physical education and sport sciences of a metropolitan university in Greece. The participants completed a questionnaire packet assessing demographic, sport fandom, sport fan behaviours, team identification and the impact of various socialisation agents. The results revealed a number of interesting findings including gender differences in sport fandom (males greater than females), the importance of fathers as a agent of socialisation and the large percentage of Greek teams listed as one's favourite team. In the discussion section, the current work is compared and contrasted with research of fans from other cultures, namely North America and Norway.
Used multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and the Casual Dimension Scale-II (CDSII; E. McAuley et al, 1992) to examine attributions made by 27 male competitive collegiate wrestlers (aged 19–22 yrs) for their first match of the preseason. Years of wrestling experience was the covariate. There was a significant main effect for performance on attributions. Results show that winning competitors made attributions which were significantly more stable, internally caused, and internally controlled than losing competitors. External control was significant in the opposite direction for winners. Additional analyses indicated that the perceptions of the win or loss were significantly and positively correlated with (1) stability and personal control in the winning condition, (1) locus of causality in the losing condition, and (3) stability attributions for both conditions combined. Findings reflect a self-serving attributional bias in 3 of the 4 dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Zajonc's (1965) drive theory explanation argues that greater arousal tends to impair performance on difficult tasks. The hypothesis that arousal generated by “pressure situations” during major league baseball games would hinder batting performance—a difficult task—was tested by examining such performance during the 1989 season. Six “pressure situations” were identified, some occurring during the late innings of close games and others occurring throughout the game when there were two outs. Two measures of batting performance (batting average and slugging average) were employed. Results indicated broad support for the hypothesis. Reasons for this pattern are discussed, as are possible alternative explanations for these findings.
Sixteen college athletes and non-athletes were given 10 30-sec. practice trials to learn how to balance on a stabilometer. The next day they were allowed three more trials alone and three trials before a group of spectators. The non-athletes were significantly better on two of the three trials performed in front of the spectators. They also performed better than the athletes throughout the ten practice trials, although the tenth and last trial approached but did not yield a significant difference at the .05 level.