Lew HardyInstitute for the Psychology of Elite

PerformanceSchool of Sport, Health & Exercise Sciences,

Bangor University, Wales, UK

Some Future Directions for Sport Psychology Research

OVERVIEW

Self-indulgent selection of domains

Previous research what do we know what are the limitations?

Future researchWhat would it be interesting to

explore?

HEALTH WARNING

Contrary view of the world - “Good, the new bad ...”

Simple additive (main effect) models of the world are just wrong

The world is full of complex interactions

STRESS AND PERFORMANCE

Cue utilisation – narrowing and selectivity

Processing efficiency theory, attention control theory

Regression effects - conscious processing, degrees of freedom

Ironic effects – doing the very thing you least want to do

Motivational effects – when and in what direction?

STRESS AND PERFORMANCE II:THE HIDDEN GREMLINS

Multiple stressors, mechanisms & task demands:

Ego, physical harm, interpersonal, fatigue, financial, daily hassles

Perceptual changes, cognitive deficits, regression effects, ironic effects, motivational effects, emotion

Batting against spin, power lifting, ultra marathons, sailing dinghies

What is causal and what correlational?

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Disposition to be robust and resilient to a wide range of stressors

Limitations of current research – poor conceptualisation, lack of theory, self-report questionnaires, interviews

Conceptualisation – mental toughness vs mental perfection

Informant or objective measures Reinforcement sensitivity theory Performance vs health?

OTHER ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY IN SPORT Shotgun approach of early research Limited research in sport – goal

orientations, competitive anxiety

Performers are people first:Big five factors – conscientiousness, openness, extraversion &

neuroticism overdone?Narcissism – training vs the big

occasionPsychopathy – single point of focusInteractions

A DARKER SIDE TO MOTIVATION

Achievement goal theory Self-determination theory Is high level performance always

underpinned by a mastery focus and self-determined regulation?

Obsessive motivation – extremely high training volume, emotional dependence on success, training when injured, serial medallists, loss of identity on retirement?

Williamson & Gogarty (2009)

A DARKER SIDE TO DEVELOPMENT

Nurturing environments – high self-esteem, confidence, highly skilled, mastery focused

Learning from failure – experimenting and making mistakes, learning what consequences are and how to deal with threat ... Punishment

Insecure attachments and striving Experiencing loss, pain, defeat,

humiliation

TRAINING Performers spend 95% of time in training Very little research

To what extent is competitive performance predicted by training behaviour?

What are the most important training behaviours for different sports?

What are the determinants of training behaviour?

How can we influence training behaviour?

GROUP DYNAMICS

Leadership – decision making and “recognition” styles

Transformational leadership and other theories – mechanisms vs “boxology”

Coaching vs instructing Effective teamwork – moving beyond

group cohesion and role variables ... How exactly do teams interact

effectively?

SOME METHODOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITIES

Cognitive neuroscience Psychophysiology Genetics

Statistical methods to identify patterns in very complex datasets

High quality participant observation studies

Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance

School of Sport, Health & Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK

Thank you