Motivation - (Sports Psychology)

Motivation Define motivation and describe each of the two aspects that make up motivation. Motivation is defined as the direction and intensity of one’s effort. Direction of effort refers to whether an individual makes it their goal to seek out and approach certain situations. For example, a student may be motivated to try out for the basketball team or a businesswoman to join an aerobics class. In relation, intensity of effort refers to how much effort a person puts forth in a particular situation. For example, if a student may be motivated to try out for the basketball team, intensity of effort describes the amount of level of commitment they are willing to give in order to reach their goal. List and describe the three approaches to motivation. - Trait-Centered View (participant centered view): This view explains that motivated behavior is primarily the function of indivdual Characteristics. An individuals personality, needs, and goals of a student/athlete are the primary determinants of motivated behavior. - Situation-Centered View: This view explains that motivation level is determined primarily by the situation. For example, a student may be motivated in their exercise class, but not in a competitive sport situation. Therefore, certain situations will have different influences on motivation. - Interactional View: This view explains that behavior is a function of the person and situation and is the most widely endorsed viewpoint. The product of motivation is not solely a result of participant factors nor solely situational factors, but rather the interaction between the two. How does the Sorrentino & Sheppard (1978) study support the interactional approach to motivation? The Sorrentino & Sheppard study examined 44 males and 33 female swimmer in both an indvidiual and relay race to assess both situational and personality factors. The situational factor assessed was whether each swimmer swam alone or as part of a team and the personality factor assessed their affiliation motivation, or the degree to which a person sees group involvement as an opportunity for social approval versus social rejection. The study concluded that approval-oriented swimmers demonstrated faster times swimming in a relay rather than alone. This suggests that they had a positive association towards seeking approval from others. In contrast, the rejection-threatened swimmers who were too caught up on the thought of letting the teammates down, swam faster alone rather than in the relay. Describe the five guidelines for building motivation. - (1) Consider Both Situations & Traits in Motivating People When attmepting to enhance motivation, it’s important to considr both situational and trait factors. A lot of times, when an individual lacks motivation, it’s immediatley reported by teachers and coaches to be because of a lack of the participants personal characteristics without taking into consideration the situation as well. However, in other times, instructors may do the opposite in which they fail to consider an individual's personal attributes, but instead blame it on the situation. Ultimately, low participant motivation results from a combination of both personal and situational situations. - (2) Understand People’s Multiple Motives for Involvement The first step is to identify why people participate in physical activity as it’ll allow experts to manage the influence of exercise participation and adherence for that individual. A general theory of motivation is known as the self-determination theory and that all people are motivated to satisfy three general needs: competence, autonomy and social connectedness or belonging. It’s important to consider a few things; people participate for more than one reason, people have competing motives for involvement, people have both shared and unique motives, gender differences in motivation exists, and cultural emphasis affects motives. Considering that every indivdiual is different, it’s important to consider the motives for involvement for the individual. - (3) Change the Environment to Enhance Motivation To enhance motivation of individuals, structure teaching and coaching environments to meet the needs of all participants. Again, considering that every individual is different, meeting individual needs isn’t always simple. In this case, you should provide multiple opportunieis and adjust to individual groups if needed. standards of all participants. - (4) Influence Motivation As an exercise leader, physical educator, or coach, you have a critical role in influencing participant motivation. The key thing to remember is that your actions, even on bad days, can influence the motivational environment. It’s also important to note that another effective way to influence motivation in physical activity settings is by infusing variety into exercise programming and creating optimal competitive conditions. - (5) Use Behavior Modification to Change Participants’ Undesirable Motives Use behavior modification techniques to change undesirable motives and strengthen weak motivation. What is achievement motivation and the four theories associated with it? Achievement motivation refers to a person’s efforts to master a task, achieve excellence, overcome obstacles, perform better than others, and take pride in exercising talent. The 4 theories associated with achievement motivation are Need Achievement Theory, Attribution Theory, Competence Motivation Theory and Achievement Goal Theory. Define competitiveness. Competitiveness is defined as “a disposition to strive for satisfaction when making comparisons with some standard of excellence in the presence of evaluative others.” What are the three stages of achievement motivation and competitiveness? The three stages of achievement motivation and competitiveness are autonomous competence stage, social comparison stage, and integrated stage. What is learned helplessness? How can a professional (e.g. coach, personal trainer, physical therapist) modify one’s learned helplessness? Learned helplessness is an acquired condition in which a person perceives that his or her actions have no effort on the desired outccome of a task or skill. Ultimately people who experience this, feel doomed to failure and believe that nothing can be done about it. An important way a professional can modify one’s learned helplessness is to emphasize task goals. This will help individuals to set task goals and downplay ego goals. In addition, focussing on approach goals is another way to help as well as providing, monitoring and altering attributional feedback. It’s also important to assess and correct inappropriate attributions as well as determine when competitive goals are appropriate for the individual.