Personality in sports and its Traits with details

1. Foundations of Sports & Exercise Psychology

2.  What is Personality ?
 What’s Makes up Personality and why it is important
 Major Approaches to understanding personality
 Measuring Personality
 Testing Personality
 Finding in Personality research
 Cognitive strategies and athletics success

3.  Personality is the sum of the characteristics that make
a person unique.
 The study of Personality helps us work better with
students, athletes and exercisers
Structure of Personality
 Psychological Core
 Typical Responses
 Role Related Behavior

4. A Schematic view of personality structure,
Adapted, By permission , from Martens 1975

5.  Most Basic or deepest level of Your attitudes, Values,
interests , motives, and beliefs yourself & Self-worth
 Example : A persons Religious values

6.  The ways we each learn to adjust or respond to the
Environment
 Example: Might be happy, Go-lucky, Shy,

7.  How you act based on what you perceive your social
situation
 Example: Behavior as a
 Student/ Athlete
 Teacher
 Coach
 Parents

8. Five of Major Ways of Studding Personality in Sports &
Exercise have been called
 Psychodynamic Approach
 Trait Approach
 Situation Approach
 Interactional Approach
 Phenomenological Approach

9.  Psychodynamic Approach to personality is
characterized by two themes ( Cox-1998)
 First, its places emphasis on unconscious determinants
of behavior ( super-ego)
 Second, This approach focuses on understanding the
person as a whole rather than identifying isolated
traits or dispositions .

10.  Behavior is determined by relatively stable traits that
are fundamental unit of personality
 These Traits predispose one to act in a certain way ,
regardless of the situations

11.  Openness
 Conscientiousness
 Extraversion
 Agreeableness
 Neuroticism

12.  Behavior is determined largely by the situation or
environment.
 This situation is more important determinant of
behavior then particular personality traits
 You might act confident for instance, in one situation
but tentative in another situation
 If you are introverted and shy, you still might act
assertively or even aggressively if you see someone
getting mugged ( inside the match or out side the
match) like foot ball and Cricket players

13.  Behavior is determined by both the person and the
situational factors as well as by their interaction
 The majority of contemporary sports and exercise
psychologist favor the interactional approach

14.  Behavior is best determined by accounting for both
situations and personal characteristics
 A person understanding and interpretations of your
self and environment are critical

15.  Current impact: Has little influence and has not been
adopted by most contemporary sports psychologists.
 Weakness: Focuses almost entirely on internal
determinants of behavior, giving little attention to the
social environment.
 Contribution: Has increased awareness that
unconscious determinants of behavior exist.

16.  Current impact: Has little influence.
 Weakness: knowing traits will not always help predict
behavior in particular situations.
 Contribution: Emphasizes the importance of traits and
the measurement of such dispositions.

17.  Current Impact: Has little influence.
 Weakness: Situation will not always influence
individual behavior.
 Contribution: Emphasizes the importance of the
situation.

18.  Current Impact: Has considerable influence and has
been adopted by most contemporary sports
psychologists.
 Weakness: None.
 Contribution: Emphasizes the consideration of both
trait and situational variables and their interaction.

19.  Current Impact: Has considerable influence and has
been adopted by many contemporary sport
psychologists.
 Weakness: None.
 Contribution: Emphasizes the contribution of a
person’s interpretation of one’s self and environment
while considering both trait and situational variables
and their interaction.

20. Trait and State Measures :
 Measure both trait and states
 A trait is typical style of behavior
 States is the situation’s effect on behavior
feeling that can change moment to moment

21.  There are general versus situation – specific ( sports-
Specific ) Measure
 Situation specific trait tests predict behavior more
accurately then do general traits measure
 It is often more effective to compare personality test
scores to person’s own previous test results then the
group norms
 Projective test are interesting but difficult to score

22.  Do inform participants about the purpose of the
personality test and exactly how it will be used.
 Do allow only qualified individuals who have an
understanding of testing principles and measurement
error to give personality tests.
 Do integrate personality test results with other
information obtained about the participant.
 Do use sport and exercise-specific tests whenever
possible, giving them in consultation with a sports
psychologist.
 Do use both state and trait measures of personality.

23.  Do use both state and trait measures of personality.
 Do provide participants with specific feedback
concerning the results of the test.
 Do compare individuals against their own baseline
levels rather then against normative information.

24.  Don’t use clinical personality test that focus on
abnormality to study an average population of sport
and exercise participant.
 Don’t use personality tests to decide who makes a team
or program and who does not.
 Don’t give or interpret personality tests unless you are
qualified to do so by the APA or another certifying
organization.
 Don’t use personality tests to predict behavior in sports
and exercise settings without considering others
sources of information.

25.  Some relationship exists between personality traits
and states and sports performance, but it is far from
perfect or precise
 No single definitive personality profile has been found
that consistently distinguishes athletes from
nonathletic.
 Few personality differences are evident between male
and female athletes, particularly at the elite level.
 Morgan’s (1980) mental health model shows that
successful athletes exhibit greater positive mental
health then do less successful athletes. However,
precise predictions have not been achieved and should
not be used for them selection.

28.  Type A Behavior patterns ( particularly the anger-
hostility component) are associated with
cardiovascular disease and appear to be altered via
exercise.
 Exercise and increased fitness appear to be associated
with increases in self-esteem especially in individuals
with low self-esteem.

29.  Cognitive strategies and mental strategies are among
the skills and behaviors that athletes use in
competition.
 Although they are not personality traits in the
traditional sense, cognitive strategies reflect the
behavior aspect of personality and interact with
personality characteristics.

30.  Both quantitative and qualitative cognitive strategy
measures have been shown to differentiate between more
and less successful athletes.
 Overachieving high school athletes scored higher on
coach-ability, Concentration, coping with adversity, and
total cognitive strategy than average and underachieving
athletes.
 Cognitive strategies have been shown to be related to
superior performance in elite sport.
 Elite athletes show superior ability to cope with adversity
and mentally prepare compared to non elite athletes.

31.  Olympic medal winning wrestlers more often used positive
self-talk, had a narrower and more immediate focus of
attention, and were better prepared mentally for
unforeseen negative events.
 Mental Preparation and planning are critical components
of athletic success.
 Enhance confidence and practice specific plans to deal with
adversity during competitions.
 Practice routines to deal with unusual circumstances and
distractions before and during competition
 Concentrate wholly on the upcoming performance and
block out irrelevant events and thoughts.

32.  Enhance confidence and practice specific plans to deal
with adversity during competition.
 Practice routines to deal with unusual circumstances
and distractions before and during competition.
 Concentrate wholly on the upcoming performance and
block out irrelevant events and thoughts.

33.  Use several mental rehearsals before competition.
 Don’t worry about other competitors before a
competition, instead, focus on what you can control.
 Develop Detailed competition plans.
 Learn to regulate arousal and anxiety.

34.  Consider both personality traits and situations.
 Be an informed consumer.
 Be a good communicator.
 Be a good observer.
 Be knowledgeable about mental strategies.