CHAPTER 3:  PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS IN SPORT AND EXERCISE

 

 

COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS

 

GOAL SETTING

 

• A goal is that which an individual is trying to accomplish, a standard of excellence.
• A goal typically refers to a specific level of proficiency on a task, usually within a time limit.
• Goals must be S.M.A.R.T.

S  =  Specific

M =  Measurable

A  =  Attainable

R  =  Relevant

T  =  Time-bound

 

Goal effectiveness may depend on the following (Lock & Latham, 1990):

 

1.      Ability.  If difficult goals are impossible for a low-ability individual, the person soon reaches a plateau, and goals are ineffective.  Therefore, difficult goals are more effective for high-ability people.

2.      Commitment.  Highly committed people match their goals, whether goals are difficult or easy.  Therefore, high commitment helps only with difficult goals.

3.      Feedback.  Both goals and feedback are necessary for performance enhancement.  Feedback may enhance efficacy and perceived ability, or may allow for the adjustment of task strategies.

4.      Task complexity.  Task complexity is a moderator, but the exact mechanisms are not clear.  More complex tasks may require developing new task strategies before motivational effects can make new strategies work.

 

Burton (1993):

 

1.      Athletes set more goals for competition than for practice.

2.      Athletes set performance, outcome, and skill-development goals more often than strategy, psychological skills, motivation, and confidence goals.

3.      Outcome goals were sometimes more important than performance goals.

4.      Athletes sometimes set goals that were too difficult, creating stress.

 

Goal-Setting Principles by Weinberg (1996):

 

·        Set specific goals

·        Set realistic but challenging goals

·        Set both short-term and long-term goals

·        Set goals for both practice and competition

·        Ink it, don’t think it

·        Develop goal-achievement strategies

·        Set performance goals

·        Set individual and team goals

·        Provide support for goals

·        Evaluate goals

 

Common Goal-Setting Problems by Weinberg (1996):

 

·        Failure to monitor goal progress and readjust goals.  People often start off strong and set lots of goals, but then lose track of them.  Reevaluation can help keep people motivated and on track.

·        Failure to recognize individual differences.  Goal setting should differ among individuals.  Task-oriented individuals are more motivated by self-improvement goals, whereas ego-oriented individuals are more motivated by outcome goals.

·        Failure to set specific, measurable goals.  People often set general goals (e.g., improving my serve, or my fitness) who must be trained how to set more specific and measurable ones.

·        Setting too many goals.  Individuals often set too many goals and have difficulty monitoring and tracking them.  Consultants can help people focus on priorities and set only a few initial goals.

 

Attentional Control and Concentration

 

• Concentration implies control of attention.
• Attentional Control Training (Nideffer, 1993) is more than a simple cognitive technique, and it moves into relaxation approaches.  The main technique in ACT is centering, which involves relaxing muscles, breathing deeply, and focusing on feelings with exhalation.  ACT also involves assessing individual attentional strengths and weaknesses, assessing the attentional demands of the sport, assessing the situation and/or personal characteristics that affect arousal and/or dictate behavior underpressure, identifying situation-specific problem areas, and developing an intervention program.
• External Strategies to Keep Concentration  (Schmid & Peper, 1993):

1.      Dress rehearsal.  Dress rehearsal with elements matching competition conditions is particularly effective for sports such as gymnastics, diving, and figure skating.

2.      Rehearsal of simulated competition experiences.  Athletes practice concentrating and dissociating from disruptive stimuli.  Simulated competition might involve tapes of competition sounds or crowd noises.

3.      Mental rehearsal.  Mental rehearsal, visualization, or imagery is one of the most widely used and useful cognitive strategies.  One use of imagery is for controlling attention and practicing concentration.

• Internal Strategies to Stay Centered  (Schmid & Peper, 1993):

1.      Attentional cues and triggers.  Many athletes use verbal or kinesthetic cues to focus concentration or retrigger lost concentration.

2.      Turning failure into success.  With this strategy, one mentally rehearses a successful performance immediately after failure.

3.      Use of electrodermal feedback.  Electrodermal feedback may be used to show how thoughts affect the body, to monitor relaxation, to identify stressful points during imagery, and to facilitate concentration training.  Biofeedback companies sell equipment that measures skin conductance, which indicates arousal.

4.      Increasing focusing and refocusing skills.  Four techniques in bringing attention back when it starts to wander:

a.      Mindfulness.  Person sits quietly and sees how long he or she can stay focused on a single thought.

b.      One pointing.  Individual looks at an action photo or an objects and keeps the focus on that point.

c.       Grid exercise.  Used to practice the attentional skills of scanning and focusing.  Grid of random numbers from 00 to 99 and the individual is tasked to mark off consecutive numbers from 00 to as high as possible, usually within a time such as 2 minutes.

d.      Developing performing protocols.  Athletes might tune into their ideal performance by associating concentration with certain performance rituals.  Pre-performance routines, suggesting that consistently practiced protocols will automatically trigger focused attention that leads to good performance.

 

 

SELF-TALK

 

• Self-talk occurs whenever an individual thinks – whether the “talk” is spoken aloud or silent – and makes perceptions and beliefs conscious.

 

Uses of Self-Talk  (Williams and Leffingwell, 1996):

 

1.      Correcting bad habits

2.      Focusing attention

3.      Modifying activation

4.      Building self-confidence

5.      Increasing efficacy and maintaining exercise behavior

 

Commonly Used Self-Talk Modification Techniques  (Williams & Leffingwell, 1996):

 

1.      Thought stopping.  The person uses a cue to interrupt unwanted thoughts as they occur.  A common technique is to quickly and clearly say, “Stop!” as soon as that unwanted thought comes into your mind.

2.      Changing negative to positive thoughts.  Switch from the negative thought to a constructive one.  It is useful to make a list of negative thoughts and a positive substitute to each one.

3.      Countering.  Countering is an internal debate, using reason to directly challenge self-defeating thoughts.

4.      Reframing.  People often view the world in narrow, rigid terms; reframing changes that perspective.

5.      Cognitive restructuring.  Some come out of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

 

 

IMAGERY

 

·        Imagery or mental imagery or visualization involves the athletes imagining themselves in a specific environment or performing a specific activity.

·        It is an experience and can be regarded in many important aspects as equivalent to an actual experience with a concomitant elevation of stress arousal, the converse being the relaxation response (Girdano, et al., 1990).

 

Guidelines for Using Imagery Effectively  (Gould & Damarjian, 1996):

 

1.      Practice imagery regularly.

2.      Use all senses to enhance image vividness.

3.      Develop imagery control.

4.      Use both internal and external perspectives.

5.      Facilitate imagery through relaxation.

6.      Develop coping strategies through imagery.

7.      Use imagery in practice as well as competition.

8.      Use videotapes and audiotapes to enhance imagery skills.

9.      Use triggers or cues to facilitate imagery quality.

10.  Emphasize dynamic kinesthetic imagery.

11.  Imagine in real time.

12.  Use imagery logs.

 

Phases of Imagery Training Program  (Gould & Damarjian, 1996):

 

Phase 1:  Awareness, Realistic Expectation, and Basic Education.

Phase 2:  Imagery Skill Evaluation and Development.

Phase 3:  Using Imagery.

Phase 4:  Imagery Evaluation, Adjustment, and Refinement.

 

 

STRESS MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS

 

Diaphragmatic Breathing

 

• Characterized by slow, deep breathing while expanding and contracting the belly.
• Based on the premise that respiration is one of the physiological responses to stress that is most easly to control.

 

Progressive Relaxation

 

• Originally developed by Jacobson (1938), is one of the most popular relaxation techniques.
• Involves progressive tensing and relaxing of various muscle groups.

 

Meditation

 

• Meditation involves relaxing the mind and letting the body flow unlike Progressive Relaxation which involves relaxing the body and letting the mind flow.
• Generally involves a relaxed, passive focusing of attention and an avoidance of tension and strain.

 

Autogenic Training

 

• Developed in 1930s by Johannes Schultz in Germany.
• A form of autohypnosis where a person focuses on and tries to introduce sensations of warmth and heaviness.
• A passive techniques where an individual “lets” the feelings happen.
• Stages:  1) Heaviness, 2) Warmth, 3) Heart rate, 4) Breathing rate, 5) Warmth in the solar plexus, and 6) Coolness of the forehead.

 

Yoga

 

• Relaxation is only one of the various uses and advantages of yoga.
• Assumption of physical positions that are tense and uncomfortable with the goal of “breathing through” these difficult body positions.  Learning to relax in difficult body positions will train the body and the mind to relax in stressful situations.

 

 

BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES

 

Classical Conditioning

 

• Involves learning by association with existing involuntary, relfective responses.
• Linking a behavior with a positive one that naturally or typically results to positive consequences will pair that positive consequence with the original behavior to be modified.

 

Operant Conditioning

 

• Involves learning new skills and behaviors using reinforcement and/or punishment.
• Reinforcement is any operation that increases the likelihood or strength of the behavior that it immediately follows.  Positive reinforcement occurs when behaviors are reinforced through provision of something positive such as praise or rewards.  Negative reinforcement occurs when behaviors are strengthened by eliminating something negative or aversive.
• Punishment is any operation that decreases the strength of a behavior.  One form of punishment may be through provision of something negative or aversive such as negative feedback or penalty.  Punishment may also occur through withdrawal of something positive.  In principle, punishing undesirable behaviors should reduce those behaviors.  In practice, punishment seldom works as intended and can create problems.  Thus, use punishment with caution.

 

Guidelines for Effective Behavior Modification  (Gill, 2000):

 

1.      Positively reinforce correct skills and desirable behaviors as often as possible.

2.      Make sure participants know which specific behaviors are being reinforced, and provide reinforcers immediately and consistently.

3.      Ignore most incorrect skills and undesirable behaviors.  Do not call attention to errors, but use positive instructions telling the individual what to do.

4.      Use punishment as a last resort for behaviors that must be stopped immediately.  Punishment must be swift, sure, and specific to the undesirable behavior, not a source of attention or reinforcement.  Also, when using punishment, be sure to provide an alternative desirable behavior.

 

Behavioral Approaches in Sport and Exercise Settings  (Martin & Dubbert, 1984):

 

1. Shaping.  One of the most important strategies for establishing a long-term habit.  Gradual progression with reinforcement for small steps is more effective than goals that people cannot reach within a reasonable time.
2. Reinforcement control.  Frequent reinforcement is important during acquisition.  Social supoprt, praise, token, attentnion, and specific feedback may be used.
3. Stimulus control.  Involves the use of cues to control behavior associated with details and routines in sport and exercise.
4. Behavioral contracts.  Contracts are a form of goal setting that can provide direction and incentive.
5. Cognitive strategies.

 

Behavioral Strategies in Moving from Structured Program to Individual and Continuing Sport and Exercise Maintenance  (Martin & Dubbert, 1984):

 

1.       Generalization training.  Generalizing involves the gradual fading of the program as the person makes the difficult transition froma structured to an unstructred setting.  It might involve others, such as team mates, family, friends.

2.       Reinforcement fading.  Gradually reinforcement fades in frequency and intensity as the person transfers to “natural” reinforcers such as increased feelings of control, increased enjoyment, and increased energy.

3.       Self-control procedures.  Domination of extrinsic motivation must shift to a domination of intrinsic motivation.  Self-evaluation and reward may also be included, often in contracting procedure.

4.       Relapse-prevention training.  Exercises learn to view exercise as a continuum, to recognize and avoid risk situations, and sometimes try a planned relapse.  Athletes must learn to incorporate newly learned skills and techniques in their routine as exercise should be a part of one’s lifestyle.

 

 

References:

Cox. R.H.  (2002).  Sport psychology: Concepts and applications.  (5^th ed.).  Boston, MA:  McGraw Hill.

Gill, D.L.  (2000).  Psychological dynamics of sport and exercise.  (2^nd ed.).  Champaign, IL:  Human Kinetics.

Weinberg, R. & Gould, D.  (1999).  Foundations of sport and exercise psychology.  (2^nd ed.).  Champaign, IL:  Human Kinetics.

Williams, J.M. (Ed.).  (2001).  Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance.  Mountain View, CA:  Mayfield Publishing Company.