Sport Psychology

This article addresses the use of sport psychology theory and applications in physical education. The National Association of Sport and Physical Education provides national content standards to guide physical educators and administrators in the development of curricula that focus on students' development of motor skill, motivation to engage in and continue physical activity both in and out of the classroom, and social and personal responsibility. Motivation and social and personal responsibility are areas of physical education that can be addressed through the use of sport psychology. Achievement Goal Theory provides a framework for understanding students' personal conceptions of ability and how that definition may affect the students' motivation to engage in a particular task/activity, put forth effort in learning or performing the task, and persist at participating in the task or activity. Using this theory as a guide, physical education teachers can use sport psychology to structure the motivational climate of their classes in a manner to influence the students' personal conception of ability by focusing class activities on an individual, self-referenced learning or competitive, other-referenced performance. Meeting the national standards is important as physical education programs are in danger of falling victim to state and local budget cuts in the public school system.

Keywords Achievement Goal Theory; Character Development; Ego / Performance Orientation; Moral Development; Motivation; Motivational Climate; National Standards; Task / Mastery Orientation; Sport Psychology

Overview

Sport psychology can be defined as psychological kinesiology or "the study of the psychological aspects of human movement" (Feltz & Kontos, 2002, p. 5). This definition may be considered broad; however, due to the wide spectrum of sub-disciplines that fall under the umbrella of kinesiology / sport and exercise science, different psychological theories and applications may be appropriately applied to each sub-discipline. Sport psychology, within the context of physical education, involves the application of psychological principles to the learning and teaching methods that are employed in the classroom in order to help motivate students to participate in the physical activities and to utilize these skills to engage in healthy behaviors outside of the classroom setting.

Sport psychology is important to the field of physical education in that components of sport psychology theory and practice can be used to meet curricula standards and learning objectives. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) has set forth recommended content standards for teaching and learning in physical education (NASPE, 2007). The six national standards provide a framework to guide state and local school administration in the development of physical education curricula (NASPE, 2007). Physical education standards are becoming more important as many state departments of education are no longer requiring physical education as part of the public school curriculum or school districts are making budget cuts and reducing the number of physical education teachers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 2011 survey found that only 31% of U.S high school students had daily physical education classes, and only 29% had taken part in at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity in the preceding seven days. Therefore, the National Standards for Physical Education are important not only for guiding curriculum development, but to also demonstrate the purpose of physical education and its academic merit and value as a component of education.

The national standards propose six competencies that a physically educated person demonstrates. Four of the six standards can be directly encouraged by the application of sport psychology theories and techniques to teaching. These four standards address students' 1) Regular engagement in physical activity, 2) Achievement and maintenance of physical fitness that enhances health, 3) Responsible social and personal behavior, and 4) An understanding of the value of physical activity (NASPE, 2007). The use of sport psychology in teaching can assist physical educators in meeting the challenges set forth by the national standards. Without the tools and ability to make steps toward achieving these standards, students are more susceptible to becoming obese, uneducated about how to make healthy lifestyle choices, and are not provided opportunities to discover enjoyable lifetime physical activities. In addition, physical education can enhance other aspects of a student's education, including problem solving (Thorburn & MacAllister, 2013).

Applications

Motivation is a key component necessary for a student to be an active and engaged participant in physical education classes and invested in committing to a physically active lifestyle. Within the physical education context, motivation can be defined as why an individual participates in and persists at engaging in a particular activity or set of behaviors (Weiss & Ferrer-Caja, 2002). Achievement Goal Theory has been used as a framework for exploring motivation in the regular classroom since the 1980's (e.g., Ames & Archer, 1988; Nicholls, 1984, 1989) and since the 1990's in the physical education domain (e.g., Treasure, 1997) (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999; Todorovich & Model, 2005; Treasure & Roberts, 1995; Halvari, Skjesol, & Bagoien, 2011). Achievement Goal Theory addresses the relationship between effort and ability in an achievement setting. The relationship between effort and ability is specific to each individual and determines if the student adopts a task/mastery-orientation or ego / performance-orientation. Within the context of physical education, a student who is task/mastery-oriented, judges his or her ability through self-referenced evaluation and feels successful when he or she puts forth more effort toward an activity or performance (Treasure & Roberts, 1995). The task-oriented student will choose challenging tasks and display greater persistence than those students who are ego / performance-oriented. Ego-oriented students focus on ability and view success as displaying superior ability (as compared to others) in completing a task or performing a skill. Ego-oriented individuals tend to avoid challenging tasks and do not persist as long as those students who are task-oriented (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999; Treasure & Roberts, 1995). These variations or differing goal orientations are attributed to individual differences and situational factors (Papaioannou, Milosis, Kospidou, & Tsigilis, 2007). Ntoumanis, Thoeersen-Ntoumani, and Taylor (2012) found that coach and peer climates focused on task rather than ego produced more adaptive outcomes.

Achievement Goal Theory provides a lens for looking at student motivation in the physical education setting or situation; however, the application of this theory to the classroom setting is addressed through the concept and application of motivational climate. The development and introduction of the concept of motivational climate was not introduced until the late 1980's and early 1990's through the research and theory development conducted by Ames, Nicholls, Dweck and Leggett (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999; Todorovich & Model, 2005). The motivational climate, as it relates to the classroom setting, can be defined as the social climate that is created by important social factors (e.g., the teacher) as it relates to perspectives on achievement (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999; Treasure & Roberts, 1995). Researchers have suggested that a student's dispositional goal orientation or goal involvement (i.e., task/mastery or ego/performance) in combination with the social climate will determine the meaning of achievement and affect behavioral patterns in the educational setting (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999). A task/mastery orientation is fostered through the development of a classroom motivational climate that focuses on self-improvement and acquiring skill; whereas a climate that focuses on comparing oneself to others' performances and ability fosters an ego/performance-involvement or orientation. Through the development of a task-oriented motivational climate, physical education teachers can effectively work toward developing and attaining students who meet the national standards related to the motivation to engage in physical activity and to achieve, maintain, and value physical fitness.

Sport psychology concepts and application to physical education can also be used in the development of students who meet the national standard of becoming socially and personally responsible. Since the 1970's researchers, practitioners, and theorists have examined and argued for the use of physical education as domain ripe for character education (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995); however, the belief that character could be developed through participation in physical activity goes back to Plato (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). In the 19th century, British private schools connected the development of moral virtue and character to students' participation in leisurely, amateur sport (Shields, & Bredemeier, 1995). This opportunity for students to develop character and become socially and personally responsible through their physical education experiences can be structured and built into the class environment through psychological reinforcement. Compassion, fairness, sports-personship, and integrity are four components of character that can become a part of moral/character education through physical education. Compassion can be learned through the process of role-taking, perspective-taking, and empathy in physical education (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). A student may learn what causes harm and fear, which fosters empathy and can learn to take on a new role or perspective through specific assignments (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). Fairness can be developed through physical education with the introduction to hypothetical and actual moral dilemmas in the structured class environment (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). Physical education teachers can also design their classes so that they assist in developing sports-personship by creating a task-oriented motivational climate, where emphasis is placed on self-reference improvement and success. Integrity is another component of character education that can be promoted through physical education. Teachers can promote a sense of autonomy and problem-solving skills within the social context, which in turn help foster integrity (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995).

Motivational theory and application and character and moral development are areas of sport psychology that are applied to the physical education setting in an effort to improve and foster student development both physically and psychologically. The National Standards of Physical Education as set forth by NASPE provide a set of guidelines for what physical education should focus on in order to achieve a learning environment in which students are developing skills to keep them physically active over a lifetime. Through the implementation of sport psychology theory and methods, teachers can foster students' motivation to maintain the activity over a lifespan and their social and personal responsibility.

Viewpoints

TARGET / Motivational Climate

Motivational climate may be utilized in the classroom as a framework in which to create a learning environment focused on either enhancing or promoting task/mastery-oriented or a mastery/performance-oriented climate (Treasure & Roberts, 1995). Manipulating the climate allows for the teacher to have an influence on his or her students' effort, behavior, and emotions in the physical education setting (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999). Ames (1992) asserted that a task-orientation could be fostered in students by creating a motivational climate that emphasizes self-improvement and skill learning by what a teacher says and does within the classroom. Creating and manipulating the classroom climate or situation to emphasize a task/mastery climate can be done through the implementation of the TARGET structure. Ames (1992) proposed and described six components or factors in the classroom setting that a teacher has control over and may manipulate in order to influence students' goal involvement and behavioral patterns in the classroom. These factors include:

(a) The Task students are asked to perform,

(b) The amount of Authority students are allowed,

(c) The way in which Rewards are given to students,

(d) How students are Grouped,

(e) How students are Evaluated, and

(f) The amount of Time they allow students to complete or learn a task (Todorovich & Model, 2005).

Teachers may manipulate these areas of their classroom structure and influence the students' perception of either a task-involving or ego-involving physical education classroom climate. For example, a task-involving climate would provide students the opportunity to:

• Complete assignments following their own short-term goals

• Choose their own equipment and task to complete while monitoring and evaluating their own performance

• Keeping rewards and recognition and evaluation private and between the teacher and student as well as self-referenced

• Groups remain flexible and heterogeneous

• Time allowed and spent on task is flexible based on students' own goals and improvement (Todorovich & Model, 2005)

On the other hand, an ego-involving climate can be employed or described through the TARGET components by creating a classroom environment where all students work on the same task or assignment as outlined and designed by the teacher, all activity set-up and student evaluation is teacher-driven, all recognition and progress is public and norm-referenced, and time limits are predetermined and strictly adhered to (Todorovich & Model, 2005).

Researchers have sought and continue to investigate the impact of manipulating the motivational climate in the physical education setting and its impact on the students' perceptions of the classroom climate as its relates to the emphasis on learning or performance (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999). Several questionnaires have been developed to assess the students' perceptions as well as change in the motivational climate; however the reliability and validity of using each of these questionnaires across all physical education classes world-wide has not been firmly established. Some of the measures that are considered to show potential for measuring motivational climates include Papaionnou's Physical Education Classes Questionnaire (for Greek students) and Biddle and his colleagues' Perception of Motivational Climate Scale (for French students) (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999). Further exploration and measure development needs to be conducted with measures for English speaking students (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999). The development of such a measure will provide researchers the necessary tools to conduct research in the area of motivational climate in physical education classes that will lend further support to manipulating the motivational climate in the classroom toward a task/mastery-involved climate and for utilizing the TARGET structure.

By designing classroom activities and the classroom climate in a manner that adheres to the guidelines of the TARGET structure to create a task-involving climate, teachers have reported concerns about experiencing a sense of losing control over their classroom and students' behavior (Todorovich & Model, 2005). The perceived loss of control may be attributed to teachers allowing the students to make choices about their activities and a less restrictive environment (Todorovich & Model, 2005). Other concerns that teachers have about employing a mastery/task-oriented motivational climate include assessment of students, student behavior, safety with increased freedom, and the ability to learn and incorporate potentially new task-involving teaching methods while experiencing pressure and meeting the expectations of achieving the national, state or local standards in the physical education setting (Todorovich & Model, 2005). A special issue of the journal, Teaching Elementary Physical Education (January 2005) has been published that focuses on promoting and creating a task-involved motivational climate for students. This special issue provides teachers with more practical applications and examples of how to successfully incorporate a task-involved environment into the physical education setting, as well as provides suggestions for teachers in how to cope with changes in their classroom environment while still maintaining a sense of control over the students' learning and behavior.

Character Development / Moral Education

Character and moral education is not a process inherent to the physical education setting. In order to foster the development of character and morality, the social climate must be structured in a manner that is conducive to creating social interactions that are beneficial and effective toward developing and enhancing students' moral and character development (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). In order to promote moral character through the physical education venue there are several contextual variables that are recommended for attention. These activities may include the following:

• Creating opportunities for students to work together in a cooperative manner in order to achieve a common task or purpose

• Establish group meetings for students to engage in dialogue about the appropriate group norms

• Encouraging students to recognize their classmates' rights

• Providing students opportunities to have a sense of autonomy and power over their own learning (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995)

Each of these activities enhances students' sense of community, perspective-taking, empathy, moral reasoning, and social problem-solving (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995).

Physical education teachers may also incorporate moral themes into the curriculum. In order to integrate moral themes into the curriculum, Shields and Bredemeier (1995) recommend several curricular modifications, including the:

• Discussion of the moral aspects of new activities in order for students to explore the moral issues inherent in a specific activity

• Rotation of students through multiple activities or roles in a particular activity in order to experience multiple vantage points

• Utilization of cooperative games and peer-teaching, incorporate hypothetical moral dilemmas into class activities

• Discussion of physical games and sports and the rules in the context of existing for moral balance

• Opportunity for students to establish and prioritize their values

• Encouragement of autonomy and built-in situations where students have to practice their social problem-solving skills and negotiate perspectives.

It is also recommended that physical education teachers act as role-models to their students by displaying the same moral virtues they wish their students to adopt, assist students in the reasoning processes about rules, utilize democracy in the class, and make use of small group activities as much as possible to encourage maximum participation (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). Each of these strategies complements the contextual and curricular-based strategies aimed at moral and character education.

The physical education setting is one that is unique to formal public-education in that it provides a context in which games, physical skill, risk, and challenges are ordinary. This type of learning environment presents teachers and students with multiple opportunities to engage students in dialogue about the reasoning process behind behaviors within the physical education class and how it transfers into their social and personal lives outside of the physical education class setting.

Opponents of character education within the physical activity setting focus on the competitive sport domain. Sport is viewed, by these opponents, to develop individuals who, for example, learn to cheat, face legal trouble, and are afforded special privileges that impede their development (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). While these arguments are focused on character development in the sport domain, the view that character and moral education may not transfer outside of the sport context can be applied to the physical education setting. Opponents question whether students can understand the moral concepts and skills they are learning in the physical education context and successfully apply these lessons to situations outside of the physical education context (e.g., less structured physical activity environment, classroom, at home).

Sport psychology can play an important role in creating a productive, positive, and educational environment in physical education classes. Teachers can incorporate sport psychology theory and practice through the manipulation of the motivational climate and the addition of a character education program. By creating a motivational climate that emphasizes learning and self-referenced success, teachers are able to create an environment where students are more likely to focus on learning and improvement rather than performing better than their classmates. This focus on learning and improvement encourages students to persist at the tasks and to engage in physical activities in and out of the school environment. Teachers may also integrate components of character education into classroom activities to foster students' character and moral development by effectively and purposefully constructing the social environment in a manner that is conducive to students learning to take on others' perspectives. Sport psychology theory and practice provides physical educators the teaching tools that can be incorporated into the curriculum to help their students commit to engaging in physical activity both in and out of the classroom as well as to be successful in their social and personal lives.

Terms & Concepts

Achievement Goal Theory: Theory of motivation that considers the individual's conception of ability as well as personal and situational factors that influence the meaning that is attached to successful or unsuccessful experiences.

Character Development/Education: The fostering of personal qualities or virtues that facilitate the consistent display of moral action (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995).

National Standards: Content standards for physical education curricula set forth by the National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).

Motivation: Choice, effort and persistence to engage in a particular activity or task.

Motivational Climate: The psychological climate in a learning environment that addresses what goal-reward structure (i.e., mastery goals-individual rewards or performance goals-competitive rewards) is emphasized.

Task / Mastery-Orientation: Goal orientation that is centered on learning, self-referenced assessment of ability, and individual-based rewards.

Ego / Performance-Orientation: Goal orientation that is centered on performance, other-reference assessment of ability, and competitive-based rewards.

Sport Psychology: The application of psychological principles to the teaching methods employed in order to help motivate students to participate in physical activities and to utilize those skills to engage in healthy behaviors.

Bibliography

Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 261-271.

Feltz, D. L. & Konos, A. P. (2002). The nature of sport psychology. In T. Horn (Ed.), Advances in sport psychology (pp.3-20). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Halvari, H., Skjesol, K. and Bagoien, T.E. (2011, Feb.). Motivational climates, achievement goals, and physical education outcomes: A longitudinal test of Achievement Goal Theory. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 55 , p. 79-104. Retrieved December 29, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=58005482&site=ehost-live

National Association for Sport and Physical Education, (2007). NASPE sets the standard. American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. Retrieved March 21, 2007, from http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/template.cfm?template=publications-nationalstandards.html

Ntoumanis, N. & Biddle, S. J. H. (1999). A review of motivational climate in physical activity. Journal of Sport Sciences, 17, 643.-665.

Ntoumanis, N, Thoeersen-Ntoumani, C., and Taylor, I.A. (2012, Jan.). A longitudinal examination of coach and peer motivational climates in youth sport: Implications for moral attitudes, well-being, and behavioral investment. Developmental psychology 48 , p. 213-223. Retrieved December 29, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=70531889&site=ehost-live

Papaionnou, A. G., Milosis, D., Kosmidou, E., Tsigilis, N. (2007). Motivational climate and achievement goals at the situational level of generality. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 19 , 16-37.

Shields, D. L. & Bredemeier, B. J. (1995). Character development and physical activity. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Thorburn, M., and MacAllister, J. (2013, Oct.). Dewey, interest, and well-being: Prospects for improving the educational value of physical education. Quest 65 , p. 458-468. Retrieved December 29, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=91536933&site=ehost-live

Todorovich, J. R. & Model, E. D. (2005, January). The TARGET approach to motivating students. Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 16, 8-10. Retrieved March 21, 2007, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=15672181&site=ehost-live

Treasure, D. C. & Roberts, G. C. (1995). Applications of achievement goal theory to physical education: Implications for enhancing motivation. QUEST, 47 , 475-489.

van de Pol, P.K.C., Kavussanu, M. and Ring, C. (2012, Dec.). The effects of training and competition on achievement goals, motivational responses, and performance in a golf-putting task. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology 34 , p. 787-807. Retrieved December 29, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=83863592&site=ehost-live

Weiss, M. R. & Ferrer-Caja, E. (2002). Motivational orientations in sport behavior. In T. Horn (Ed.), Advances in sport psychology (pp. 101-184). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Suggested Reading

Duda, J. L. (1988). Toward a developmental theory of motivation in sport. Journal of Sport Psychology, 9, 130-145.

Dweck, C. S. & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256-273.

Hellison, D. (1983). Teaching self-responsibility (and more). Journal of Physical, Education, Recreation, and Dance, 54, 23, 28.

Nicholls, J. G. (1984). Achievement motivations: Conceptions of ability, subjective experience, task choice, and performance. Psychological Review, 91, 328-346.

Prusack, K. A. (2005, January). Assessing students in the task-involved motivational climate. Teaching elementary physical education, p. 11-17.

Romance, T. J. (1988). Promoting character development in physical education. Strategies, 1, 16-17.

Romance, T. J., Weiss, M. R., & Bockhoven, J. (1986). A program to promote moral development through elementary school physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 5, p. 126-136.