The Psychology of Sport: Motivation, Emotion, and Behavior
The Psychology of Sport
12. Reasons for Participating in Sport
Primary Reasons
Sports influence behavior through factors related to the sport itself: the game and the agonist. The game is closely linked to sport. Gutmann defines sport as an organized, competitive game focused on physical activity. We should consider the game as a non-productive (separate from utilitarian or work-related), fantastical (unreal, not serious, holiday-like), and pleasant (freely chosen entertainment) human activity. The game is a key component of sport. The enjoyment of the game can last until old age, offering a necessary break from seriousness for both children and adults.
Agonism (man competing against others and nature) is another primary reason. Competition in sport is playful, fostering camaraderie and loyalty, unlike real-world competition, which involves domination or elimination. Sport is ritualized, like a tournament. Pure sport models emphasize fun and non-professional productivity, contrasting with work’s seriousness and pay. However, as professional sport gains popularity, athletes may adopt similar behaviors, blurring the lines between ritualistic and real competition.
Secondary Reasons
These reasons are not focused on the sport itself but on accompanying expressions, also found in non-sporting practices. Many young people engage in sport for these secondary reasons, which can impact athletic performance. Coaches should be aware of these motivations.
Psychobiological Factors
- Homeostasis: Coordinated physiological processes maintain stable functions for internal stability (seeking balance through motor discharge in sport).
- Autoplastic factors: Body growth and nervous system maturation favor motor skills, potentially creating a drive for sport. These factors are not universal, explained as constitutional tendencies.
- Biotypological ratings: Kretschemer (muscularly athletic biotype) and Sheldon (mesomorphic somatotype) suggest physical predispositions.
Psychological Factors
- Affective reasons: Enjoyment of emotions and feelings.
- Communicative reasons: Sports and media contact.
- Emulative reasons: Imitating adult and elite sports figures.
- Individualizing reasons: Sport allows individuals to feel active and direct.
- Cathartic reasons: Releasing accumulated tension and aggressive energies.
- Aesthetic reasons: Appreciation of movement, beauty, and technical skill.
Socio-Cultural Factors
- Membership: Joining a social group, especially for those experiencing social isolation.
- Social approval: Sport’s positive value brings conformity, admiration, and support.
- Economic factors: Financial benefits.
- Social mobility: Economic power enables social climbing, aided by sports.
Psychopathological Factors
- Compensation for inferiority feelings.
- Power-seeking as opposition to others.
- Narcissism: Developing and promoting body image.
- Demonstration of manhood.
Salvini and Antonelli suggest that secondary motivations explain both the initiation and abandonment of sport for many, as once the motivating factor is achieved, the goal is met.
13. Reasons for Starting, Maintaining, and Abandoning Sport
Starting
- Knowledge about exercise and health.
- Athletic body constitution.
- Self-sufficiency.
- High socioeconomic status (equipment and facilities).
- Parental sports behavior.
- Desire for fitness.
- Youth (though this is changing).
Maintaining
- Available time.
- Family support.
- Enjoyment of exercise.
- Group cohesion.
- Moderate-intensity programs.
Abandoning
- Unrealistic expectations.
- Negative emotional states (anxiety, depression).
- Smoking.
14. Sports Motivation in Relation to Age and Sex
While youth is a factor in starting sport, this is changing as older populations engage. Men tend to participate for fun and social interaction, while women prioritize health and fitness. Women are more likely to abandon sport due to time constraints.
15. Emotions and Affective Life
Affective feelings are pleasant or unpleasant experiences related to life situations. Thoughts provide data and knowledge, while feelings are the emotional states caused by data, situations, and thoughts. Thoughts are guided by the brain (rational, objective), while feelings are emotional, irrational, and subjective.
Levels of Feelings (Max Scheler)
- Sense feelings: Bodily sensations with pleasant or unpleasant aspects.
- Life feelings: Diffuse bodily experiences like comfort and discomfort.
- Psychic feelings: Mental states motivated by events (joy, sadness).
- Spiritual feelings: Significant experiences like happiness and love.
Forms of Manifestation
: + Emotions: feelings of acute or trigger occurring quickly and reach great intensity. They are accompanied by shock body (somatic expression that conveys the autonomic nervous system and endocrine). Are distinguished: pallor, flushing of the face … Polygraph was detected. + MOODS: feelings very durable, stable and persistent a provision that for some time takes the individual. Can change due to changes in the environment or circumstances. + PASSIONS: feelings that distort the subject’s ideas about certain issues giving rise to overvalued ideas (at the center of individual conscience and govern your thinking and behavior). It gives a lot in sports field practitioners and the public.