Sport Psych Time:

Topic: Aggression 1

(MUST) Find definitions for hostile aggression, instrumental aggression & assertion

(SHOULD) Know the 4(5) criteria for aggression

(COULD) give a sporting example of hostile aggression, instrumental aggression & assertion

Attitudes Lesson Summary

There are 3 components of an attitude - Cognitive (knowledge about the attitude object), Affective (emotions or feelings) and Behavioural (intent how to behave or actual behaviour). 

Attitudes can be measured in the 3 usual ways: Interview, Observation and Questionnaires.

Attitudes are entirely learnt, they are not natural. We learn them from significant others: parents, peers, role models, teachers and coaches. We can also learn them from past experiences and the media.

There are 2 main methods of changing a bad attitude: Persuasive Communication & Cognitive Dissonance. 
Persuasive Communication has 4 main factors in order to be effective. 1. Persuader should be respected or of high status or a role model. 2. Message should be pitched at correct level and be balanced between emotion and logic. 3. Recipient must be willing to listen 4. Situation can help influence e.g. if others are present   
Cognitive Dissonance aims to create dissonance or conflict between the 3 components of the attitude by changing 1 of the components. Cognitive part can be changed by giving the recipient new facts or knowledge. Affective part can be changed by making the experience fun or enjoyable. Behavioural part can be changed by giving reinforcement for positive behaviour. 

Attitudes screencast

Attributions Lesson Summary

Weiner's model 
2 dimensions - Locus of Causality (Internal / External) & Locus of Stability (Stable / Unstable)
4 groups - Ability (Internal / Stable); Task Difficulty (External / Stable); Effort (Internal / Unstable); Luck (External / Unstable)

High Naf performers would tend to attribute success to External-Unstable factors (Luck) & failure to Internal-Stable factors (Lack of Ability). This leads to the performer being in a state of Learned Helplessness - a feeling that failure is inevitable. This can lead to the performer giving up, even when success is possible. There are 2 types of Learned Helplessness - Global: you think you are bad at all sports & Specific: you think you are bad at a specific sport or skill.

Coaches can try to avoid Learned Helplessness through Attribution Retraining - trying to get the performer to give better attributions than those above. There are two main methods of doing this. 1. Controllable (Internal-Unstable) attributions such as effort are good in success or failure as the performer will strive to work hard in the future. 2. Self-serving Bias protects a performer's confidence by attributing failure to External-Unstable factors such as luck and success to Internal-Stable factors such as ability.

Attributions lesson:

Attributions lesson:

Attributions lesson: