Personality in Sport and Physical Activity

Personality Definition

Personality is the overall pattern of psychological

characteristics that makes each person unique.

Personality Research
Individuals
Personality

Performance

Sport
Participation

Individuals
Personality

individual differences

Psychological Approaches to Personality

Personality Traits or Dispositions

Traits: relatively stable, highly consistent
attributes that exert widely generalized causal
effects on behaviour (the BIG 5)

Trait theories imply:

Consistency of behaviour from one situation to
the next
Generalizability of behaviour between contexts

Psychological Approaches to Personality

State/situational theory-attributes related to a

particular time, environment and/or situation

Psychological approaches (cont)

Psychodynamic: Behavior is determined by a

number of unconscious, constantly changing
factors that often conflict with one another.
-understand the person as a whole, rather than
identifying isolated traits

Psychological Approaches (cont.)

Interactionist Approach

Most preferred approach among personality

psychologists today

Hollanders Structure of
Personality

Typical
Responses

Role Related
Behavior
Psychological
Core

The Measurement of Personality

Rating Scales
Interview
Observation of Performance

The Measurement of Personality

Unstructured Projective Techniques

Rorschach Test

The Measurement of Personality

Unstructured Projective Techniques

Rorschach Test
TAT

The Measurement of Personality

Structured Questionnaires
MMPI
Cattell 16 PF

Guidelines for measuring personality

1. The purpose of the research dictates the measurement
technique e.g., Is the research designed to understand an individual
in depth or is it to compare two large groups.

2 Use sport specific measures vs. general measures e.g., anxiety

3 Determine if you are measuring a trait or a state - feelings
change before, during and after competition
4 Use several measures for cross validation

Measuring personality

It is often more effective to compare personality

test scores to an individuals own previous test
results than to group norms.
Projective tests are interesting but difficult to score
Situation-specific trait tests predict behavior more
accurately than do general trait measures

Sport specific psychological skills

Shift to personality measures that reflect sport

specific psychological skills/characteristics:
Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports (PSIS)
Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI)
Athlete Motivation Inventory (AMI)

Comparatively little research in area

The Athletic Motivation Inventory

AMI questions fall into three categories

Desire to be successful in athletics
Ability to withstand the emotional stress of
competition
Dedication to the coach and sport

When I was young, I thought about breaking a

sports record
I rarely think that training rules inhibit my
personal freedom
I seldom stay after practice to work out

Personality Research
Mental Health Model
Profile of Mood States (POMS)
- tension, depression, anger,
vigor, fatigue, & confusion

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Line 1

Tension

Depression

Anger

Vigor

Fatigue

Confusion

41

43

48

64

45

33

Big 5 Personality Traits

Elite Athletes vs. Lower Levels of Competition

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Openness

Neuroticism

Conscientiousness

Gravitational Hypothesis - Do the

people who play specific sports have
similar indications of their personality
or does sport participation affect
personality?
Stereotypes??
Three hypotheses
Attrition Model:
Selection Model:
Change Model:

Player Position & Personality Profile

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