What we have learned through research in sports psychology | Science

Since the beginning of this century, computer analysis of athletic statistics has become commonplace to guide a baseball manager's pinch hitter selection, a football coach's decision to punt or pass, or a basketball team's discussion of whether to trade a star player. I did. Draft picks.

But many sports experts who actually watch the games know that the secret to success lies not just in a computer database, but in the minds of the players. So perhaps psychologists can provide as much insight into exercise outcomes as statisticians.

After all, sports psychology has been around much longer than computer analysis. Psychological research on sports appeared as early as the second half of the 19th century. From the 1970s to his 1980s, sports psychology became a rich field of research. And over the past decade or so, research in sports psychology has exploded as scientists study the nuances of everything from the pursuit of perfection to the harms of abusive coaching.

“Sport permeates cultures, continents and indeed many aspects of daily life,” said Mark Beecham, Alan Kingston and Nikos Ntumanis, authors of the 2023 Sport Psychology Research Overview. he writes. Annual Review of Psychology.

Their review examined results from approximately 150 papers that investigated various psychological influences on athletic performance and success. “This body of research sheds light on the diverse ways in which psychological processes contribute to athletic effort,” the authors write. In addition to improving athletic performance, such research could also provide insight into the psychological influences on success in other fields, from education to the military, they say. Knowledge of psychology can help you be more competitive under pressure, evaluate the benefits of pursuing perfection, and evaluate the pluses and minuses of high self-confidence.

confidence and suffocation

In sports, high self-confidence (technical term: increased self-efficacy) is generally considered a positive. Baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan once said: “You have to have a lot of confidence to be successful in this game.” Many baseball managers agree that a batter who lacks confidence in a particular pitcher is unlikely to reach first base. Probably.

And a number of psychological studies actually support that view, suggesting that promoting confidence is a useful strategy. However, confident athletes appear to perform better than those suffering from self-doubt, suggesting that overconfidence can be harmful for certain athletes. There is also research. Artificially inflated self-confidence, unchecked by honest feedback, can cause players to “inadequately allocate resources based on overestimates of their abilities,” Beecham and colleagues write. . In other words, overconfidence may lead to underachievement.

Other studies have shown that high self-confidence is typically most helpful in the most difficult situations (such as attempting a 60-yard field goal), but less helpful in simpler tasks (such as kicking an extra point). I am.

Of course, the ease with which you kick long field goals and extra points depends largely on the stress of the situation. When time is running out and the stakes are high, everyday play can become an anxiety-inducing, dangerous ordeal. Beauchamp and his co-authors report that psychological research clearly establishes that athletes often exhibit “decreased performance under pressure-inducing situations” (technical term: “choking”). are doing.

In general, stress negatively affects not only movement guidance, but also perceptual abilities and decision-making. On the other hand, it is also true that certain elite athletes perform best under high stress. “There is also insightful evidence that some of the most successful performers actually seek out and exploit the anxiety-provoking situations posed by high-pressure sports to thrive,” the authors note. do. Just ask Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

Many studies have investigated the psychological coping strategies athletes use to maintain focus and ignore distractions in high-pressure situations. One of his popular methods is a technique known as the “quiet eye.” Research has shown that basketball players attempting free throws are more likely to make a successful free throw by maintaining a “longer, steady gaze” at the basket before shooting.

“A recent systematic review of interventions designed to reduce so-called choking identified quiet eye training as one of the most effective approaches,” Beauchamp and co-authors wrote.

Another common way to deal with stress is “self-talk.” This is an instructional or motivational phrase that players say to themselves to improve their performance. For example, marathon runners can self-motivate themselves by saying, “I can do it” and “I feel great.” If you say, “Watch the ball,” a baseball batter might get a hit.

Researchers found that self-talk strategies were moderately effective for both novice and experienced athletes, Beauchamp et al. Various studies suggest that self-talk can increase confidence, improve concentration, control emotions, and take effective action.

Moderate performance benefits have also been reported with other techniques to counter stress, such as biofeedback and perhaps meditation and relaxation training.

“Stress regulation interventions appear to be a promising means of supporting athletes in the face of performance-related stressors,” Beauchamp and co-authors concluded.

pursuit of perfect athletic ability

Of course, sports psychology encompasses much more than just the impact on confidence and dealing with pressure. For example, many athletes set the goal of achieving perfection, but such efforts can cause harmful psychological pressure. One analysis found that athletes who pursue purely personal high standards generally achieve superior performance. However, when people were motivated by perfectionism due to fear of criticism from others, their performance decreased.

Similarly, while some coaching strategies can help players perform, several studies have shown that abusive coaching can harm performance even for the rest of a player's career.

Beacham and his collaborators conclude that a range of psychological factors and strategies can contribute to success in sports. And these factors may also apply to other areas of human activity where suffocation can impair performance (for example, while performing brain surgery or flying a fighter jet).

However, the authors also point out that researchers should not ignore the need to consider that performance in sports is also influenced by the adversarial nature of competition. A pitcher's psychological strategies that work against most batters may not work as well against, say, Shohei Ohtani.

In addition to that, sports psychology research (much like computer-based analysis) relies on statistics. As Adolphe Quetelet, the pioneer of social statistics, emphasized in his 19th century, statistics do not define individuals, and life expectancy does not tell us when a particular person will die. On the other hand, he pointed out that there are no exceptional cases that invalidate the general conclusions from sound statistical analysis.

In fact, all sports are about individuals (or teams) seeking to defeat their opponents. Success often requires going against the odds. That's why gambling on sporting events is such big business. Sports consist of a competition between averages and exceptions, and neither computer analysis nor psychological science can tell in advance who will win. That's why they play games.

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