Intrinsic Motivation and Excessive Procrastination
Motivation is a popular topic, not just in sport psychology. Previous posts have talked about sport motivation, so today we are going to take a wider view of motivation and incorporate some neuroscience. Then we will take a quick look at procrastination.
Sleep and the Brain
Sleep is essential in our lives! I believe that science has sufficiently proved that and, frankly, many of us could speak it from our own experiences. Caregivers raising children and missing sleep have trouble focusing the next day. Students who stay up all night finishing a big paper struggling to stay awake and learn the next day. What about the athlete who stays up all night before a big game and sees a dip in their performance? Chances are we can all agree that sleep is a need that we all have. It is also suicide prevention. This week’s post will have some neuroscience in it, which you can skip, but will also talk about how the brain controls sleep, reasons people need sleep and dreams.
Perceptual Learning
Perceptual learning is a learning process that happens via experience and practice leading to long term improvements in one’s ability to perceive and interpret sensory information. Here are two examples. The first is a musician learning to distinguish between the subtle differences between musical pitches. The second is a soccer player learning to pay attention to an opponent's hip articulation in their movements, which represents experience-dependent enhancement of sensory perception.
Neurons and Synapses
Neurons and synapses. Oh my! Yes, I did go there. Hopefully, you smiled for a quick second. Over the past few weeks, we have spent some time talking about neuroscience, brain structures, etc., but we haven’t gotten to the cellular level to talk about how the brain sends information. Today we are going to rectify this and talk about the cells of the brain and cover a brief introduction about how they communicate.
What is Consciousness?
The answer to what is consciousness is beyond what can be written in this blog post. Scientists, philosophers, and many individuals have attempted to answer this question and still continue. There is so much that we could talk about and many questions that have yet to be answered. While we cannot come to a definitive answer, we can begin the conversation in hopes of inspiring you to learn more on your own time. Ask questions! Explore! Get curious!
Diving Into The Brain Part 3: Explanation of How Language and Emotion May Interact Behaviorally and Neurologically and Cultural Considerations
In daily life emotions, language, behavior, and how they interact, show up for all of us. When I think about how a bully and their words can impact a young child who may then feel sad, upset, or angry. The bullying victim then takes steps based on what they are feeling. How a person talks to themselves and the language that they pick can impact and motions and thereby behavior. The examples could continue. There is power in the language that we use!
Diving Into The Brain Part 2: Emotions
In last week’s post we explored the brain in relation to language. This week we will do something similar and look at the brain and emotions! Before we dive into this post, it is important to remember that, while we are talking about the brain in relation to emotions, emotions are also very much felt in the body as well. This will be a post for the future where we look at the role of the body in emotions because of how important it is to look at that perspective. Believe me when I say it is very important to consider the body’s role as much research has been done and many fields of psychology utilize the body’s role in healing.
Diving Into The Brain Part 1: Language Generation and Comprehension
For the next three weeks we will be diving into the brain. Exploring and talking about the brain is a passion of mine and, since it is a topic that is related to mental health and sport and performance psychology, it was time to dive in. This week we will look at the area of the brain involved in language. Next week we will look at the areas of the brain involved in emotion. In the final week the threads will come together and we will look at how language and emotion may be connected and feature a discussion about issues related to culture and diversity.
What is the Difference Between Self-Worth, Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence, and Self-Efficacy
The concepts of self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-efficacy tend to get thrown around a lot and often interchangeably. And yet, they mean different things. Furthermore, how one works to address these different concepts is also different. Thus, it is worth taking the time to break these down.
Psychological Factors and Sport Injuries: What a Sport and Performance Professional Can Do? Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, there was a big information dump. This post picks up with an example. Hopefully, there has been enough time between the two posts to allow for different thought processes to occur to help with integrating the material. Let’s remind ourselves where we are headed. The example that we will discuss today is of a female-identifying athlete with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to help demonstrate the nuance required of a sport and performance professional (SPP) to help an injured athlete.
Eating Disorders in Male Athletes
There has been a lot of focus on female-identifying athletes and eating disorders. While necessary and important, it is essential to not forget about male athletes. They are also susceptible to eating disorders.
Sexual Orientation Stigma in Sports
There are often topics in sport and sport psychology that are challenging to discuss given that, in many ways, sport is a microcosm of the larger culture. That said, many athletes remain silent about important issues and aspects of their lives, such as sexual orientation. So what can be done by sport and performance professionals (SPPs) to support athletes who continue to hide this aspect of their lives in order to continue to play?
Psychological Factors and Sport Injuries: What Can a Sport and Performance Professional Do? Part 1
When looking at the topic of injuries and injury prevention and rehabilitation, much must be attended to to provide the best care to an athlete. Sport injury risk is multifactorial, and any prevention program must account for this nature (Gledhill et al., 2018).
Designing a Rehabilitation Program: Things to Think About
There are many different factors associated with injury and the rehabilitation process. It is not a linear and straight forward journey. Many of us could agree that we wish it was! Referral, adherence, and modeling are essential concepts to consider in the process when building a rehabilitation training program. However, there are other considerations that need to be included to support adherence, for example.
Returning to the Sport You Love
Returning to the sport you love from a serious injury can be challenging, as there are many physical and psychological factors to consider. This post focuses on three psychological factors pulled from self-determination theory (SDT) that a sport and performance professional (SPP) and an athlete may want to address.
Mental Preparation for Adolescents Before the Big Game, Meet, or Race
It’s the week before a big game, meet, or race. What can you do mentally prepare? This post focuses on adolescents, but many of the ideas are applicable to adult athletes as well. Additionally, there are so many more to consider. This post just has three to get you started.
Team Cohesion - Task and Social Cohesion
Team cohesion is a common topic in many fields. Chances are that many of us are familiar with team cohesion in the work place, for example. Team cohesion in sports is another great example and a place to explore. Thus, this post aims to look at task cohesion and social cohesion to discuss the interplay between both types of cohesion as it relates to building effective team performances.
Barriers for Sport and Performance Consultants
Sport and performance consults exist within the world of psychology. They also exist within the world of sports. Both of these worlds introduce challenges for how a sport and performance consult can be introduced into the picture to help athletes. What is identified in this post about barriers for sport and performance consults hopes to illuminate some of these barriers and suggests ways that these barriers can potentially be overcome.
Introducing Self-Compassion Within a Team
It is no secret that I believe in the power of self-compassion with it comes to sport and performance psychology. Many times the question that is asked is if self-compassion hampers the competitive edge. The answer is no. Self-compassion does not mean that you can't push yourself and acknowledge your mistakes. Rather, it means that you do not tear yourself down when you are pushing yourself. It is counterproductive to tear yourself down when you need to build self-efficacy and self-confidence.
Injury Prevention Using Stress Management, Goal Setting, and Self-Confidence
Stress management, goal setting, and self-confidence all have a role in helping to reduce injuries. Though it needs to be kept in mind that sport injury risk is multifactorial, and that any injury prevention program needs to account for this nature (Gledhill et al., 2018).