From Mark H Anshell

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Chapter 3 Motivating Athletes (Dos and Donts)

• From Mark H Anshells book Sport Psychology

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Typical Examples of motivation in sport

• Intimidation
• Threats
• Criticism
• Guilt
• Physical Abuse

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• Purpose of this chapter
• It is to offer a scientific basis for motivation
  and to recommend strategies that will favorably
  influence the athletes feelings and actions.

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What is Motivation?

• Motivation is defined as the tendency for the
  direction and selectivity of behavior to be
  controlled by its connections to consequences,
  and the tendency of this behavior to persist
  until a goal is achieved.
•  
• Direction of Motivation refers to the purpose
  and the desired actions of the activity.
•  
• Selectivity of Behavior Deciding which tasks to
  perform
•  
• Purpose of Motivation is to prolong desirable
  feelings and actions of athletes.

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What is Motivation?

• Use coaching Strategies that make physical
  fitness fun and enjoyable
•  
• For athletes to feel motivated, they should be
  involved in an activity in which they can achieve
  short term and long term goals.
•  
• Purpose of Goals provide direction for effort
  and the incentive to persist and achieve.
•  

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What is Motivation?

• Motive is the individuals anticipation of
  meeting some goal.
•  
• It is the function of how important the athlete
  considers the consequences of certain actions and
  how strongly the performer desires (approach
  motive) or resist (avoidance motive) these
  ramifications.
•  
• Most Challenging Motivational Task Is for
  coaches to motivate every team member, and
  athletes to motivate themselves, by feeling that
  the performers efforts will lead to meeting
  desirable goals (expectancy).

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What is Motivation?

• Coach can foster incentive in an athlete by
  pointing out the specific ways in which certain
  behaviors can lead to goals and outcomes that the
  performer finds meaningful.
•  
• Athletes can improve incentive by engaging in
  activities they find pleasant and have realistic
  expectations.
•  
• Make Goals Realistic

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Sources of Motivation

• Motivation is not simply a matter of personality
  type. Rather, there are likely a set of personal
  characteristics and situational factors that
  foster motivation, separately and jointly.

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Sources of Motivation

• Participant Centered View or trait centered view
•  
• Holds that if individuals do not have what it
  takes to reach goals and perform at their best,
  there is nothing anyone can do to make this
  happen.
•  
• Individual desire is the first and foremost
  characteristic of motivation.

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Sources of Motivation

• Participant Centered View or trait centered view
• Personal attributes that separate more motivated
  Ind. from less motivated Ind.
• High level of need achievement
• Goal orientation
• Self confidence
• Competence
• Optimism
• Positive expectancies
• Competitiveness (particularly in skilled
  athletes)

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Sources of Motivation

• Situational View
•  
• This View holds that personal attributes are
  insufficient predictors of motivation.
• Individuals with high propensity to be motivated
  will not exhibit this characteristic unless the
  situation of environment fosters it.
• Main Limitation of the situational view
  situations DO NOT always influence a competitors
  motivation. Some situations are quite unpleasant
  yet some athletes remain motivated despite
  negative experiences or negative environments.

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Sources of Motivation

• Interaction View
•  
• This View Holds Motivation results from the
  combination of personal and situational factors
• Motivation is more likely if individual possesses
  certain characteristics and if they are in a
  situation that is supportive of and nurtures
  their desires.
• Negative reinforcement does not usually have
  motivational effect, but is some times required
  to motivate athletes.

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Sources of Motivation

• Interaction View
• Two short Comings to negative reinforcement
• It only has short term effects and is there only
  as long as the threat remains.
• Threat creates extrinsic, not intrinsic,
  incentive (the reason for the activity is based
  on achieving some external reward).

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• Summary Motivation in sport is dependent upon
  meeting the athletes personal needs and
  objectives while pursuing a certain predetermined
  course of action, responding to the coachs
  leadership, and possessing necessary feelings and
  attitudes associated with performance success.

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Theories of Motivation

• Need Achievement
• One Characteristic of successful athletes is
  their high need to achieve referred to as
  achievement motivation
• Success is in the mind of the beholder
• Individual is responsible for determining their
  own achievement behavior
• Low achievement competitors will not interpret
  losing as failure because they did not even try.
• It is optimal level of effort that should
  determine success and not always the outcome.

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Theories of Motivation

• High need achievers
• Usually experience more pleasure in success
• Have fewer and weaker physiological symptoms of
  arousal
• Feel responsible for the outcomes of their own
  actions
• Prefer to know about their success or failure
  almost immediately after performance
• Prefer situations that contain some risk about
  result.

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Theories of Motivation

• Approach Motives Individual acts to bring about
  pleasurable experiences.
• Avoidance Motives actions serve to prevent
  something unpleasant from happening.
• A person can have a high need to achieve but, due
  to past history of failure, have low motive to
  achieve. In fact their expectancy for success
  would probably be quite low.
• Unless the high need achiever with low motive
  finds a sport in which he/she is successful, the
  person will tend to stop participating in sport
  altogether. (The fear of failure - avoidance
  Motive phenomenon)

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Theories of Motivation

• Separating the High and Low Need Achiever
• Looks at the areas of
• Motivational orientation
• Attributional tendencies
• Type of preferred goals
• Task choice
• Performance outcomes in evaluative conditions.

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Theories of Motivation

• Found differences between high and low need
  achievers, using the symbol for need achievement
  Nach.

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Theories of Motivation

• Motivational Orientation
• High Nach
• Have high motivation to achieve, low motivation
  to experience failure, and possess great pride in
  their success.
• They explain success due to high ability, and
  failure due to bad luck or high task difficulty
  (casual attributions)
• Task Preferred goals relate to the level of task
  mastery and seek out challenges, and do well in
  evaluative conditions.

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Theories of Motivation

• Motivational Orientation
• Low Nach
• Have low motivation for success, comfortable with
  or desire failure, and focus on shame and worry
  what may result from failure.
• Attribute success to an easy task or good luck
  and failure to poor ability (causal attributions)
• Outcome Preferred goals prefer to avoid
  challenges or perform very difficult tasks to
  avoid responsibility for performance failure, and
  do not do well under evaluation.

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Theories of Motivation

• Reinforcing Achievement Motivation
• Need to achieve should be reinforced by
• Creating challenging goals
• Teaching skills that lead to performance
  improvement and success
• Giving positive feedback on performance and avoid
  negative remarks
• Allowing for risk taking behaviors and learning
  from the outcomes good or bad.
• Creating situations in which the athlete feels
  successful ensuring that at the end of a practice
  or an event the person fells a sense of
  competence.

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Theories of Motivation

• Competence Motivation
• White (1959) The theories purpose is that
  behavior is directed, selective, and persistent
  owing to an intrinsic need to deal with the
  environment.
• Harter (1981)Theory claims that individuals are
  motivated by, and attempt to exhibit, skill
  mastery in achievement situations such as sport.
• Individuals high in perceptions of competence and
  degree of self control in the sport environment
  will exert more effort, persist longer, and
  experience more positive feelings than
  individuals lower in perceived competence and
  self control.

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Theories of Motivation

• Goal Orientation
• Refers to the extent to which an athlete is
  motivated by setting and then meeting goals
• Reflects two thought processes
• The athletes achievement goals
• His/her perceived ability

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Theories of Motivation

• High Goal Orientation
• Set a challenging realistic goal
• Feel a moderate to high degree of certainty about
  meeting goal based on perceived ability
• Will select a task
• Persist at that task with optimal effort until
  goal is achieved.

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Theories of Motivation

• Goal orientation can become stronger or weaker at
  any given time, specific task, or within a given
  context.
• Ego Involvement the thought process that drives
  the athletes goal orientation.
• Perception is influenced by improving ones
  abilities in one of two ways
• Improvement over time (task involvement) rather
  than current ability
• Demonstrating competence based on proving current
  ability by outperforming others. (ego
  involvement)

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Is about understanding the connection b/t a
  persons thoughts and how these thoughts
  influence his or her actions.

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Decis Theory
• It is predicted on two primary drives that
  provide the person with the energy for goal
  directed behavior and they are
• To Feel competent and to be self determining in
  coping and interacting with ones environment
• Two processes by which extrinsic rewards can
  affect IM
• Controlling function and informational function

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Intrinsic Motivation
• Extrinsic Motivation
• Fig 3.2 pg 85 Reasons for participation

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Sport Motivation Scale (SMS)
• Persons who persist are intrinsically motivated
• Imagery and mental rehearsal can increase
  persistence and self confidence
• Imagery may produce self evaluations that are
  higher and more realistic.

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Controlling Function
• Intrinsic motivation
• Extrinsic motivators can shift the persons
  reasons for participation from internal to
  external.
• Recipient should feel rewarded for accomplishing
  a task, meeting a goal, or demonstrating
  competence.
• Recognition and approval can successfully replace
  rewards if used often and consistently over time.

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Information Function
• Contends that people are attracted to activities
  in which they feel successful
• Rewards can have the same favorable effect on IM
  if they increase the persons feelings of
  competence and self worth
• Rewards can foster IM if they provide all
  participants with some recognition for
  demonstrating success in improvement, effort, or
  proper skill execution.

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Information Function
• Self Determination
• Is concerned with the extent to which the
  individual perceives that he/she controls the
  reasons for engaging in the activity.
• High self determination accompanies high IM
• Central to promoting self determination and IM is
  encouraging full engagement by athletes and
  preventing feelings of alienation.
• Third component Functional Significance of the
  Event or external reason for participating

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Application of Decis Theory
• Factors that may facilitate IM
• Reason for participation (Task vs Ego
  orientation)
• Controlling Function (Task vs Ego Orientation)

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Factors that may facilitate IM Continued
• Information Function (Perceived ability and
  encouraging remarks)
• Keep the message positive
• Give token rewards to everyone, but avoid making
  the reward the reason for participation and
  instead a recognition of success
• Offer verbal recognition

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Four Primary Points about the concept of
  motivation
• Humans are motivationally complex
• There are several types of motivation that vary
  in types and levels of generality.
• 3 levels of generality (global, contextual,
  situational)

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• 2. Motivation is both intrapersonal reflecting
  a persons disposition to feel motivated - and
  social determined by the context, or setting,
  within which the person is motivated.

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• 3. Vallerdands Model is that motivation leads
  to important consequences, each of which may
  occur at the three levels of generality
• Global athlete may feel an inherent need to be
  physically active or to be competitive
• Contextual athlete may feel intrinsically
  motivated in certain types of sports but not
  others

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• 4. Instances of Situational Intrinsic motivation
  will facilitate contextual intrinsic motivation
• If an athlete gets a hit with the bases loaded to
  win the game, the high competence shown will
  transfer into higher contextual intrinsic
  motivation in another sport.

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Motivation

• Amotivated athlete fails to see the connection
  b/t outcomes and actions, the athlete is neither
  intrinsic or extrinsically motivated. They feel
  it is out of their control.
• According to the Hierarchical model building IM
  takes
• Autonomy the youngster decides on the area of
  participation (self determination)
• Competence by receiving uplifting messages
• Social Factor positive interactions with team
  mates

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The Science of Goal Setting

• Goal setting is an aspect of motivation aimed at
  focusing the performers effort and providing a
  means to monitor progress or success
• Most quality competitors tend to set goals but
  they also use correct guidelines for doing so
• Elite athletes correctly set higher and more
  realistic goals then less skilled counterparts.

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The Science of Goal Setting

• Kyllo and Landers (1995)
• Concluded that setting even moderate goals led to
  significant performance improvements
• Performance was optimal when goals were
• Set in absolute terms
• Short term as well as long term
• Set with the participation of the subject
• Made public

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The Science of Goal Setting

• Burton (1992)
•  
• Every goal includes two basic components
• Direction and the amount or quality indicates a
  minimal standard of performance that is
  anticipated and desired.
•  
• Goal Orientation dispositions for participating
  in an activity based on an underlying motive for
  what the person wants to obtain.
• Burton links the dispositions of need achievement
  with goal orientation in his concept of goal
  setting styles (GSS)

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The Science of Goal Setting

• The foundation of GSS is
• Perceived competence is responsible for
  motivational behaviors
• A persons goal orientations are thought to
  influence how perceived ability develops and how
  it affects achievement behavior.
• Individuals possess one of two goal orientations
  (performance/outcome)

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The Science of Goal Setting

• Goal Setting Strategies
• Use performance not outcome
• Be realistic
• Negotiate (the goal based on past performances)
• Make goals Challenging
• Make goals specific to the type and demands of
  the task
• Ensure goal Ownership
• Make Goals short term and long term
• Teach goal setting techniques to coaches and
  athletes

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The Science of Goal Setting

• Team Goals
• Coaches and athletes do not tend to establish
  team goals that are specific and measurable.
• Individual and team goals may be compatible and
  mutually beneficial
• Team goals are effective under practice
  conditions as well as competition
• Player satisfaction with team goals was higher
  with improved clarity of the goals, and when the
  players believed that the goal is achievable.
• Player participation in team goal setting was
  related to improved task and social team
  cohesion.

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The Science of Goal Setting

• How Not to Motivate Athletes
•  
• Myth 1 Exercise for punishment
•  
• Myth 2 The Pre Game Pep Talk
•  
• Myth 3 Cutem Down and Build Them Up
•  
• Myth 4 Our Goal is to Win
•  
• Myth 5 Treating Team Players Differently
•  

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The Science of Goal Setting

• Myth 6 If they dont Complain, They are Happy
•  
• Myth 7 What Do Athletes Know Anyway
•  
• Myth 8 the Post Game Rampage
•  
• Myth 9 The Napoleon Complex
•  
• Myth 10 Fear

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Important Ingredients to a Coach Athlete
  relationship
• Communicating effectively
• Teaching Skills
• Rewarding Players with praise
• Dwelling on Strengths not weaknesses
• Appearing Organized and in control

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Important Ingredients to a Coach Athlete
  relationship
• Inserting occasional times for fun and humor
• Developing mutual respect b/t coach and athlete
• Knowing when to take a break and when to give the
  athletes a day off

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Important Ingredients to a Coach Athlete
  relationship
• Supporting the athletes after errors and losses
  as well as upon making good plays and winning
• Setting limits fairly and consistently on
  inappropriate behaviors
• Not embarrassing, intimidating, or criticizing
  the character of an athlete.

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Effective Techniques for motivating athletes
• Get to know each performer
• Plan it out
• Agree on future directions and actions
• Develop skills

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Effective Techniques for motivating athletes
• Everybody needs recognition
• Discipline is not a four letter word (set
  consistent fair boundaries)
• Perceptions are everything
• Make it fun

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Effective Techniques for motivating athletes
• Consistency and sensitivity are signs of
  strengths
• Winning is not the only thing
• Beware of the self fulfilling prophecy

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Motivating the Non Starter
• Psychological problems that nonstarters have
• Frustration, alienation, futility, and loss of
  self confidence
• Help every sub fell that they are important to
  the team

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• To motivate the non starter
• Avoid labeling anyone a sub
• Starters should have no more privileges than
  anyone else
• Provide them with opportunity to learn and demo
  skills.
• Make sure they feel that they are not wasting
  time

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Strategies for Motivation Non starters
• Giving them feelings of importance to the team
• Indicating that the are contributing in some
  meaningful way
• Provide opportunities to learn, improve and demo
  skills
• Promoting positive and challenging future
  aspirations.

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Team Motivation
• Compatible Group and Personal Goals
• Develop team goals before individual goals
• Agreement on Team Goals
• Dealing with Group Heterogeneity
• Awareness of Role

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Strategies for Motivating Athletes and Teams

• Planning Interaction
• Allowing for Team Coach Communication
• Before the Contest pre game talk
• After the Contest do not go on a rant
• Be honest, constructive, short, and positive.