DIAGNOSIS AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENT

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Sport Psychology An Introduction
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Sport Psychology
The scientific study and application of
psychological principles to sports and exercise.
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What do sport psychologists do?
Roles
Consulting

• Teaching

Research
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Consulting

• Utilizing techniques supported by psychology
  research
• Examples
• U.S. Olympic Training Centers
• Professional sports team
• Professional athlete (e.g., golfer, tennis pro))
• College athletic department
• High School athletics
• Other (e.g., competitive or recreational
  athletes)
• Fitness and health clubs

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Becoming a sport psychologist

• Two primary routes
• Psychological training (with specialty training
  in sports science)
• Sports science / Physical education training
  (with special focus on psychology)

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Research in Sport Psychology

• Scientist-Practitioner model
• Methodology -- how to ask and answer your
  question using an empirical approach
• Examples (JASP recent contents)

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Research Question Example
Is participation in organized youth sports
beneficial to children ages 4-8?
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Defining Variables

• Need to define the variables
• Participation?
• Benefit?
• moral development
• self-esteem
• prosocial behavior
• improved grades

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Research strategies

• How would you study if participation is
  beneficial?
• Observation
• Case Study
• Survey
• Experiment (random assignment?)

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Research strategies
Small group exercise how do you best answer
your research question? (Use the question that
you brought in and share in your group)