Personality

• Psychodynamic theory

  there are three parts to an individuals personality: the ID, ego and superego. Sport is a suitable outlet for our aggressive instincts as it allows a release of aggression in a controlled situation.
• Trait theory 1

  Eyesenck- personality can be broken down into two main dimensions: extraversion-introversion and neuroticism-stability. 75% of personality is nature and 25% is nature. He said psychoticism was influenced by the hormone testosterone and linked to aggression. People high on the psychoticism scale would be likely to be attracted to competitive sporting activities.

  Frances- 133 female Irish university hockey players and found they scored higher on both extraversion and psychoticism than controls who didn’t play sport.
• Trait theory 2

  Cattell

  Created a more complex theory of personality. The cattell 16 personality factor questionnaire has 187 questions and measures 16 different opposing personality traits.
• Interactionist approach

  there is a relationship between personality factors and situational factors.

  Woodman- looked at the interaction between personality and psychological skills on the training behaviours of high-level gymnasts. Conscientiousness was positively related to the quality of gymnast’s preparation for competition.
• KROLL & CRENSHAW

  Aim- to compare the personalities measured by the 16PF four different groups of sports players.

  Method- a quasi experiment that had 387 athletes who either did football, gymnastics, wrestling or karate. They all completed the Cattell personality questionnaire.

  Results- out of the 387 sports players correct classifications were made 50.6% of the time. Gymnast were classified correctly 73.1% of the time and karate participants 33.8%.
• APPLICATION - identify the most suitable sport for an athlete based on their personality

  Use a personality test to see what individuals have high levels of in their personality and compare this to which sports typically require this personality trait to improve their chance of performing well.
• APPLICATION - coaches could scout for most suitable athletes needed on their team

  Coaches could use personality test scores to find individuals who have high levels of teamwork or conscientiousness if that’s what the sport requires and this would create a like-minded team who all have high chances of performing well together.
• APPLICATION - use personality tests to measure athletes traits

  The personality test could show any negative traits that the athlete may have and this trait could be improved upon in order to create a more successful team or player.