1.14: Psychology and Sociology of Sport
- Page ID
- 98762
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- Discuss how stress and sports performance are related.
- Discuss how sport and violence are connected.
“Citius, Altius, Fortius” is the Olympic motto translated from Latin meaning “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”
As we learned in Chapter 9 our minds control our actions, meaning how our minds work and think is important to how and why we move our bodies. Psychology is the study of the mind and behavioral characteristics of a person. Blending kinesiology with psychology creates the field of sports psychology looking at the mental influence on sports performance, motivation, anxiety, and stress in athletes.
What do sports, or competitive physical activity mean to you as a participant or fan?
Sports and games are a vital part of human culture worldwide and have been for as long as humans have existed. Some games we play are less physically active like chess or poker, but many are physically active like kickball or basketball. One thing most games have in common is a competitive aspect that exceeds the physical and enters the mental realm. Many cultures would/do use physical games or activities as rites of passage, especially for boys to become men. As sports are deeply tied to culture, and usually involve more than a single person competing, it is possible to view sports and sport participation through a sociological reference. Sociology is the study of society, social groups, and their collective behavior.
The psychological and social aspect of human activity is huge if it is a high school kid shooting the game-winning shot at a home game or the ability of a team to communicate and work towards a common goal. Much of this starts as play as young children and develops into games for older children that have their roots in warfare (As mentioned in Chapter 7). Much as a mother lion will teach its cubs how to hunt by starting with fun and games, human cultures teach their individual members important life skills and fighting through sport and games.
Worldwide the competition in sports is very high starting at a young age for athletes. There can be massive rewards for being the best including college scholarships, multimillion-dollar contracts, fame, and national honor. This can bring the best of an athlete out in hard work, dedication, and a commitment to bettering themselves. This competition can also lead to parents yelling at referees in youth games, athletes cheating, and teams breaking recruitment rules.
Motivation can be subcategorized by its source, internal or external. Internal (intrinsic) motivation is usually driven by the passion or love of the activity. If the pursuit of growth or improvement leads to happiness or pride that effort is made from internal motivation. External (extrinsic) motivation is driven by external rewards such as a college scholarship offer or signing bonus.
One of the most detrimental mental aspects of sports and competition is stress. The worry of not performing at one’s best and losing out on those external rewards can be a major cause of stress for athletes. Being tasked with taking the game-winning shot. Understanding that if you do not win the next game the college scouts are not coming to watch you play. Helping athletes find healthy coping mechanisms for this level of stress and anxiety is a key part of sport psychology. Highly stressed or anxious athletes typically perform worse than with their mental health is better balanced. Stress and anxiety chronically affecting athletes can spiral downward as continued lower performance reinforces more and more stress about their performance. This phenomenon is sometimes called the ‘yips”.
A sport psychologist will work with athletes on their mental “game” including drills and exercises for improving concentration, visualization practices, and overcoming mental barriers like the “yips”. In one study researchers looked at if visualization could improve basketball free throw shooting accuracy. The results showed a similar improvement to physically shooting free throws daily.
Are the rewards associated with being the best in the world at a sport appropriately proportional to the value an athlete brings to their community?
All this pressure to be a top performer can result in cheating. Cheating in sports can take many forms.
The bribing of officials of judges at the top levels of competition is not uncommon. Sports in which athletes are judged and awarded points based on their performance like figure skating or gymnastics are especially susceptible to this form of cheating. In 2002 a cheating scandal in Olympic figure skating was so damaging to the sport that the official rules were changed to combat any future scandals.
Cheating in sports can also happen before games in which one team may try and gain an unfair advantage over their opponent in various ways, including getting access to the other team’s playbook of video recording other teams to learn their calls. At higher levels of competition, each sports organization has rules against many of these practices but at the local high school level it can be very hard to enforce or prove.
Cheating during a game by breaking the rules is very common and can happen in many event-specific ways. Each sport has rules that are “agreed” on by all competitors keeping the playing field even. Altering the sports equipment would also be categorized as cheating.
Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are substances that are banned from being used in competition by athletes in that sport. There can be a slight variation on what is or is not banned in a specific sport but most leagues follow closely with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and their list of prohibited drugs. Notably, CBD has been recently removed from WADA’s prohibited drug list but cannabis and THC remain. These drugs generally either allow the athlete to grow muscle tissue faster (anabolic steroids), give the athlete a cardiovascular boost (EPO), improve recovery, reduce pain, or are just illegal drugs (cocaine). Most of these drugs are also shown to cause long-term health repercussions.
| Category | Banned Substances |
|---|---|
| S0 - Non-Approved Substances | Any pharmacological substance that is not addressed by any of the subsequent sections of the list, and with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use (e.g. drugs under pre-clinical or clinical development or discontinued, designer drugs, veterinary medicines) |
| S1 - Anabolic Agents | Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS), Other Anabolic Agents such as selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) |
| S2 - Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, and Related Substances | Erythropoietin (EPO), Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), Other growth factors and mimetics (e.g. Mechano Growth Factor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Growth Differentiation Factor 8), Any other substance with similar chemical structure or biological effect(s) |
| S3 - Beta-2 Agonists | All beta-2 agonists including their D- and L-isomers (e.g. salbutamol, formoterol, and terbutaline) except clenbuterol |
| S4 - Hormone and Metabolic Modulators | Aromatase inhibitors (e.g. anastrozole, letrozole), Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) (e.g. tamoxifen, raloxifene), Other anti-estrogenic substances (e.g. fulvestrant), Agents modifying myostatin function(s) including inhibitors of myostatin signalling, Metabolic modulators (e.g. insulin, metformin) |
| S5 - Diuretics and Masking Agents | All diuretics (e.g. furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide), Masking agents such as plasma expanders (e.g. albumin, dextran) and probenecid |
| S6 - Stimulants | All stimulants including their D- and L-isomers (e.g. amphetamines, ephedrine, cocaine, methylphenidate) |
| S7 - Narcotics | All narcotics including their D- and L-isomers (e.g. buprenorphine, codeine, morphine, oxycodone) |
| S8 - Cannabinoids | All natural and synthetic cannabinoids (e.g. cannabis, hashish, marijuana) |
| S9 - Glucocorticoids | All glucocorticoids including their D- and L-isomers |
With the stress to be the best and the competition for the possible rewards, committees like WADA are important to help preserve athletes' health while chasing greatness. If there were no banned substances an athlete would have to take these drugs to remain competitive at the top levels of play because everyone else would be reaping the benefits with little thought to future health consequences.
An interesting topic is how some non-cheating unequal advantages are achieved in sports. Some teams live and practice at a much higher altitude above sea level compared to their competition. Living and training at high altitudes results in a greater amount of red blood cells in a person’s blood, meaning they can transport oxygen more efficiently to their muscles. When non-adapted athletes from lower altitudes compete they can perform much poorer than usual. So living and training at a higher altitude does give athletes a distinct non-cheating advantage over the non-altitude adapted competition.
Another clear way for a team to gain a non-cheating edge in the competition is a home-field advantage. Teams at home show a 55% to 65% win rate. Home teams are likely to have a larger and louder audience. Home teams will feel more comfortable in the competition space as they likely practice there daily. Music can be played louder or quieter depending on what team needs to be communicating well at the time.
Many sports involve teamwork, working together as a unit to accomplish the task of that sport to win against an opposing team. This inherently involves many aspects of psychology and sociology. Group communication is done quickly, and effectively, possibly with a very loud crowd surrounding the game, and in a coded way that the other team cannot understand. Usually, this is done with coded play names and hand signs, but these must be practiced and remembered by all members of the team.
Higher performing members of the team are usually selected as team leaders or captains, receive more playing time, and will receive more credit in the press (or popularity at school). How these social inequalities are handled by the team can lead to group cohesion or dissent. As an example: NFL quarterbacks often receive large paychecks, MVP awards, and the most press on ESPN but they understand that without their teammates’ none of their success would be possible. It is customary that an NFL quarterback gifts his offensive lineman very nice holiday presents to show respect, and the value of the lineman's hard work in making the team successful. Team bonding and social inclusion are very important for the group to work together and be successful. Gift-giving can create bonds, but so can mutual physical suffering from mistakes during practice or games. Most teams train together and if one person makes a mistake that is punished by more running, the whole team receives the punishment. This is a norm from cultural cohesiveness likely from military roots that is seen across the world in different sports and have likely been in practice for all time.
Another psychologically and sociologically impactful aspect of sports is team colors, names, and mascots. This representation of a team and support of that team helps other fans identify each other and know they are part of the same tribe. These team representations are similar to national flags and are proudly worn to represent their allegiance to a specific team. The feelings behind these icons are so strong that they can cause fights or instant friendships between strangers in public. Some fans will even gladly get their team's logo tattooed on them.
Sports can unite groups together, the desire to work together against a common opponent without life or death stakes brings out the best and worst in humans. Sports also very commonly divide humans by gender. After puberty ages, it is very rare to find coed competitive sports leagues. Gender and sports differences are discussed in depth in Chapter 13.
Violence in Sports
Injury in athletic competition is a daily risk. The physical injury may be minor or serious but if it removes a player from the game for minutes to months it will have a physiological impact on the athlete. If an athlete is pivotal to their team’s success, even sitting out for a few minutes to have a possible injury checked (Chapter 11) can feel like the other team is gaining an advantage. If the athlete is injured and has to miss the rest of the game or multiple future games, there can be a big blow to their mental health. Many athletes identify as athletes and feel lost without the ability to train with their team and compete. Serious injuries requiring surgery or months away from the competition can lead to serious mental health decline.
How could injured athletes be reassured of their continuing value to the teams? If you were a sports psychologist, how could you turn this “down” time into a benefit for the athlete? (Think visualization, teamwork, communication, and concentration drills)
If a person’s mental identity is tied to participation in sports, retirement from sports can be very difficult. If the retirement is forced from injury or due to aging the league, graduating from school, or a new younger player is hired to replace them, it can be very difficult for an athlete to find meaning and passion for a new chapter in their life. Many of these athletes have been training and competing in sports from a very young age and could end up feeling like their “life is over” because for years their number one priority has been sport. This is a major hurdle all athletes must eventually face.
If this chapter was of interest to you, and working with athletes on internal motivation, effective teamwork, and stress management sounds exciting you may want to look into pursuing a bachelor's degree in Sports Psychology. After that many states will require a Ph.D. in psychology with post-doctoral work specializing in athletics.