Chapter 1

Question 1

1. What is behaviour, generally and technically? Describe three sport examples.

Answer 1

Generally, behaviour is anything that a person says or does. Behaviour is technically, any muscular, glandular or electrical activity of an organism. Three sport examples: sliding into first base, swinging a bat, kicking a soccer ball

Question 2

2. What are three synonyms of behaviour ?

Answer 2

Performance, reaction, response, activity

Question 3

4. How do many people use general terms such as intelligence, attitude and personality ? Illustrate with an example.

Answer 3

Many people use terms such as intelligence, attitude and personality as if they refer to causes of behaviour. For example, a child is showing up late, not listening to instructions, and misbehaving. A parent may attribute his “bad attitude” as a cause for the behaviour, rather than a summary label for the behaviours.

Question 4

5. What is a behavioural perspective of such traditional psychological terms as intelligence, attitude, and personality? Illustrate a behavioural interpretation of one of the terms with reference to an example.

Answer 4

From a behavioural perspective, terms such as intelligence, attitude and personality are viewed as summary labels for behaviour l, not as things within us that causes the behaviour. For example, a child is showing up
Late, not listening to instructions and misbehaving at practices. From a behavioural perspective we would say that his bad attitude is at best a summary label for his actions and not an explanation for his actions. This means that actions such as not listening to the coach is not caused because of his “bad attitude”, but rather that “bad attitude l” could be considered a summary label for the actions that he does l. Actual potential causes as to why he behaves the way he does may be because of the attention he gets when he behaves that way or the reaction he gets from his teammates.

Question 5

11. What is behavioural sport psychology ?

Answer 5

Behavioural sport psychology involves the use of behaviour analysis principles and techniques to enhance the performance and satisfaction of athletes and others associated with sports.

Question 6

14. What are three synonyms for stimulus when a stimulus precedes and influences behaviour ?

Answer 6

cue, signal or prompt

Question 7

According to many psychologists, what does the word “cognition mean ?

Answer 7

Belief, thought, expectancy and attitude

Question 8

18. What assumptions does the author makes concerning cognition ?

Answer 8

Cognitions are assumed to be covert behaviours l, and it is assumed that the behavioural principles and techniques that apply to overt behaviours also applicable to covert behaviours.

Question 9

20. List three reasons that behavioural sport psychology researchers commonly use single-subject research designs

Answer 9

1. They require assessment of individual athletic performance across several practices and or competitions which is very useful information for such athletes and coaches.
2. Athletes and coaches commonly accept such reseearch designs because few participants are needed and sooner or later all participants experience the intervention (no control group)
3. Rather than using personality questionnaires, they require assessment of athletic behaviours (ex. The shooting technique used by a basketball player), outcomes of such behaviours (ex- the free throw scoring percentage of a basketball player)

Question 10

22. What three questions does social validity address?

Answer 10

1. What do athletes (and coaches and parents ) think about the goals of the intervention ?
2. What do they think about the procedures suggested by the consultant?
3. What do they think about the results produced by those procedures?