Important Terms in Sport Psychology
If you are planning to work in sport psychology, you will come across many new terms, here are a few with an explanation.
- Arousal — the level of anxiety about the sporting event
- Attention Focus — the ability to be able to block out everything, such as crowd noise or the other team, or personal problems.
- Cohesion — when a team or group works well together, towards a common goal or shared task. In team sports, team cohesion is a large part of success.
- Confidence — Sport psychologists help athletes with self-confidence. To perform beyond what they have accomplished before, athletes need to believe that they are capable of going further.
- Extrinsic Motivation — when motivation comes from outside, such as performing for money or awards.
- Imagery — such as picturing yourself performing a sport in your mind. It is important to picture yourself performing the technique correctly and doing well. Also known as 'visualization'.
- Internal Monologue — Maintaining positive thoughts during competition.
- Intrinsic Motivation — when the desire comes from inside the athlete - doing something because it makes them feel good.
Related Pages
- Sport Psychology Main Page
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