Motivation is foundational to performance

Motivation is foundational to performance, thus a key concept in sport & exercise psychology

Consider motivation from 2 perspectives

as a participant/performer and as a leader who is tasked with motivating others

Motivation

Direction & intensity of one’s effort

Direction

activities or situations an individual seeks out

Intensity

how much effort one puts forth in an activity or situation

Intrinsic Motivation

Motivation that comes from within, guided by desire to gain knowledge, accomplish goal, have an experience; Characterized by self-determination, autonomy, & agency

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation that comes from external sources (winning award, money, gaining social approval, fear of punishment)

Amotivation

Absence of motivation

Participant or Trait-Centered Approach

Motivation is a function of individual characteristics (personality); Unrealistic because doesn’t account for situational influences on motivation (reward system, influence of leader, etc.); No longer endorsed by sport & exercise psychologists

Situation-Centered Approach

Motivation is determined by the situation one is participating/performing in; Unrealistic because situation isn’t always primary motivating factor; E.g., motivation can occur in negative settings (still might be motivated to play well during a losing season, or with a difficult coach); Doesn’t take personality into account as motivating factor; Not endorsed by sport & exercise psychologists

Interactional Approach

The best way to understand motivation is to consider personal & situational factors and how they interact to create a motivating effect; Valid approach to studying motivation because it accounts for both factors

Sorrentino & Sheppard (1978)

Study included 44 male & 33 female swimmers at 3 Canadian universities; Participants completed personality profiles & were timed as they swam individually and as part of a relay team; Those who scored high in approval-orientation (seek approval from others) swam faster in relay, slower individually; Those who scored high in rejection-threatened swam faster individually, slower in relay; Implications of findings – 4 fastest swimmers don’t always make for best relay team; need to know swimmers’ personality as well as performance times in different situations

Integrative approach even more comprehensive

considers interaction of personal & situational factors in cultural context

Both situations & traits motivate people

As leader, consider both situational & personal factors in order to enhance motivation; Get to know individuals you work with and what situations motivate them; Also important to understand that both factors can cause a lack of motivation

Be Aware of Multiple Motives for Participation

Important to understand why people participate in activity/situation; Research indicates most people participate for more than one reason

Individuals can experience competing or conflicting motives for participation

desire to exercise for health, but don’t want to take time away from family

Change the Environment

Use knowledge about participants to structure environment to meet their motivational needs; Provide multiple opportunities and variety of activities; Make adjustments to maintain motivation of participants or help them if their motivation is lagging; Different groups/individuals might need different environments for optimal motivation

Leaders Influence Motivation

Leaders are critical to motivation & can have direct or indirect influence on participants; Develop awareness of how your personality & behavior can influence people you lead

Use Behavior Modification to Improve Motivation

Use appropriate modification techniques to alter undesirable motives; Structure environment through reinforcement of desirable behavior

Use Goal-Setting

Setting performance goals is positively correlated with increased motivation; Encourage participants to set personal goals; Teach participants to use short-term and long-term goals to help maintain motivation

Achievement Motivation

Refers to motivation not to just participate, but to achieve through participation; A person’s orientation to strive for task success, persist in the face failure, & experience pride in accomplishments; In sport settings, referred to as competitiveness; Achievement motivation influences choice of activity, intensity of effort, effort to pursue goals, and persistence; Research on achievement motivation tells us more about what motivates people to participate/act; Research indicates that personal & situational factors are important behavior predictors

Four significant factors that influence achievement motivation

Personality Factors; Goal Orientation; Situational Influences; Attributions

To Achieve Success

capacity for experiencing pride/satisfaction

To Avoid Failure

capacity for experiencing shame/humiliation as consequence of failure

High Achiever

If you have high motivation to achieve success & low motivation to avoid failure

Low Achiever

If you have low motivation to achieve success & high motivation to avoid failure (preoccupied with failure)

Situational Influences

Affect probability for success in situation; Success depends on whom participate with/compete against & difficulty of task (and perception of those factors); Value of success different depending on situation

High Achiever behavior

seeks out challenging situations & tends to perform better in evaluative settings

Low Achiever behavior

avoids challenges & opts for easy tasks or unrealistically hard situations; the lower the pressure to perform, the better; Fears negative evaluation associated with failure

Attributions

How people explain or account for success and failure in performance

Three categories of explanations/attributions

Stability (stable or unstable); Causality (internal or external); Control (under one’s control or out of one’s control)

Stability

Examples of stable attributions are talent, ability; Example of unstable attribution is luck

Causality

Example of internal attribution is effort; Examples of external attribution are talent of competitor or weather

Control

Example of factor under one’s control is strategy; Example of factor out of one’s control is opponent’s training

Attributions influence expectations of future success or failure

Attributions influence motivation; Attributing performance to stable factors positively correlated with expectations of future success & increased motivation; Goal as motivating leader to get participants to attribute internal, stable characteristics to successful performance

Goal Orientation

Personal tendencies for performance

Outcome Goal Orientation

Focused on end product/result; Focused on comparing performance with others & defeating others; Have high perception of ability when win, low perception of ability when lose

Task Goal Orientation

Focused on comparing performance with personal standards & on personal improvement; Perception of ability not based on winning or losing

Task goal orientation is most valued

More likely to lead to strong work ethic, persistence in the face of failure, & optimal performance; Focus on personal performance provides greater control & increases motivation; Protects individual’s motivation when performance is exceeded by others

Problems with outcome goal orientation

Judge performance by factors outside of one’s control; More difficult to maintain high perception of ability & adequate level of motivation

Optimal Performance & Motivation

be a High Achiever, seek Challenging Situations, Attribute success to stable, internal factors under your control, and practice Task Goal Orientation

Best approach to understanding motivation

consider how individual traits interact with specific situations to affect performance (and how that interaction is integrated in cultural context)

Strategies exist

for increasing & maintaining optimal motivational levels for performance

Achievement orientation

Personality, situational, & goal-setting tendencies influence individuals’ orientation for achievement through participation