Sports Psychology: Power of Self-Affirmation

Sports psychology is an essential field of psychological study, which emphasizes the importance of performance enhancement through training your psychological and mental abilities. Sports psychology is a specialization within brain psychology and kinesiology and it seeks to understand psychological/mental factors that affect performance in sports, physical activity, and apply this knowledge in order to enhance individual and team performance. As we make advancements in science we grasp the increasing importance of the human mind, thus exponentially increasing the value and power of thought. As contrary to popular belief, every thought we think, and every word we say before a race/event can trigger a major effect upon your ending results, whether it may be positive or negative. It is thoughts that are conjured before an event that can make or break a race, thus putting the utmost of importance on self-affirmation and motivational thinking in the pre event stages of a race (or an event). The main aspects that play a considerable role in a successful athletic performance are motivation and self-efficacy. It’s difficult to say whether motivation is produced by the mind rather than acquired through experience, our genes are what primarily affect our intellect, while being deprived of observing external factors can contribute adversely towards a person’s developmental progression and their primary outlook on their performance. Motivation is essential for success in sports, it is why people strive to become better athletes. The direction and intensity of one’s efforts reflects on their determination to achieve their goals. The more motivated you are, the higher the likeliness you have to succ...

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...nge, and the higher the goal striving. A psychological theory that I personally feel is applicable to sports psychology is Albert Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, Bandura believed that self-efficacy is “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.". His theory is the most commonly used theory, pertaining to self-confidence in sports and motor performance. Bandura’s theory poses self-efficacy as a common cognitive mechanism for mediating people's motivation and behavior, it delves into the sports region of psychology because a lot of the cognitive thought process in sports revolve around some sort of incentive or motive. Self-efficacy is the primary determinant of one’s behavior, it has its influences when proper incentives are offered and the necessary skills for the sport are present.