Sport and exercise psychology (SEP) services (e.g., team interventions, one-on-one interventions, and consultation with organizations) aim at performance enhancement with athletic populations and exercise adherence with physically active individuals. In addition, SEP practitioners design their interventions to promote healthy lifestyles and to contribute to their clients’ personal growth, psychological well-being (PWB), and quality of life
Sex differences are often referred to interchangeably as gender differences, often to offset taboos associated with the word sex. Use of the word gender originated as a social construct to include biological sex, social roles, and gender identity and is conventionally used in biological delineations. The significance of physical differences between and within sexes lies
Like sport psychology (SP), the field of sport psychiatry may involve utilization of psychological approaches to enhance athletic performance. However, a primary focus of sport psychiatry is diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in athletes. Sport psychiatry is a relatively new field, and as such, the research base is still developing. This entry reviews the
Status represents an individual’s social standing in relation to others. Attributes of status can be based upon physical characteristics (e.g., age) or intangible attributes (e.g., prestige, prominence). Individuals with higher status are often afforded more social benefits including respect, more unsolicited help from others, greater praise for performance, disproportionate credit for successful collaborative efforts, and
Supervision is a central component of professional training and development, providing opportunities for sport psychology (SP) practitioners at all levels to use the experiences and knowledge of others to examine themselves. Supervision is also required for certification or licensure (e.g., registration, chartering) in most of the psychology and helping professions (e.g., psychology, counseling, social work)
Relaxation has been defined as a psychological strategy used by sports performers to help manage or reduce stress-related emotions (e.g., anxiety and anger) and physical symptoms (e.g., physical tension and increased heart rate [HR]) during high pressurized situations. Several different types of physical and mental relaxation strategies will be discussed in this entry, all of
Most athletes will encounter one or more major setbacks or adversities during their sporting career. An elite athlete may, for example, experience a career-threatening injury, garner demotion from a top-tier team because of poor performance, or need to relocate to another country to continue competing in their sport. Despite the potential for setbacks and adversities
All animals must act in their environment in order to survive. They must also react to changes in the environment, for example, when threats or beneficial opportunities arise. Responses are defined as any reaction of the organism to external or internal events. Responses can pertain to one or more levels of body function ranging from
Rest is the cessation of activity. Rest is of interest within sport and exercise psychology because performance and learning in sport and exercise domains are affected positively by appropriate use of rest and negatively by inappropriate use of rest. The specific effects of rest depend on the length of the rest period and the length and
Classical definitions of retention emphasize the degree to which people are able to remember (or perform) some previously practiced material (or skill) after an elapsed period of time. Thus, retention likely depends on an individual’s memory of the material or skill in question. Not surprisingly, most definitions of memory sound similar to those of retention.