The developmental psychologist Jacquelynne Eccles suggested that parents influence their children’s involvement in sport in three ways: as providers, role models, and interpreters. Parents provide children with opportunities to participate in sport by signing them up for programs, transporting them to practices and matches, paying registration fees, and so on. Parents can act as role
Perfectionism is a personality disposition characterized by striving for flawlessness and setting exceedingly high standards for performance, accompanied by tendencies for overly critical evaluations. It is a disposition that may pervade all areas of life, particularly areas in which performance plays as major role (e.g., work, school). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that perfectionism
Race can be understood as a concept that signifies meanings and struggles over power in reference to skin color. Within the social sciences, most consider race to be not a biologically valid concept but rather a social construction. The issue of race in sport and exercise psychology is important because while the majority of professionals
Heterosexism, homonegativism, and transprejudice are prejudices aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) people. These beliefs and actions are common in sport and negatively impact all participants, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This entry discusses common types of prejudices faced by LGBT sport participants, defines related terminology, and notes the effects
Imagery involves internally experiencing a situation that mimics a real experience without experiencing the real thing. As a conscious process that is deliberately employed by an athlete or exerciser to serve a specific function, it is distinctly different from daydreaming or just thinking about something. The terms mental rehearsal and visualization are sometimes used to
The ability to learn defines much that is unique about human behavior and underlies many aspects of sport and exercise psychology (SEP). Attempts to develop sweeping laws of learning have generally been unsuccessful, and it is unlikely that a universal theory of learning can be developed. Learning is often described as a process during which
Memory is a cognitive module in action organization in which information about objects, movements, events, environmental elements, and the action-related constellations between these entities are stored. Memory could be described as well as a process by which such information about the aforementioned elements are encoded, consolidated, stored, and recalled for use in attaining action goals.
Mentoring is a process in which a mentor, who is typically more experienced or older, helps a mentee or protégé grow and develop in some way. As such, a mentor may be thought of as a guide, tutor, counselor, or adviser. In sport and exercise psychology (SEP), mentoring is commonly thought of in terms of
Along with the operationally defined concepts of dynamical systems theory comes a rich arsenal of mathematical methods and modeling tools that may be usefully employed in the study of complex sports behaviors. This entry highlights just a handful of those, which are all centered on the “problem” of dimensionality reduction. Before going into modeling, the
Sport enjoyment, or fun in children’s terms, is the most important and most studied positive emotion in youth, adolescent, and elite sport. Early youth sport research found that fun was one of the most important reasons given by athletes for choosing to participate in sports, and lack of fun was a prime explanation for dropping