Sports psychology and motor learning practice questions.

A selector watches one match and concludes that a player is a natural leader. According to Hollander's model of personality, why is this inference unsafe?

• What is visible in one match is the layer most easily changed by the situation
• The model treats all of its layers as equally stable, so one observation cannot mislead anyone
• The model applies only to individual sports and not to selection for a team
• The layers can be measured by questionnaire only and never by observation

Answer: What is visible in one match is the layer most easily changed by the situation

In Hollander's model stability falls and observability rises as one moves outwards, so what a spectator sees in a single match is the outer layer and it changes with the role and the occasion. The stable centre is inferred over repeated observation rather than read off one performance.

Eysenck's model describes performers on two independent dimensions of personality. Which pair is it?

• Task orientation and ego orientation towards achievement
• Extraversion-introversion and neuroticism-stability
• Internal and external locus of causality after failure
• Type A and Type B patterns of competitive behaviour

Answer: Extraversion-introversion and neuroticism-stability

Eysenck placed people on an extraversion-introversion dimension and a neuroticism-stability dimension, which together produce four quadrants. Task and ego orientation belong to achievement goal theory and locus of causality to attribution, so neither describes a personality dimension in this model.

A normally quiet swimmer becomes loud and demonstrative, but only in relay finals. Which approach to personality best accounts for this pattern?

• The trait approach, because the relay final should change nothing
• The situational approach, because any swimmer would behave the same way here
• The interactionist approach, because the final draws out her disposition
• The narrow-band approach, because she must be one of two types

Answer: The interactionist approach, because the final draws out her disposition

The interactionist position, expressed by Lewin as behaviour being a function of the person and the environment, predicts exactly this: a stable disposition expressed differently as the situation changes. A pure trait account cannot explain why the behaviour appears in only one setting, and a pure situational account cannot explain why other swimmers react differently to the same final.

A national federation considers screening junior athletes with a personality questionnaire. What does the research evidence on personality and elite performance show?

• Personality profiles identify future champions accurately enough for talent selection
• Elite performers share one common personality type across all sports
• Personality scores explain most of the variance in competitive results
• Personality accounts for only a small part of the difference in performance

Answer: Personality accounts for only a small part of the difference in performance

Personality measures correlate only weakly and inconsistently with competitive success, so they cannot separate future elite performers from the rest, which is the sceptical side of the credulous-sceptical debate. Training history, physiological capacity and skill account for far more of the difference.

Morgan's iceberg profile describes the pattern of mood scores reported by successful elite performers. Which pattern does it show?

• High vigour with below-average tension, depression and fatigue
• High tension and high fatigue with below-average depression and confusion
• Below-average scores on every mood dimension including vigour
• Above-average scores on every mood dimension including fatigue

Answer: High vigour with below-average tension, depression and fatigue

Successful performers tend to score above the population average on vigour and below it on tension, depression, anger, fatigue and confusion, so the plotted profile resembles an iceberg. The profile describes a group tendency and has repeatedly failed to predict which individual will win.

A marathon runner keeps to a demanding winter training programme even though her race times have not improved for three months. Which component of Clough's 4C model of mental toughness does this behaviour show most directly?

• Challenge, because she seeks out difficult sessions
• Commitment, because she persists without reward
• Control, because she manages her emotions
• Confidence, because she believes in her ability

Answer: Commitment, because she persists without reward

Commitment in the 4C model is sticking to goals and training when the reward is delayed or absent, whereas challenge would show as actively seeking the harder race and control as staying composed when the result goes against her.