TOPIC 5:

MO TIVATION
AND
SPORT
SPS431

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DEFINITIONS OF MOTIVATION
• Motivation can be defined simply as the
direction and intensity of one’s effort
(Sage, 1977).

• Motivation can be defined as “a process

of arousal within an organism that helps
direct and sustain behaviour” (Wann, 1997).

• Motivation is typically defined as the

tendency for the direction and selectivity
of behaviour to persist until a goal is
achieved (Anshel, 2003).

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MOTIVATION (SAGE, 1977)
Direction of effort…
refers to whether an individual seeks out,
approaches, or is attracted to certain situation.
e.g; university student may be motivated join the
tennis team; a coach to attend a coaching clinic.

Intensity of effort…
refers to how much effort a person puts forth in a
particular situation.
e.g; a student attend physical education class but not
put forth much effort during class.

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 MORE ABOUT… MOTIVATION
The term motivation is derived from the Latin
word movere, meaning “to move”, and involves
movement, initiation or activation of specific
behaviour.
Synonym with motivation : aroused, animated (give
live), eager, thrilled, tense, energized, drive.
Motivation involves a set of processes that arouse,
direct, and maintain human behaviour towards the
achievement of a specific objectives.

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• Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic.
• Intrinsic motives lie within an individual and involve the individual’s
interest and enjoyment of a task.
• Intrinsic motivation involves engaging in a behavior because it is personally
rewarding; essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather than
the desire for some external reward. Essentially, the behavior itself is its
own reward
• A child plays softball because she likes the sport is intrinsically motivated.

• Extrinsic motives lie outside an individual and involve the rewards and
benefits of performing a task.
• Extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform a behavior
or engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment. In this case,
you engage in behavior not because you enjoy it or because you find it
satisfying, but in order to get something in return or avoid something
unpleasant.
• Trophies, ribbons, money and praise are all examples of extrinsic
motivators. 5
https://www.verywellmind.com/differences-between-extrinsic-and-intrinsic-motivation-2795384

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 CAUSES OF MOTIVATION
1. Trait approach – Determined by personal characteristic
(personality, goals, interest, drive and needs).
2. Environmental approach – Determined by
environmental factors (poor facilities, opportunity to
participate, relationship with coach or teammates, and
lack of reward)
3. Interaction approach – determined by interaction
between an athletes environment and trait or personal
characteristic. Most appropriate method for assessing
factors influence athletes’ motivation.

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THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

2. Social learning theory (self-efficacy)
3. Personality Theories of Sport Motivation
(Eysenck’s Theory)
4. The Cognitive Evaluation Theory

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1. MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF
NEEDS THEORY
Maslow’s need hierarchy is a model that explains
motivation in terms of satisfying of five types of
needs with lower level ones being satisfied first
before higher level.
1. Physiological needs
2. Safety and security needs
3. Love, belongingness and social needs
4. Self-esteem needs
5. Self-actualization needs

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2. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
(BANDURA – SELF-EFFICACY)
Self efficacy – person’s belief that he or she has the ability
or what it takes to do well in sport. Athletes with high self-
efficacy will perform better.

Characteristic of athletes with high self-efficacy :

1. Select challenging performance goals and skills to learn and
master.
2. Try harder to achieve goals in training and competition.
3. Experience positive emotion, positive thinking, reduced
stress, less anxiety.
4. Self-confident in thinking and behaviour, and in their ability
to perform very well. 10
 Method to increase the development of
self-efficacy in athletes (by Bandura)
1. Past performance (break skill into interrelated
segments).
2. Vicarious experience (vicarious experience gained
by watching another athlete).
3. Verbal persuasion (motivational or informational)
4. Physiological state (skilled athletes can still perform
poorly in appropriate physiological state).
5. Emotional state (change athlete’s negative emotion
to increase self-efficacy).
6. Imaginary experiences (use imagery for unfamiliar
skills or environment) 11
3. EYSENCK’S THEORY
Based on continuum made up of two traits,
extroversion and introversion.
Extrovert – outgoing, like to interact with others
Introvert – quiet and reserves, prefer to be alone.

Extrovert athletes have high level of physical fitness,

and more likely to take part in sport (Ismail & Trachman,
1973; Brunner, 1969).
Introvert athletes most likely to take part in long
distance running, probably because it is lonely and
individual sports that does not need the
involvement of other people (Morgan & Costill, 1972).
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4. COGNITIVE EVALUATION THEORY
According to CET - Intrinsic motivation increased when
individuals feel competent (adequate ability) in their way they
interact with environment.
Differentiation between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation;
Intrinsic motivation (IM) – behaviour that is increased
because it is associated with pleasant feeling
(joy,fun,pleasure) that come within the person.
Extrinsic motivation (EM) – behaviour that is increased
because associated with external factors (material
rewards – money, medals, trophies) that are given by
other people.
• According to CET - any event that undermines (weaken) person’s
feeling of competence (having the necessary ability/ knowledge/ skill) and
feelings of self-determination (being in control over his /her personal life or
situation) will affect level of intrinsic motivation (IM). And these,
could be also influenced by locus of control and structure of
sport situation (pressure to win, rough coaching style).
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Locus of Control/Causality…

 Locus of control can be defined as “ an

individuals beliefs about how much
control they have over the situation
they are in and over what happens to
them.”
 Locus of control is divided into two
categories:
1. Internal locus of control
2. External locus of control.

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Internal Locus of Control External Locus of Control
A person believes that Individual belief that
he or she controls his or outside forces such as
her own life luck and fate determine
Individual belief that what happens.
ability and effort give Increase extrinsic
some control over the motivation with
situation they are in and distribution of rewards
over what happens to (money, praise, trophies)
them.

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 HOW TO ENHANCE MOTIVATION ?
(Can and should be fostered by coaches and parents.)
- The need to achieve should be reinforced (strenghten) by;
a) creating challenging goals
b) teaching skills that lead to performance improvement
and success
c) giving positive and constructive feedback on performance
while avoiding negative and derogatory remarks
d) allowing for risk taking behaviours and learning from the
outcomes (good or bad)
e) creating situations in which the athlete feels successful
f) ensuring that at the end of a practice/event, the athlete
feels a sense of competence.

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