Supporting a uK SucceSS Story: The impacT of - Research Councils ...

Mental training
An occasion such as the Olympic Games puts
considerable mental pressure on an athlete
to perform well. While some will thrive under
this pressure, some athletes struggle with and
are susceptible to ‘choking’ at the moment of
competition. Researchers at Bangor University’s
Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance
(IPEP) have been examining how individual
differences in personality might predict how well
athletes perform under pressure.
In particular, the researchers have found that
athletes with a narcissistic personality think of
themselves as excellent performers and tend
to perform very well under
the pressure of competition.
However, in contrast, nonnarcissistic
individuals may
be more susceptible to
choking under pressure and
not performing to the best of
their ability. By considering
these individual differences in
personalities, coaches and sport
psychology practitioners can
tailor their training to meet the
specific needs of athletes. This
can help increase the chances
of successful performances
at major events such as the
Olympic and Paralympic
Games.
A collaborative project
between five UK universities
is looking to advance understanding of emotion
regulation and how this can have considerable
costs or benefits to an individual’s wellbeing and
performance. The Emotion Regulation of Others
and Self (EROS) project involves researchers from
a number of psychological disciplines including
sports psychologists from the University of
Wolverhampton.
This team have found that athletes can
‘learn’ which emotional state best aids their
performance and can teach themselves to
achieve it before competing. The researchers have
also found that when athletes perform intense
exercise, they begin to think negatively and
experience unpleasant emotions which makes
the exercise feel harder until it actually becomes
more physically demanding. The researchers have
examined the effectiveness of simulating light to
help GB swimmers improve their mood ready for
early morning training and are offering workshops
on emotion regulation for sports psychologists
and coaches who work with elite athletes.
Elite athletes at the Olympic or Paralympic
Games will be under intense pressure to perform.
Researchers at Bangor University’s Institute for
the Psychology of Elite Performance (IPEP) have
found that some athletes are likely to suffer from
the ironic error - the performance error that
each athlete will be specifically trying most to
avoid. For example, if a golfer under pressure tells
themselves, “whatever you do, do not hit the ball
short”, they will ironically tend to hit the ball short
more consistently than when not under pressure.
The research team’s most recent findings confirm
this and show that athletes under pressure do not
commit random errors, they commit specifically
the error that they are trying to avoid (the ironic
error). Also athletes who attempt to mask their
anxiety, for example by trying to “look cool”, when
under pressure are more likely to suffer from
ironic performance effects. This is because their
cognitive system is overloaded by repressionassociated
cues, for example “do not show
anxiety”; “do not hit the ball short”.
The researchers have found two ways of reducing
the likelihood of committing an ironic error.
The first is to reduce anxiety and therefore the
pressure that is experienced and the second is to
use positive statements when preparing for the
competition, for example “focus on the centre
of the hole”. Adopting this kind of psychological
behaviour could be effective for a great number
of athletes competing at the Olympic and
Paralympic Games and in other international
sporting competitions.
32
SECTION two : Health and Wellbeing