Define personality & motivation

Define personality and how it affects sports performance P1 (Must include definition, description of personality types A/B, personality theories and effects on performance)
Describe motivation and how it affects sports performance P2 (Describe the factors that affect the motivation of athletes, must include: definition, views/theories of motivation such as trait view, motivation types intrinsic/extrinsic and effects on performance.

Personality - the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character.

Personalities are usually described as how introverted or extroverted someone is. And introvert is someone who is usually more quiet and thoughtful whereas as an extrovert is someone who is more loud and excitable. If you are either introvert or extrovert it often affects the types of sport you like e.g. and introvert character would usually play something like tennis as it’s a sport they can play as one and not in a team, an extrovert person would usually like team sports more such as football and rugby.

Introverts enjoy sports with more concentration, precision with intricate skills. Introvert characters are usually more self-motivated.
Extroverts tend to enjoy sports which are faster paced, exciting and where you need a lower concentration. These are usually team sports and they tend to be motivated by others around them. Extroverted people are often involved in sports which require a degree of aggression. There are 2 types of aggression:
Indirect aggression – this means taking out your aggression on an object.
Direct aggression – The aggression is in the direction of another player. It involves physical contact such as a rugby tackle or in wrestling or boxing.

Eysenck’s theory –
The Eysenck’s theory was thought of by a German man who identified two dimensions of personality which act as continuums, with an individual’s personality falling anywhere along the two lines, as shown below

These two dimensions are stable/unstable and introverted/extroverted. For example, if an individual is introverted (shy of social contact) but stable, they are likely to be reliable, calm and controlled. An extroverted (enjoys social affiliation) unstable individual is likely to be tough, aggressive and excitable.

There is also Sheldon’s theory – this theory is about your body shape relating to your personality, there are 3 different types of body types;
Ectomorphs – these are people with a tall slim figure, Sheldon thought these people tended to be more Self-conscious, tense, private (keeps to themselves), and introverted.
Endomorphs – these people are shorter and are a bit fatter, Sheldon thought these people were more tolerant, sociable and relaxed.
Mesomorphs – these are people who have broad shoulders and are more muscular, Sheldon thought these people were more extrovert, assertive, and are risk takers.

The Girdano theory (trait theory) - this theory is split into to 2, there are 2 types of people Type A and Type B.
Type A – these are more introvert people which enjoy their own company, they have a strong desire to succeed, they like control, often suffers stress and are never happy with what they have (they always want more). Being a type A person will benefit their performance if they are doing a sport which involves only themselves.
Type B – these tend to be more extrovert people who are more laid back and happy with what they have, they’re less competitive and often work at a slower pace. They do not enjoy control and they’re able to relax easily. Being a type B person will often benefit them if they’re playing a team sports and where they can have the help of others.

Motivation - a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.

There are several theories to do with motivation, these include;
The attribution theory – a belief required overtime that one has no control over events and that failure is inevitable / out of their hands. It’s a feeling of hopelessness.
There are 3 attribution categories these are stability, locus of casualty, locus of control. These 3 categories all go two ways.
Stability – you can either be stable or unstable.
Locus of casualty – you can either be internal or external.
Locus of control – the person can either be in control of themselves or out of control of themselves.
Athlete’s that attribute their performance outcome to stable internal factors such as effort and ability and to factors under their control are more likely to achieve in sport.
Athlete’s that attribute their performance outcome to unstable-external factors such as luck and difficulty and to factors out of their control are more likely to fail in sport and as they have no goals set out for themselves.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within the body, therefore it will be the performer driving themselves to be better. Intrinsic people tend to be able to overcome tasks themselves and are pushing themselves to overcome their own problems. They will have goals set out for themselves to keep progress and maintain motivation. They will have a feeling of pride and enjoyment in their performing the skill. I believe it’s better for a performer to be intrinsic because its they are driving themselves to better, they want to be better, therefore they will get better.
Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performer. These are things which can encourage the athlete to perform and fall into two groups:
Tangible rewards: These are physical rewards like medals, trophies and money. These should not be used as much with young athletes to avoid a situation where winning a prize is more important than competing.

Intangible rewards: Praise, recognition and achievements. This should be used regularly to encourage the athletes to repeat their behaviour in which they earned their praise.

Hull's Drive Theory: This demonstrates a linear relationship between performance and arousal. This means at low levels of arousal, performance will be low and performance increases in line with an increase in arousal. This is shown in the graph below. http://www.teachpe.com/sports_psychology/motivation.php