Sports Psychology, Sociology and Ethics in Sport
What this domain tests
Psychological constructs applied to performance, the sociological reading of sport, and ethical conduct including doping control.
Psychology
- Personality: Sheldon's somatotypes (endomorph - relaxed, sociable; mesomorph - assertive, adventurous; ectomorph - introverted, restrained); trait approaches; interactional view.
- Motivation: intrinsic versus extrinsic; achievement motivation (need to achieve versus need to avoid failure); Maslow's hierarchy.
- Arousal: drive theory (linear), inverted-U (moderate optimum), catastrophe theory, individual zones of optimal functioning.
- Anxiety: state versus trait, cognitive versus somatic; regulated by progressive muscle relaxation, imagery, breathing and self-talk.
- Aggression: hostile (anger-driven) versus instrumental (a means to an end); assertiveness is not aggression.
- Group dynamics: Tuckman's forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning; task versus social cohesion; social loafing.
- Techniques: SMART goal setting, imagery, concentration training, self-confidence building.
Sociology
Sport as a social institution; socialisation into and through sport; stratification by class, caste and gender; commercialisation and media; spectator behaviour; sport and national integration; access and equity.
Ethics
Fair play and sportsmanship versus gamesmanship (bending rules without breaking them). Doping is governed by WADA; prohibited classes include anabolic agents, peptide hormones, beta-2 agonists, hormone and metabolic modulators, diuretics, stimulants, narcotics, cannabinoids, glucocorticoids and beta-blockers. Know the therapeutic use exemption, whereabouts rules, blood doping, match-fixing and safeguarding.
Worked example
An archer excels at low arousal while a weightlifter needs high arousal. Explain through the inverted-U and individual zones: fine motor control tasks peak at lower arousal, gross power tasks at higher - so the optimum is task- and person-specific, not one fixed point.
Traps
Saying all aggression is undesirable (assertiveness is); mixing state and trait anxiety; treating gamesmanship as sportsmanship; forgetting the TUE route.