Sport And Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction

The third theoretical approach to risky behaviour in sports comes from the cognitive
tradition. To illustrate, consider the idiosyncratic ways in which people estimate the risks
associated with certain activities. Thus Kerr (1997) noted that athletes who participate in
dangerous sports often confess to a fear of participating in other sports which are equally
dangerous. Thus Carl Llewellyn, a British National Hunt jockey who has suffered a
catalogue of serious injuries in his sport, confessed to being petrified of activities like
bungee-jumping. Presumably, familiarity with the risks of one’s sport blinds one to the
dangers which they pose. In an effort to explain this phenomenon, Kerr (1997) speculated
that athletes who take part in dangerous sports tend to construct subjective “protective
frames” which give them a feeling of invincibility—although such frames do not appear
to extend to less familiar sports.
Before we conclude this section, it is worth noting that there may be a neurochemical
basis to risk-taking behaviour. Thus Zorpette (1999) claimed that such behaviour is
addictive physiologically because dopamine is released by the brain as a chemical reward
for experiencing dangerous situations. As yet, however, there have been few systematic
attempts to explore the brains of “thrill-seekers” using neuroscientific imaging
technology.

Ideas for research projects on motivation in athletes

Here are six ideas for possible research projects on motivation in athletes.

1 Is there a relationship between the motivation of an athlete and the type of sport which
s/he plays? To answer this question, you could compare and contrast the motivation of
performers from individual and team sports using a questionnaire such as the “Sport
Motivation Scale” (Martens and Webber, 2002).
2 What factors sustain the motivation of elite athletes who still compete at a high level?
Apart from a recent study by Mallett and Hanrahan (2003), little research has been
conducted on this question.
3 Have you ever wondered about the factors that motivate aspiring marathon runners to
put themselves through such arduous training schedules? If so, then you could
replicate a study by Ogles and Masters (2003) on the motives of people who
participate in marathons.
4 Do the coping strategies of task-oriented athletes differ from those used by ego-oriented
athletes in stressful situations (see Pensgaard and Roberts, 2003)?
5 Relatively little is known about the actual goal-setting practices of athletes who have
been tested in field settings. As we indicated earlier, most goal-setting studies have
been conducted in laboratory settings on non-athlete samples. In view of this gap in
the research literature, you may wish to investigate the goal-setting practices of
athletes of different levels of ability over a six-week period during their competitive
season. A useful starting point for this project is a study conducted by Burton,
Weinberg, Yukelson and Weigand (1998) on the goal-setting practices of collegiate
athletes.
6 In the light of the results reported by Schrader and Wann (1999), it may be interesting
to find out if the gender differences in risky sport involvement apply to other
dangerous sports and also to non-sporting risky activities.

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