Sport And Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction

that enables an athlete to cope better than his or her opponents with competitive lifestyle
and training demands. The specific components of mental toughness were perceived to be
the capacity to remain more determined, focused, confident and in control than one’s
athletic rivals. Curiously, the researchers did not probe this relativistic view of the
construct—the perception that it can be understood only in comparative terms. What
about the personal characteristics believed to be prerequisites of mental toughness?
Twelve attributes were elicited by this question. G.Jones et al. (2002) classified these
attributes into such categories as motivation, “focus” (or concentration), the ability to
deal with pressure and anxiety, and the ability to cope with physical and emotional pain.
Unfortunately, the results of this study must be interpreted cautiously due to the small
sample size (e.g., the focus group comprised only three participants) and the restricted
range of sports represented by the participants.
In summary, we have learned in this section that athletes and researchers regard
mental toughness as a key characteristic of successful athletes. But are you really
convinced about the validity of this construct? As Box 1.1 shows, there are several
unresolved conceptual issues arising from research on mental toughness.
As you can see from Box 1.1, the term mental toughness is far from clear. In passing,
a satirical account of the quest for this elusive construct was offered by the fictional
footballer Darren Tackle in his weekly column in The Guardian newspaper

Box 1.1 Thinking critically about...mental toughness to sport

Many athletes and coaches regard mental toughness as a crucial prerequisite of success in
sport. Furthermore, this construct has been described as “the very essence of sport
psychologists’ work” (G.Jones et al., 2002, p, 213) with elite performers. But what have
we really learned about mental toughness from research in this field? Here are some
questions to think about

Critical thinking questions
First, do you think that it is valid to define mental toughness without reference to any
aspect of behaviour other than winning? Recall that the athletes interviewed by G.Jones
et al. (2002) claimed that this construct gives performers a”psychological edge” over
their rivals, But how is this edge evident? Is it present only if an athlete defeats someone
else? Could mental toughness not also influence an athlete to perform better than s/he has
done previously -regardless of the presence of others? Can you think of away of defining
mental toughness in a more objective manner? Is there a danger of circularity defining
this construct because of the lack of an independent index of mental toughness? Second,
is there a danger that mental toughness involves so many different psychological
characteristics (e,g., G.Jones et al., 2002, identified twelve attributes associated with this
construct) that it is effectively meaningless as a scientific term? Third, one way of
exploring people’s understanding of a term is to ask them to identify the opposite of it
What is the opposite of mental toughness? Finally, is mental toughness learned or innate?
Whereas most psychologists regard it as a mental skill that can be trained (see R.E.Smith
and Smoll, 1996), the athletes in G.Jones et al. (2002) indicated that it could be inherited
or “natural”. Which view do you favour and why?

Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 10