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Motivation – The key to improving performance in sport

 

Motivation is the force that makes us to act and behave the way we do. It includes internal and external elements that stimulate our desire and ambition and that drive us to achieve our goals. Here we will take a look at the physical and psychological factors of motivation, and consider how we can leverage these to sustain high motivation levels.

Intrinsic Motivation

First it’s necessary to define some of the terminology. We will address intrinsic motivation, which is driven by inner rewards, and extrinsic motivation which is driven by external incentives. For instance, if you are reading this article because you are emotionally driven to improve your performance, then that is an intrinsic motivation. If you are reading this because you are hoping to increase the level of acclaim you will receive from your peers and your chance of winning prizes, then that is extrinsic motivation. Clearly they can work together; you might be partially motivated by internal emotions, while you would also like higher acclaim and to win some prize money.

Motivation and Performance in Sport

Motivation in sport is a widely researched topic, and over the years our understanding of it has changed considerably. For instance, it is often considered that providing external incentives eroded internal motivation through a process called ‘over-justification’. The argument goes that being rewarded for performance decreases your pleasure in achieving that performance and hence erodes your internal motivation. The reason is that you are supposed to be more motivated by the reward than you are by your personal enjoyment; you start thinking that the reason you are driven to improve your performance is by the reward.

Not everybody sees it as simply as that. In their paper “Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: A 40-year meta-analysis” (Cerasoli, Nicklin, & Ford, 2014) the authors examine the way in which intrinsic motivation, extrinsic incentives and performance, inter-relate in determining the quality and quantity of performance when moderated by different kinds of incentive. They conclude that intrinsic motivation predicts performance and continues to do so regardless of the absence or presence of external incentives. However, when incentives were directly related to performance, the importance of intrinsic motivation diminished, and increased when the incentives were indirectly related to performance. Additionally, incentives have a larger impact on performance quantity, while intrinsic motivation has a larger impact on performance quality.

In other words, your performance is strongly determined by your inner motivation, particularly in terms of the quality of performance. External incentives also play a role, but unless the incentives are tied directly to performance, the main impact is on quantity rather than quality.

A Real Life Example

How does this apply to elite sports people? If you have any interest in Formula One motorsport, then the titanic battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg couldn’t have gone unnoticed.  While Hamilton was fighting to become World Champion, he showed some of the best performances of his career; yet immediately he became World Champion his performance deteriorated and Rosberg became the dominant force. There are similar examples from all branches of elite sport; once that intrinsic motivation falls, so too does performance. In the case of Hamilton, the external rewards such as acclaim from his many fans and standing on top of the podium couldn’t compensate for his loss of internal motivation.

Maintaining Intrinsic Motivation

Elite athletes expend considerable effort and make many sacrifices to reach their top physical condition, level of skill and expertise; arduous training is essential. To achieve this, such athletes must maintain high levels of motivation for extended periods, so how do they achieve this?

Naturally elite athletes aren’t islands; they are surrounded by coaches, peers, team mates, and their family and friends. This is often referred to as their motivational climate ( Keegana, Harwood, Spray, & Lavalleec, 2014) which the authors set out to examine. In their detailed analysis it was found that:

  • Coaches and peers are focal influences
  • The role of parents is primarily emotional and moral support
  • All of these provided feedback, evaluation, and pre-performance motivation
  • Only the athlete himself, his coach and peers had an influence on motivation
  • Primary influence of the coach is instruction and leadership
  • Peers along with parents provide emotional support

The authors reported they could find no direct correspondence between specific behaviours of these participants and motivation; rather the relationship were complex. Their main conclusion was that as yet we don’t fully understand athlete motivation in elite sport.

Finally

Motivation is a complex subject, and there is no quick formula available for achieving and maintaining it. It is clear that in order to maintain high levels of motivation the coach is crucial, and could be as important as the athlete, though other participants also have a role to play.

Every year sports psychology advances our understanding of motivation; and there is certainly a correlation between this and the continual improvement that we see in athletic performance.

 

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    References

    Keegana, R. J., Harwood, C. G., Spray, C. M., & Lavalleec, D. D. (2014). A qualitative investigation of the motivational climate in elite sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 97–107.

    Cerasoli, C. P., Nicklin, J. M., & Ford, M. T. (2014). Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: A 40-year meta-analysis. . Psychological Bulletin, 980-1008.

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