Sport Psychology Foundations,Organizations, and Related Resources

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to introduce psychologists and counselors who work in schools to the field of applied sport psychology. We begin with a brief history of how applied sport psychology developed in North America and other parts of the world. Landmark events such as the development of conferences, professional organizations and scholarly publications are described. This is followed by a discussion of the breadth of services that are typically provided by sport psychologists. The third section examines some of the current issues related to the training of sport psychologists. The final section introduces the reader to organizations, journals, texts, and on-line resources so they may learn more about the theory, research, and practice of Sport psychology.     

The influence of two years of school music training in secondary school on visual and auditory memory

The present study tested the effect of an extended music curriculum (EMC) for two years in secondary school, consisting of musical instrument, auditory perception, and music theory training, on children's visual and auditory memory. We tested 10-year-old children who had just started EMC and children without EMC (T0) in visual and auditory memory and retested the same children two years later (T1) to observe the effects of school music training. Confounding variables, like intelligence, socioeconomic status, extracurricular schooling, motivation to avoid work, and musical aptitude were controlled. Prior to the beginning of the music training no differences in the control variables and the memory variables between children with and without EMC were revealed. Children with EMC improved significantly from T0 to T1 in visual as well as in auditory memory. Such an improvement was not found for children without EMC. We conclude that extended school music training enhances children's visual and auditory memory.     

Hardiness training facilitates performance in college

In 25 years of research and practice, hardiness has emerged as a pattern of attitudes and skills that is a pathway to resilience under stressful circumstances. As such, it is important to determine whether hardiness can be trained, and if such training improves performance and health. The few relevant studies available thus far have suggested this training effectiveness among working adults and students. Furthering this theme, the present study involves a large sample of undergraduate students, comparing those who experienced hardiness training as a regular credit course, with those who went through other courses taught by the same teachers. At the beginning of the courses, these two groups did not differ in demographics, hardiness levels, or grade-point-average (GPA). At the end of the courses, the Hardiness Training Group showed higher levels of hardiness, and GPA than did the Comparison Group. This improvement in GPA for the Hardiness Training Group persisted over the following 2-year period, even controlling for GPA and hardiness level prior to the training, and the grade received in the training. These results suggest the importance of hardiness training in facilitating a major indicator of excellent performance in college life.     

Renewal of operant performance formerly eliminated by omission or noncontingency training upon return to the acquisition context

Renewal of operant performance formerly eliminated by omission or noncontingency training was explored in two experiments with rats. When pressing a lever was trained with food reinforcement in one context (A) and then eliminated in a second context (B), responding was renewed by returning the rats to the original context (A). This ABA renewal effect was demonstrated in Experiment 1 when the elimination training was an omission procedure (delivery of food for withholding responding) and in Experiment 2 when it was a noncontingency procedure (delivery of food irrespective of responding). Because omission training (differential reinforcement of other behavior) and noncontingency training have been used in applied settings as effective procedures to reduce undesired human behaviors, the clinical implications of our findings for the relapse of undesirable behavior were discussed.     

Attitudes of clinical psychologists towards clients with personality disorders

Previous studies have found that a variety of mental health professionals hold negative attitudes towards clients diagnosed with a personality disorder. These negative attitudes may lead to clients receiving a lower quality of service. Specialist training has been found to improve attitudes towards personality disorders but no empirical studies in Australia have examined this among clinical psychologists. In this study, the attitudes of 81 clinical psychologists towards clients with personality disorders were examined. We were specifically interested in investigating the relationship between recency of specialist training and clinician's attitudes as well as the influence of percentage of personality disorder clients on the clinician's caseload. Results demonstrated that both recency of specialist training and percentage of clients seen were associated with more positive attitudes; however, a higher caseload of clients with personality disorders was the most important predictor of positive attitudes. The implication is that recent participation in specialist training for personality disorders appears to be valuable in improving clinician's attitudes but that more positive attitudes are associated with seeing a greater number of individuals with personality disorders.     

品牌态度强度与品牌态度可达性的关系性质

运用态度量表和反应时实验比较了品牌态度强度与品牌态度可达性的关系性质。研究发现,女性被试对保健品品牌要素的态度评价越肯定,态度通达和提取的时间就越快,两者之间形成有规律的函数关系;但在否定性态度条件下,没有出现类似的规律性;当要求被试把模糊性态度明确为肯定或否定态度时,67％的被试明确为否定态度,但所用时间显著慢于明确为肯定态度所用的时间     

合作游戏训练对学前儿童合作行为的影响

选取两所幼儿园大、中、小班共155儿童为被试,采取实验班和控制班前后测的设计,对实验班儿童进行为期四周的合作游戏训练,探讨合作游戏训练对学前儿童合作行为的影响。结果表明：游戏形式的合作行为训练显著地提高了学前儿童的合作行为水平;不同年龄班、不同性别学前儿童合作行为训练差异不显著。     

训练方法对不同创造力水平儿童创造力发展的影响

采用修订的威廉斯创造性思维量表筛选出创造力水平低和创造力水平高的两组儿童,随机分配到头脑风暴法训练组、强制联想法训练组和控制组,分别进行5周的创造力训练。结果显示,在创造力的开放性和精密性维度上,头脑风暴法对创造力水平低的儿童的创造力提高具有显著的效应;两种训练方法对高创造力水平儿童的创造力成绩提高不起作用。儿童的创造力训练应考虑个体原有的创造力水平之间的差异和方法的有效性。     

音乐训练对统计学习能力的促进作用

统计学习能力作为快速习得环境中信息规则的先决条件之一,有助于个体以较小的消耗代价适应环境。音乐训练作为一种由多个感官共同参与的强化活动,被广泛认为是有助于提升认知能力的有效手段。随着统计学习在音乐适应中核心地位的确认以及音乐训练效应的反复验证,近年来,陆续有研究在行为表现和脑机制上证实了音乐训练能够增强个体对输入信息中统计规则的敏感性、促进听觉统计学习能力的提升。然而,关于音乐训练能否促进视觉等其他模态的统计学习能力,目前还存在不一致的结果。未来研究还应对跨模态统计学习能力的音乐训练促进效应做进一步探索;也可选用新手被试进行音乐训练干预,以明确音乐训练与各模态统计学习能力增强之间的因果关系。     

羽毛球运动重塑成年早期的大脑灰质和白质结构

以往研究发现,球类运动员视知觉脑区的结构不同于非运动员,但这些脑区结构的差异是训练经历引起还是天生结构不同所导致的,尚未可知。本研究拟采用纵向设计,以处于成年早期的成人非运动员为被试(23～27岁),随机分成实验组和对照组,实验组参加12周的羽毛球运动训练,对照组在此期间不进行任何有规律的运动训练,采集干预实验前后所有被试的结构像和弥散张量成像数据。结果发现,实验组训练后左下枕叶、颞中回、颞下回灰质体积增加,双侧内囊后肢、上放射冠各向异性分数(FA)增加,进一步分析发现, FA增加的原因是径向扩散系数(RD)下降。提示羽毛球运动可增加成人与视运动知觉有关脑区的灰质容量,增加纤维束的髓鞘厚度。