Lew Hardy Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance School of Sport, Health & Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK Some Future Directions for Sport Psychology Research

Self-indulgent selection of domains Previous research what do we know what are the limitations? Future research What would it be interesting to explore?

Contrary view of the world - Good, the new bad... Simple additive (main effect) models of the world are just wrong The world is full of complex interactions

Cue utilisation – narrowing and selectivity Processing efficiency theory, attention control theory Regression effects - conscious processing, degrees of freedom Ironic effects – doing the very thing you least want to do Motivational effects – when and in what direction?

Multiple stressors, mechanisms & task demands: Ego, physical harm, interpersonal, fatigue, financial, daily hassles Perceptual changes, cognitive deficits, regression effects, ironic effects, motivational effects, emotion Batting against spin, power lifting, ultra marathons, sailing dinghies What is causal and what correlational?

Disposition to be robust and resilient to a wide range of stressors Limitations of current research – poor conceptualisation, lack of theory, self-report questionnaires, interviews Conceptualisation – mental toughness vs mental perfection Informant or objective measures Reinforcement sensitivity theory Performance vs health?

Shotgun approach of early research Limited research in sport – goal orientations, competitive anxiety Performers are people first: Big five factors – conscientiousness, openness, extraversion & neuroticism overdone? Narcissism – training vs the big occasion Psychopathy – single point of focus Interactions

Achievement goal theory Self-determination theory Is high level performance always underpinned by a mastery focus and self- determined regulation? Obsessive motivation – extremely high training volume, emotional dependence on success, training when injured, serial medallists, loss of identity on retirement?

Nurturing environments – high self-esteem, confidence, highly skilled, mastery focused Learning from failure – experimenting and making mistakes, learning what consequences are and how to deal with threat... Punishment Insecure attachments and striving Experiencing loss, pain, defeat, humiliation Williamson & Gogarty (2009)

Performers spend 95% of time in training Very little research To what extent is competitive performance predicted by training behaviour? What are the most important training behaviours for different sports? What are the determinants of training behaviour? How can we influence training behaviour?

Leadership – decision making and recognition styles Transformational leadership and other theories – mechanisms vs boxology Coaching vs instructing Effective teamwork – moving beyond group cohesion and role variables... How exactly do teams interact effectively?

Cognitive neuroscience Psychophysiology Genetics Statistical methods to identify patterns in very complex datasets High quality participant observation studies

Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance School of Sport, Health & Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK Thank you