Social factors Impacting on performance

The Social Factor  Sport has always had a social element to it  People take part in sports for various reasons Personal preference towards activities Peer group influence Inclusion Fitness Cultural reasons  The reason you choose to do the activities you do, the role you play and even your behaviour and conduct are all influenced by experiences you have had either taking part in or watching sport

Social factors that can impact on your performance  Group dynamics cooperating/competing contributing to team/group relationships roles/responsibility for the performance  Cultural/Societal issues etiquette rules/codes of conduct role models

Peer Group Influence  A social group with common interests ○ Friends ○ Colleagues ○ Clubs  Sub-groups can form within groups ○ Can cause problems (divisions or different views) ○ Can also strengthen bonds between people  Relationships within groups can influence the entire group dynamic ○ Two teammates fall out it has a negative impact on the rest of the team

Groups  A group is two or more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person (Shaw 1971).  For a collection of people to be defined as a group, the members must: interact with one another be socially attracted to each other share goals or objectives have a shared identity which distinguishes them from other groups

Group development  The development of a group normally goes through the following stages:  Forming the group gets together and a level of formality is common  Storming heightened tension associated with competition for status and influence (roles are defined)  Norming rules and standards of behaviour are agreed  Performing group matures to a point where it is able to work together as a team  There are many different forms of interaction in a group. We have social interaction (formation of friends) and task interaction (the way the members co-operate to achieve goals)

Group cohesion  This is the extent to which members of a group show a desire to achieve common goals and group identity  Social cohesion extent to which members of the group get on with one another  Task cohesion extent to which members cooperate to achieve the group's goals.  The following factors affect cohesion:  Stability - Cohesion develops the longer a group is together with the same members  Similarity- Cohesion develops when the more similar the group members are in terms of age, sex, skills and attitudes  Size - Cohesion develops more quickly in small groups  Support - Cohesive teams tend to have managers and coaches who provide support to team members and encourage them to support one another  Satisfaction- Cohesion is associated with the extent to which team members are pleased with each others performance, behaviour and conformity to the norms of the team

Positive impact of Groups  Groups members can help to develop skills ○ People to practice with ○ People to offer feedback (positive and developmental)  Peer groups can influence your decisions to simply take part in activities (even ones you may not have considered  When you have a positive group who encourage each other it will help to develop confidence in abilities and a willingness to participate. This will lead to increased motivation and determination levels.

How groups can affect performance negatively  Poor group cohesion (sub groups, fractured relationships, lack of common goals) can lead to the following: ○ Lack of support from group members ○ Lack of appropriate preparation ○ Criticism of performance ○ Loss of confidence  Communication and sharing of common goals and group rules and standards can help to combat poor group cohesion

Etiquette  Sometimes referred to as the ‘unwritten rules’ of sport ○ Shaking hands ○ Give opposition time for treatment/recovery ○ Applauding good play or opposition victory  Etiquette allows competition to be conducted in good spirit and with good behaviour from all involved – performers and spectators

Etiquette – Positive impact on performance  Showing appropriate etiquette means a performance is likely to be good tempered and fair  Competition can be conducted in a straightforward way (easy to officiate)  Game/match likely to be enjoyable for all (performers/officials/spectators)

Etiquette – Negative impact on performance  Poor etiquette will mean performances are disrupted  Concentration can be affected which will disrupt focus of players and possibly officials  Anger and frustration will enter in to performances  Skill level and overall quality of performance can deteriorate.

Rules and Codes of Conduct  Rules are in place to provide ○ Safety ○ Shape to game ○ Fairness  Clubs, teams and individuals can have specific codes of conduct in place which are the expectations of how athletes/performers/coaches will conform to set standards.  Rules and codes of conduct can help develop social aspects of sport ○ Inclusion ○ Respect for self and others ○ Social responsibility ○ Motivation ○ Self discipline

Role Models  Role models can play a huge part in influencing participation in sport  Can also shape behaviours of the people who look up to them ○ Positive behaviour (e.g. work ethic or performance level) ○ Negative behaviour (e.g. cheating, bad sportsmanship, inappropriate behaviour)  People will try to emulate role models ○ Skill level ○ Confidence ○ Dedication ○ Education (especially in the USA)

Collecting information about social factors  The Social Factors are concerned with: intrapersonal perspectives, interpersonal relationships and societal influences.  The majority of the methods that may be used to gather information on the Social Factors tend to involve qualitative analysis.  The methods normally consider the opinion and reflection of self and/or others.  The methods can include: Questionnaire Self-Appraisal Team feedback Coach feedback Environmental Checklist  There are various methods of data collection that can be used to gather information about social factor that can impact on performance  Two we will look at are Questionnaires Team/Coach Feedback

Questionnaires  Advantages Easy to carry out with clear instructions Questions can be tailored to gather relevant info Large amounts of info can be gathered from many people in a short space of time You can compare responses to see any trends Can be administered to others or yourself (self reflection questionnaire)

Questionnaires  Disadvantages No way to tell how truthful a respondent is being People may interpret questions differently Can be time consuming to analyse all responses Researcher could create biased questions

Social Questionnaire

Findings from questionnaires  Research on cohesion in groups/teams has shown that performance success leads to increased cohesion, which in turn leads to increased performance.  It also appears that there is a more positive relationship between Task Cohesion and performance than Social Cohesion and performance.  This implies that groups can put aside negative personal feelings for one another (poor social cohesion) and work incredibly hard for one another to promote the group team performance in order to win or give the best performance (high task cohesion).

Feedback External feedback  External feedback is information you receive about your performance from various sources, usually verbal, visual or written. For example: positive advice from your teacher/coach, a video of your performance, or a completed match analysis sheet.

Feedback (social factors)  What kind of areas or topics will feedback relating to social factors cover? 5 mins come up with a list for your table

Feedback (social factors)  Communication  Cooperation  Contributing to team  Team dynamics  Etiquette  Codes of conduct  Relationships  Discipline (games and training)

Feedback  For feedback to be effective it needs to be positive  Positive feedback focuses on what you did well and suggests how further improvements could be made.  Giving negative feedback to someone is not useful as it fails to explain how improvement can take place.   For external feedback to be effective, it needs to be immediate, precise and accurate.