PERSONALITY ‘PERSONALITY IS THE SUM TOTAL OF AN INDIVIDUAL’S CHARACTERISTICS WHICH MAKE HIM UNIQUE’ (HOLLANDER)

HOLLANDER – CONCENTRIC RING THEORY Hollander believed that personality could be represented by 3 concentric rings, with the innermost ring being the most difficult to penetrate. 1 PSYCHOLOGICAL CORE – the real you, the core concept of self that individuals are unwilling to reveal. 2 TYPICAL RESPONSES – represents how individuals are likely to respond in a situation. 3 ROLE-RELATED BEHAVIOUR – how an individual responds in a specific situation. This may be an uncharacteristic behaviour.

FREUD - PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY Freud believed that personality is made up of 3 components: id ego and super ego. The id represents our basic instincts over which we have no control eg. Sleeping when tired or in sports, a need to win. The ego seeks to satisfy the basic need. To ‘win at all costs’ a player may might resort to aggressive actions, fouling opponents or other forms of cheating. The super ego is the moral arm or social conscience. It judges whether behaviour is acceptable. In sporting situations it helps to control aggression and keep players within the rules of the game.

FREUD’S PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

TRAIT THEORY B=F(P) A trait is a characteristic of personality. It is inherited ie. Passed on genetically from parents to children. A trait is a natural force or instinct that causes an individual to act in a particular way. This theory links with Psychodynamic theory. Traits are thought to be stable, enduring and consistent across all situations. They could, therefore, be god predictors of behaviour.

EYSENCK Eysenck recognised 4 personality types – arranged on 2 dimensions or continua. NEUROTIC- unstable INTROVERT EXTROVERT STABLE

EYSENCK’S DIMENSIONS INTROVERSION/EXTROVERSION: STABLE/NEUROTIC LINKED TO HOW SOCIABLE OR UNSOCIABLE PEOPLE APPEAR TO BE. CONTROLLED BY THE RAS RAS in extroverts inhibits sensory information: extroverts may get bored easily, seek stimulation, challenges, and interaction with others. Extroverts achieve optimum performance at high levels of arousal, in team activities or those involving gross skills. Introverts do not need external stimulation to function at optimum levels. They achieve optimum performance at low levels of arousal, in individual activities, requiring precision. STABLE/NEUROTIC LINKED TO A PERSON’S NERVOUS SYSTEM AND THE LEVELS OF NERVOUSNESS AND ANXIETY THEY ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO.

CATTELL 16 PERSONALITY FACTOR TEST Cattell identified 16 traits that he believed everyone has to some degree. He used the results of his 16PF questionnaire to develop personality profiles. Although this provided a wider description of personality than Eysenck’s two dimensional approach it was criticised for the following reasons: - too simplistic - failed to consider the effects of environmental situations Self report tests/ questionnaires were criticised in terms of: - accuracy - honesty of participant - participant’s desire to create a favourable impression - ambiguous questions, open to interpretation by the participant or tester - reliability, the same participant would not always give the same answers in repeat tests.

GIRDANO TYPE A CHARACTERISTICS TYPE B CHARACTERISTICS HIGHLY COMPETITIVE STRONG DESIRE TO SUCCEED WORKS FAST LIKES TO CONTROL PRONE TO SUFFER STRESS TYPE B CHARACTERISTICS NON-COMPETITIVE UNAMBITIOUS WORKS MORE SLOWLY DOES NOT ENJOY CONTROL LESS PRONE TO STRESS

PERSONALITY AND SPORTS PERFORMANCE Many psychologists have tried to establish links between personality types and sport BUT findings indicate that…. Many top performers in the same sport have different personality profiles. Personality type does not predict excellence or participation in sport There is no ideal sports personality