1. Chapter 3
A Positive Approach to Coaching Effectiveness and Performance Enhancement
Ronald E. Smith
“I never try to plant a negative seed. I try to make every comment a positive comment. There’s a lot of evidence to support positive management.”
Jimmy Johnson
Former college and professional football coach

2. What Coaches Say
“To really win, you have to get every player to go beyond his capabilities. He must feel great about himself…He must feel that his coaches or supervisors have total confidence in his ability, and he must feel that his weaknesses are small and his strengths are much bigger. You do that by positive reinforcement, making sure that no one thinks negatively at any time.”
Rick Pitino Basketball Coach
University of Louisville

3. Influence in a Sport Setting
Who influences?
Teammates
Opponents
Officials
Coaches
What is influenced?
Thoughts
Emotions
Motivational factors
Behaviors

4. Psychology of Coaching
Set of strategies designed to increase a coaches ability to influence the behavior of others more effectively

5. The ABCs of Behavior Control
Operant Conditioning:
The manner in which our behaviors are influenced by their consequences
ABC functional assessment:
Antecedents immediately prior to behavior (A)
Behavior occurred (B)
Consequences immediately following (C)

6. The ABC’s of Behavior Control (cont.)
Results in two important relationships:
Relationship between antecedents and behaviors (A and B)
Contingency between behavior and its consequences (B and C)
Behavior is strongly influenced by the consequences it produces A B C IF +
THEN

7. Antecedents Discriminative stimuli: Stimulus control:
Signals that guide behavior, certain behaviors occur only under certain stimuli
Stimulus control:
Behavior always occurs under certain stimuli and may be automatic

8. Response Consequences
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Extinction
Punishment (aversive)
Punishment (response cost)

9. Response Consequences
Positive reinforcement
Present a stimuli that  future likelihood of the behavior that preceded it
Negative reinforcement
Remove an aversive stimuli --  future likelihood of the behavior that preceded it

10. Response Consequences (cont.)
Punishment (aversive)
Present aversive stimuli that  future likelihood of the behavior that preceded it
Punishment (response cost)
Remove a positive stimulus --  future likelihood of the behavior that preceded it
Extinction
Removal of a positive stimulus that has in the past followed the behavior

11. Positive vs. Aversive Control
Behavior is strongly influenced by its consequences
INCREASE BEHAVIOR
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Extinction
Punishment
AVERSIVE CONTROL
POSITIVE CONTROL
DECREASE BEHAVIOR

12. Aversive Control Negative side effects of aversive punishment:
Fear of failure (associated with choking)
Unpleasant environment (e.g., resentment, hostility)
Cohesion built on hatred of coach
Inappropriate modeling
Response cost punishment has fewer detrimental effects and, therefore, better than aversive
Criticism and punishment is more effective when limited

13. Aversive Control (cont.)
Reasons why some coaches succeed with aversive control:
They also communicate caring for their players as people, so that aversive feedback is not “taken personally”
They have very talented athletes
They are such skilled teachers and strategists that these abilities overshadow their negative approach

14. The Positive Alternative
Strengthens desired behaviors through
positive reinforcement
instructional feedback given within a supportive atmosphere
“Catch people doing it right, encourage them,
and then build on that.”
Mistakes are not seen as totally negative occurrences
Fosters more positive learning environment and relationships among coaches and athletes

15. Positive Reinforcement
Effective use of reinforcement:
Find a reinforcer that works for a particular athlete
Make the occurrence of reinforcement dependent on performance of the desired behavior
Make sure the athlete understand why the reinforcement is being given
Reinforcement contingencies:
Relations between behaviors and their consequences

16. Positive Reinforcement (cont.)
Choosing effective reinforcers
Not all reinforcers are created equal
Selecting target behaviors & reinforcing
It must be specific
Good to strengthen skills the athlete is just beginning to master, “reward power”
Shaping
Reinforce what can do and then reinforce closer and closer approximations to the final behavior

17. Positive Reinforcement (cont.)
Schedules and timing of reinforcement:
The pattern and frequency with which reinforcement is administered
Give immediately after appropriate behavior
Continuous is best for new skills
Partial (intermittent) after mastered
Reinforce effort and other desirable behaviors
Reinforce effort as much as results
Reinforce teamwork, cohesion, compliance

18. Reinforcement and Intrinsic Motivation
Motivated to perform an activity for its own sake, “for the love of the game”
Extrinsic Motivation:
Perform activity only to obtain some external reward

19. Reinforcement and Intrinsic Motivation (cont.)
Can extrinsic motivation undermine intrinsic motivation?
Sometimes, yes. A person may attribute his/her performance to extrinsic reward (athletes on scholarship)
However, extrinsic reinforcement unlikely to undermine intrinsic motivation if it provides feedback on meeting a standard of excellence

20. Positive Reinforcement and Motivational Climate
Motivational climate strongly effects achievement goals
Children more likely to develop intrinsic motivation and healthy achievement strategies in task-involving environments
Foster a task-oriented climate and goals when:
Reinforce effort, persistence, and improvement
Foster ego-oriented climate and goals when:
Reinforce outperforming others, punish unsuccessful performance, fail to attend to effort

21. Performance Feedback Providing the athlete with “knowledge of results”
Performance has met or exceeded the coach’s standards

22. How Does Feedback Motivate?
Corrects misconceptions
Creates internal consequences such as positive or negative feelings about self depending on performance
Increases effort, effect  if public (posting statistics)
Informs how doing compared to goals, other norms, past performance
Results in  self-efficacy

23. Instructional Benefits of Feedback
Directs behavior -- particularly good when skills broken down into components or stages
Effectively monitors progress
Tells what correct, wrong, and how to correct
When giving feedback after a mistake, better received if viewed as credible, specific and high quality, and delivered supportively

24. Implementing a Performance Measurement and Feedback System
Coach must identify specific and measurable behaviors or consequences (something that can be counted)
May want to measure successful execution versus just outcome
Measure correct behaviors rather than mistakes
Develop “total performance indexes”
Provide performance feedback for subgroups when appropriate

25. Summary: Providing Positive Reinforcement
Do liberally, particularly in early stages
Have realistic expectations and consistently reinforce compliance
Reinforce desired behaviors immediately
Reinforce effort/perseverance vs. just results
Pair with statement of what did correctly
Reinforce compliance with team rules
Help athletes set positive, individualized, behavioral performance goals

26. Summary: Reacting to Mistakes
Regard mistakes as learning opportunities
Ask athletes what they should have done instead
Give encouragement if athlete knows how to correct, if not demonstrate
Deliver using “positive sandwich”
Restrict to behaviors within athlete’s control, such as lack of effort
Avoid aversive punishment as much as possible
Response cost is more desirable alternative