This module examines key topics in the psychology of sport and performance. It includes relevant theories, evidence and interventions designed to understand how athletes learn, optimize and robustify their performance, especially under pressure to perform, as well as how performance can break down. The theories could include anxiety theory, processing efficiency theory, reinvestment theory, theory of challenge and threat, social interdependence theory, neural efficiency theory, constrained action and self-invoking trigger theories of attentional focus, perceptual and kinematic/postural theories of gaze control. The interventions to protect against performance failure under pressure could include: implicit learning, quiet eye training, neurofeedback training, imagery training, goal setting training, self-regulation training, and self-talk training.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
Use theory to explain how athletes' motor skills are acquired, optimized and/or affected by pressure.
Develop an intervention based on relevant theory and evidence to optimize performance and protect against performance failure under pressure.
Discuss the principles of effective groupwork to produce a collaborative output