Psychology is a social science that has studied a variety of phenomenon within our society, and has revealed a great deal of information to the general public about the inner workings of everyday events. One of the well-studied areas of psychology is that of sports. Although sports psychology is a relatively new field, it is one of the fastest growing fields within the discipline of psychology. This up and coming field examines things such as motivation and practice, and how the psychological concepts manifest in real life. This analysis will go into the finer details of how psychology directly relates to both sports and athletes, as well as how the further application of psychology can positively influence the world of sports.
As stated in Cole, “the American Psychological Association defines sport psychology as the scientific study of the psychological factors that are associated with participation and performance in sport, exercise, and other types of physical activity" (Cole, 2014, p.2). The formalized field of sports psychology is relatively new, however psychological papers about athletic activities date back to the late nineteenth century. Beyond papers, the first sports psychology laboratory was founded in Berlin in 1920 (Cole, 2014). The first person to graduate with their undergraduate degree did so in 1978; however, now …show more content…
When an athlete become injured it is very easy for them to lose motivation and slip into a state of depression. Athletes may also find it very difficult to stick to a recovery plan; they will often over train too early in their injury recovery which only makes their originally injury worse and means that they will take a longer period of time to recover. However, sports psychologists can help athletes cope with the physical and emotional pain of recovery in order to make that recovery healthier and more long lasting (“Sports Psychologists”,
As stated in Cole, “the American Psychological Association defines sport psychology as the scientific study of the psychological factors that are associated with participation and performance in sport, exercise, and other types of physical activity" (Cole, 2014, p.2). The formalized field of sports psychology is relatively new, however psychological papers about athletic activities date back to the late nineteenth century. Beyond papers, the first sports psychology laboratory was founded in Berlin in 1920 (Cole, 2014). The first person to graduate with their undergraduate degree did so in 1978; however, now …show more content…
When an athlete become injured it is very easy for them to lose motivation and slip into a state of depression. Athletes may also find it very difficult to stick to a recovery plan; they will often over train too early in their injury recovery which only makes their originally injury worse and means that they will take a longer period of time to recover. However, sports psychologists can help athletes cope with the physical and emotional pain of recovery in order to make that recovery healthier and more long lasting (“Sports Psychologists”,