This document discusses personality and how it relates to athletes. It defines personality and notes that athletes and non-athletes possess different personality characteristics. Hollander's model of personality is described as having three levels: the psychological core which is a person's basic and stable personality traits, typical responses which are how a person usually responds to their environment, and role-related behaviors which are how a person responds in specific social situations. The document also discusses factors that determine personality such as heredity, environment, and their interaction, as well as theories of personality like psychodynamic theory and social learning theory. Various methods for measuring personality in athletes are also outlined.

1. Topic 2:
PERSONALITY & THE
ATHLETES
SPS431
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2. Personality and the Athletes
Definitions :
“Personality is the dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine his unique adjustment to his environment”
(Allport, 1937: 48)
Personality, defined as “the relativity enduring
characteristics that differentiate people – those
behaviours that make each individual unique”
(Feldman, 1999: 472).
Athletes and non-athletes possessed different
personality characteristics (Vanden, et al., 1993).
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3. (cont.) Personality and the Athletes
Personality can be viewed from an interactional
approach. This perspective is a situational approach
to explaining the relationship between personality
traits and the environment (Wann, 1997: p. 58).
Personality are the sum of total of ways in which an
individual reacts and interacts with others (Robbins,
et al., 2004).
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4. Hollander’s Model
 Hollander has categorized personality into
three different levels:
1. Psychological Core –
-A person’s basic personality, composed
of core traits, stable and unchanging over
time, by which we know ourselves and are
known by others.
- making it the most unique part of a
person’s personality
- innermost attitudes, beliefs, interests,
motives.
e.g. your basic values might revolve around
the importance of family, friends and
religion in your life.
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5. 2. Typical Responses – the way she/he usually
responds to the social environment around
him/her.
- only happen when a particular person shows
the same type of behaviour at events/situations
in his/her environment.
e.g. if a person helping in accident (an
accident scene) caused the person to be
concluded kind - besides, *it could be wrong.
3. Role-related Behaviours – shows the way a
person responds to and behaves in specific
social situations.
- not fixed behaviour and changes all the time
according to the external/social environment.
e.g. A person play a role as parent, and as a
coach for his/her daughter.
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6. Factors Determines A
Person’s Personality
1. Heredity (nature)
2. Environment (nurture)
3. Interactional
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7. 1. Heredity (nature)
Heredity or nature states – personal’s
personality determine through
genetic/biological inheritance (genes
from parents).
Inherited genes make people behave in
the same way over long period of time.
Identical twins show many similarity
despite raised in entirely different
environment.
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8. 2. Environment (nurture)
It refers to culture in which we are raised;
early conditioning, norms among family,
friends and social groups.
Environment plays substantial role in
shaping individual personalities.
Difference culture/environment creates
difference personality (Asian vs.
European).
Type of accommodation a person lived in
while growing up.
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9. 3. Interaction perspective
 Personality variables depend on the way they
interact between one another (genetic
inheritance and external/environment).
- Some books refers interactional as same as the
situational factor.
 Although individual’s personality generally
stable and consistent, it does change in
different interactional as well as situation.
 Personality can change over a long period of
time, if person faces specific experiences or
situations continually over many years,..
showing the influence of environmental events
on personality.
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10. Personality and Gender Roles
 Gender Role Orientation is a measurement
of individual differences in a personality
characteristics.
 Three characteristics of personality and
gender roles are:
1. Masculine (male athletes; independent,
self-reliant, athletic and willing to take risks).
2. Feminine (female athletes; affectionate(loving),
cheerful, yielding(produce) and sensitive to the
needs of others).
3. Androgynous (a mixture of both male and
female athletes).
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11. (cont.) Personality and
Gender Roles
11
800 meters event
Article

12. Personality Differences Between
Athletes and Non-athletes
Vealey (1992) states that there are
no consistent research findings
showing that athletes posses a
general personality type distinct
from the personality of non-
athletes.
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13. Theories of Personality
 Psychodynamic Theory or,
Psychoanalytic Theory
 Social Learning Theory
 Humanistic Theory
 Biological Theory
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14. Psychodynamic Theory
 It has been introduced by Sigmund Freud.
 Previously known as the psychoanalytic theory.
 Later was modified by neo-Freudians, such as
Carl Jung, Eric Ericson and Erich Fromm.
 Develop it from data he collected while treating
adults with mental illness.
 Three level of consciousness:
Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious levels
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15. Three Level of Consciousness
 Conscious
a person’s behaviours, desires, emotions, thoughts
and wishes that the person is aware of at any
particular time.
 Preconscious
a person’s knowledge and memories that are stored
just below the conscious level but can easily be
thought to the conscious level.
 Unconscious levels
irrational wishes, desires or thought that because of
threatening or disturbing nature are automatically
represses (pushed) into unconscious, making it
difficult to gain voluntary access to them.
Each of these levels corresponds and overlaps with
Freud's ideas of the id, ego, and superego.
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16. Structure of Personality
 Consisting of three parts:
1. The id (instinctive drive)
2. The ego
3. The superego
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17. The id
 psychic or mental energy, and the aim is to seek
pleasure and satisfy a person’s biological needs.
 It acts according to the pleasure principle that
demands immediate satisfaction or gratification(reward) of a
person’s biological needs.
The Ego
 Operates on reality principles by negotiable between
what id wants and what the superego allows.
 Controls the id’s desire for immediate satisfaction of needs
till satisfying object was found.
 Make decision engages in problem solving, using
intelligence, thinking and reasoning.
The Superego
 Moral part of personality and includes societal standards
about what is right and wrong.
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19. Social Learning Theory
 Albert Bandura developed social learning theory
of personality. It states that personality develops
through observational learning.
Observational learning:
known also as modelling or imitative learning.
Involves one person (learner) learning the
behaviour of another person (model).
A model influences the behaviour of people who
observe and copy their behaviour.
Models – great influence on personality
development.
E.g. A young athlete observe the steps in doing
the volleyball serve by stand close to the coach.
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20. (cont.) Social Learning Theory
Characteristics of effective models?
 liked,
 respected,
 considered to be attractive,
 considered to be powerful,
 of the same sex as the person whose
behaviour the model changed.
 Social Reinforcement – people only imitate the
behaviour of a model that resulted in reward, and not
in punishment.
 Self-Efficacy – person’s personal belief in his/her ability
to exercise control over events, and to perform
behaviours that should help achieve what he/she
wants.
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21. Humanistic Theory of Personality
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22. Biological Theory of Personality
William Sheldon – possible to predict the personality of a
person by using his/her body type.
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23. How these theories
can be applied in
sport?
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24. 1. Denial
2. Rationalization
3. Regression
4. Displacement
5. Inhibition
Defense mechanism used by
athletes to deal with conflicts
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25. How athletes used defense
mechanism to deal with conflicts?25
Defense mechanism?
Rationalization
Definition…
Rationalization?
A person’s justification of
unreasonable behaviour or
feeling by creating reasons
for it.
Example – LCW @ Japan
Open 2017:
LCW said that "My physical
condition was not at its best,
so reaching the final here is a
good sign…..”

26. Additional reading about
defense mechanism
http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-
common-defense-mechanisms/?all=1
http://www.utahpsych.org/defenseme
chanisms.htm
http://www.simplypsychology.org/defe
nse-mechanisms.html
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27. Measuring Personality
Two techniques use to measure individual’s
personality include:
1. Objective personality tests (structured,
true-false and multiple choice tests).
Ex: Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) -
(http://similarminds.com/eysenck.html)
2. Projective personality tests
(unstructured, open-ended tests and no
response options are given).
Ex: Rorschach inkblot test
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28. Measuring Personality
(structured questionnaires designed for sport)
 Athletic Motivation Inventory (AMI) –
1969
 Profile of Mood States (POMS) – 1971;
POMS shortened version - 1992
 Test of Attentional and Interpersonal
Style (TAIS) – 1976
 The Tennis Test of Attentional and
Interpersonal Style - 1981
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29. Exercise
 Write short notes on each of the following:
a) Role related behaviours
b) Typical responses
c) Psychological core
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By: Jamatul Shahidah Shaari