Sport Psychology

Catalog description

Sport Psychology is the scientific study of how individuals behave in sport and exercise, and the practical application of that knowledge to performance enhancement strategies. Students in this course will investigate human behavior patterns in sports and exercise settings. Human behavior is complex, dynamic, and social. There are no easy answers when you try to determine why people behave in a certain fashion. However, this course will focus on interpreting and applying fundamental behavioral tendencies related to biological and psychological models of personality structure, motivational orientations, psychological interventions, and social dynamics. In addition, students will create useful psychological interventions that demonstrate their ability to distinguish the need for normal sport enhancement strategies from serious psycho/physical behaviors that require other professionally trained experts. Psycho/social relationships to sport performance will be analyzed. Behavior management strategies, modeling, aggression, and group dynamic models will be critiqued as students design philosophies that guide training and intervention strategies. Spanish language learners may complete this course in Spanish.