Sports psychology examines the factors that affect athletic performance and how participation in sports and exercise affects the individual. a sports psychologist endeavours to improve the athlete’s...

Sports psychology examines the factors that affect athletic performance and how participation in sports and exercise affects the individual. a sports psychologist endeavours to improve the athlete’s performance by psychological means (Tiger woods has used the services of a sports psychologist with great success!). research has demonstrated that the way athletes view their own performance and how they account for their successes and failures will impact on their subsequent performance. For example, Le Foll et al. (2008) gave 30 French students who had never played golf the chance to try their hands at putting. The researchers made sure that the distance from the novice golfer and the hole was far enough so that none of the students would experience very much success. after experiencing failure at their fi rst attempt at golf, one group of the students was told that it seemed that they didn’t have much ability for golf, a situation that is uncontrollable and unchangeable. a second group was told that while their performance was not very good, they could improve, that the situation was within their control and changeable. a third group was given no information directed toward understanding their lack of success (a control group). Subsequently, the researchers found that when the novice golfers were told that they controlled what happened and they could change their performance, they persisted in trying harder and felt more satisfi ed in attempting golf, as compared to the other novice golfers. The conclusion we can reach from this research is that by changing the way people interpret their failures, we can help their subsequent behaviour and feelings become more positive. This, of course, is more likely to lead them to ultimate success. This basic idea can be applied to areas beyond sports. can you apply this to a common student situation, such as not doing as well on a test or essay as you had hoped?