Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effectiveness Of Virtual Training: Comparing Virtual And In-Person Sport-Specific Cognitive Training, Jared Ian Toby

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The goal of the project is to outline the benefits of different types of cognitive training with physical or in-person training compared to a virtual training implementation specifically in the context of baseball pitch recognition. By doing this we are able to identify which aspects of pitch recognition are better trained by different types of training and allow athletes to train differently and more effectively. The participants were 21 undergraduate students at Bard College who have not played at a competitive level of baseball. Participants were assigned to two conditions either in-person cognitive training or similar but virtual training. Participants …

“If I’Ve Got God On My Side, I Can Do It”: A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Lived Experiences Of Spirituality For Lds Ncaa Di Student-Athletes, Matthew J. Moore

Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of spirituality for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) student-athletes who also identified as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Using an existential phenomenological approach (Thomas & Pollio, 2002), nine interviews were conducted with four self-identified female and five self-identified male members of the LDS Church who were current NCAA DI athletes at the time of the study; they participated in four different DI sports (cross-country/track and field, football, soccer, and volleyball) and attended five different DI institutions. Their mean age was …

Never Enough: Assessing Body Image In College-Age Males, Austin T. Coale

Senior Theses

Body image issues are a prevalent issue among college-age students. College-age males specifically suffer from societal pressures of masculinity which manifest in different body image threats and coping strategies that focus on over-exercising and increased muscularity. This study aims to look at two distinct athletic populations of males at the University of South Carolina: yoga and weightlifting. An eleven item survey interrogated three types of coping strategies: avoidance, appearance fixing, and positive rational acceptance. Thirty males were surveyed and found that males participating in yoga reported rates of appearance fixing that were statistically significantly higher than those in the weightlifting …

B.F. Skinner's Theory Of Performance Excellence: A Radical Behavioral Perspective, Thomas Fritze

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner was a revolutionary in the field of psychology, particularly noted for his development of a philosophy of science and an approach to psychological study labeled radical behaviorism (Rachlin, 1995). To Skinner, psychology was synonymous with an organism's interactions between its environment and its own behavior - and behavior was defined accordingly. This way of studying psychology differed greatly from preceding behavioral iterations in psychology and kept up with advances in ·established fields of science. Due to the deficiencies of the behavioral tradition coming before Skinner, misunderstandings by many psychologists and scientists of the Skinnerian approach were …

The Psychology Of Performance In Elite Youth Soccer Players, Matthew Best

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study is a holistic assessment of psychological mindsets, which are one’s attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions, in elite youth male soccer players between the ages of 13 and 18 and the exploration of the relationships between these mindsets and performance outcomes. The mindsets that were assessed were expectancy, growth mindset, value, goals, belongingness, grit, and self-regulation, and the performance outcomes were minutes played, goals scored, and goals allowed. The mindsets were selected through a review of research in education and sport. I conducted Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient analyses to assess the validity and reliability of the …

A Psychosocial Analysis Of The Coach-Athlete Relationship Through The Lens Of Coaching Efficacy, Kael G. Gouriluk

Selected Honors Theses

This paper seeks to understand the relationship between athletes and their coaches. More specifically, through review of precedential work and a survey study, to understand the effects of coaches’ instruction methods and actions upon athletes in relation to their perceptions of their previous coaches’ efficacy.

Examining The Sociocultural Experiences Of Cherokee Nation Citizens In Athletic Competition And Sport, Michael Dewayne Merrie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the sociocultural experiences of Cherokee adults in athletic competition and sport. Specifically, following a qualitative design, fifteen participants were interviewed about their personal experiences in athletic competition and sport while growing up in rural Oklahoma. Interviews were open-ended and followed a semi-structured script of questions with additional probes. Once completed, the recorded interviews were transcribed and data were analyzed. The data revealed six axial codes and three selective codes. Cherokee culture, psychoSocial identity, and athletic competition were the three major selective codes discovered in this study. Qualitative analyses revealed that participants have …

Attachment Style And Its Role In Perceived Team-Efficacy And Individual Self-Efficacy In Sports, Meghan Kupiec

Honors Theses

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between athletes’ attachment styles and their team- and self-efficacy after wins or losses in sporting contests. The study followed up on a theory proposed by Sam Carr (2012), which posits that attachment style plays an important role in athletic competition and can act as a buffer to negative outcomes in sport. In order to test this idea, a research study was conducted surveying Union College Varsity athletes during both the fall and winter sporting seasons. Across the course of the participants’ athletic seasons, four surveys were distributed. The first …

An Investigation Of Preferred Versus Imposed Exercise, Personality Traits, And Motivation On An Exercise Dependent College Aged Sample 2013, Chelsea M. Norton

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate personality traits and motivation among an exercise dependent sample by using and examining theoretically based assessment tools and (b) measure feeling states under different types of physical activity among those who were considered to be exercise dependent. Four hundred twenty-three college students (54.4% male, 45.6% female) who met the inclusion criteria completed the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised (EDS-R; Symons Downs, Hausenblas, & Nigg, 2004), Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI; Terry, Szabó, & Griffiths, 2004), Exercise Identity Scale (EIS; Anderson & Cychosz, 1994), Behavioral Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2; Markland & Tobin, 2004), and …

Softball Officials : Differences In Self-Esteem Based On Gender And Rating Status, Peggy Ann Yockey

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Officiating sport contests requires much personal control and poise, self-confidence, and a thorough knowledge of the rules and mechanics. Accepted as a part of sport, through exhibitions of improper player, coach, and spectator behavior, is criticism of officials. The impact of such criticism on the self-esteem of the official appears to be a key question and prompted this research. The study problem was to determine the gender and rating difference in self-esteem, if any, of Amateur Softball Association (A.S.A.) officials of the Greater San Joaquin Valley (GSJV) Metro. Specifically, the study compared the self-esteem level of: (1) softball officials and …

The Effect Of Headphone Music On Exercise Compliance, Gayle Ann Laszewski

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A study was designed to assess the effect of headphone music on running performance and enjoyment with its implications for increasing exercise compliance. A counterbalanced split-plot design was used with 18 University of the Pacific undergraduates receiving both treatment conditions: running with music and running without music. Measures included: (a) perceived enjoyment questionnaire scores; (b) running time; and (c) heart rate. It was expected that music would increase participants' rated running enjoyment, amount of time spent running, and also running intensity or heart rate, in comparison to running without music. Music significantly increased participants' rated enjoyment scores but not running …

Study Of Aggression And Competitive Anxiety Among Intercollegiate Football Players, Edward Ian Leland

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between aggression, as measured by various personality questionnaires, and competitive anxiety, as measured by the Illinois State Competitive Anxiety Questionnaire, among the intercollegiate football players at the University of the Pacific.

A sub-purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of aggression scores among intercollegiate football players as measured by the selected personality questionnaires.