I never thought I would see the day. Football and psychology become one. I have never been into sports, especially when it comes to watching them on TV. Now that I live with my boyfriend, Monday nights are now for football. Since I love him oh so much, I have been trying to get into it instead of just sitting on my phone the whole time. I try to engage and ask questions and learn the game, because I know it makes him happy. Plus, my Tuesday nights are now dedicated to Dancing with the Stars, and I need him to be equally dedicated to my show. It’s just more fun that way!
Oh, how I can’t wait for the next football game now, to bring the world of psychology into the game. The one place my boyfriend thought was safe. Nope, I can’t wait to go all Dr. Phil on him. I’ll inform him on the cohesiveness of the team, each player’s lack of self-efficacy and dissect the coach’s style and how it affects the team. He will hate it, and I will love every minute of it. I swear I am not trying to ruin football for him, so I don’t have to sit through it anymore.
We were just watching the Eagles vs. NY Jets last night. So, this one player, Zach Wilson, who’s a quarterback, kind of wasn’t doing too well throwing the ball. (I hardly know how this works so bear with me.) Wilson tries to make a pass and it doesn’t go well, and all I could think about when reading this chapter was the choking theory. Choking in sports refers to an athlete showing a brief decline in performance while under pressure. (Gruman, et al., 2017) I feel like Wilson, “choked,” maybe even a few times during this game. There are two theories that researchers use to describe why athletes choke, but there’s one that I feel fits what happened to Wilson.
Distraction Theory suggests that athletes fall victim to choking when they process worry and self-doubt at the same time, while still trying to focus on the information needed to perform the skill. (Gruman, et al., 2017) I say this because I feel like Wilson wasn’t playing very well, so he may already have some anxiety about his ability to complete the pass. Confidence beliefs are a major determinant of an athlete’s performance. (Gruman, et al., 2017) Because Wilson hadn’t been playing well already, that lack of confidence in himself might have cost him the pass he was hoping for.
Maybe a little collective efficacy, which is the groups shared belief that they can work together to achieve a certain outcome would be helpful here. (Gruman, et al., 2017) I feel the NY Jets could come together a little better and improve their overall group cohesiveness to gain some confidence as individuals and in their team, since we know this loss could affect how they play the next time around. Anyway, finally, a real reason to watch Football that doesn’t involve Taylor swift. With that being said, she’s the only reason I know who Travis Kelce is or the Kansas City Chiefs, if nothing else, its great advertisement.
Gruman, J., Schneider, F., & Coutts, L. (Eds.) (2017). Applied social psychology. SAGE Publications, Inc, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071800591