This article discusses unorthodox sport psychology practices typical with Nigerian athletes, which differ from Western mainstream practice models. These practices are specific Nigerian cultural approaches to sport psychology and are based on two broad types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The intrinsic aspects include prayers, chanting of songs, verbalization of incantations, psyching verses, and juju and spirits in motivational processes. The extrinsic strategies include praise singing, audience verbalization, drumming effects, persistent silent audiences’ effects, and presence of important persons as spectators or part of the audience. The article concludes with the hope that some of these unique practice strategies will be further researched and will be viable for adoption by athletes in other nations of the world who believe in their power so that multicultural practices can help advance the field of sport psychology.
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Culturally Informed Sport Psychology Practice: Nigeria in Perspective
Philomena B. Ikulayo and Johnson A. Semidara
Examining the Relationships Among Cognitive Acceptance, Behavioral Commitment, Autonomous Extrinsic Motivation, and Physical Activity
Matthew Jenkins, Elaine A. Hargreaves, and Ken Hodge
capacity of these processes to help cultivate internalized motivation ( Butryn et al., 2015 ). The current study investigated the proposal that cognitive acceptance and behavioral commitment may facilitate autonomous ”extrinsic” motivation (autonomous EM) for PA, thus supporting long-term PA behavior
Do People Differentiate Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals for Physical Activity?
Sarah McLachlan and Martin S. Hagger
The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic goals, and between goal pursuit for intrinsically and extrinsically motivated reasons, is a central premise of self-determination theory. Proponents of the theory have proposed that the pursuit of intrinsic goals and intrinsically motivated goal striving each predict adaptive psychological and behavioral outcomes relative to the pursuit of extrinsic goals and extrinsically motivated goal striving. Despite evidence to support these predictions, research has not explored whether individuals naturally differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Two studies tested whether people make this differentiation when recalling goals for leisure-time physical activity. Using memory-recall methods, participants in Study 1 were asked to freely generate physical activity goals. A subsample (N = 43) was asked to code their freely generated goals as intrinsic or extrinsic. In Study 2, participants were asked to recall intrinsic and extrinsic goals after making a decision regarding their future physical activity. Results of these studies revealed that individuals’ goal generation and recall exhibited significant clustering by goal type. Participants encountered some difficulties when explicitly coding goals. Findings support self-determination theory and indicate that individuals discriminate between intrinsic and extrinsic goals.
Examining Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Exercise Goals: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Outcomes
Simon J. Sebire, Martyn Standage, and Maarten Vansteenkiste
Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), this study had two purposes: (a) examine the associations between intrinsic (relative to extrinsic) exercise goal content and cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes; and (b) test the mediating role of psychological need satisfaction in the Exercise Goal Content → Outcomes relationship. Using a sample of 410 adults, hierarchical regression analysis showed relative intrinsic goal content to positively predict physical self-worth, self-reported exercise behavior, psychological well-being, and psychological need satisfaction and negatively predict exercise anxiety. Except for exercise behavior, the predictive utility of relative intrinsic goal content on the dependent variables of interest remained significant after controlling for participants’ relative self-determined exercise motivation. Structural equation modeling analyses showed psychological need satisfaction to partially mediate the effect of relative intrinsic goal content on the outcome variables. Our findings support further investigation of exercise goals commensurate with the goal content perspective advanced in SDT.
“Coveting Thy Neighbour’s Legs”: A Qualitative Study of Exercisers’ Experiences of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goal Pursuit
Simon J. Sebire, Martyn Standage, Fiona B. Gillison, and Maarten Vansteenkiste
Goals are central to exercise motivation, although not all goals (e.g., health vs. appearance goals) are equally psychologically or behaviorally adaptive. Within goal content theory (Vansteenkiste, Niemiec, & Soenens, 2010), goals are adaptive to the extent to which they satisfy psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, little is known about what exercisers pursuing different goals are feeling, doing, thinking, and paying attention to that may help to explain the association between goal contents and need satisfaction. Using semistructured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis, we explored experiences of exercise among 11 adult exercisers who reported pursuing either predominantly intrinsic or extrinsic goals. Four themes emerged: (a) observation of others and resulting emotions, (b) goal expectations and time perspective, (c) markers of progress and (d) reactions to (lack of) goal achievement. Intrinsic and extrinsic goal pursuers reported divergent experiences within these four domains. The findings illuminate potential mechanisms by which different goals may influence psychological and behavioral outcomes in the exercise context.
An Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation Scale for the Youth Sport Setting: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Maureen R. Weiss, Brenda Jo Bredemeier, and Richard M. Shewchuk
The purpose of this study was to develop a scale of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation for use in the sport domain. Third- through sixth-grade boys and girls (N = 155) attending a children's summer sports camp were administered Harter's (1981b) measure of motivational orientation with items reworded to accommodate the sport setting. The data were then subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis for the purpose of testing the fit of the sport motivation data to the original 5-factor structural model identified by Harter for motivation in the cognitive domain. While the goodness-of-fit statistics suggested some resemblance, a number of other diagnostic indicators obtained from the analysis revealed that extensive modifications would be necessary before the Harter model could be considered an adequate representation of the underlying covariance structure of the sport motivation data. An exploratory factor analysis resulted in six interpretable factors that were somewhat different from Harter's original model in terms of hern loadings and factor structure. Moreover, the developmental trends in motivation for third- through sixth-grade children slightly deviated from those reported by Harter. Theoretical, practical, and methodological implications of this study are discussed.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Contributions to Seated Balance in the Sagittal and Coronal Planes: Implications for Trunk Control After Spinal Cord Injury
Musa L. Audu and Ronald J. Triolo
The contributions of intrinsic (passive) and extrinsic (active) properties of the human trunk, in terms of the simultaneous actions about the hip and spinal joints, to the control of sagittal and coronal seated balance were examined. Able-bodied (ABD) and spinal-cord-injured (SCI) volunteers sat on a moving platform which underwent small amplitude perturbations in the anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions while changes to trunk orientation were measured. A linear parametric model that related platform movement to trunk angle was fit to the experimental data by identifying model parameters in the time domain. The results showed that spinal cord injury leads to a systematic reduction in the extrinsic characteristics, while most of the intrinsic characteristics were rarely affected. In both SCI and ABD individuals, passive characteristics alone were not enough to maintain seated balance. Passive stiffness in the ML direction was almost 3 times that in the AP direction, making more extrinsic mechanisms necessary for balance in the latter direction. Proportional and derivative terms of the extrinsic model made the largest contribution to the overall output from the active system, implying that a simple proportional plus derivative (PD) controller structure will suffice for restoring seated balance after spinal cord injury.
Toward a New Measure of Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, and Amotivation in Sports: The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS)
Luc G. Pelletier, Kim M. Tuson, Michelle S. Fortier, Robert J. Vallerand, Nathalie M. Briére, and Marc R. Blais
A new measure of motivation toward sport has been developed in French, namely the Echelle de Motivation vis-à-vis les Sports. Two studies were conducted to translate and validate this new measure in English. The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) consists of seven subscales that measure three types of Intrinsic Motivation (IM; IM to Know, IM to Accomplish Things, and IM to Experience Stimulation), three forms of regulation for Extrinsic Motivation (Identified, Introjected, and External), and Amotivation. The first study confirmed the factor structure of the scale and revealed a satisfactory level of internal consistency. Correlations among the subscales revealed a simplex pattern confirming the self-determination continuum and the construct validity of the scale. Gender differences were similar to those obtained with the French-Canadian version. The more self-determined forms of motivation were associated with more positive responses on related consequences. In a second study, the SMS was administered on two occasions and revealed adequate test-retest reliability.
Forearm Posture Affects the Corticospinal Excitability of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Hand Muscles in Dominant and Nondominant Sides
Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia, Thiago Santos de Carvalho, Renan Hiroshi Matsuda, Oswaldo Baffa, Luis Aureliano Imbiriba, and Victor Hugo Souza
distinct profiles of muscular recruitment. Our findings reveal that forearm posture affects the corticospinal excitability of intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles differently. This difference can be decisive for the CNS in defining muscle recruitment strategies and, consequently, joint torque generation
