HIGHER PHYSICAL EDUCATION Social factors Impacting on performance
Dec 21, 2015
The Social Factor Sport has always had a social element to it
People take part in sports for various reasons
Personal preference towards activities Peer group influence Inclusion Fitness Cultural reasons
The reason you choose to do the activities you do, the role you play and even your behaviour and conduct are all influenced by experiences you have had either taking part in or watching sport
Social factors that can impact on your performance
Group dynamics cooperating/competing contributing to team/group relationships roles/responsibility for the performance
Cultural/Societal issuesetiquette rules/codes of conductrole models
Peer Group Influence A social group with common interests
○ Friends○ Colleagues○ Clubs
Sub-groups can form within groups○ Can cause problems (divisions or different views)○ Can also strengthen bonds between people
Relationships within groups can influence the entire group dynamic
○ Two teammates fall out it has a negative impact on the rest of the team
Groups A group is two or more persons who are interacting with
one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person
(Shaw 1971).
For a collection of people to be defined as a group, the members must:
interact with one another be socially attracted to each other share goals or objectives have a shared identity which distinguishes them from other
groups
Group development The development of a group normally goes through the following stages:
Forming the group gets together and a level of formality is common
Storming heightened tension associated with competition for status and influence (roles are
defined)
Norming rules and standards of behaviour are agreed
Performing group matures to a point where it is able to work together as a team
There are many different forms of interaction in a group. We have social interaction (formation of friends) and task interaction (the way the members co-operate to achieve goals)
Group cohesion This is the extent to which members of a group show a desire to achieve common goals and
group identity
Social cohesion extent to which members of the group get on with one another
Task cohesion extent to which members cooperate to achieve the group's goals.
The following factors affect cohesion:
Stability - Cohesion develops the longer a group is together with the same members
Similarity- Cohesion develops when the more similar the group members are in terms of age, sex, skills and attitudes
Size - Cohesion develops more quickly in small groups
Support - Cohesive teams tend to have managers and coaches who provide support to team members and encourage them to support one another
Satisfaction- Cohesion is associated with the extent to which team members are pleased with each others performance, behaviour and conformity to the norms of the team
Positive impact of Groups Groups members can help to develop skills
○ People to practice with○ People to offer feedback (positive and developmental)
Peer groups can influence your decisions to simply take part in activities (even ones you may not have considered
When you have a positive group who encourage each other it will help to develop confidence in abilities and a willingness to participate. This will lead to increased motivation and determination levels.
How groups can affect performance negatively
Poor group cohesion (sub groups, fractured relationships, lack of common goals) can lead to the following:
○ Lack of support from group members○ Lack of appropriate preparation○ Criticism of performance○ Loss of confidence
Communication and sharing of common goals and group rules and standards can help to combat poor group cohesion
Etiquette
Sometimes referred to as the ‘unwritten rules’ of sport
○ Shaking hands○ Give opposition time for treatment/recovery○ Applauding good play or opposition victory
Etiquette allows competition to be conducted in good spirit and with good behaviour from all involved – performers and spectators
Etiquette – Positive impact on performance
Showing appropriate etiquette means a performance is likely to be good tempered and fair
Competition can be conducted in a straightforward way (easy to officiate)
Game/match likely to be enjoyable for all (performers/officials/spectators)
Etiquette – Negative impact on performance
Poor etiquette will mean performances are disrupted
Concentration can be affected which will disrupt focus of players and possibly officials
Anger and frustration will enter in to performances
Skill level and overall quality of performance can deteriorate.
Rules and Codes of Conduct Rules are in place to provide
○ Safety○ Shape to game○ Fairness
Clubs, teams and individuals can have specific codes of conduct in place which are the expectations of how athletes/performers/coaches will conform to set standards.
Rules and codes of conduct can help develop social aspects of sport
○ Inclusion○ Respect for self and others○ Social responsibility○ Motivation○ Self discipline
Role Models Role models can play a huge part in influencing
participation in sport
Can also shape behaviours of the people who look up to them
○ Positive behaviour (e.g. work ethic or performance level)○ Negative behaviour (e.g. cheating, bad sportsmanship,
inappropriate behaviour)
People will try to emulate role models○ Skill level○ Confidence○ Dedication○ Education (especially in the USA)
Collecting information about social factors
The Social Factors are concerned with: intrapersonal perspectives, interpersonal relationships and societal influences.
The majority of the methods that may be used to gather information on the Social Factors tend to involve qualitative analysis.
The methods normally consider the opinion and reflection of self and/or others.
The methods can include: Questionnaire Self-Appraisal Team feedback Coach feedback Environmental Checklist
There are various methods of data collection that can be used to gather information about social factor that can impact on performance
Two we will look at are Questionnaires Team/Coach Feedback
Questionnaires
Advantages
Easy to carry out with clear instructionsQuestions can be tailored to gather relevant
infoLarge amounts of info can be gathered from
many people in a short space of timeYou can compare responses to see any trendsCan be administered to others or yourself
(self reflection questionnaire)
Questionnaires
Disadvantages
No way to tell how truthful a respondent is being
People may interpret questions differentlyCan be time consuming to analyse all
responsesResearcher could create biased questions
Findings from questionnaires Research on cohesion in groups/teams has shown that
performance success leads to increased cohesion, which in turn leads to increased performance.
It also appears that there is a more positive relationship
between Task Cohesion and performance than Social Cohesion and performance.
This implies that groups can put aside negative personal
feelings for one another (poor social cohesion) and work incredibly hard for one another to promote the group team performance in order to win or give the best performance (high task cohesion).
Feedback
External feedback
External feedback is information you receive about your performance from various sources, usually verbal, visual or written. For example: positive advice from your teacher/coach, a video of your performance, or a completed match analysis sheet.
Feedback (social factors)
What kind of areas or topics will feedback relating to social factors cover?
5 mins come up with a list for your table
Feedback (social factors)
Communication Cooperation Contributing to team Team dynamics Etiquette Codes of conduct Relationships Discipline (games and training)
Feedback
For feedback to be effective it needs to be positive
Positive feedback focuses on what you did well and suggests how further improvements could be made.
Giving negative feedback to someone is not useful as it fails to explain how improvement can take place.
For external feedback to be effective, it needs to be
immediate, precise and accurate.