When most people make the decision to start an exercise regime or train for a sporting event one major problem they will occur is adherence to the training. It is no secret that most fitness clubs recruit a certain percentage over their member limit knowing that a vast majority will quit after the first month. Many different methods are used to retain members but they all seem to miss out on the fundamental aspects that motivate individuals in sport and exercise.
Ask firstly what are your motives for participating in sport?
- Improving skill
- Having fun
- Socialising/being with friends
- Success/winning
- Developing fitness/skill
These may be different for elite or enthusiast level athletes. Motivation is a vast field of study and I will try to give a brief insight. Motivation is the desire to perform a certain behaviour, and an individual's motivation in a sporting environment can be based on their motive to achieve success and the motive to avoid failure. Extremely high levels of motivation may be necessary to repeatedly produce the kind of high quality training sessions that are required for elite performers. We must always remember individual differences and how this will effect our motivational orientation.
The achievement goal theory (Nicholls 1984) states that we can be motivated by intrinsic pleasure-related motives, where we want to do the best we can (Task orientation), or by external instrumental motives such as wanting to be seen to beat a competitor or for a cash incentive (Ego orientation), or both. An individual's motivational orientation in the sporting context can be assessed by using the task and ego orientation questionnaire (TEOSQ Duda and Nicholls, 1989.).
Task And Ego Orientation in Sport (TEOSQ) Questionnaire (Duda, 1989)
Have a go at answering the questions below to determine your sport motivational orientation. Jot down your answers as you go.
Tick the response which you feel most strongly applies to you (1 = Disagree Strongly; 2 = Disagree Somewhat; 3 = Undecided; 4 = Agree Somewhat; 5 = Agree Strongly)
I feel successful in sport when…
- 1. I learn something new that is fun to do.
- 2. I'm the only one who can do a move or skill.
- 3. I learn a new skill and it makes me want to practice more.
- 4. I can do better than my friends.
- 5. I learn a new skill by trying really hard.
- 6. The others can't do as well as me.
- 7. I work really hard.
- 8. Others mess up and I don't.
- 9. Something I learn makes me want to go and practice more.
- 10. I score the most points or goals.
- 11. A new skill I learn feels right.
- 12. I'm the best.
- 13. I do my very best.
Scoring TEOSQ
Task-involved definitions of success (task orientations) are represented by questions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 (odd numbered questions).
Ego-involved definitions of success (ego orientations) are represented by questions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 (even numbered questions).
Each question is scored out of five, so the range of scores for each orientation are:
Task 7 - 35 (to get average response, divide by 7)
Ego 6 - 30 (to get average response, divide by 6)
Comparing your results with the Normative Values
A review of studies by Duda and Whitehead (1998) revealed a mean task orientation of 4.08 ± 0.57, while ego orientation was found to be 2.87 ± 0.81.
The Gender differences are
Males Task 4.11 ± 0.49 Females Task 4.18 ± 0.47
Males Ego 3.05 ± 0.80 Females Ego 2.82 ± 0.78
From the normative values above we can see that women tend to be more task-orientated than men, ie they are more motivated by bettering themselves than by beating others, although individuals can be low or high in both task and ego orientation.
Elite athletes of either sex usually show both high task and high ego-orientation. High ego-orientation can lead to anxiety, low self-efficacy and a decrease in effort, although evidence in the literature suggests that high ego is only detrimental with low perceived competence.
”Looks like big Ego's aren't that bad for cyclists afterall, but seeing as I'm more 'task-oriented' looks like I'm going to have to set myself harder tasks whilst training - damn.” Ed.
The next session with
Andrew Patterson
will focus on using Interest Enhancing Strategies. Giving you an insight into improving your self-determination and sticking to your training regime.
Andrew Patterson BSc, Dip. trains elite athletes and cyclists, check out his website for more info or contact him at andrew@pattersontraining.com
http://www.pattersontraining.com
