motivation motivation can be defined as the direction and intensity of one's efforts motivation can be affected by multiple factors including competitive stress and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation so what exactly do Direction and intensity of effort mean the direction of an effort refers to whether an individual seeks out approaches or is attracted to certain situations the intensity of the effort refers to how much effort a person puts forth in a particular situation what is motivation for the purposes of this course we will look at motivation as a combination of the direction and intensity Direction and intensity of effort are closely related each of us develops a personal view of how motivation works and we typically want to apply it to other people once we learn what motivates us we commonly assume that that factor will motivate other people as well we may also observe how other people are motivated this is common if we are trying to initiate change we may attempt to model our behaviors off of other good people we respect or admire although each of us views motivation a little differently there are three primary approaches to motivation the first is a participant or trait centered view this view contends that motivated behavior is the primary function of an individual's characteristics this means that high or low levels of motivation reflect individual characteristics the personality needs and goals of the individual are the primary determinants of motivated Behavior according to this theory if individuals do not have motivation there is nothing anyone can do to make this happen or make them motivated ignoring environmental influences on motivation is unrealistic and is one reason Sport and exercise psychologists commonly have not endorsed the trait centered view for guiding professional practice the second view is the situation-centered view this view is in direct contrast to the trade centered view the situation-centered view argues that motivation level is determined primarily by the situation personal attributes are insufficient predictors of motivation motivation is determined by the situation according to this Theory those with the ability to be motivated will not exhibit these attributes unless the situation or environment Fosters it for many of us we have experienced times in which we have lost motivation even though we are in a very positive environment or you may have continued to persevere even in a negative environment in these cases the situation was not the primary factor influencing your motivation level for this reason Sport and exercise psychologists do not recommend the situation-centered view of motivation as the most effective for guiding clinical practice the last view is the interactional view this view is the most widely endorsed by Sport and exercise psychologists this is also known as the participant by situation or interactional View this view suggests that motivation results neither solely from participation factors nor from situational factors rather that motivation comes from an interaction of personal and situation factors and how the two interact within this personal and situational factors can also destroy motivation according to this Theory motivation is more likely if people possess characteristics that drive them to want to achieve and if the environment supports it this is the interactional view model the participant by situation interaction is influenced by the personal factors such as personality needs interests and goals the participant by situation interaction is also influenced by the situational factors such as leadership or coach Style facility attractiveness and team win loss records the participant by situation interaction results in the participants resulting motivation the interactional model of motivation has five guidelines guideline one consider both situations and traits in motivating people when attempting to increasing motivation we must consider both situational and personal factors low participation motivation usually results from a combination of personal and situational factors to enhance motivation you must analyze and respond not only to the individual's personality but also to the interaction of the personal and situational characteristics because motivations may change over time you should continue to monitor an individual's motives for participation even after they have begun guideline two we need to understand people's motives for involvement there are a lot of reasons or motives as to why people are involved in activities figuring out motives can help influence team or individual participation influence exercise participation and even adherence to injury Rehabilitation protocols this theory contends that all people are motivated to satisfy three General needs the need to feel competent autonomous and social connectedness or belongingness how these motives are fulfilled leads to a Continuum of motivation ranging from a motivation or no motivation to extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation people have such a diverse range of motives for participation the simplest way to understand a person's motive for participation we can do this first by asking them this is not texting them but actually having a real life face-to-face conversation with an individual we can also talk to others around that individual this is a great way to get perspective and to find out what is going on with that individual and how they respond and finally you can also observe that individual we need to consider how people view success and failure the interactional model of motivation has five guidelines these are guidelines three through five guideline three change the environment to enhance motivation to enhance motivation structure environments to meet the needs of all participants this helps to Foster motivational levels guideline four influence motivation as a leader you have the ability to influence other individuals motivational levels many people model the behavior that they see especially if they respect or admire an individual unfortunately we can't all have a hundred percent good days but it is important to be positive upbeat and professional at all times if you're having a bad day it might be helpful that you communicate this to others so they do not take your difference in personality or negative behavior personally and let it affect their personal motivation and finally guideline five use behavior modification techniques to change undesirable motives and strengthen weak motivation where does motivation come from motivation is a key variable in both learning and performing in sport and exercise context people sometimes forget that motivation is not the only variable influencing Behavior there are individual differences in motivation and it is important to understand why some people seem so highly motivated to achieve their goal and why others in the same situation just go along for the ride psychologist Edward DC and Michael Ryan developed a general theory of motivation called the self-determination Theory this Theory suggests that all people are motivated to satisfy three General needs the need to feel competent autonomous and social connectedness or belonging this is the Continuum of the self-determination this Continuum starts with low motivation and continues up to high motivation those with low motivation are referred to as a motivation or no motivation this is a lack of motivation extrinsic motivation is influenced by external factors an intrinsic motivation is influenced by internal factors this also fits on a Continuum with non-self-determined behaviors ranging up to self-determined behavior so these columns and rows all fit together those that have low motivation are a motivated which means they lack motivation and are typically feeling like they are not in charge of their behavior conversely those who have high motivation are motivated by intrinsic motivation and internal factors many times these people feel like they can self-determine their future based on their current behaviors motives and motivation motive is important in influencing an individual in teams performance common motives include appearance Fitness weight loss self-challenge and enjoyment among other things motives can change across age groups often older adults are seen as less ego oriented than younger adults there are also some resulting gender differences in motivation and lastly there is a cultural effect and motives motives are affected by psychological mediators such as competency autonomy and relatedness these are affected by motivation including a motivation intrinsic and extrinsic factors and these affect the outcomes including the activity adherence and the affect among other outcome measures goal orientation affects motivation goals can help us to understand why if or what people are motivated to achieve achievement motivation deals with the pursuit of Excellence as well as the psychological journey of getting there if we understand why motivation differences occur in people then we can intervene positively this refers to one's efforts to achieve Excellence overcome obstacles and be better than others and take pride this includes a person's persistence in the face of failure and pride in their personal accomplishments this is basically a self-comparison and it also foregoes the opinion of others competitiveness is defined as a disposition to strive for satisfaction when making comparisons with some standard of Excellence in the presence of a valued of others competitiveness reflects a high level of achievement motivation and competitiveness is a social evaluation or comparison in which individuals are compared against some standard of Excellence this comparison often occurs in the presence of others and is often for the purpose of achieving over others four theories of achievement motivation have evolved including the need achievement Theory attribution theory achievement goal Theory incompetence motivation Theory the need achievement theory is an interactional view that considers both the personal and situational factors as important predictors of behavior different factors interact in this Theory including personality factors situational factors resulting Tendencies and emotional reactions as well as achievement behaviors personality factors and situational factors are examined together the personality factors suggest that each of us has the basic underlying achievement motives to either achieve success and to avoid failure or not situational factors include the probability of success and the incentive value of success these factors conclude in the resulting Tendencies or behavioral tendency this considers an individual's achievement motive levels in relation to situational factors we either move towards success or failure these relate to emotional reactions specifically how much pride or shame someone experiences and lastly there is a relation to achievement behaviors this component indicates how the other four components act together to affect Behavior this refers to an individual's desire for significant accomplishments Mastery of skill control or engaging with high standards the attribution theory focuses on how people explain their success on failures the attribution theory focuses on how people explain their success and failures this Theory suggests the possibility of success or failure can be classified into a few categories these categories are stability Locust of causality and Locust of control stability is a factor to which one attributes success or failure is either fairly permanent and stable such as having talent or good ability or if it is unstable where someone may rely on good luck the Locust of causality is a factor that is either internal and requires a lot of effort to the individual or is external and makes competition easy the Locust of control is a factor that is either under the individual's control or not if it is under your control you plan your competition and if it is out of one's control then your success was because the opponent lacked conditioning or some other Factor outside of you achievement goals are a way to understand differences in achievement three factors interact to determine a person's motivation this includes achievement goals perceived ability and achievement Behavior orientations are helpful to understanding this Theory it is very helpful to know orientation for motivation purposes such as outcome goal orientation competitive goal orientation and task Mastery goal orientation task orientation more often than outcome orientation leads to a strong work ethic persistence in the face of failure and Optimal Performance the competence motivation Theory suggests that people are motivated to feel worthy or competent and behavior is directed selective and persistent based on an intrinsic need to deal effectively within their environment the theory of achievement motivation is based upon a person's feelings of personal competence according to the theory competence motivation increases when a person successfully Masters tasks this encourages the person to master additional tasks this theory has been used to explain the differences in sport participation and success the theory is based upon the assumption that humans have an innate motivation to become competent and that feelings of competence are the primary determinant of motivation competence is the ability to do something successfully or efficiently if we're able to do this then successful performance can occur following successful performance participants have an increase in self-efficacy positive affect and feelings of competence this results in high competence motivation which then leads back to an increase in motivation to master additional skills if on the other hand motivation results in an unsuccessful performance that will result in a negative affect leading to low competence motivation and fewer Mastery attempts and eventually to drop out the perception of competence is linked to one's effective State positive feelings or positive affect follow success and Mastery attempts where negative feelings or negative affect will follow lacks of success a final theory that has been used to explain the differences in achievement Behavior especially in children is competence motivation Theory this Theory suggests that people are motivated to feel worthy or competent and that such feelings are the primary determinants of motivation this Theory also suggests that athletes perceptions of control the feelings of control over whether or not they can learn and perform skills work along with self-worth and competence evaluations to influence their motivation be back in reinforcement along with motivational orientations combined to affect self-esteem and perceived competence and perceived control this results in an affect such as enjoyment anxiety Pride happiness and shame which then results in motivation so what do all these theories tell us we know certain things about high Achievers as far as motivational orientation these individuals have high motivation for Success low failure motivation and a focus on pride of success they share common attributes many times these individuals are high Achievers who assign success to stable and controllable factors we also know that high Achievers are likely to adopt goals they usually adopt task-related goals High Achievers perceive competence and control these individuals have a high perceived competence and they also feel like achievement is within them and that they are in control in addition we know these things High Achievers and task choice they typically will seek out challenges and will be able to identify their competitors and or tasks there is also an effect on performance these individuals perform well in evaluative conditions or under pressure this Theory reinforces the need to achieve by creating challenging goals teaching skills that lead to Improvement in success and giving positive instructive feedback this allows for risk-taking behaviors and learning from outcomes creating situations in which the athlete feels successful and ensuring that the person feels a sense of competence when the event is all over there are some problems with motivation nobody said we can't use motivation techniques in the same way for everyone however they are highly dependent upon personality and motivational strategies take for example using exercise's punishment what about a pre-game prep talk is it positive or is it negative sometimes coaches will use a cut him down to build them up mentality trading players on the same team differently assuming if individuals do not complain that they are happy or even assuming that athletes don't know what's best for themselves what about a post-game Rampage what about a Napoleon complex or a domination sometimes people rule by fear for many of us this would be the quintessential bad coach there can be a downside to motivation we need to make sure that we are not imposing motivational strategies on individuals who are not responding to them we have to change up our techniques some better strategies for motivating others we can communicate effectively teach we can use praise and encouragement as rewards concentrate on the strengths of the individual instead of their weaknesses appearing organized and in control helps Foster trust inserting occasional times for fun and humor can help to lighten moods especially intense situations use quality instruction develop a mutual respect there are other strategies that you will likely find that are effective as well some of this is learning how to become a professional and what works I love this quote a coach's worth isn't found in a win-loss record or on their resume but in the impact that's made in the game and in their lives of their players I would dare to say that this quote applies to athletic trainers as well the win and loss doesn't really matter it's the effect that we have on the day-to-day lives of our athletes that really makes a difference for most individuals