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Achievement Motivation

Sports Psychology
A2 Physical Education
Task 1: complete worksheet
GIANT KILLERS!!

Barnsley vs. Chelsea in the 6
th
round of the FA
Cup
The result of his match was not as expected.
List the reasons you think Barnsly got this
result.

..\..\sport video\Barnsly vs Chelsea AM.mp4


Gill (1986)

A person who has high levels of
achievement motivation would have a
tendency to strive for success, persist in
the face of failure and experience pride a
accomplishments. (D.Gill)

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE LIKE THIS?

AM Continued...
Murray (1938) first used the term achievement
motivation and indentified a performers need for
achievement as being linked to their personality.
Competition is described as a achievement
situation; in other words a the performer is
putting themselves in a situation where they have
the potential to succeed or fail, but still a situation
whereby achievement can be measured.
Achievement can still take place in non
competitive situations.
In either situation; there are still people that are
more willing to put themselves into the
achievement situations and can be labelled as
achievement orientated.
Atkinson's Interactionist approach

Where have we heard the term
Interactionist before?

What do you expect Atkinson's
approach to be?
Atkinsons Interactionist
Approach

You have been playing tennis for four years at your
local club.
Your next league match is tomorrow

YOU vs. Serena Williams
Situational component of AM
Atkinson recognises just as a performers
personality (made up of trait characteristics) will
effect performance; so will the situation the
performer finds themselves in (Interactionist).
He claims that a performer will weigh up:
The probability of success
The incentive value of that success

If you were playing a singles match against
Rafael Nadal:
What is the probability of success?
What is the incentive value of that success?
Atkinson personality components of
Achievement Motivation

There are two parts to this approach:

Personality Situational


Need to achieve (N.Ach) Probability of
success

Need to avoid failure (n.Af) Incentive
value of
success
TASK: What do you think the characteristics of
each personality type are?
n.Ach n.Af
Personality component:
Comparison of a n.Ach & n.Af
n.Ach n.Af
Seeks challenges
Standards are important
Persists for longer
Values feedback
Enjoys evaluation situation (likes to be
tested)
Not afraid of failure
Takes responsibility for own actions
Optimistic
Confident
Task goal orientated
Attributes performance to internal
e.g. Success = effort failure = lack of
effort
Avoids challenge takes easy option
Dislikes 50 50 situation
Gives up easily
Does not like feedback
Dislikes evaluation situations
Performs worse in evaluation
Avoids personal responsibility
Blames failure on external factors e.g.
The rain is effecting my vision or I
don't play well on this surface
Pessimistic
Low confidence
Takes a long time over a task
Outcome goal orientated

If a performer displays a high motive to achieve
(n.Ach) they will tend to have approach
behaviour
Approach behaviour: the performer is
motivated to attempt challenging situations
even if they may fail.

If a performer has a low motive to achieve and is
concerned about being evaluated (n.Af) they may
have avoidance behaviour.
Avoidance behaviour: the performer is
motivated to protect their self esteem and
will avoid situations where they may be
evaluated.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR A COACH TO
ENCOURAGE APPROACH BEHAVIOUR?

Achievement Motivation
Achievement motivation is a measurement of what
drives us to succeed or hang back/play safe.

Achievement strives to answer questions such as:

Why is it that some performers achieve and some
do not?

Why are certain performers driven to be more
successful than others?
Task 3: n.Ach link to elite sport

Can you think of a performer who you
would describe as having that n.Ach
characteristics?
OR
Can you think of a situation in sport
which would display whether you are
a risk taker (n.Ach) or you hang
back/take the easy option? (n.Af)
Sporting examples...
Golf
You are teeing off and there is a water between
your tee and the green.

Do you play the ball short and sacrifice a shot?
Play it safe

OR

Do you attempt to drive the ball over the water to
the green?

Are you a n.Ach or a
n.Af?

Achievement Motivation
Homework
Due next Thursday 24
th
Sept.
Describe the personality characteristics that are typical of Nach
approach; and situational factors that would encourage a need to
achieve approach. Use practical examples to illustrate your
answer.



(5)

Use examples from team games to show how a coach would try to
ensure that the players in the squad to have high levels of
achievement motivation.

(4)
Exam technique:
Take account of the number of marks available for each question.
Check how many aspects/subjects their are in the question
Note the need for practical examples and the context of the
examples
Begin each comment that you think will gain you a mark as a
separate indented paragraph
Use technical/specialist language

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