Description:
I am interested in studying the effects of motivation on athlete task performance. I am currently working on writing a comprehensive theoretical background, which details the components within the Achievement Goal Theory framework: the motivational theory focused on for my PhD. The aim over the duration of my PhD, is to gain an understand of how cognitive motivation can affect athlete performance in sporting tasks, as both an individual and in a group.
My first study, divided into two parts, aims to examine the effects on cognitive motor task performance, of the relationship between dispositional goal orientation and motivational instructions. The first part of this study sets out gather information on the motivational dispositions of university students to then find links between dispositional orientations, academic performance at university and involvement in university extra-curricular activities. The second part of the study is to examine how motivational dispositions and task instruction can affect an individuals’ performance on a cognitive motor task. Specifically, it aims to identify how the rate of skill acquisition on a visuo-motor task is affected by the motivational climate created by condition instructions. The overall aim is to increase the requirements of the physical task with each study.
This project is supervised by Dr Dan Smith (Psychology) and Dr Emily Oliver (Sport).
