Behavioral Sport Psychology: Evidence-Based Approaches to Performance Enhancement

Behavioral Sport Psychology

Evidence-Based Approaches to Performance Enhancement

James K. Luiselli and Derek D. Reed, editors

From its fringe beginnings in the 1960s, sport psychology has evolved into a mainstream specialty, encompassing motivation, confidence building, error reduction, and self-help tools, among others. Whether the athletes involved play for pro teams, are still in school, or are weekend warriors, performance enhancement—an area highly subject to rumor, conjecture, and guesswork—is at the core of these applications.

BehavioralSportPsychology replaces hunches and the grapevine with solid science useful to both veteran and novice professionals in the field. Starting with an overview of key aspects of the discipline, this volume distills the essentials of performance enhancement research and practice, pinpointing behavioral strategies that produce better outcomes and explaining their efficiency. Chapters examine issues associated with measurement techniques (including cognitive assessment, sabermetrics, and actigraphy), and bedrock topics such as aggression management, behavioral momentum, and coach training are treated in depth. Authoritative discussion of ongoing controversies and emerging areas of interest makes the book particularly accessible and up to date. Featured in the coverage:

• The quantitative analysis of sports.
• Cognitive-behavioral performance enhancement strategies.
• Single-case evaluation of behavioral coaching interventions.
• Goal-setting and performance feedback.
• Behavioral effects of sport nutritional supplements: fact or fiction?
• Sport neuropsychology and concussions.

A lucid source of effective interventions, and of the evidence behind them, BehavioralSportPsychology merits a wide audience among academic and non-academic professionals, practitioners, and consultants at every level of sports psychology.