Julius Kuhl

Jürgen Beckmann

This is an impressive book, which presents a profoundly new approach to analyzing human behavior. The fundamental concept is to focus on how people link motivation with action and why they do or do not stick with their original intentions. The fascinating studies reported here attempt to separate people into two groups: (1) State-oriented individuals who focus under stress on past, present, or future states, rather than on options available for action; versus (2) Action-oriented individuals who focus under stress on action alternatives. This book will be of great interest to both behavioral and cognitive psychologists, psychophysiologists, and specialists in sport as well as aviation psychology.

Action Versus State Orientation

Volition and Personality

Erkut Konter

Todd M. Loughead

Presenting an empirically underpinned synthesis of research and theory, while offering guidance for applied practitioners, this is the first book to comprehensively map the psychology of learning, playing, and coaching the world’s favourite sport. The book provides a complete analysis of key topics that capture the broad range of football psychology such as personality, motivation, cognition, and emotion; coaching and team essentials; psychological skills for performance enhancement; and developing players in youth football. Including contributions from a range of international researchers, each chapter provides a review of the relevant literature, key theories, real-world examples, and reflections on how knowledge can be applied in practice. Split into four sections, the book covers a diverse range of topics relevant not only to coaching and performance but also to personality development and health promotion. Essential reading for any student, researcher, or professional in the area, the book is the most cutting-edge overview of how psychology can explain and improve the way football is both played and understood.

From Theory to Practice

Football Psychology

Michael Kellmann

"Bringing together the world's leading experts, this multi-disciplinary collection examines both the psychological and physiological dimensions to recovery from sport. Featuring chapters on overtraining, sleep, the relationship to injury, as well as the role of stress, this volume illustrates how performance, both as an individual and within of a team, can be better managed through understanding the recovery process. It also covers the impact of travel on performance, as well as guidance on measurement and training. Based upon the contemporary models of recovery and performance in different scientific disciplines such as medicine, neuroscience, psychology, and sport science, expert contributors also explore implications for applied and strategic interventions to retain and stabilize performance ability. This is a must-have resource for students and scholars across the sports sciences as well as any coach interested in the latest research"--

Interdisciplinary Insights

Recovery and Well-Being in Sport and Exercise

Anne-Marie Elbe

Sport psychological training, an important part of athletes’ preparation, can give them the final edge in competition. This book provides a systematic structure for conducting sport psychological interventions that can be followed not only by sport psychologists, but also by athletes and coaches. The authors describe sport psychological measures that are based on scientific knowledge and have proven to be valuable in their applied work. The book is divided into two main parts. Part 1 presents the basic structure for sport psychological interventions and Part 2 focuses on concrete interventions and training measures. Part 1 further addresses the importance of personality factors for sports performance, illustrates how an athlete’s personality development can be enhanced, gives basic knowledge about diagnostic tools, and discusses talent selection. The second part of the book describes basic training, which focuses mainly on relaxation techniques, as well as skills training, essential for the stabilisation of athletic performance. Maintaining a balanced recovery-stress state is particularly important for the avoidance of overtraining. The book illustrates how athletes’ stress and recovery levels can be monitored in order to prevent overtraining. Part 2 further addresses how critical situations in an athlete’s career (including, for example, conflicts, career termination, and injuries) are to be handled, presenting various impact interventions, including clinical hypnosis. The final chapter of the book presents a mental toolbox, giving the practitioner an overview that will help to quickly identify a problem, its possible causes, and solutions.

Jürgen Beckmann

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