Athletes and Nonathletes' Personality Profiles
Try to define an athlete. It isn't easy.
Is an athlete someone who plays on a varsity or interscholastic team? Who demonstrates a certain level of skill? Who jogs daily to lose weight? Who plays professional sports? Who plays intramural sports?
Keep this ambiguity in mind as you compare personality traits of athletes and nonathletes. Personality traits and states should be considered along with cognitive, physiological, sociological, and psychological variables to understand and predict behavior in sport and exercise. No specific personality profile has been found that consistently discriminates athletes from nonathletes. Few personality differences are evident between male and female athletes, particularly at the elite level.
Morgan's mental health model proposes that successful athletes exhibit greater positive mental health than less successful (or unsuccessful) athletes do. Basically, the model suggests that positive mental health is directly related to athletic success and high levels of performance. Successful athletes tend to be vigorous and have little tension, depression, confusion, anger, and fatigue, a combination known as the iceberg profile.
Iceberg Profile of Elite XC Skiers
Compared with nonathletes, top level x-c skiers displayed:
- lower level of tension
- lower level of depression
- about equal levels of anger
- significantly higher vigor
- less fatigue and confusion
The iceberg profile of a successful x-c skier is formed by vigor being above the mean of the population and tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion being below the mean of the population. Notice that the profile looks like an iceberg, with all negative traits below the surface (population norms) and the one positive trait (vigor) above the surface.
In contrast, less successful elite athletes have a flat profile, scoring at or below the 50th percentile on all psychological factors. Hence, some personality differences appear to distinguish athletes and non-athletes, but these specific differences cannot yet be considered definitive.
Personality Profile of Female Athletes
As more women compete in sport, it is important to understand the personality profile of female athletes. The successful female athletes seem to differ markedly from the "normative" female in terms of personality profile.
Compared with nonathletes, female athletes tend to be more:
- achievement-oriented
- independent
- aggressive
- emotionally stable
- assertive
Most of these traits are desirable for sports. Apparently, outstanding athletes have similar personality characteristics, regardless of being male or female.
Predicting Performance Using Psychological Profiles
Most sport psychologists oppose using psychological tests for team selection. Personality testing is far from perfect and athletes might be unfairly and erroneously selected or cut from a team. This type of personality data, however, is useful for discovering the kinds of psychological traits and states associated with successful athlete d once these psychological factors are understood, athletes can work with sport psychologists and coaches to develop psychological skills for improving performance. For example, psychological skills training can help exercisers and athletes more effectively cope with anger and anxiety.
Take a minute to check out the psychological profile
Find out your personality profile using the assessment questionnaire included with this session. Chart your profile using the graph Psych Profile Assesment page.
