Performance Psychology in Sports and Business
Full course description
“Success is a journey, not a destination” (Arthur Ashe)
In this course students increase their insight on how people increase their mental toughness and overcome problems that impede them from performing at their best. They will become acquainted with some of the psychological processes and skills that are associated with people’s ability to tap into their potential. Specific topics covered will focus on psychological factors and skills on the individual level. Topics studied will include mental imagery, focusing, confidence, coping with anxiety and setbacks, and the psychology behind the use of performance enhancing drugs. While most of the examples in the course manual to illustrate the concepts and trigger discussion come from the sport or business field, there is ample of room in the course to apply the gathered knowledge to other areas requiring people to perform (e.g. rehabilitation/ patients; emergency careers (such as first-aid doctors, fire fighters), education etc... Students will have vast opportunities to decide on what they want to learn about the performance psychological concepts/theories introduced in the course.
Course objectives
After this course
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You grasp key performance psychology principles for sports, business, and high-pressure domains.
You can apply confidence, motivation and goal-setting theories like self-determination and SMART goals in real-life sports or business scenarios.
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You can assess techniques for enhancing performance, including confidence-building and emotion regulation.
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You can analyze and strategize against psychological barriers like stress and anxiety that hinder optimal performance.
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You can, together with a fellow student, constructively use an AI-tool to analyse a performance psychology question/scenario and critically analyse the output.
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You can synthesize course information and apply performance psychology concepts to real-life examples, discussing them in an engaging manner.
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You can reflect critically on your performance, identifying barriers and formulating a personal improvement plan.
Prerequisites
One psychology course at the bachelor level or in possession of a waiver. If you want to be eligible for a waiver, you should be highly motivated to follow this course and willing to put in extra effort.
Recommended reading
Some articles will be provided. However, you have to search for articles yourselve as well.