From the Lesson Tee to the Course: A Naturalistic Investigation of Attentional Focus in Elite Golf

While debate continues on “optimal” attentional focus, little empirical knowledge exists on the way that attention is operationalized across training and performance in elite golf. Accordingly, this study aimed to (a) explore the attentional foci promoted or used by coaches and players for different types of shots in training, plus their underpinning rationale and (b) explore the attentional foci promoted or used by coaches and players in competition, plus their underpinning rationale. Our findings revealed that (a) various foci were used across training and competition; (b) all players used different combinations of foci across training and competition, and within different aspects of training itself (e.g., short vs. long game); and (c) players often used alternative or additional foci in training to those promoted by coaches, and self-generated foci for competition. These results highlight the complexity and practical reality that needs to underpin future advances in theory, research, and practice.

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Context Matters

Performance Management Transformation ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190942878.003.0013 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 233-263

Author(s):

Jeanette N. Cleveland

Keyword(s):

Performance Management ◽

Performance Appraisal ◽

Applied Psychology ◽

Situation Assessment ◽

Cultural Economic ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Situational Strength ◽

Key Features ◽

And Performance ◽

The Way

Contexts shape the way the performance appraisal (PA) and performance management (PM) systems are designed and utilized. Yet, the analysis of situations, especially more macro-context, including cultural, economic, and political/legal values, is one of the most underresearched areas in applied psychology despite the fact that context is likely to be critical to understanding the success and the failures associated with individual and team PM in organizations. To date, most research on situations has focused on proximal factors that impinge directly on raters’ and ratees’ motivation and goals, with less attention given to variations in macro and meso context across and within organizations, nations, and cultures. In the present chapter, the current research linking context with PA and PM is reviewed. Drawing from both situational strength and institutional theories, the mechanisms (e.g., norms and constraints) by which situations can shape the design and process of PA/PM within and across organizations are discussed. The chapter concludes by translating key features from the context and situation assessment literature into action that can be taken by industrial and organizational psychologists to help improve PA/PM research and practice in organizations.

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From Blackface to ‘Genuine Negroes’: Nineteenth-Century Minstrelsy and the Icon of the ‘Negro’

Theatre Research International ◽

10.1017/s0307883300012669 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 17-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Lisa M. Anderson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Nineteenth Century ◽

Real Life ◽

The United States ◽

Different Types ◽

The Face ◽

And Performance ◽

Minstrel Shows ◽

Over Time ◽

The Way

In 1855, the first ‘coloured’ minstrel troupe, the Mocking Bird Minstrels, appeared on a Philadelphia stage. While this company did not stay together long, it heralded a change in the ‘face’ of minstrelsy in the United States. Many other black minstrel troupes would quickly follow, drawing attention away from the white minstrels who had until then dominated the scene. However, the white minstrel show had already iconized a particular representation of the ‘Negro’, which ultimately paved the way for black anti-minstrel attitudes at the end of the nineteenth century. The minstrel show existed in two guises: the white-in-blackface, and the black-in-blackface. The form and content of the minstrel shows changed over time, as well as audience perception of the two different types of performance. The black minstrel show has come to be regarded as a ‘reclaiming’ of slave dance and performance. It differs from white minstrelsy in that it gave theatrical form to ‘signifyin” on white minstrelsy in the manner in which slaves practised ‘signifyin” on whites in real life.

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Using Thinking Actively in a Social Context and Spirals in Living Theory research in explanations of educational influences in a global social movement

Gifted Education International ◽

10.1177/0261429418824110 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 91-109

Author(s):

Joy Mounter ◽

Marie Huxtable ◽

Jack Whitehead

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Social Movement ◽

Knowledge Base ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Educational Professionals ◽

The Social ◽

Theory Research ◽

Living Theory ◽

The Way

The article’s authors continually ask and attempt to answer questions, such as, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ and ‘How do we improve what we are doing?’ by researching their practice and making public what knowledge they create along the way. Here they describe Living Theory research and explain why this has enabled them to improve their practice and hold themselves to account to others and themselves to give expression in practice to their values that contribute to the flourishing of humanity. Drawing on Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC), the integration of research and practice is exemplified. They finally illustrate how educational professionals in diverse fields and contexts of practice have contributed to the growth of a global educational knowledge base comprising the valid values-based explanations of educational-practitioners of their educational influences in their own learning, the learning of others and the learning of the social formations they live and work in.

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The use of multiple externally directed attentional focus cues facilitates motor learning

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching ◽

10.1177/1747954119870172 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 651-657

Author(s):

Kevin A Becker ◽

Jeffrey T Fairbrother

Keyword(s):

Motor Learning ◽

Relative Effectiveness ◽

Attentional Focus ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Multiple Cues ◽

External Focus ◽

Focus Cues ◽

Internal Focus ◽

Dart Throwing ◽

And Performance

Attentional focus research consistently suggests that the use of an external focus of attention improves motor learning and performance relative to an internal focus. It appears, however, that external focus cues are not frequently adopted in applied sport settings. One issue that may contribute to this disparity relates to variability in how cues are employed in research and practice. Experimental research tends to use a single-cue approach, while in sports, athletes often sample several cues within the same practice. A limitation of the single-cue approach is that attentional focus effects could be due either to focus direction (internal vs. external) or to the relative effectiveness of a particular cue (e.g. an effective externally focused cue vs. an ineffective internally focused cue). This study tested whether external focus benefits generalize to situations in which participants use multiple cues of the same type throughout acquisition. Volunteers ( N = 22) learned a dart throwing task while using three internally or externally focused cues. Results indicated an external focus led to lower error scores during acquisition and a delayed retention test ( p’s < .05). These results demonstrate that the external focus benefit generalizes to situations where a performer uses multiple cues.

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