Toward the Combined Use of Nomothetic and Idiographic Methodologies in Sport Psychology: An Empirical Example

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G.H. Dunn

Traditionally, nomothetic and idiographic methodologies have been viewed as antithetical. This dichotomous perspective has caused many researchers to advocate the benefits associated with only one of the two approaches. Such a biased view hinders the acquisition of knowledge in the sport psychology field because the potential benefits that the nonfavored approach can offer are frequently overlooked. The present study demonstrates how research in sport psychology can be enhanced by combining nomothetic and idiographic procedures. This combined approach provides the researcher with the opportunity to validate nomothetic principles at the individual level, while simultaneously generating nomothetic hypotheses from idiographic analyses. To illustrate these points, a nomothetic profile of situational threat perceptions based upon the responses of 46 ice hockey players (reported by Dunn & Nielsen, 1993) is compared with the perceptual profiles of three individual ice hockey players. The comparisons show many unique perceptual differences between the group and individual solutions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Wallace ◽  
Thea van Roode ◽  
Flora Pagan ◽  
Dennis Hore ◽  
Bernadette Pauly

Abstract Background As drug checking becomes more integrated within public health responses to the overdose crisis, and potentially more institutionalized, there is value in critically questioning the impacts of drug checking as a harm reduction response. Methods As part of a pilot project to implement community drug checking in Victoria, BC, Canada, in-depth interviews (N = 27) were held with people who use or have used substances, family or friends of people who use substances, and/or people who make or distribute substances. Critical harm reduction and social justice perspectives and a socioecological model guided our analysis to understand the potential role of drug checking within the overdose crisis, from the perspective of prospective service users. Results Participants provided insight into who might benefit from community drug checking and potential benefits. They indicated drug checking addresses a “shared need” that could benefit people who use substances, people who care for people who use substances, and people who sell substances. Using a socioecological model, we identified four overarching themes corresponding to benefits at each level: “drug checking to improve health and wellbeing of people who use substances”, “drug checking to increase quality control in an unregulated market”, “drug checking to create healthier environments”, and “drug checking to mediate policies around substance use”. Conclusions Drug checking requires a universal approach to meet the needs of diverse populations who use substances, and must not be focused on abstinence based outcomes. As a harm reduction response, community drug checking has potential impacts beyond the individual level. These include increasing power and accountability within the illicit drug market, improving the health of communities, supporting safer supply initiatives and regulation of substances, and mitigating harms of criminalization. Evaluation of drug checking should consider potential impacts that extend beyond individual behaviour change and recognize lived realities and structural conditions.


1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Brustad ◽  
Michelle Ritter-Taylor

Psychological processes in sport are inextricably linked to the social contexts within which they occur. However, research and practice in applied sport psychology have shown only marginal concern for the social dimensions of participation. As a consequence of stronger ties to clinical and counseling psychology than to social psychology, the prevailing model of intervention in applied sport psychology has been individually centered. Focus at the individual level has been further bolstered by cognitive emphases in modem psychology. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for a balanced consideration of social and personal influences. Four social psychological dimensions of interest will be explored, including athletic subculture membership; athletic identity concerns; social networks of influence; and leadership processes. The relevance of these forms of influence will be examined in relation to applied concerns in the areas of athlete academic performance, overtraining and burnout, and disordered eating patterns. At minimum, consultants need to address contextual and relational correlates of psychological and performance issues.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 726-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy C Battochio ◽  
Natalia Stambulova

Sport psychology researchers have studied careers of Canadian ice hockey players in the National Hockey League (NHL) and devised an empirical NHL career model. The model was comprised of career stages, statuses, demands and barriers to career progression without any indication of coping. The intent in the present article is to feature coping resources and strategies utilized by players during each status and career stage within the empirical model. Five rookies, 5 veterans, and 13 retirees participated in conversational interviews and the data underwent a deductive thematic analysis. Prospects seeking to gain entry into the NHL set controllable expectations rather than playing to impress coaches and staff. Most prospects played in the minor leagues where they adjusted their expectations to accept roles that they were likely to have during an NHL call-up. The career stage of developing as an NHL player was about rookies producing immediately in their role while holding off internal competition for their roster spot. In the same stage, sophomores were in their second full NHL season and they studied their opponents to avoid the sophomore slump. The stage of reaching the NHL elite involved constant pressure for point production and winning playoff games. The final stage was about seasoned veterans maintaining NHL play involvement by preserving their physique despite being worn down from long careers in a contact sport. The authors will discuss the significance of the model for sport psychology researchers and practitioners, and NHL stakeholders.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buse Eylul Oruc ◽  
Arden Baxter ◽  
Pinar Keskinocak ◽  
John Asplund ◽  
Nicoleta Serban

Abstract Background. Recent research has been conducted by various countries and regions on the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on reducing the spread of COVID19. This study evaluates the tradeoffs between potential benefits (e.g., reduction in infection spread and deaths) of NPIs for COVID19 and being homebound (i.e., refraining from interactions outside of the household).Methods. An agent-based simulation model, which captures the natural history of the disease at the individual level, and the infection spread via a contact network assuming heterogeneous population mixing in households, peer groups (workplaces, schools), and communities, is adapted to project the disease spread and estimate the number of homebound people and person-days under multiple scenarios, including combinations of shelter-in-place, voluntary quarantine, and school closure in Georgia from March 1 to September 1, 2020.Results. Compared to no intervention, under voluntary quarantine, voluntary quarantine with school closure, and shelter-in-place with school closure scenarios 4.5, 23.1, and 200+ homebound adult-days were required to prevent one infection, with the maximum number of adults homebound on a given day in the range of 119K-248K, 465K-499K, 5,388K-5,389K, respectively. Compared to no intervention, school closure only reduced the percentage of the population infected by less than 16% while more than doubling the peak number of adults homebound.Conclusions. Voluntary quarantine combined with school closure significantly reduced the number of infections and deaths with a considerably smaller number of homebound person-days compared to shelter-in-place.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0245983
Author(s):  
Wahideh Achbari ◽  
Benny Geys ◽  
Bertjan Doosje

Intergroup relations theory posits that cross-group friendship reduces threat perceptions and negative emotions about outgroups. This has been argued to mitigate the negative effects of ethnic diversity on generalized trust. Yet, direct tests of this friendship-trust relation, especially including perceptions of threat and negative affect as mediators, have remained rare at the individual level. In this article, we bridge this research gap using representative data from eight European countries (Group-Focused Enmity). We employ structural equation modelling (SEM) to model mediated paths of cross-group friendship on generalized trust via perceptions of threat and negative affect. We find that both the total effect as well as the (mediated) total indirect effect of cross-group friendship on generalized trust are weak when compared with similar paths estimated for prejudice.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Visek ◽  
Jack Watson

The purpose of this investigation was to examine male ice hockey players’ (N = 85) perceived legitimacy of aggression and professionalization of attitudes across developmental age and competitive level. Findings were analyzed within the complementary conceptual frameworks of social learning theory, professionalization of attitudes, and moral reasoning. Ice hockey players completed a modified, sport-specific version of the Sport Behavior Inventory and a modified version of the Context Modified Webb scale. Results of the investigation revealed that as players increased in age and competitive level, perceived legitimacy of aggressive behavior increased, and their attitudes about sport became increasingly professionalized. Based on the conceptual framework in which the results are interpreted, intervention services by sport psychology practitioners are explored that are aimed at the athlete, the organization, and influential others.


1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Hanin ◽  
Pasi Syrjä

Individual patterns of positive–negative affect (PNA) were studied in 46 ice hockey players, ages 15–17 years. Recall idiographic scaling following the methodology of the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model was used to identify subjective emotional experiences related to each player’s successful and unsuccessful game performance. Individual zones for each emotion were then estimated using Borg’s Category Ratio (CR-10) scale. Different positive and negative emotions were functionally facilitating (20.5%), debilitating (25.3%), or both (54.2%). Significant differences were revealed only at intra- and interindividual but not at the group level. Optimal and nonoptimal zones for different emotions in different players were also individual. The data support and extend Hanin’s IZOF model to the content and intensity of PNA in ice hockey. Implications for the development of sports-specific scales, idiographic assessments, and application of the IZOF model in team sports are suggested.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Michael Mattis ◽  
Philipp K. Masur ◽  
Judith Moeller ◽  
Wouter van Atteveldt

Growing concern about the democratic impact of automatically curated news platforms urges us to reconsider how such platforms should be designed. We propose a theoretical framework for personalised diversity nudges that can stimulate diverse news consumption on the individual level. To examine potential benefits and limitations of existing diversity nudges, we conduct an interdisciplinary literature review that synthesizes theoretical work on news selection mechanisms with hands-on tools and implementations from the fields of computer science and recommender systems. Based thereupon, we propose five diversity nudges that researchers and practitioners can build on. We provide a theoretical motivation of why, when, and for whom such nudges could be effective, critically reflect on their potential backfire effects and the need for algorithmic transparency, and sketch out a research agenda for diversity-aware news recommender design. Thereby, we develop concrete, theoretically grounded avenues toward facilitating diverse news consumption on algorithmically curated platforms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Buse Eylul Oruc ◽  
Arden Baxter ◽  
Pinar Keskinocak ◽  
John Asplund ◽  
Nicoleta Serban

Abstract Background Recent research has been conducted by various countries and regions on the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on reducing the spread of COVID19. This study evaluates the tradeoffs between potential benefits (e.g., reduction in infection spread and deaths) of NPIs for COVID19 and being homebound (i.e., refraining from interactions outside of the household). Methods An agent-based simulation model, which captures the natural history of the disease at the individual level, and the infection spread via a contact network assuming heterogeneous population mixing in households, peer groups (workplaces, schools), and communities, is adapted to project the disease spread and estimate the number of homebound people and person-days under multiple scenarios, including combinations of shelter-in-place, voluntary quarantine, and school closure in Georgia from March 1 to September 1, 2020. Results Compared to no intervention, under voluntary quarantine, voluntary quarantine with school closure, and shelter-in-place with school closure scenarios 4.5, 23.1, and 200+ homebound adult-days were required to prevent one infection, with the maximum number of adults homebound on a given day in the range of 119 K–248 K, 465 K–499 K, 5388 K-5389 K, respectively. Compared to no intervention, school closure only reduced the percentage of the population infected by less than 16% while more than doubling the peak number of adults homebound. Conclusions Voluntary quarantine combined with school closure significantly reduced the number of infections and deaths with a considerably smaller number of homebound person-days compared to shelter-in-place.


Societies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Giovanna Bertella

The purpose of this study was to go beyond an oversimplified representation of the vegan food experience and approach the investigation of such experience, in particular of happiness deriving from food choices, including factors at the macro and micro level. Broadening the concept of foodscape to emphasize the experiential aspect of food, this study explored how the vegan food experience can be described as a situated story about vegans searching for hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Veganism in a Norwegian context was investigated through analysis of various secondary and primary data sources, including newspapers, social media, websites, interviews, and observation. The findings suggested that the story framing the vegan food experience is characterized by a fundamental lack of interest and knowledge about plant-based food and veganism at the macro level. At the micro level, the story concerns vegans experiencing sensuous gratification, enjoyment, conviviality, and meaningfulness in limited groups, but also isolation and frustration. This study contributes to an approach to vegan food experiences that takes into consideration contextual factors, as well as relevant well-being related emotions at the individual level. From a practical point of view, this study provides an opportunity, in particular for government bodies, to improve information about the potential benefits and challenges of plant-based diets and confront possible discriminatory attitudes towards vegans.


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