Role of Inspiration in Increasing Situational Motivation in Male Team Athletes

Motivation and inspiration are often used superficially and synonymously in media coverage of sport. Sportscasters and reporters speculate about athlete motivation cite inspirational locker room speeches from coaches as a motivational source. Research in and out of sport psychology has developed and verified theories to describe mechanisms of motivation change (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Vallerand, 1997), but there is little research on the role of inspiration (Thrash & Elliot; 2003, 2004). The current study aimed to determine if inspiration can be manipulated, and if so, how increased inspiration impacts situational motivation of athletes. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that inspiration increased for collegiate football players randomly assigned to observe a simulated pep-talk but not for their counterparts assigned to a control group. Situational autonomous motivation did not exhibit a similar response. Multiple regression analysis revealed that change in inspiration was not predictive of change in situational motivation. The results support the contention that inspiration and situational motivation are distinct constructs. Future research in sport should attend to examining consequences of inspiration change in athletes to clarify the role of inspiration contrasted against motivation in sport.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Gonzalez, Stephen Patrick

Contributors dc:contributor

• Daniel R. Czech
• A. Barry Joyner
• Helen Graf

• ETD
• Inspiration
• Relative autonomy
• Self-determination theory
• Coaches
• Pep talks

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/89

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1089