4. Using Personality to Improve Performance

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about strategies to utilise personality to improve sport performance and mental health, focusing in particular on: (i) the modern perspective that personality trait differences can be worked with to enhance team or individual performance, rather than there necessarily being ‘bad’ traits to have in a sport; (ii) the importance of a sense of belonging for individual performance within a team; (iii) three key coping methods used by individuals with a narcissistic personality, as compared to those who do not have that personality type, as emotional, detached and avoidant coping.

Course

In this course, Dr Anthony Miller (Staffordshire University) explores the role that personality plays in sport and exercise. In the first lecture, we think about different ways to measure aspects of personality, understood as an enduring trait. In the second lecture, we think about the nature of personality, including the findings from twin studies. In the third lecture, we think about some research into personality in sport, including Kroll and Crenshaw’s study of differing personality traits in athletes in different sports. Next, we think about some strategies to work with personality characteristics in order to improve individual and team performance. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how these concepts can be summarised.

Lecturer

Dr Anthony Miller is a lecturer in the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing at Staffordshire University. Dr Miller’s research interests are in understanding human performance and wellbeing under pressure, with a particular focus on the social identity approach to leadership. Some of Dr Miller’s recent publications include 'Psychological distress across sport participation groups: The mediating effects of secondary irrational beliefs on the relationship between primary irrational beliefs and symptoms of anxiety, and depression' (2019) and 'Test-retest reliability of the irrational performance beliefs inventory' (2018).