This edition of Sport and Exercise Psychology asks four fundamental questions that get to the heart of this
flourishing discipline:
Sport and Exercise Psychology
Introduction
The book is organized in four parts, each with a question that hopefully will prompt curiosity in how they can be
answered:

  • The first question is, ‘What inner states influence what people think and feel and how they behave?’ It includes four
    chapters examining mood and emotion, self-confidence, anxiety and self-esteem. Andy Lane (the elder!) opens the
    book with a chapter on mood. This is followed by Kate Hays, Owen Thomas and Andy Lane (from Cardiff, not
    related!!!!). Anxiety is a commonly researched topic and Mark Uphill provides a comprehensive analysis of the area.
    We finish this section by shifting focus to physical activity with Mike Duncan and Emma Eyre.

  • The second question, ‘How can people manage or self-regulate their own inner states?’, looks at how people
    manage these inner states or their intentions to achieve goals. Tracey Devonport presents coping research and
    practice and the importance of building your own resilient bank of resources. Chris Fullerton presents self-control
    and introduces a recent model. Andrew Friesen discusses his work on emotion regulation, focusing on how to
    regulate someone else's emotions. Attila Szabo completes this section with an examination of exercise addiction, and
    whilst many people exercise to make themselves feel better, this is not always the case.

  • The third question is ‘How can sport and exercise psychology professionals help people manage their inner states?’
    In this section, we examine some commonly used techniques. Richard Thelwell provides an insightful chapter on
    psychological skills, with David Smith focusing on imagery. Neil Weston provides an insightful examination of the
    Performance Profile. Costas Karageorghis completes this section with a fabulous chapter on his pioneering research
    into the effects of music, presenting a new theory.

  • The fourth and final part is a single, thought-provoking chaper called ‘Beliefs versus reality, or beliefs as reality? Phil
    Hurst, Abbie Foad and Chris Beedie present work on the placebo effect in sport and exercise’. In this chapter, we are
    asked to reflect on our knowledge of the mechanisms proposed to explain intervention work. For scientists, thinking
    about how we should answer this question is fundamental to our work
Overall editor: Andy Lane
Andy Lane
Additional resources
Winninglane
Winning lane