Ng Yau Yin Johan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-150). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendix B and E in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / List of Tables --- p.viii / List of Figures --- p.x / Introduction --- p.1 / Basic psychological needs --- p.1 / Types of motivation --- p.2 / Previous research findings --- p.4 / Measures of basic needs satisfaction --- p.5 / Purpose of current study --- p.7 / Study 1 --- p.9 / Introduction --- p.9 / Item creation and content relevance review --- p.9 / Method --- p.19 / Participants and procedures --- p.19 / Measure --- p.19 / Data analysis --- p.20 / Results --- p.22 / Preliminary results --- p.22 / Factorial validity --- p.23 / Alternative models --- p.26 / Discussion --- p.28 / Study 2 --- p.30 / Introduction --- p.30 / Construct coverage review --- p.30 / Content relevance review of new items for autonomy subscale --- p.32 / Method --- p.37 / Participants and procedures --- p.37 / Measures --- p.38 / Data analysis --- p.44 / Results --- p.46 / Preliminary results --- p.46 / Factor structure of autonomy subscale --- p.48 / Factor structure of the BNSSS --- p.51 / Convergent validity --- p.56 / Nomological validity --- p.58 / Discussion --- p.60 / Study 3 --- p.65 / General Discussion --- p.67 / Future research --- p.71 / Conclusion --- p.72 / Appendix A ´ؤ Questionnaire for Study 1 (English) --- p.74 / Appendix B ´ؤ Questionnaire for Study 1 (Chinese translation) --- p.76 / Appendix C ´ؤ Questionnaire for Study 2 --- p.78 / Appendix D ´ؤ Questionnaire for Study 3 (English) --- p.85 / Appendix E ´ؤ Questionnaire for Study 3 (Chinese translation) --- p.87 / Appendix F ´ؤ Review of Literature --- p.89 / References --- p.133

M.A. / The approach of psychology to sport has over the century been ambivalent. The relationship between the field of psychology and matters on the sports field has tended to favour one type of understanding, namely cognitive-behavioural psychology. The theoretical underpinnings of this conception are seen to be directly connected to a set of philosophical, ethical and aesthetic ideas known as Modernism, which have dominated this century. It is suggested herein that with the renewed interest of psychology in matters sporting, some of the current theoretical perspectives in the general field of psychology might be applied to sports. The approach adopted here explores how the narratives of professional golfers, looked at through a social constructionist lens, could assist them in re-evaluating and enriching their experiences. Social constructionism aims to change the traditional agenda of psychological research, which might lead to new ways of talking about ourselves and our surroundings. Social constructionism is situated inside a different set of theoretical premises, which are known as Postmodern, which challenge the Modern way of knowing.

This study examined the influence of state-confidence on aesthetic athletes’ precompetitive imagery function use. Important individual differences effecting functional imagery use require empirical confirmation. Proposed is state-confidence as a factor influencing the functions of imagery used immediately prior to competition. Also, sport type may also be a moderator of the relationship and thus, is constrained in this study. Female aesthetic athletes from Southern Alberta (N = 180, Mage = 14.64, SD = 1.88) completed measures of state-confidence, imagery ability, and frequency of imagery function use. One-way ANCOVA tests revealed that athletes with high state-confidence used significantly more cognitive specific, cognitive general, motivation general-arousal, and motivational general-mastery functions of imagery than low state-confident athletes. Findings imply that applied sport psychology consultants should be more encouraging of preparation strategies with low state-confident athletes. / xi, 64 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm

Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa

The finance industry is an extremely fast and complex world dominated by the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH). This theory contains many assumptions which include that investors are rational utility maximisers and that market prices reflect all relevant economic information available to the public. However, over the years, a new form of financial literature known as behavioural finance has been gaining momentum. Behavioural finance seeks to bridge the gap between psychology and economics in an attempt to gain a better understanding of how markets react to different situations. Behavioural finance has also gained much attention in recent years due to the EMH’s inability to explain many economic anomalies. This study first considers the differences between behavioural finance theory and EMH theory before explaining how an individual’s mood has the ability to influence one’s risk taking preferences. Mood changes were also found to be linked to changes in the way an individual reacts to different situations, the way they thinks and processes thoughts. Negative events were also found to have a greater influence on an individual’s mood than positive events did, resulting in an asymmetric relationship between positive and negative results. This study then examines numerous studies indicating how non-economic events can have a statistical and significant influence on stock market returns before analysing previous literature where sport was found to influence market prices. The aim of this study is to determine if South African national sporting performance can influence investors in such a way that it has the ability to impact on market returns. Using standard event study methodology, this study determines the constant mean return using the daily All-Share price index on the JSE for the period of 1 January 1990 to 31 December 2010. This study focuses on three of South Africa’s most popular sports, namely soccer, cricket and rugby and examine if these three sports have the ability to influence market returns. Although there is some evidence of a relationship between stock returns and sporting performance in the descriptive analysis, the regression results indicate that sporting performance in South Africa does not significantly explain abnormal market returns on the JSE. The study provides a number of possible reasons for this finding and concludes by suggesting areas for future research.