Examining Psychological Aspects of Sports

The human organism is an extremely complex structure with unimaginable complex functions. Nowadays more and more emphasis is being laid on the study of psychological factors, which control, condition and modify human behavior. Psychologists from all over the world are critically and enthusiastically examining psychological aspects of sports, applying research from related areas to athletic situations, and attempting to make sense out of sparse factual material, considering the popularity of sports, its length of existence and its impact in society, relatively little research has been done with athletes. Consequently how much is really known about aspects of psychology as they related to sports.

On the other hand, we are by no means still in the Dark Ages. Orderly laws of behavior can be applied to the athletically gifted so as to understand and predict performance. Studies in athletic environment, with athletes, can and are occurring more frequently now than ever before. In fact, a sport, in the wider perspective means pleasure as well as competition.

As in other fields of human activity so in sports, competition has become very intense and all individuals and nations are striving very hard to gain supremacy over others. Olympics and other world competitions may stand testimony this fact. Sports psychology is an application of principles, methods and techniques of analysis, appraisal and enhancement for optimizing human sport or human athletic behavior. Sports psychology as an area of study involves many individuals of diverse backgrounds with a common interest that of knowing more about athlete and sport.

Newspaper accounts reflect psychology employed prior to or during competition and radio and television sports announcers and analysts delve in to the mysteries of explaining unexpected athletic performances. Coaches and athletes do likewise as do sports fans. But the major direction of the intellectual pennant, sport psychology has led to the recognition of the science of “human behaviors” as a replacement for practices, heretofore based on common sense, popular belief and half-truths.

Association for the Advancement of Applied Sports Psychology (AAASP), one of the professional societies representing sport psychologists, gives a comprehensive and generally accepted definition. According to the AAASP, Sports psychology is “(a) the study of the psychological and mental factors that influence and are influenced by participation and performance in sports, exercise, and physical activity, and (b) the application of the knowledge gained through this study to everyday setting. Sports psychology professionals are interested in how participation in sport, exercise, and physical activity may enhance personal development and well- being throughout the life span”.

Historically, the coaching of athletes has largely emphasized the development of technical ability and physical fitness to the neglect of critical psychological factors. Although it is widely appreciated that mental and emotional states can make the difference between winning and losing, the role of psychology in sports has largely been restricted to pre-match advice and instruction. This is likely to be of little value.

The demands of competition are such that the psychological preparation of sport people needs to be carried out over a prolonged period of time for it to be effective. Sports psychology is a relatively young discipline, and sports psychologists are only beginning to provide answers to some of the many questions about sports and exercise behavior. During the past two decades sports psychology has emerged as a legitimate field of scientific enquiry.

Researchers are afforded ample opportunity to observe, describe and explain the various psychological factors that influence diverse aspects of sport and physical activity. Sport involves extremely complex behavior issues. As a consequence of intense competition a sports man‘s behavior may undergo important changes. Physical education scientists and coaches have not be expert only in the matter of skill training but also be engineers who understand the mechanism of human behavior or the playfield, under extremely divers situation.

Sports psychology, as an applied psychology has taken giant strides. The knowledge in all fields of human endeavor, especially of behavior, has expanded to such an extent that it is difficult to discuss one aspect of behavior without reference to others. In the field of competitive sport, training of the athletes is incomplete without psychological training of the competition. Psychological readiness and mental health play a decisive role as to determine whether or not an athlete in competition and in training responds to their optimum potentials. Interestingly, the need for sport psychology seems to be increasing in two contradictory ways. First, athletes and coaches, in search of the “winning edge”, are looking to sport psychologists for a mental advantage. They are asking for techniques and procedures that will make the good athlete even better.

As physical skills, training techniques and work-loads reach their maximal levels, the remaining frontier is the mind. It is now being claimed that “regardless of how much ability, skill or fitness a person possesses for a particular task or sport, the success or quality of his performance will in the final analysis probably depend on his particular psychological make-up. Certain psychological characteristics and personality features facilitate participation in physical activities and acquiring proficiency and skills which intern may enhance desirable psychological dimensions. A minimum level of I. Q, Emotional intelligence, and mental health is necessary to achieve superiority in sports endeavor. People with the low intelligence experience difficulty in acquiring skills. Certain personality traits such as freedom from agitation, high need for social approval, lack of hostility to the environment are predictive of superior performance in sports endeavor.

Coffer and Johnson suggested that athletes are a special breed in terms of personality and their special attributes sort out the champions from those who are blessed with similar physical abilities. On the basis of the large number of observation and evaluation of individual sportsman, a number of personality profiles related to high sports achievement, have been determined. These profiles are drive, determination, intelligence, emotional intelligence, aggression, leadership, emotionality, self-confidence, mental toughness, quality of life, and conscience development. One of the earliest areas of study to receive systematic attention in the field of sports psychology was the study of personality. Too many researchers and coaches it seemed reasonable to assume that consistencies in behavior; or dispositions to behave in a particular manner (traits), could influence one’s athletic ability.

Understanding the relationship between personality and sport is indeed a complex and often confounding area of enquiry. Personality is the result of a number of influences i. e., physical, personal and socio-cultural. Physical influences are the inherited biological characteristics that cause people to differ from each other. Personal influences are the unique events experienced by the individual that cause lasting effect on him. Socio-cultural influences are internalizations from the environment that surround the individual. These influences are absorbed from parents, educators, social institutions and media, and are the product of the society in which the person lives. If a society is highly competitive and sanctions the expression of aggression, comparable behavior will be supported by parents and educators and reflected in the child. Thus when child performs well in socially sanctioned activity, such as sports, he will usually receive reinforcement in the form of support from parents and others.

The career of most athletes reveals that were strongly reinforced early in life and encouraged to devote their energies to sports. The study of personality and the role it may play in performance has interested sports psychologists for decades. Perhaps this is because contributions that enhance our understanding of personality have the potential to be more than passing academic interests considers that many individuals involved in the sport environment have written and spoken about “born winners” and “born losers”. Such statements imply that in addition to physical talents there is a certain psychological mix chemistry that successful athletes have and unsuccessful athletes do not.

The study of psychology as a predictor and determinant of success in athletic competition is an interesting, although inconclusive, area of research in sport psychology. Psychological profile studies are conducted on athletes, male and female, in individual sports and team sports. Football, basketball, track and field, volleyball, soccer and baseball are investigated in an effort to determine the psychological variables that specific sports seem to attract or produce, and the subsequent differences in the degree to which specific psychological variable manifest themselves differentially in successful athletes and unsuccessful athletes.

Certain psychological characteristics such as “withdrawal” may favor proficiency in individual sports and certain psychological traits such as “gregariousness” may favor proficiency in team sports. Certain personality traits such as, freedom from agitation, high needs for social approval, lack of hostility to the environment are predictive of superior performance in sports endeavor. In the case of competition it is basically an emotionally healthy person who tends towards extroverts, tough mindedness, self-assertive and self-confident with a high capacity to endure the stress of high level of competition and can operate a very high level of anxiety, who will be successful as a sportsman.

INDIGENOUS GAMES

The Indigenous sports purely originated or invention or occurring naturally in a particular region or country or native according to their environment. The game is developed based on the needs, locality availability of resource and interest of the local people. India is home to a diverse population playing many different kinds of sports across the country.

KHO KHO

Kho kho is a popular tag sport from India. It is played by teams of 12 nominated players out of fifteen, of which nine enter the field, who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team. It is one of the two most popular traditional games in the Indian subcontinent, the other being Kabaddi.[footnoteRef:1] Apart from the Indian subcontinent, it is also played by the Indian community in South Africa.[footnoteRef:2] Kho-kho, traditional Indian sport, a form of tag that is one of the oldest forms of outdoor sport dating back to prehistoric India. Kho-kho, traditional Indian sport, a form of tag that is one of the oldest forms of outdoor sport dating back to prehistoric India. It is one of the two most popular games. [1: Peter A. Hastie (1 July 2010). Student-Designed Games: Strategies for Promoting Creativity, Cooperation, and Skill Development. Human Kinetics. pp. 52–. ISBN 978-0-7360-8590-8. Retrieved 7 March2012.] [2: A trip through SA’s indigenous games. sowetanlive.co.za 14 March 2012.]

The word kho seems to be derived from the Sanskrit verb root syu-meaning ‘get up go’.

The origin of Kho-Kho is very difficult to trace, but many historians believe, that it is a modified form of ‘Run Chase’, which in its simplest form involves chasing and touching a person. With its origins in Maharashtra, Kho-Kho in ancient times was played on ‘raths’ or chariots and was known as Rathera Kho kho is a popular tag sport from India. It is played by teams of 12 nominated players out of fifteen, of which nine enter the field, who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team. It is one of the two most popular traditional tag games in the Indian subcontinent.[footnoteRef:3] [3: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295079807 To develop a tapping skill test for kho-kho female players]

The present appearance of the game was an adoption about the time of World War I in 1914. But at that time, there were neither any dimensions of the playground nor the poles which demarcate the central line. The time factor was also missing.

Each team consists of twelve players, but only nine players take the field. A match consists of two innings with each inning consisting of chasing and running turns of 9 minutes each. One team sits on their knees in the middle of the court, in a row, with adjacent 8 members facing opposite directions. The runners play in the field, three at a time and the team that takes the shortest time to touch all the opponents in the field, wins. There is a pole on each end and the runner can go between two players who are sitting in zig-zag manner, but the chaser is not allowed to turn back while running and go between the players. However, the chaser can go to the pole and touch it and can go back or towards the other side.no advance lifting

Dismissal

There are usually two referees standing on the opposite sides of the rectangular field. Both carry a stopwatch and each of them is responsible for giving a decision on their opposite side of the field (because they can watch the game play in front of them more clearly than when it is on their same side).

KABADDI

Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the object of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a ‘raider’, to run into the opposing team’s half of a court, tag out as many of their defenders as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders, and in a single breath. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are tagged or tackled, but can be ‘revived’ for each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.

It is popular in the Indian subcontinent and other surrounding and South Asian countries, such as Iran and Pakistan. Although ancient accounts of kabaddi appear in the histories of both modern-day India and Iran, the game was popularized as a competitive sport in the 20th century by India; it is the state game of the Indian states of AndhraPradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. It is also the national sport of Bangladesh.[footnoteRef:4] [4: ‘A tale of kabaddi, Bangladesh’s national sport’. Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 31 July 2017.]

Two major disciplines of kabaddi exist; Punjabi kabaddi, also known as ‘circle style’, refers to traditional styles of the sport that are played on a circular field outdoors. The ‘standard style’, played on a rectangular court indoors, is a discipline played in major professional leagues, and competitions such as the Asian Games.

The game is known by its regional names in different parts of the Indian subcontinent, such as kabaddi or chedugudu in Andhra Pradesh, kabaddi in Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana, hadudu in Bangladesh, bhavatik in Maldives, kauddi or kabaddi in the Punjab region, hu-tu-tu in Western India, hu-do-do in Eastern India, chadakudu in South India, kapardi in Nepal and kabaddi or saduguda in Tamil nadu. The word ‘kabaddi’ is derived from the Tamil word ‘kai-pidi” (‘to hold hands’).[footnoteRef:5] [5: ‘Everything you need to know about Kabaddi’. The Indian Express. 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2017-10-29.]

The exact origins of Kabaddi are disputed, with theories suggesting that Kabaddi originated from either the Vedic period of Indian history, or the Sistan region of present-day Iran. The game was said to have been popular among the Yadava people, an abhang by Tukaram stated that the god Krishna played the game in his youth, while the Mahabharata contains an account of Arjuna being able to sneak into hostile areas and take out enemies unscathed—which parallels the gameplay of kabaddi. There are also accounts of Buddha having played the game recreationally. Despite these conflicting claims, India has been credited with having helped to popularize Kabaddi as a competitive sport, with the first organized competitions occurring in the 1920’s, their introduction to the programme of the Indian Olympic Games in 1938, the establishment of the All-India Kabaddi Federation in 1950, and being played as a demonstration sport at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi. These developments helped to formalize the sport, which had traditionally been played in villages, for legitimate international competition.[footnoteRef:6] [6: Sen, Ronojoy (2015-10-27). Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231539937.]

BALL BADMINTON

Ball badminton is a sport originated in India. It is a racket game, played with a yellow ball made of wool, on a court of fixed dimensions (12 by 24 meters) divided by a net. The game was played as early as 1856 by the royal family in Tanjore, the capital of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu, India. It enjoys the greatest popularity in India. Ball badminton is a fast-paced game; it demands skill, quick reflexes, good judgment, agility, and the ability to control the ball with one’s wrist.

Games are usually played outdoors during the day. As a result, weather conditions wield a considerable influence, and ball badminton’s rules allow the effects of weather conditions to be distributed more-or-less evenly between both teams. More recently, indoor versions of the game have been played under artificial lighting. All-India tournaments are conducted regularly using floodlights in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. Ball Badminton sport is managed by “Ball Badminton Federation of India’ Now Ball badminton game is officially recognized game in India. Total 34 units are affiliated to ‘Ball badminton federation of india ‘ in which 26 are States units including Bihar, jharkhand, Nagaland etc 5 Public sector units and 3 provisional affiliated units.

History

Ball badminton originated in Tanjore, in Tamil Nadu. It became popular, commanding the interest of the Maharaja of Tanjore. The game has attracted many players from southern India.

Previously, ball badminton was an attractive game for rural boys since it required a minimum of equipment. The game drew a large number of students from South India, resulting in the formation of the Ball Badminton Federation of India in 1954. The BBF was among the first three sports federations along with the Indian Athletic Federation and the Indian Hockey Federation to form the Indian Olympic Association in 1961. Ball badminton eventually spread to Andhra Pradesh, and the first national championship was conducted at Hyderabad in 1956. It was later introduced at the junior and sub-junior levels.[footnoteRef:7] [7: ‘Game history’ on Ball Badminton Federation of India website]

NON INDIGENOUS GAMES

VOLLEYBALL

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court under organized rules.[footnoteRef:8] It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. [8: ‘Volleyball’. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2007-03-21.]

The complete rules are extensive, but simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a ‘rally’ by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team’s court.[footnoteRef:9] The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times, but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court. [9: Joel., Dearing, (2003). Volleyball fundamentals. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0736045082. OCLC 50643900.]

The rally continues, with each team allowed as many as three consecutive touches, until either (1): a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent’s court and winning the rally; or (2): a team commits a fault and loses the rally. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point and serves the ball to start the next rally. A few of the most common faults include:

· Causing the ball to touch the ground or floor outside the opponents’ court or without first passing over the net;

· Catching and throwing the ball;

· Double hit: two consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same player;

· Four consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same team;

· Net foul: touching the net during play;

· Foot fault: the foot crosses over the boundary line when serving.

A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking (because these plays are made above the top of the net, the vertical jump is an athletic skill emphasized in the sport) as well as passing, setting,

In the winter of 1895[footnoteRef:10], in Holyoke, Massachusetts (United States), William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical education director, created a new game called Mintonette, a name derived from the game of badminton, as a pastime to be played (preferably) indoors and by any number of players. The game took some of its characteristics from other sports such as tennis and handball.[footnoteRef:11] Another indoor sport, basketball, was catching on in the area, having been invented just ten miles (sixteen kilometers) away in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, only four years before. Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport, less rough than basketball, for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring a bit of athletic effort. [10: ‘The International Association Training School Notes (vol. 4 no. 8), October, 1895’.] [11: ‘Bet You Don’t Know Where Volleyball Came From’. ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2018-08-04.]

FOOTBALL

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football is understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. Sports commonly called football in certain places include association football (known as soccer in some countries); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby football (either rugby league or rugby union); and Gaelic football.[footnoteRef:12] These different variations of football are known as football codes. [12: ‘Editorial: Soccer – or should we say football – must change’. 12 June 2014. New Zealanders on the way to their local rugby grounds should still be talking of ‘going to the football’]

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world.[footnoteRef:13] Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the nineteenth century. The expansion of the Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside the directly controlled Empire.[footnoteRef:14] By the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. During the twentieth century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.[footnoteRef:15] [13: ‘History of Football – The Origins’. FIFA. Retrieved 29 April 2013.] [14: Perkin, Harold (1989). ‘Teaching the nations how to play: sport and society in the British empire and commonwealth’. The International Journal of the History of Sport. 6 (2): 145–155. doi:10.1080/09523368908713685.] [15: Bale, J. (2002). Sports Geography. Taylor & Francis. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-419-25230-6.]

· Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players; some variations that have fewer players (five or more per team) are also popular.

· A clearly defined area in which to play the game.

· Scoring goals or points by moving the ball to an opposing team’s end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line.

· Goals or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.

· The goal or line being defended by the opposing team.

· Players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying, or hand-passing the ball.

· Players using only their body to move the ball.

In all codes, common skills include passing, tackling, evasion of tackles, catching and kicking.[11] In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts.

There are conflicting explanations of the origin of the word ‘football’. It is widely assumed that the word ‘football’ (or the phrase ‘football’) refers to the action of the foot kicking a ball.[footnoteRef:16] There is an alternative explanation, which is that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot. There is no conclusive evidence for either explanation. [16: ‘Football’. Etymology Online. Retrieved 14 December 2015.]

A Chinese game called cuju has been recognized by FIFA as the first version of the game with regular rules. It existed during the Han dynasty and possibly the Qin dynasty, in the second and third centuries BC. The Japanese version of cuju is kemari and was developed during the Asuka period. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari several people stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie).

The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a Greek team game known as (Episkyros)[footnoteRef:17] or (phaininda), which is mentioned by a Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388–311 BC) and later referred to by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215 AD). These games appear to have resembled rugby football. The Roman politician Cicero (106–43 BC) describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber’s shop. Roman ball games already knew the air-filled ball, the follis.[footnoteRef:18] Episkyros is recognised as an early form of football by FIFA. [17: The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007 Edition: ‘In ancient Greece a game with elements of football, episkuros, or harpaston, was played, and it had migrated to Rome as harpastum by the 2nd century BC’.] [18: William Smith: ‘Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities’, 1857, p.777]

The word football, when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word ‘football’ is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word ‘football’ means usually depends on where one says it.

Several of the football codes are the most popular team sports in the world.[footnoteRef:19] Globally, association football is played by over 250 million players in over 200 nations, and has the highest television audience in sport, making it the most popular in the world, American football, with 1.1 million high school football players and nearly 70,000 college football players, is the most popular sport in the United States, with the annual Super Bowl game accounting for nine of the top ten of the most watched broadcasts in U.S. television history. Australian Rules football has the highest spectator attendance of all sports in Australia. Similarly, Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance, and the All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event of that nation’s sporting year. [19: Bale, J. (2002). Sports Geography. Taylor & Francis. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-419-25230-6.]

HOCKEY

Hockey is a sport in which two teams play against each other by trying to man oeuvre a ball or a puck into the opponent’s goal using a hockey stick. There are many types of hockey such as bandy, field hockey and ice hockey.

In most of the world, hockey refers to field hockey. However, in Canada, the United States, Finland, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, hockey usually refers to ice hockey.

The first recorded use of the word hockey is in the 1773 book Juvenile Sports and Pastimes, to Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of the Author: Including a New Mode of Infant Education by Richard Johnson (Pseud. Master Michel Angelo), whose chapter XI was titled ‘New Improvements on the Game of Hockey’. The belief that hockey was mentioned in a 1363 proclamation by King Edward III of England is based on modern translations of the proclamation, which was originally in Latin and explicitly forbade the games ‘Pilam Manualem, Pedivam, & Bacularem: & ad Canibucam & Gallorum Pugnam’.[footnoteRef:20] The English historian and biographer John Strype did not use the word ‘hockey’ when he translated the proclamation in 1720, instead translating ‘Canibucam’ as ‘Cambuck’; this may have referred to either an early form of hockey or a game more similar to golf or croquet.[footnoteRef:21] [20: Scott, Sir James Sibbald David (1868). The British Army: Its Origin, Progress, and Equipment. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Company. p. 86.] [21: Birley, Derek (1993). Sport and the Making of Britain. Manchester University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780719037597.]

The word hockey itself is of unknown origin. One supposition is that it is a derivative of hoquet, a Middle French word for a shepherd’s stave.[footnoteRef:22] The curved, or ‘hooked’ ends of the sticks used for hockey would indeed have resembled these staves. Another supposition derives from the known use of cork bungs, (stoppers) in place of wooden balls to play the game. The stoppers came from barrels containing ‘hock’ ale, also called ‘hockey’. [22: ‘Hockey’. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2011-06-18.]

Games played with curved sticks and a ball can be found in the histories of many cultures. In Egypt, 4000-year-old carvings feature teams with sticks and a projectile, hurling dates to before 1272 BC in Ireland, and there is a depiction from approximately 600 BC in Ancient Greece, where the game may have been called kerētízein or because it was played with a horn or horn-like stick.[footnoteRef:23] In Inner Mongolia, the dour people have been playing beikou, a game similar to modern field hockey, for about 1,000 years.[footnoteRef:24] [23: Oikonomos, G. (1920). Κερητίζοντες. 6. Archaiologikon Deltion. pp. 56–59. Retrieved 2011-06-18.] [24: McGrath, Charles (August 22, 2008). ‘A Chinese Hinterland, Fertile with Field Hockey’. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-23.]

Most evidence of hockey-like games during the middle Ages is found in legislation concerning sports and games. The Galway Statute enacted in Ireland in 1527 banned certain types of ball games; including games using ‘hooked’ (written ‘hockie’, similar to ‘hooky’) sticks.[footnoteRef:25] [25: Birley, Derek (1993). Sport and the Making of Britain. Manchester University Press. p. 309. Retrieved 2014-06-22.]

By the 19th century, the various forms and divisions of historic games began to differentiate and coalesce into the individual sports defined today. Organizations dedicated to the codification of rules and regulations began to form, and national and international bodies sprang up to manage domestic and international competition.

Field hockey is played on gravel, natural grass, or sand-based or water-based artificial turf, with a small, hard ball approximately 73 mm (2.9 in) in diameter. The game is popular among both males and females in many parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina. In most countries, the game is played between single-sex sides, although they can be mixed-sex.

The governing body is the 126-member International Hockey Federation (FIH). Men’s field hockey has been played at each Summer Olympic Games since 1908 except for 1912 and 1924, while women’s field hockey has been played at the Summer Olympic Games since 1980.

Modern field hockey sticks are constructed of a composite of wood, glass fibre or carbon fibre (sometimes both) and are J-shaped, with a curved hook at the playing end, a flat surface on the playing side and a curved surface on the rear side. All sticks are right-handed – left-handed sticks are not permitted.

While field hockey in its current form appeared in mid-18th century England, primarily in schools, it was not until the first half of the 19th century that it became firmly established. The first club was created in 1849 at Black heath in south-east London. Field hockey is the national sport of Pakistan.[15] It was the national sport of India until the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports declared in August 2012 that India has no national sport.[footnoteRef:26] [26: ‘Hockey is not our national game: Ministry’. The Times of India. Retrieved 2013-05-03.]

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology isthe science of behavior and mind,including conscious and unconscious phenomena, as well as feeling and thought. It is an academic discipline of immense scope and diverse interests that, when taken together; seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, and all the variety of epiphenomena they manifest. As a social science it aims to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases.[footnoteRef:27] [27: Fernald LD (2008). Psychology: Six perspectives(pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.]

In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist and can be classified as a social, behavioral, or cognitive scientist. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of functions in individual and social behavior, while also exploring the physiological and biological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors.

Psychologists explore behavior and mental processes, including perception, cognition, attention, emotion (affect), intelligence, phenomenology, motivation (conation), brain functioning, and personality. This extends to interaction between people, such as interpersonal relationships, including psychological resilience, family resilience, and other areas. Psychologists of diverse orientations also consider the unconscious mind. Psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. In addition, or in opposition, to employing empirical and deductive methods, some—especially clinical and counseling psychologists at times rely upon symbolic interpretation and other inductive techniques. Psychology has been described as a ‘hub science’ in that medicine tends to draw psychological research via neurology and psychiatry, whereas social sciences most commonly draws directly from sub-disciplines within psychology.

While psychological knowledge is often applied to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems, it is also directed towards understanding and solving problems in several spheres of human activity. By many accounts psychology ultimately aims to benefit society. The majority of psychologists are involved in some kind of therapeutic role, practicing in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Many do scientific research on a wide range of topics related to mental processes and behavior, and typically work in university psychology departments or teach in other academic settings (e.g., medical schools, hospitals). Some are employed in industrial and organizational settings, or in other areas[footnoteRef:28] such as human development and aging, sports, health, and the media, as well as in forensic investigation and other aspects of law. [28: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010–11 Edition, Psychologists, on the Internet at bls.gov (visited 8 July 2010).]

Etymology and definitions

The word psychology derives from Greek roots meaning study of the psyche, or soul ( psychē, ‘breath, spirit, soul’ and logia, ‘study of’ or ‘research’). The Latin word psychologia was first used by the Croatian humanist and Latinist Marko Marulić in his book, Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae in the late 15th century or early 16th century.[footnoteRef:29] The earliest known reference to the word psychology in English was by Steven Blankaart in 1694 in The Physical Dictionary which refers to ‘Anatomy, which treats the Body, and Psychology, which treats of the Soul.’ [29: ‘Classics in the History of Psychology – Marko Marulic – The Author of the Term ‘Psychology”. Psychclassics.yorku.ca. Retrieved 10 December 2011.]

In 1890, William James defined psychology as ‘the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and their conditions’. This definition enjoyed widespread currency for decades. However, this meaning was contested, notably by radical behaviorists such as John B. Watson, who in his 1913 manifesto defined the discipline of psychology as the acquisition of information useful to the control of behavior. Also since James defined it, the term more strongly connotes techniques of scientific experimentation.[footnoteRef:30] Folk psychology refers to the understanding of ordinary people, as contrasted with that of psychology professionals.[footnoteRef:31] [30: Derek Russell Davis (DRD), ‘psychology’, in Richard L. Gregory (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the Mind, second edition; Oxford University Press, 1987/2004; ISBN 978-0-19-866224-2 (pp. 763–764).] [31: The term ‘folk psychology’ is itself contentious: see Daniel D. Hutto & Matthew Ratcliffe (eds.), Folk Psychology Re-Assessed; Dorndrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 2007; ISBN 978-1-4020-5557-7]

History

The ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia all engaged in the philosophical study of psychology. Historians note that Greek philosophers, including Thales, Plato, and Aristotle (especially in his De Anima treatise), addressed the workings of the mind.[15] As early as the 4th century BC, Greek physician Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders had physical rather than supernatural causes.[footnoteRef:32] [32: T.L. Brink. (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. ‘Unit One: The Definition and History of Psychology.’ pp 9 [1].]

In China, psychological understanding grew from the philosophical works of Laozi and Confucius, and later from the doctrines of Buddhism. This body of knowledge involves insights drawn from introspection and observation, as well as techniques for focused thinking and acting. It frames the universe as a division of, and interaction between, physical reality and mental reality, with an emphasis on purifying the mind in order to increase virtue and power. An ancient text known as The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine identifies the brain as the nexus of wisdom and sensation, includes theories of personality based on yin yang balance, and analyzes mental disorder in terms of physiological and social disequilibria. Chinese scholarship focused on the brain advanced in the Qing Dynasty with the work of Western-educated Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), Liu Zhi (1660–1730), and Wang Qingren (1768–1831). Wang Qingren emphasized the importance of the brain as the center of the nervous system, linked mental disorder with brain diseases, investigated the causes of dreams and insomnia, and advanced a theory of hemispheric lateralization in brain function.[footnoteRef:33] [33: Yeh Hsueh and Benyu Guo, ‘China’, in Baker (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the History of Psychology (2012).]

Distinctions in types of awareness appear in the ancient thought of India, influenced by Hinduism. A central idea of the Upanishads is the distinction between a person’s transient mundane self and their eternal unchanging soul. Divergent Hindu doctrines, and Buddhism, have challenged this hierarchy of selves, but have all emphasized the importance of reaching higher awareness. Yoga is a range of techniques used in pursuit of this goal. Much of the Sanskrit corpus was suppressed under the British East India Company followed by the British Raj in the 1800s. However, Indian doctrines influenced Western thinking via the Theosophical Society, a New Age group which became popular among Euro-American intellectuals.[footnoteRef:34] [34: Anand C. Paranjpe, ‘From Tradition through Colonialism to Globalization: Reflections on the History of Psychology in India’, in Brock (ed.), Internationalizing the History of Psychology (2006).]

Psychology was a popular topic in Enlightenment Europe. In Germany, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) applied his principles of calculus to the mind, arguing that mental activity took place on an indivisible continuum most notably, that among infinity of human perceptions and desires, the difference between conscious and unconscious awareness is only a matter of degree. Christian Wolff identified psychology as its own science, writing Psychology empirical in 1732 and Psycho logia rationalism in 1734. This notion advanced further under Immanuel Kant, who established the idea of anthropology, with psychology as an important subdivision. However, Kant explicitly and notoriously rejected the idea of experimental psychology, writing that ‘the empirical doctrine of the soul can also never approach chemistry even as a systematic art of analysis or experimental doctrine, for in it the manifold of inner observation can be separated only by mere division in thought, and cannot then be held separate and recombined at will (but still less does another thinking subject suffer himself to be experimented upon to suit our purpose), and even observation by itself already changes and displaces the state of the observed object.’ Having consulted philosophers Hegel and Herbart, in 1825 the Prussian state established psychology as a mandatory discipline in its rapidly expanding and highly influential educational system. However, this discipline did not yet embrace experimentation. In England, early psychology involved phrenology and the response to social problems including alcoholism, violence, and the country’s well-populated mental asylums.[footnoteRef:35] [35: Alan Collins, ‘England’, in Baker (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the History of Psychology (2012).]

Behavioral

Psychologists take human behavior as a main area of study. Much of the research in this area began with tests on mammals, based on the idea that humans exhibit similar fundamental tendencies. Behavioral research ever aspires to improve the effectiveness of techniques for behavior modification.

Early behavioral researchers studied stimulus–response pairings, now known as classical conditioning. They demonstrated that behaviors could be linked through repeated association with stimuli eliciting pain or pleasure. Ivan Pavlov known best for inducing dogs to salivate in the presence of a stimulus previous linked with food became a leading figure in the Soviet Union and inspired followers to use his methods on humans. In the United States, Edward Lee Thorndike initiated ‘connectionism’ studies by trapping animals in ‘puzzle boxes’ and rewarding them for escaping. Thorndike wrote in 1911: ‘There can be no moral warrant for studying man’s nature unless the study will enable us to control his acts.'[footnoteRef:36] From 1910–1913 the American Psychological Association went through a sea change of opinion, away from mentalism and towards ‘behaviorism’, and in 1913 John B. Watson coined the term behaviorism for this school of thought. Watson’s famous Little Albert experiment in 1920 demonstrated that repeated use of upsetting loud noises could instill phobias (aversions to other stimuli) in an infant human. Karl Lashley, a close collaborator with Watson, examined biological manifestations of learning in the brain.[footnoteRef:37] [36: Leahey, History of Modern Psychology (2001), pp. 212–215.] [37: J.B. Watson & R. Rayner, ‘Conditioned emotional responses’, Journal of Experimental Psychology3, 1920; in Hock, Forty Studies (2002), pp. 70–76.]

Embraced and extended by Clark L. Hull, Edwin Guthrie, and others, behaviorism became a widely used research paradigm. A new method of ‘instrumental’ or ‘operant’ conditioning added the concepts of reinforcement and punishment to the model of behavior change. Radical behaviorists avoided discussing the inner workings of the mind, especially the unconscious mind, which they considered impossible to assess scientifically. Operant conditioning was first described by Miller and Kanorski and popularized in the U.S. by B.F. Skinner, who emerged as a leading intellectual of the behaviorist movement.

Noam Chomsky delivered an influential critique of radical behaviorism on the grounds that it could not adequately explain the complex mental process of language acquisition. Martin Seligman and colleagues discovered that the conditioning of dogs led to outcomes (‘learned helplessness’) that opposed the predictions of behaviorism.[footnoteRef:38] Skinner’s behaviorism did not die, perhaps in part because it generated successful practical applications. Edward C. Tolman advanced a hybrid ‘cognitive behavioral’ model, most notably with his 1948 publication discussing the cognitive maps used by rats to guess at the location of food at the end of a modified maize. [38: Overmier J.B.; Seligman M.E.P. (1967). ‘Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding’. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. 63 (1): 28–33. doi:10.1037/h0024166. PMID 6029715.]

The Association for Behavior Analysis International was founded in 1974 and by 2003 had members from 42 countries. The field has been especially influential in Latin America, where it has a regional organization known as ALAMOC: La Association Latino Americana de Analysis y Modification del Comportamiento. Behaviorism also gained a strong foothold in Japan, where it gave rise to the Japanese Society of Animal Psychology (1933), the Japanese Association of Special Education (1963), the Japanese Society of Biofeedback Research (1973), the Japanese Association for Behavior Therapy (1976), the Japanese Association for Behavior Analysis (1979), and the Japanese Association for Behavioral Science Research (1994). Today the field of behaviorism is also commonly referred to as behavior modification or behavior analysis.[footnoteRef:39] [39: Ruben Ardila, ‘Behavior Analysis in an International Context’, in Brock (ed.), Internationalizing the History of Psychology (2006).]

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis comprises a method of investigating the mind and interpreting experience; a systematized set of theories about human behavior; and a form of psychotherapy to treat psychological or emotional distress, especially conflict originating in the unconscious mind. This school of thought originated in the 1890s with Austrian medical doctors including Josef Breuer (physician), Alfred Adler (physician), Otto Rank (psychoanalyst), and most prominently Sigmund Freud (neurologist). Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was largely based on interpretive methods, introspection and clinical observations. It became very well known, largely because it tackled subjects such as sexuality, repression, and the unconscious. These subjects were largely taboo at the time, and Freud provided a catalyst for their open discussion in polite society.[49] Clinically, Freud helped to pioneer the method of free association and a therapeutic interest in dream interpretation.

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, influenced by Freud, elaborated a theory of the collective unconscious a primordial force present in all humans, featuring archetypes which exerted a profound influence on the mind. Jung’s competing vision formed the basis for analytical psychology, which later led to the archetypal and process-oriented schools. Other well-known psychoanalytic scholars of the mid-20th century include Erik Erikson, Melanie Klein, D.W. Winnicott, Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, John Bowlby, and Sigmund Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud. Throughout the 20th century, psychoanalysis evolved into diverse schools of thought which could be called Neo-Freudian. Among these schools are ego psychology, object relations, and interpersonal, Lacanian, and relational psychoanalysis.

Psychologists such as Hans Eysenck and philosophers including Karl Popper criticized psychoanalysis. Popper argued that psychoanalysis had been misrepresented as a scientific discipline, [footnoteRef:40] whereas Eysenck said that psychoanalytic tenets had been contradicted by experimental data. By the end of 20th century, psychology departments in American universities mostly marginalized Freudian theory, dismissing it as a ‘desiccated and dead’ historical artifact. H