Association for Behavior Analysis International

Sport psychologists claim self-motivation is key to becoming a successful athlete. Plus, behavioral scientists have found that perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness enhance self-motivation. Question: How does the verbal behavior of a coach benefit or stifle the self-motivation of a college athlete? We explored empirical answers to this question by systematically observing verbal interactions between college wrestling coaches and wrestlers during practice and during inter-collegiate competition. Specifically, we developed and applied a behavioral checklist to categorize a coach's statements as potentially increasing or decreasing a wrestler's perception of autonomy, competence, and/or relatedness, and used a semantic differential to assess wrestlers’ perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as well as their overall self-motivation before and after practice and a competition. Preliminary data after just two weeks of observations indicated that 65% of coaching feedback was corrective and of the supportive feedback behaviors, 68% were general rather than behavior-based. We will continue these observations for four weeks and then show the coaches their own data as feedback. With a multiple-baseline design between coaches, we will evaluate behavioral impact per coach and athlete. We will explore the addition of an individual feedback intervention to coach the coaches.