Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

Sport psychology is one of the most recent additions to mainstream psychology and as such is a dynamic discipline which continues to evolve. The importance attributed to sport psychology within both elite and recreational sport is gaining momentum, with many organisations, athletes and coaches emphasising the important edge that sport psychology can contribute to enhanced sporting performance. The aim of this module is to provide a structured and theoretically sound approach to enhance students understanding of the contemporary approaches and processes involved in applied performance sport psychology (e.g. motivation, confidence, team dynamics, emotion regulation). Students should demonstrate an appreciation of historical perspectives and evidence but also demonstrate their enhanced understanding of advancements in research within the extant sport psychology literature.

Outline Of Syllabus

Students will cover a broad range of contemporary topics throughout the module which will be reviewed annually to ensure that students are studying the most up-to-date theories and advancements from literature with a strong emphasis on real world application.

Indicative syllabus plan:

•       Being a Performance Sport Psychologist
•       Performance Environment and Organisational Psychology in Elite Sport
•       Leadership
•       Team Cohesion
•       Home Advantage
•       Emotions and Resilience
•       Parental Involvement in Youth Sport
•       Confidence and Super-Strengths
•       Emotions and Psychological Resilience
•       Career Transitions
•       Injuries
•       Psychological Skills Training Techniques
•       Motivation
•       Flow and Peak Performance States

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

At the end of the module a student should be able to:

- Describe the role of the performance psychologist within elite sporting organisations
- Apply key theories of sport psychology to real world sporting contexts
- Evaluate the evidence base pertaining to performance sport psychology topics

Intended Skill Outcomes

At the end of the module students should have the ability to:

- Critically summarise sport psychology knowledge clearly and succinctly
- Creatively develop applied sport psychology recommendations for sport related stakeholders
- Articulate sport psychology knowledge and theories to a lay audience in written format (such as a coach, athlete or parent)

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Weekly lecture materials and academic skills activities will provide students with an understanding of the core topics and include relevant theory and contemporary research. Students will have the opportunity to engage with real-world problem-based case studies from which these theories can be applied and evidence informed judgements can be undertaken regarding the efficacy of such theories and their utility. The topics covered within the module provide a breadth of learning experiences via interactive lecture materials, practical tasks and debates. There will also be opportunities for the students to engage in tasks which will provide formative practice and feedback for assessment. This will include looking at magazine articles from psychology publications and discussion of assessment plans.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The written magazine article provides an appropriate way to assess students’ knowledge and understanding of a contemporary area of performance sport psychology. Students will be expected to provide a critical evaluation of theories and relevant research studies to inform their article. Moreover, they will also be expected to include a section within their article that is specifically directed to articulating their findings to a lay audience (such as a coach, athlete or parent) which is an essential skill in applied practice. Students will have to think creatively about how they present the information to engage the reader in their chosen topic.

If the module is failed or deferred students will resit failed or deferred assessments in the same format during the August resit period.

General Notes

N/A