How do psychologists explain personality and its relationship with sporting behaviour?
The theories of personality (trait, social learning and the interactionist approach), the use of personality profiling, and the relationship between personality and participation or performance in sport.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level PE sport psychology on personality, covering the trait, social learning and interactionist theories of personality, personality profiling and the link between personality and sporting behaviour.
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to explain the three main theories of personality, the trait, social learning and interactionist approaches, describe how personality is profiled and the limitations of doing so, and discuss how personality relates to participation and performance in sport.
Trait theory
Eysenck described personality along two dimensions: extroversion-introversion and stable-neurotic. A weakness of trait theory is that it ignores the environment and cannot reliably predict how someone behaves in different situations.
Social learning theory
Social learning theory argues that personality is learned from the environment by observing and imitating the behaviour of significant others, especially those of high status or similar to ourselves. The process follows Bandura's stages, attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation, and behaviour that is reinforced (rewarded or seen to succeed) is more likely to be copied. This explains, for example, how a young player adopts the on-field demeanour of an admired professional. Its weakness is that it underestimates inherited traits and struggles to explain why people raised in the same environment differ in personality.
The interactionist approach
Personality profiling and links to sport
Personality is measured using questionnaires (such as Eysenck's), observation and interviews. Each has limitations: questionnaires can be answered dishonestly or with social desirability bias, observation can change behaviour, and interviews can be subjective.
Personality has been linked to sport through the type A and type B distinction: type A performers are competitive, impatient, work-driven and prone to stress and raised arousal, while type B performers are relaxed, tolerant and less easily stressed. AQA also expects you to know the debated links between personality and participation: some research suggests extroverts gravitate to high-arousal, team and contact sports (because they seek stimulation), while introverts may prefer lower-arousal, individual and precision sports, though the evidence is weak and contested. The credulous and sceptical views capture this: the credulous view holds that personality strongly predicts sporting behaviour, while the sceptical view (better supported) holds that the link is weak and unreliable. Coaches therefore use profiling cautiously to inform support, never to label, select or exclude performers on personality alone.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20194 marksCompare the trait and social learning theories of personality, and explain why the interactionist approach is more widely accepted.Show worked answer →
AO1/AO2. Trait theory: personality is made up of innate, stable, enduring and largely genetic traits (Eysenck's extroversion-introversion and stable-neurotic dimensions), so behaviour is consistent and predictable; weakness, it ignores the environment. Social learning theory: personality is learned from the environment by observing and imitating significant others, especially high-status models, with reinforced behaviour more likely to be copied; weakness, it underestimates inherited traits. The interactionist approach, expressed by Lewin as , says behaviour results from the interaction of inherited traits and the environment, so it explains why a normally calm player can react aggressively in a particular situation, something neither single theory does. Reward the paired comparison plus a clear reason for accepting the interactionist view.
AQA 20183 marksExplain how a coach could use personality profiling, and outline two limitations of the methods used.Show worked answer →
AO1/AO2. Uses: a coach can profile personality with questionnaires (such as Eysenck's), structured observation and interviews to understand a performer, tailor coaching and support, manage anxiety-prone or type A athletes, and inform team selection, used cautiously to support rather than to label or exclude. Limitations: questionnaires can be answered dishonestly or with social desirability bias (giving the expected rather than the true answer); observation can change the behaviour being measured and is subjective; interviews are time-consuming and open to interviewer bias. Reward a valid use plus two distinct, correctly explained limitations.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level Physical Education (7582) specification — AQA (2016)