Abstract
The concept of ego has various meanings in the field of psychology, depending on the paradigmatic and theoretical framework point of departure. The ego phenomenon as operationalized and measured in the theoretical framework of goal orientation will be the contextual framework for a historical conceptual analysis. In the past three decades, research in the theoretical framework of goal orientation has revealed a positive relationship between ego involvement and the tendency to use the prohibited substances to enhance performance in sport. The concept of the ego phenomenon as operationalized within goal orientation theory and meanings attached to the concept can be connected to the historic oriental writings that were written ~2,500 years ago. These attached meanings to the ego phenomenon include elements of extreme competitiveness and outcome orientation, as well as social comparisons and the external norms for the measurement of success and failure. These meanings can be traced back to the classical works involving the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and the Eastern Origins of Mindfulness that are part of the broader Buddhist philosophical system. Meister Eckhart, a 12th century German theologian, in his significant contribution on the analysis of the having mode as opposed to the being mode also provides insight into the ego phenomenon that can explain why the ego phenomenon can be linked to some of the deeper psychological motives of using the prohibited substances. The researchers in psychology do not yet have a full understanding of why certain athletes dope or have a susceptibility to use the prohibited substances or performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and thus the motivation for this historical conceptual analysis of the ego phenomenon. Therefore, this article aimed to deepen the understanding of psychological motives of the athletes who exhibit tendencies toward cheating in general and the proclivity to use the prohibited substances.
Highlights
Doping in sport is a phenomenon that can be traced back to the advent of sport
Within the applied sport psychology context, the most wellknown psychological principle that is recommended for optimal performance in sport is to focus on the process and not the result
This article primary aimed to elicit a deeper understanding of the psychological motives of athletes that have a proclivity toward cheating and doping
Summary
Doping in sport is a phenomenon that can be traced back to the advent of sport. Evidence has been found that the Greek athletes experimented with ingesting certain plants; they believed that the plant substance could improve their performance during the Olympic Games in the third century BC (Murphy, 2005). The reason for the positive relationship between ego orientation and the susceptibility to use PEDs can be better understood by conducting a conceptual analysis, and by tracing the historical origins of the ego concept, as well as the core meanings attached to the ego concept To achieve this aim, a literature study was undertaken making use of the scholarly works by experts in the field that compiled their work from the original texts combined with the work of linguistic experts that conducted original translations. This fixed mindset (ego-involved) vs the growth mindset (taskinvolved) can be linked to a plethora of research that was conducted by Dweck (2000, 2005) on the self-theories, which connect the fixed mindset with the problem of cheating It is for this reason that an ego-involved participant is inclined to use the least effort to achieve a goal, because exerting effort can be seen as lack of ability. The main goal of uncovering the derivations of the meaning of the ego concept is to deepen the understanding of why an ego-involved participant is more susceptible to using the PEDs or doping
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