The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Performance Psychology

Abstract

INTRODUCTION This book was “built on the principle of examining the broad spectrum of research and practice on the psychology of excellent performance, in sport and in many other domains” (p. xix). With a total of forty chapters, it is divided into the following six parts: The Nature and Scope of Sport and Performance Psychology, Individual Psychological Processes in Performance, Social Psychological Processes in Performance, Human Development and Performance, Interventions in Sport and Performance Psychology, and Future Directions. The editor, Shane Murphy is a licensed psychologist and Professor in Psychology at Western Connecticut State University, USA, having previously been head of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC)’s Sport Psychology Department (1987-1994 (p. ix). Many of the chapters are essentially up-to-date, authoritative reviews of well-trodden areas of sport psychology; e.g., Motivation: Self-Determination Theory and Performance in Sport (Martyn Standage), Leadership and Manifestations of Sport (Packianathan Chelladurai), Moral Behavior in Sport (Maria Kavussanu), and A Developmental Approach to Sport Expertise (Jean Cote and Bruce Abernethy). This book review focuses on three chapters in the book which are concerned with bridging the gap between sport psychology and performance psychology.