Motivation and sport

Summary One of the fundamental questions psychologists need to address about human nature is ‘Why do we do things?’ We could simply answer ‘Because I want to’, ‘Because I need to’ or even ‘Because I just do’. However, although all these statements are useful starting points, psychologists are not satisfied with these answers and seek to uncover the reasons underlying our experiences of wanting to, needing to or ‘just doing’ things. In this chapter, we will examine some basic types of human motivation, theories about specific motivators and research findings concerning what motivates us to participate and succeed in sport. A useful starting point is to examine intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.