The strong media and public interest in sport psychology has had the unfortunate effect of publicising its sensational aspects, rather than its scientific and professional substance. The articles in this issue of Behaviour Change show that sport psychology does have strong connections with the mainstream of scientific and professional psychology, and that sporting settings provide a substantial and stimulating focus for a behavioural approach. Sport psychology's subject matter has overlaps with clinical psychology and with behavioural health care, there is a large and growing research literature, and issues of accountability and quality control have received considerable attention.

The direct and indirect behavioural assessment measures are outlined and illustrated with examples from research in the sport psychology field. The major issues of behavioural assessment are related to this area of research and recommendations for the future direction of this research are made.

Attributions are typically examined as dependent variables in sport-related research. As a result, the behavioural consequences of competitive attributions have been largely ignored. This paper summarizes four experiments that have attempted to manipulate attributions for competitive outcomes and assess the behavioural consequences of this manipulation. The results of these experiments are generally consistent with findings from noncompetitive settings and suggest that effort attributions may benefit competitive performance. Discussion focuses on the unrealised potential for using effort-oriented attribution training in sport.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different goal structures on the attributional patterns of individuals involved in a sport situation. One hundred and fifty-eight male subjects played in one of two types of racquetball tournament. In the competitive tournament, the goal was to win as many games as possible, whereas in the mastery tournament the goal was to do one's best. Analyses revealed that individuals in the competitive condition tended to focus more on ability attributions than did individuals in the mastery condition. The implications of these findings for the sport practitioner are discussed.

This paper reports on a study examining the relationships between self-efficacy, training performance, and competitive performance in women's artistic gymnastics. Data were collected during normal training sessions from 16 female competitive gymnasts. Efficacy expectations were somewhat more accurate than were previous competition scores in predicting competitive performance, although training performance was the most accurate predictor. The tracking of performance and efficacy for six gymnasts during the weeks prior to a major competition illustrated the development and interaction of skill level and efficacy expectations. Efficacy measures may provide information on gymnasts' states of readiness for competition, and can be assessed without interfering with normal training.

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between attentional style profiles of cricketers as measured by Nideffer's (1977) Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) and a performance component, playing level. A method of scoring and comparing attentional style profiles was developed. Cricket players (N = 68) at three different skill levels served as subjects. Results revealed that higher level players exhibited a higher proportion of profiles predicted to be associated with superior performance in fast-ball games, and lower proportions of inappropriate profiles, than the lowest playing levels subjects. The present results provide support for the use of attentional profile scores as a predictor of sport performance.

In focussing on the relationship between cognition and sports performance, sports psychology is following a trend evident in other areas in psychology. Sports psychology research has borrowed conceptually and methodologically from cognitive-behavioural researchers within clinical psychology. This article reviews five areas of research: imagery; self talk; self efficacy; attentional focus and concentration; and decision making. Of these topics, imagery has attracted the most research interest, and strategies of mental rehearsal are frequently used by athletes.

Attempts to apply the theories of self talk and self efficacy to sports performance appear promising. The self efficacy research has demonstrated that expectations of success influence performance. As yet, little attention has been paid to the second part of Bandura's theory: the effect of outcome expectations on performance.

The sporting environment is often complex with the athlete frequently required to make numerous decisions. Decision making has been studied in a range of settings (e.g., medical decision making, jury decisions etc.) but has been largely ignored by sports psychologists. Issues relating to the decision making of the athlete are discussed.

Many psychologists are becoming involved in helping sportspeople to prepare for competition. These psychologists have a number of techniques at their disposal and one of these is hypnosis. There are benefits in using hypnosis with sportspeople but some misconceptions about its nature need to be overcome. This article outlines how hypnosis has been introduced and used at the South Australian Sports Institute and consideration is given to how it can be used with other techniques, to help sportspeople achieve their goals. Two case studies are presented, together with guidelines on the use of hypnosis in an applied sport psychology setting.

Self-help books on behavioural and general psychological techniques for sport competitors have proliferated in recent years. As with self-help books in general, there is concern over the validity of these books and their ability to help an athlete develop positive and lasting changes in cognitive and behavioural control skills. This article looks at some of the current issues for behavioural self-help in general, and examines three popular self-help books for athletes. They are examined both from the point of view of independent use by the athlete, and from that of their use as adjuncts to face-to-face therapy.

The membership of the ABMA was analysed by way of profession and this showed that the membership was comprised mainly of psychologists. The issue of whether psychologists ought share their behavioural skills with other professions was addressed with reference to the literature on training in behavioural skills. The conclusion was drawn that it was appropriate for a variety of professional groups to be trained in behavioural skills that are typical of the function of what Bernstein (1982, 1984) called the “the behavioural engineer” or what Gardner (1973, 1976) called the “behavioural technician”. Finally it was argued that the ABMA should be actively involved in the teaching of these skills.

Ten high and twelve low socially anxious females were recruited to participate in a simulated “colour and emotions experiment”. Half of each group received self-enhancing statements whilst the other half were presented with neutral statements. Subjects waited in a disguised observation room and their behaviours were monitored unobtrusively during interaction with a confederate. Results showed that prior to treatment high anxious females made significantly more negative self-statements, conversed less, made fewer initiations of conversation than low anxious females. Latency of conversation and non-verbal behaviours were not significantly different for the two groups. Treatment with self-enhancing statements had no effect on the degree of social interaction and self statements generated by the two groups.

Health promotion involves the modification of behaviours which constitute risks to health, through such activities as intensive interventions with individuals, community health campaigns, and legislative and social change. Major target behaviours for health promotion include cigarette smoking, eating habits, exercising, and the management of stress. This paper outlines the range of approaches to behaviour change in health promotion, and considers the stages involved in the behaviour-change process. Theoretical frameworks for dealing with health-related behaviour change are suggested. In considering the relationship between behavioural research and health promotion activities, the process of development from basic research to programmes and policies is outlined, and the importance of maintaining conceptual and methodological rigour when working in field settings is stressed. We also argue that there is a need to take into account some relevant local contextual factors in the development and application of a behavioural approach to health promotion.