Religious objects and performance : testing the role of materiality

This thesis addresses the problematic nature of religious materiality in Western discourses, illustrated by its typical relegation to being representational instead of sensual, embodied or tangible. Two ethnographic accounts highlight the prominent role that materiality plays in vernacular religious contexts in contemporary England and Spain. With a focus on offerings and gift giving, the practices and performances that take place in relation to statue forms of Our Lady of Avalon (the Glastonbury Goddess) in her temple, and the Virgin of Alcala de los Gazules, Andalusia, in her shrine, exemplify an aspect of the lived, everyday reality of religion. In these contexts, in tension with religious doctrine, the relationships that take place between statues and devotees show that instead of being mere objects, statues of the Goddess and Virgin are subjective, relational participants in ceremony, rites and ritual, and they play central roles in how human relationships with the divine are maintained and negotiated. Using the discourses of animism and fetishism to test the role of materiality, this thesis further considers how making offerings to statues exemplifies a form of Western animism (different from Tylorean animism where alien spirits inhabit dead matter) where objects and subjects bring each other into coinspired, co-relational being through encounters. Here, 'subjecthood' is achieved through relationships and relational encounters, and a multiplicity of ontological possibilities emerge which challenge commonly accepted modem dualisms, i.e. subject/object, mind/matter

Research-informed teaching: releasing the power of the student research conference

In May 2018 the School of Sport, Leisure and Nutrition ran an inaugural student research conference that was entitled ‘The Power of Sport’.  Students at all levels of study can benefit in a variety of ways through being actively engaged in research and enquiry.  Such student activity can also support the development of research in the institution as well as the impact of research in the community.  Hosting the conference intended to provide a way of developing and promoting such approaches in the curriculum and to give students a safe environment in which to test and disseminate their work.  In essence, it was an activity that blurred the lines between research and student education.  The two core aims of The Power of Sport were: to enhance student learning and confidence through engagement in research and research conversations; and to assist programme teams to further implement research-informed teaching in the curriculum for presentation at the conference.  This short paper touches on the theoretical basis for these two aims by considering both research-informed teaching and student empowerment in the context of the conference.

The use of Think Aloud Protocol to Investigate Golfers Decision Making Processes

Decision making in sport in general and golf in particular has received only limited attention in the sport psychological literature. In addition, research which has been conducted has mainly used retrospective methods of data collection to investigate athlete’s thoughts and decisions during performance. Ericsson and Simon (1993) proposed Think Aloud (TA) protocol analysis as a tool for collecting concurrent data of cognitive processes. As a result this thesis aimed to investigate the efficacy of this method for the collection of decision making data in sport using a self-paced sport in particular to investigate the decision making process in differing skill level golfer’s. Within this thesis 4 studies were conducted. Study 1 used TA to investigate differences in decision making of 30 skilled and 30 novice golfer’s on a putting task, and examine if different verbalization instructions influence performance. Participants performed 30 putts on an indoor green in either a level 2, level 3, or no verbalization condition. Level 3 verbalization produced a higher volume of verbal data than level 2. Skilled golfers verbalized more about gathering information and planning putts than novices, while novices verbalized more technical instruction than skilled golfers. TA verbalizations at either level 2 or level 3 did not impair putting performance compared to no verbalization. It was concluded that TA protocol is an appropriate method for exploring decision making in self-paced motor tasks such as golf. Study 2 aimed to further investigate the appropriateness and the use of TA by examining the congruence between data collected via think aloud protocol at level 3 and cued retrospective recall of decisions on a golfing task. Six high level male golfers performed six holes of golf whilst engaging in level 3 think aloud, this involved describing one’s thoughts and explaining one’s decisions during the task. After performance, three semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted. The first was ten minutes after performance, the second 24 hours after performance, and the third 48 hours after performance. Think aloud verbalizations and interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded. Content analysis was used to identify first and second order themes related to decision making on the golf task. A comparison of the themes identified indicated large discrepancies between the information reported during think aloud and at interview, with only 38-41% similarity in variables reported to influence decision making on each hole. These findings suggest retrospective recall of decision making is limited since relevant information is lost due to memory decay. Limitations of both methods were discussed. However, future research in sport could record decision making processes in event, employing the think aloud protocol. Following the studies 1 and 2 which demonstrated that TA is a suitable method of data collection for collecting decision making data in golf Study 3 aimed to extend previous research on decision making in golf and the expert-novice paradigm by comparing the thought processes of six higher skilled (m handicap 4) and six lower skilled (m handicap 20) male golfers. Participants were asked to think aloud while playing six holes of golf. Verbalisations were recorded, transcribed, and grouped into the themes of (a) Gathering information, (b) Club selection (c) Planning (d) Technical instruction, (e) Shot evaluation and (f) Pre-performance routine. Differences were found between skill levels in that higher skill golfers decisions centred more on gathering information and planning whereas less skilled golfers focused more on technical instruction. These results are consistent with theories of skill acquisition in that higher skilled performers are less reliant on step-by-step monitoring of the skilled motor performance as opposed to beginners. Finally, study 4 aimed to progress the findings of study 3 by investigating whether stress through the introduction of a competition with monetary prizes will influence performance and the thought process in high and intermediate skilled golfers. A total of 16 participants took part in this study, 8 skilled golfers and 8 intermediate level golfers. All golfers completed the Decision Specific Reinvestment Scale (DSRS; Kinrade, Jackson, Ashford and Bishop, 2010b). Following this participants either took part in a practice round or a competition round and this was counterbalanced to eliminate practice effect. All participants prior to the competition round were instructed that prizes were given to the top three performers and these consisted of £100 voucher for golf merchandise for the winner, £70 voucher for second place and £30 voucher for third place. All golfers were asked to think aloud whilst performing both practice and competition. Verbalisation were recorded, transcribed and grouped in to themes of (a) gathering information, (b) Club selection (c) Planning (d) Technical instruction, (e) Shot evaluation and (f) Dwelling on past shot. The introduction of stress did not influence performance, however under stress it was found that higher skilled golfers were more likely to use technical rules compared to normal practice conditions, especially during putting performance. Furthermore, high level golfers reported more planning compared to intermediate golfers during both practice and competition condition. These findings support Masters (1993) theory of reinvestment. The findings of the thesis suggest first that the think aloud protocol is a viable methodology to obtain rich and valid data. Secondly, findings suggest that the decision making process is influenced by the skill level of the athlete and stress. Although the decision making process appeared to be more influenced in higher skilled golfers. From a practical perspective findings suggest using think aloud can aid a player or coach to understand their thought process and to identify what may happen to a golfers performance when faced with the pressure of a competition

“He’s asked for you. . . . ” one-to-one support with an elite academy soccer player and navigating through the unforeseen roles of sport psychology practitioners

This case study outlines the holistic development of an adolescent soccer player, placing focus on the welfare of the individual first and the performer second. The client was seeking support as family life disturbances were having a negative impact on his mental health and general well-being. In addition, scholarship decisions were imminent, and the client felt that his performance had deteriorated. An introduction to the practitioner and client is provided, along with an account of the challenging and anxiety-provoking process encountered. Practitioner reflections are embedded throughout, and recommendations for other trainee sport psychology practitioners are provided. This case highlights the potentially unforeseen roles that sport psychology practitioners may, at times, play to best support their clients. It demonstrates the benefit of seeking guidance and support from supervisors and collaborating with other members of a multidisciplinary team, as well as the importance of having a clearly defined philosophy of practice to ensure that one is working from a place of congruence

Sexism of Fat: Is it sufficient to use only one sex in obesity research?

There is a weight issue weighing down the public health care systems across the world. Although obesity is prevalent in both males and females, the location of fat and impact on cardiometabolic health is strikingly different. These differences are apparent in the clinical setting, but there remains a bias towards using a single sex in mouse models to create simpler and cheaper experiments. The bias towards using a single sex in experiments skews the results and only offers translational research to one half of the human population. We examined sex differences and their effect on obesity by inducing obesity in both male and female mice by feeding them high fat diet (HFD) for 10 weeks. Mice were weighed weekly and after 10 weeks of HFD feeding, mice underwent metabolic tests to determine the impact of obesity. Male mice became obese after only 1 week of HFD feeding, however it took female mice 9 weeks of HFD feeding to become obese. Male mice were more susceptible to diabetes and male mice lost increased metabolic difference when fed HFD. This study highlights the importance of using both sexes to study obesity and associated diseases while highlighting novel differences in metabolism between sexes

Thinking Aloud: Stress and coping in junior cricket batsman during challenge and threat states

The present study examined stress and coping of cricket batsmen during challenge and threat states using the Think-Aloud method. Ten male elite-level junior cricket batsmen took part in the study. A repeated measures design was implemented, with participants verbalizing while both in (a) a threat state and (b) a challenge state. Participants were required to score 36 runs in 30 balls during the threat condition and 15 runs in 30 balls during the challenge condition. Verbalizations were subsequently transcribed verbatim and analyzed for stressors, coping strategies, and any other reoccurring themes. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to examine differences in the number of verbalizations made for each theme between conditions. Ten secondary themes were grouped into four primary themes; these included (a) stressors, (b) problem-focused coping, (c) emotion-focused coping, and (d) gathering information. There were significant differences( p≤0.05) between stressor verbalizations, with significantly more verbalizations made by participants during a threat state. No significant differences were found between any other themes. Thus, during a threat state, participants reported significantly more stressor verbalizations compared to a challenge state, while there were no significant differences in coping strategies reported (p>0.05). This finding offers a potential explanation for why athletic performance diminishes when in a threat state, as athletes then experience a greater number of stressors but do not report engaging in more coping strategies

Quantifying uncertainties due to optical potentials in one-neutron knockout reactions

One-neutron knockout reactions have been widely used to extract information about the single-particle structure of nuclei from the valley of stability to the driplines. The interpretation of knockout data relies on reaction models, where the uncertainties are typically not accounted for. In this work we quantify uncertainties of optical potentials used in these reaction models and propagate them, for the first time, to knockout observables using a Bayesian analysis. We study two reactions in the present paper, the first of which involves a loosely-bound halo projectile, $^{11}$Be, and the second a tightly-bound projectile, $^{12}$C. We first quantify the parametric uncertainties associated with phenomenological optical potentials. Complementing to this approach, we also quantify the model uncertainties associated with the chiral forces that can be used to construct microscopic optical potentials. For the phenomenological study, we investigate the impact of the imaginary terms of the optical potential on the breakup and stripping components of the knockout cross sections as well as the impact of the angular range. For the $^{11}$Be case, the theoretical uncertainty from the phenomenological method is on the order of the experiment uncertainty on the knockout observables; however, for the $^{12}$C case, the theoretical uncertainty is significantly larger. The widths of the confidence intervals for the knockout observables obtained for the microscopic study and the phenomenological approach are of similar order of magnitude. Based on this work we conclude that structure information inferred from the ratio of the knockout cross sections, will carry a theoretical uncertainty of at least $20\%$ for halo nuclei and at least $40\%$ for tightly-bound nuclei.Comment: 12 pages (including 2 of supplemental material and 1 of reference), 5 figures, 2 table