ENHANCING GRIT IN ELITE ATHLETES THROUGH FUNCTIONAL IMAGERY TRAINING

Chapter six, study three was adapted for publication in The Sport Psychologist in 2018: Rhodes, J., May, J., Andrade, J., & Kavanagh, D. (2018). Enhancing grit through functional imagery training in professional soccer. The Sport Psychologist, 32(3), 220-225.Grit has been researched across a wide variety of domains with negative correlations to drop out rates and positive associations to performance. However, there has been little to empirically change character through interventions, and even fewer in sport. A total of six studies are presented through a mixed-method approach to initially gain an understanding how grit is created, and the processes involved in developing the trait (Studies One and Two). From the phenomenological findings, a bespoke Functional Imagery Training (FIT) intervention is initially tailored to athletes and delivered (Study Three). With ceiling effects present from our performance athletes (and those in Study Two) on the Grit Scale, a modified Sporting Grit Scale (SGS) is developed through the help of a small focus group, and then administered to 181 athletes to determine validity and reliability over time (Study Four). Thereafter (Study Five), the SGS is administered to 161 athletes across three levels of competition (elite, performance and talent) and participants randomly split into control or an adapted FIT for Groups condition, where players receive imagery together. Athletes in the FIT for Groups condition significantly increased their grit and perceived performance scores. The final study (Six) was conducted to examine if FIT for Groups was similar to PETTLEP and a control condition based on a penalty kick task and the SGS. Findings showed that PETTLEP and FIT for Groups significantly enhanced penalty performance over a week, however, after more than 15 weeks later only the FIT for Groups condition maintained their performance score. Increases in grit score were only observed in the FIT for Groups condition. This thesis develops motivational imagery by offering a guide to holistic imagery, developed from FIT, which merges theory and application from motivation, therapy, and imagery, to promote long lasting behaviour and character change for athletes. In addition, it is hoped that this thesis will act as a guide for other practitioners working with groups in other domains and can help promote a gritty mindset which influences performance.This research was sponsored by the University of Plymouth Psychology Department

Hypothesis testing near singularities and boundaries

The likelihood ratio statistic, with its asymptotic $\chi^2$ distribution at regular model points, is often used for hypothesis testing. At model singularities and boundaries, however, the asymptotic distribution may not be $\chi^2$, as highlighted by recent work of Drton. Indeed, poor behavior of a $\chi^2$ for testing near singularities and boundaries is apparent in simulations, and can lead to conservative or anti-conservative tests. Here we develop a new distribution designed for use in hypothesis testing near singularities and boundaries, which asymptotically agrees with that of the likelihood ratio statistic. For two example trinomial models, arising in the context of inference of evolutionary trees, we show the new distributions outperform a $\chi^2$.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figure

Coaching Imagery to Athletes with Aphantasia

We administered the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (Psi-Q) which tests multi-sensory imagery, to athletes (n=329) from 9 different sports to locate poor/aphantasic (baseline scores <4.2/10) imagers with the aim to subsequently enhance imagery ability. The low imagery sample (n=27) were randomly split into two groups who received the intervention: Functional Imagery Training (FIT), either immediately, or delayed by one month at which point the delayed group were tested again on the Psi-Q. All participants were tested after FIT delivery and six months post intervention. The delayed group showed no significant change between baseline and the start of FIT delivery but both groups imagery score improved significantly (p=0.001) after the intervention which was maintained six months post intervention. This indicates that imagery can be trained, with those who identify as having aphantasia (although one participant did not improve on visual scores), and improvements maintained in poor imagers. Follow up interviews (n=22) on sporting application revealed that the majority now use imagery daily on process goals. Recommendations are given for ways to assess and train imagery in an applied sport setting

‘E-help!’ - learner support in higher education

The drive towards widening participation in higher education is reflected by the variety of students that represent the student body in 21st century education. The diversity of students’ educational, vocational and experiential backgrounds and the requirement by institutions and educators to recognise these differences is paramount. It is beholden of institutions to provide help and assistance to these learners during their course of study, providing access to individual guidance and support if and when they need it. This provision, whilst benefitting students, will also impact positively on university retention and progression figures, of vital importance in the current economic/educational climate. ‘The appropriate use of technology is leading to significant improvements in learning and teaching across the sector and...this is translating into improved satisfaction, retention and achievement’ (Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 2009: 6)

Emotional earthquakes in the landscape of psychosis: : an interpretative phenomenology

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Jonathan Hutchins, John Rhodes, and Saskia Keville, 'Emotional earthquakes in the landscape of psychosis: an interpretative phenomenology', Vol. 9, e30, January 2016. The Version of Record is available online at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1754470X16000167. COPYRIGHT: © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2016. Published by Cambridge University Press.Traditionally studies have neglected emotion in psychosis, possibly as a consequence of psychiatry’s emphasis on psychotic symptoms rather than individuals’ lived experience of emotions before, during and after psychotic episodes. This study sought to investigate how individuals experienced their emotions and delusions in the context of psychosis. A qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposively sampled group of eight participants recruited from a local Early Intervention in Psychosis service. Four themes were generated by the analysis. The first highlighted emotional experiences prior to the onset of psychosis: ‘struggling with life distress’. The second highlighted the intense emotional experience within psychotic experiences: ‘transformed world and intense emotion’. The third theme highlighted self-critical tendencies in the post-onset phase of psychosis: ‘blame and guilt after the breakdown’. The final theme highlighted a mixture of emotions in the post-onset phase: ‘confusion, despair and hope’. There were many clinical implications highlighted in the study including the value of normalizing participants’ emotional experiences in order to promote engagement in services and of assessing for self-criticism, despair and hope following the psychotic experience, alongside therapeutically addressing the varying levels of emotional experiences before, during and after a psychotic breakdown.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Emission Line Galaxies in the STIS Parallel Survey II: Star Formation Density

We present the luminosity function of [OII]-emitting galaxies at a median redshift of z=0.9, as measured in the deep spectroscopic data in the STIS Parallel Survey (SPS). The luminosity function shows strong evolution from the local value, as expected. By using random lines of sight, the SPS measurement complements previous deep single field studies. We calculate the density of inferred star formation at this redshift by converting from [OII] to H-alpha line flux as a function of absolute magnitude and find rho_dot=0.043 +/- 0.014 Msun/yr/Mpc^3 at a median redshift z~0.9 within the range 0.46<z<1.415 (H_0 = 70 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M=0.3, Omega_Lambda=0.7. This density is consistent with a (1+z)^4 evolution in global star formation since z~1. To reconcile the density with similar measurements made by surveys targeting H-alpha may require substantial extinction correction.Comment: 16 preprint pages including 5 figures; accepted for publication in Ap

Ultra-low-cost logging anemometer for wind power generation feasibility surveys

We describe the design and implementation of a cup anemometer capable of logging average wind speed, maximum wind speed and seconds with wind above a criterion speed, on individual weeks. The instrument will operate for at least 54 weeks on two AA dry cells. The intention is that this instrument be deployed to ascertain whether it would be economical to install a wind generator, at a fraction of the cost of a multipurpose weather data logging station. It is designed around a $2 microcontroller that provides non-volatile memory. Provision has been made for using either a magnetic reed switch or the motor from a discarded hard disk drive to sense rotation. The latter enables the use of an otherwise worthless bearing and drive assembly to provide an especially frugal solution