Faculty of Business: Leisure, Sport and Tourism
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level: Undergraduate

Result Type: Grade and marks

Handbook description

This subject provides a grounding in psychological and social psychological principles and how these may be understood and applied within sport and leisure contexts and settings. It also seeks to build a critical awareness of the methods and assumptions underpinning psychological inquiry.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Articulate the psychological factors associated with behaviour in sport and leisure settings.
2. Comprehend the social context in which behaviour occurs.
3. Apply the theoretical foundations and practical applications of psychological research within the fields of sport and leisure.
4. Identify and apply the methodological techniques employed in psychological research.

Contribution to graduate profile

This is a first year core subject that provides students with a contextual grounding in psychological and social psychological principles. It seeks to develop an understanding of psychological and social psychological frameworks from which human behaviour may be explained and predicted. Furthermore, it attempts to develop critical analytical and reasoning skills of students through engagement with the extant research based literature.

Teaching and learning strategies

Teaching and learning strategies include formal lectures, tutorials, discussions and guest lectures. Content for this subject will be supported by UTS Online.

Content

• Conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of behaviour
• Thought and knowledge
• Motivation and benefits and constraints in leisure and sport
• Emotion
• Personality
• Group behaviour and leadership in leisure and sport
• Altered states of consciousness
• Psychology and the physical environment
• Psychology of human development.

Assessment

Exams (Individual)	50%
Two 1-hour exams will be conducted during the semester. These address objectives 1-4.
Semester Paper (Individual)	30%
This addresses objectives 1-4.
Learning Experience (Group)	20%
This addresses objectives 1-4.

To ensure security during assessment, exams will be held in class with 2 or more invigilators. Students do not keep tests and content is updated each year. The topics of the semester paper and learning exercise are the choice of the student to encourage motivation for independent work. A proposal and short list of references is required for the semester paper prior to submission of the paper.

Recommended text(s)

Mannell, R.C. and Kleiber, D.A. (1997). A Social Psychology of Leisure. State College, PA., Venture.

Indicative references

Bond, J. and McConkey, K. (eds) (2002). Psychological Science. Sydney: McGraw-Hill.

Cox, R. (2002). Sport Psychology, 5th edition. Dubuque, USA: Brown and Benchmark.

Gleitman, H., Fridlund, A. and Reisberg, D. (1999). Psychology, 5th edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

Jackson, S. and Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Flow in Sports. Champaign, Ill., Human Kinetics.