Psychology of Physical Activity-Free-Samples-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Psychology of Physical Activity. Answer: Introduction and description of the movie Cars 3 is a 3D animated sports comedy movie produced by Pixar and is the 3rd sequel to Cars and Cars 2. The movie is about Lightening Mcqueen, a legendary race car who set out to prove that he was still the best race car in the world when he was gradually pushed of the sport by the new generation high-tech race. Lightening McQueen was a legendary champion of car racing until the new generation high tech race car Jackson Storm defeated him 4 times in a row and as a result initially, de got highly demotivated. However, this phase was not a long one for the legend. Being a motivational film, Cars 3 showed how Lightening McQueen instead of retiring from the sport, took the necessary steps in order to win the final race in Florida after being motivated by his friends and by himself. In order to get high tech training session, initially, he joined the Rust-eze Racing center where he meets Cruz Ramirez, a young trainer, who had the potential to be racing car but lost trust in her capability due to constant demotivation. During his training session under Smokey Yunick, McQueen found out that Cruz, being a new generation race car, has the potentiality to defend Jackson Storm and hence he gave his final opportunity to prove himself in the race to her. In the climax, Cruz who was initially looked down upon by the arrogant Jackson Storm defeated him in the final race due to constant motivation from McQueen and Lightening McQueen became his proud trainer. Motivation in Sports Motivation, which is one of the most researched topics in general psychology, has also gained immense importance in exercise and sports psychology. Similarly, in modern days, physical activity in youth from two points of view, namely improvement in health as well as sports involvement and performance has been given immense importance. Hence, it has become crucial to understand the reason behind participation and cease of youth in physical exercise and sports. According to researchers, effective synthesis of motivational theories will enable a better understanding of the motivational process in sports and exercise. Evaluation of Cars 3 with the help of motivational theories The initial part of the movie has efficiently demonstrated the sports commitment, intrinsic motivation and ego orientated performance of Lightening McQueen (Jesaar, Hein Hagger, 2012). Being a legendary racing car, Lightening McQueen had a massive fan following and respect in the world of car racing which provided him satisfaction and enjoyment. These factors along with his love for the mentioned sport motivated him to win each and every race he took part in. Jackson Storm, the new high tech race car, on the other hand, was found was found to be demonstrating an ego-oriented performance. One of the chief sources of his motivation was to defeat Lightening and occupy the place of the best race car across the world. In this process, he was highly encouraged by the media. The sports commitment of Lightening McQueen was evidenced when he got defeated consecutively four times by Storm (Deci Ryan, 2012). While other racing cars of his time surrendered to the new generation high tech racin g cars, the sport commitment of McQueen encouraged him to prove his ability to remain the best race car. His friends acted as the social constraints whose expectations further motivated McQueen to stay involved in Car Racing. In order to provide with high tech facilities so that he can defeat Storm, two of his friend made a personal investment by selling their property to form the new high tech training center. Another chief theory relatable to the above-mentioned movie is the Social Cognitive theory. Being one of the most celebrated racing cars, McQueen was confident about his car racing skills due to his previous successful performances. His self-efficiency had motivated him to not to give up to the new generation racing cars to a great level. Another chief motivational source of Lightening MacQueen was his former trainer Doc Hudson. His memories along with the encouragement from his peers provided him with social persuasion (Arifin, 2014). Eventually, McQueen provided the same to Cruz in order to motivate her to understand her potential of being a racer. Both McQueen and Cruz were seen to be in a Physiological and Affective state in the movie. The last chance provided to McQueen by the owner of Rust-eze to prove him in front of the racing world acted as a source of indirect motivation. The save emotion situation was experienced by Cruz during the climax of the film when McQueen offered h er to take part in the final Race and prove the world that she belongs to the racing world in spite of her small size. Initially, it was found that Cruz Ramirez suffered from amotivation and insecurity due to her small size compared to the other racing cars. However, during the training session at Smokey's place, McQueen found that she has the potential to be an efficient race car of all time. In this phase of the story, the theory of Competence Motivation is applicable (Gunnell et al., 2014). During the training session, Cruz proved to be a tough competitor of the legendary racing car McQueen. At that point in time, she along with McQueen identified her potentiality as a race car. This feeling of competency along with the positive feedback of Lightening McQueen, who was the idol of Cruz during her childhood, enabled Cruz to grab the opportunity provided by McQueen to complete and win the final race of Florida. Comments offering personal insight While watching the movie I found that the sports psychology depicted in Cars 3 bears high similarity with the theories and concepts I learned in my Course. The way the chief characters of the mentioned film, that is, Lightening McQueen and Cruz Ramirez were motivated by their friends reminded me of the Social cognitive theory. Apart from that, the self-motivating attitudes of Lightening McQueen reminded me of the Sport Commitment theory. Finally, the fact that from childhood, Cruz was made to believe that she can never be a part of the car racing industry reminded me of the concept of Amotivation. At the time of the climax of the film, Cruz regained his belief that she had the potential to become a car racer. This change was possible due to the motivation provided by her childhood inspiration Lightening McQueen. This scene reminded me of the Theory of competence. Thus, I was able to relate my psychological learning while watching the movie. Reference List: Arifin, H. M. (2014). The influence of competence, motivation, and organisational culture to high school teacher job satisfaction and performance.International Education Studies,8(1), 38. Deci, E. L., Ryan, R. M. (2012). Motivation, personality, and development within embedded social contexts: An overview of self-determination theory.The Oxford handbook of human motivation, 85-107. Gunnell, K. E., Crocker, P. R., Mack, D. E., Wilson, P. M., Zumbo, B. D. (2014). Goal contents, motivation, psychological need satisfaction, well-being and physical activity: A test of self-determination theory over 6 months.Psychology of Sport and Exercise,15(1), 19-29. Jesaar, H., Hein, V., Hagger, M. S. (2012). Youth athletes perception of autonomy support from the coach, peer motivational climate and intrinsic motivation in sport setting: One-year effects.Psychology of Sport and Exercise,13(3), 257-262.