The Sport Psychologist, 1987, 1, 257-261
The Development
of Sport Psychological Research in India
M.L. Karnlesh
Punjab Government College
of Physical Education
Jitendra Mohan
Panjab University
Sport psychology is a relatively new sport science in India (Bhattacharya, 1987).
Certain psychological principles have been taught in physical education since the
opening of the YMCA College of Physical Education in Madras in 1920. But
the principles were derived from educational psychology, not sport psychology.
It was the publication of sport psychology studies in journals of sports medicine,
physical education, and sport psychology that reached India from abroad during
the 1960s and 1970s that stimulated research interest in sport psychology in India. This led to a few research studies being conducted there in the 1960s, and
to a large growth of research studies in the 1970s. Sport psychology is now a
firmly established sport science in the curriculum of most colleges of physical
education. And in 1986 the first annual meeting of the Sport Psychology Association of India was held.' Thus sport psychology has become an important facet
of the sport sciences.
There are two other reasons for the development of sport psychology in
India. First, there was a recognition by other sport scientists that psychological
aspects were important in human performance. The science of exercise and sport
physiology has become very firmly established in colleges of physical education
in India. The exercise and sport physiologist has had a profound influence in training and teaching methodologies both in the gymnasium and on the playing field.
But there came an awareness that knowledge of the physiological system was
incomplete without some understanding of human behavior. Therefore our colleagues in exercise and sport physiology supported an interest in mental processes, as many scientists and practitioners realized that mental aspects were also
important for high performance in sport.
Second, coaches and athletes began to recognize that mental training was
essential in the international competitive sport arena. The decline of performance
in such well-established Indian games as field hockey and cricket created a great
deal of concern and hastened the acceptance of sport psychology as one area to
aid the performance of athletes. Slogans such as "psych up sportsman" and
About the Authors: M.L. Kamlesh is with Punjab Government College of Physical
Education in Patiala, India. Jitendra Mohan is with the Department of Psychology at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. -
258 Karnlesh and Mohan
"sports war" became popular in India as sport psychology grew in importance.
Together, all these factors helped stimulate an interest in sport psychology.
The interest in sport psychology research began to manifest itself in the
1970s in universities, primarily at the master's degree level, then at the master
of philosophy degree level, and gradually leading to the doctoral level. This work
has been severely handicapped by a lack of resources, however, such as the lack
of sophisticated equipment and the difficulty in financing such research. This and
other constraints have hindered sport psychologists in India from conducting their
research studies. The result has been a profusion of descriptive studies. However, sport psychology research is developing and promises to be a vital and important component of sport sciences in the future. Current research in sport
psychology can be divided into four categories: (a) personality and athletes, (b)
anxiety and arousal, (c) creativity and intelligence, and (d) other variables. Each
will be discussed in turn.
Current Research
Athletic Personality
Most of the research on personality has been conducted with a view to determining the personality trait differences between athletes and nonathletes (Gupta, 1972;
Kumar, Shukla, & Thakur, 1986), elite and nonelite athletes @ey & Uppal, 1986;
Kamlesh, 1982, 1983; Lakshrni & Reddy, 1973; Mohan, Mall, & Paul, 1979;
Uppal & Gill, 1986; Uppal & Singh, 1984), individual and team sport athletes
(Singh, 1986; Verma, 1983), and participants and nonparticipants (Mohan et al.,
1979; Singh & Singh, 1986). The inventories employed have typically been the
Cattell 16 PF inventory or the Eysenck personality inventory. Both scales have
been used extensively and modified to certain populations as necessary. However, the results of these studies come under the same series of criticisms that
have plagued sport personality research elsewhere (Gill, 1986; Martens, 1975;
Morgan, 1980).
First, most of these studies have been descriptive, with a definition of
athlete and nonathlete nonstandardized across studies. Second, few hypotheses
have been presented about why certain sports may warrant particular personality
profiles for success. Third, the inventories have not always been considered for
their relevance to the population being studied. And fourth, the practical significance of these studies has not always been considered prior to the research
being conducted. Thus one must be very cautious in drawing any meaningful conclusions from the many studies conducted.
Anxiety and Arousal
Research in anxiety and arousal has been very popular in India. High level athletics evokes a great deal of anxiety andlor emotional arousal, which may either
help or impede performance (Gupta, Dhillon, & Singh, 1970; Kamlesh, 1984;
Verma, 1986). Although the studies completed in India have yielded some interesting findings, not enough work has yet been completed on this important
topic. Further, new research should probe not only the psychological issues inherent in anxiety and arousal but also the physiological and pathological issues
as well.
Sport Psychological Research in India
259
In terms of arousal control, some studies (Mall, 1986; Sandhu & Mann,
1986) have been completed and typically have examined psychotherapeutic techniques such as progressive relaxation, autogentic training and, as one would expect, Eastern meditation techniques on arousal control and performance
enhancement. However, too few of these studies have been completed to allow
any definitive statements at present.
Creativity and Intelligence
A question of some interest to Indian sport psychologists has been the relationship of intelligence to athletic performance (Kamlesh, 1986; Punia & Mann, 1986;
Sandhu, 1984; Sharma & Kamlesh, 1983). Does sport affect intelligence in some
general way, either favorably or unfavorably, and second, is there a factor of
"sport intelligence"? Sport psychologists have debated this issue, some arguing
against the intelligence scales used and questioning the objectives of some of the
studies as well as whether the factor of sport intelligence is a valid one. However, as is the case elsewhere, general intelligence does correlate with athletic
success. But more research is needed to discriminate between general intelligence
and sport intelligence. Yet to be addressed is the technology to measure intelligence, especially sport intelligence-if this concept is a valid one-and the relationship of intelligence to skill acquisition.
Other Variables
Considerable attention has been given to the concept of self-esteem and how this
variable affects sport performance, and in turn whether self-concept itself is affected by sport participation (Kamlesh, 1985a; Uppal & Singh, 1984). Despite
the research on this issue, no definitive findings have emerged thus far. Experimental studies have also been conducted on the effect of ergogenic aids on certain variables such as reaction time and persistence (Kamlesh, 1985b), and on
the effect of attitude on physical education and competitive sports (Bhullar, 1984).
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, the most serious hindrance to research in sport psychology
in India has been the lack of resources. This has led to sport scientists resorting
primarily to descriptive studies in their search for answers to certain questions
in sport psychology. Further, it must be noted that the level of sport psychology
research in India is not of the caliber of that in, for example, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, the United States, or the USSR.
In addition to the lack of resources, a lack of initiative by trained personnel in
psychology has also hindered the development of sport psychology to some extent. Probably one of the most serious concerns for sport psychology in India
at present is the lack of cooperation between sport psychologists and the sports
federations and Olympic associations under which elite teams are trained. There
is too much preoccupation with physiological training and coaching issues, which
have hindered the development of sport psychology and its potential to help elite
athletes in India. Nevertheless, sport psychology is developing in India and
promises to be a vital and important sport science in the future.
260
Kamlesh and Mohan
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