Reversal theory Motivation, Emotion and Personality

Reversal theory is an innovative psychological theory exploring human motivation, emotion and personality. Reversal theory can improve understanding in the following key areas: * athletes' motivational states when performing * athletes' motivational characteristics * identifying performance problems * athletes' experiences of stress * intervention strategies * eating disorders * exercise addiction. It focuses on the normal human experience to describe how a person regularly reverses between psychological states, reflecting their motivational style and the meaning they attach to a given situation at a given time. For example, sometimes a roller coaster seems exciting; other times, it may cause anxiety. Sometimes a crying baby creates sympathy; other times it causes irritation.

Reversal Theory proposes that our motives can be organized into four categories (called domains). Within each category (or domain), there are two opposite motivational states. You are motivated by one state in each domain at any given time (so four states are active at once). This figure shows the domains and states

The four pairs (or domains) are as follows:

Means-Ends - The two states in the first pair are called "Telic" (or "Serious") and "Paratelic" (or "Playful") and refer to whether one is motivated by achievement and future goals, or the enjoyment of process in the moment.

Rules - The next two states are called "Conforming" and "Rebellious" (or "Negativistic") and refer to whether one enjoys operating within rules and expectations; or whether one wishes to be free and push against these structures. Transactions - The next two states are called "Mastery" and "Sympathy" and relate to whether one is motivated by transacting power and control; or by care and compassion. Relationships - The final two states are called "Autic" (or "Self") and "Alloic" (or "Other") and refer to whether one is motivated by self interests (personal accountability and responsibility) or by the interests of others (altruism and transcendence).

Note: The Reversal Theory research community uses different terms for some of the states. They call the Serious state the Telic state, and the Playful state the Paratelic state. The Self-Other states are called Autic-Alloic, respectively; and the Rebellious state is frequently referred to as Negativistic. Reversal Theory was first proposed in the mid-1970s, by K.C.P. Smith and Michael Apter. Since that time, research using the theory has been conducted in the areas of sports performance and psychology.

Reversal Theory is actively used in sports counseling. When we know about the states of Reversal Theory and how they work, we can learn to control our reversals. Instead of emotions happening to us, we can actually create reversals in ourselves in order to create new emotions. First you need to understand the states, then you can learn how to create reversals. In recent years, its application to sports has become influential, posing an alternative to psychological theories that stress consistency and stability in human behavior. Reversal theory presumes humans are inconsistent, unstable and in the process of constant change. The theory is concerned centrally with motivation and experience, the latter referring specifically to how one interprets and responds emotionally to, a given situation. A soccer player at the kickoff would be in a Serious State: narrowly goal-oriented with a specific aim in mind. In training, or perhaps playing with children, the same person will be much more playful and unfocused, attaching little importance to what he or she is doing, and so experiencing a Playful state. The most famous example of a sympathy state expressing itself in an otherwise aggressive sport came in 1980 when Larry Holmes, then heavyweight champion of the world, battered the 38year-old Muhammad Ali for ten sickeningly one-sided rounds.

Over the final rounds, Holmes visibly eased up, at times inviting the referee to intervene to spare his opponent the punishment.

Mike Tysons astonishing switch from conformist to negativist states involved his taking a bite from Evander Holyfields ear in their 1997 fight. The premise of reversal theory is that any form of behavior, including competitive behavior, needs to be analyzed in terms of the motivations that underlie it. This is complicated by the fact that there is never a one-to-one correspondence between motivation and behavior, nor a direct link between behavior and experience. Identical behavior may be observed in two individuals, yet those individuals may be in contrasting metamotivational states and have totally different experiences. Reversal theory is based on a conception of human beings as inconsistent, self-contradictory and capable of sometimes paradoxical changes during short periods of time. References: (http://typetalk.com/blog/learn-the-theory/ http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/reversal-theory-tf/ )