ORIGINAL ARTICLE  PSYCHOLOGY 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2019 July;59(7):1263-70

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.18.08953-3

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Relationships among age, experience, and observational learning of athletes based on types of model observed

Angelita B. CRUZ ✉

Department of Physical Education, Keimyung University, Daegu City, Korea

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the use of observational learning among athletes when they observed themselves (self-model) or their opponents (opponent-model). Furthermore, there was an emphasis on determining the relationships between age, experience, and the functions (i.e., skill, strategy, performance) of observational learning according to the type of model observed.
METHODS: A total of 158 athletes (male=70, female=88) who competed in different team (N.=83) and individual (N.=75) sports participated in the study. They ranged in age from 17 years to 32 years. Their total years of sport participation ranged from one year to 18 years.
RESULTS: Athletes reported significantly greater use of all three functions of observational learning for the self-model than for the opponent-model. Bivariate correlations revealed years of experience was significantly and positively associated with the skill, self, and performance functions of observational learning for the self-model. In contrast, age was significantly and positively related with the performance function of observational learning for the opponent-model.
CONCLUSIONS: The finding provides the first empirical evidence to suggest that model type influences the use of observational learning in athletes. A positive relationship also exists between experience and self-observational learning as well as age and the opponent-performance function of observational learning. The results contribute to the observational learning literature and provide support to the Applied Model for the Use of Observation.

KEY WORDS: Surveys and Questionnaires; Patient-specific modeling; Schools; Athletes