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Factors in Personality Development

Factors in Personality Development

Each person’s personality is a unique pattern. It represents who each person is and shapes their general behavior in a changing way. People are not born already “formed,” and their behavior is not completely predetermined. They develop constantly through the interaction of inner and outer factors.

Science recognizes five main areas that influence who we are, how we think, and how we react and behave in the world around us.

Genetics (Genes). DNA is the first biological plan. The genes we inherit from our parents strongly influence temperament, meaning the early biological tendencies of character. Genetics partly sets the base on which personality will later develop.

Upbringing. The family environment is the first and most important environment. In the family, limits and rules of behavior are formed. Parents pass on, consciously or unconsciously, their own beliefs and values, shaping the person’s direction. It is the first environment and therefore appears to be the most important for the formation of the self. The more “extreme” it is, the more “extreme” the behaviors that may develop, both positive and negative.

The Social Environment. The wider social setting and cultural background are also very influential. Social rules, the values a society is based on, and the expectations of the society in which people live shape behavior and show what is considered acceptable or desirable.

Education. Education is a strong factor in mental and emotional growth. Formal education, such as school, offers knowledge, builds attitudes, and develops critical thinking. Informal education, such as activities outside school, develops skills and interests. Sports, music school, dance classes, foreign languages, books, and internet use are factors that also help shape personality in an informal way.

Interpersonal Relationships. The wider family environment, such as relatives, and the circle of friends play a leading role. Through interpersonal relationships, social skills develop. The person becomes part of a group, or does not, and receives acceptance, or sometimes does not.

Each factor has its own special importance. If conditions change in one area, the person’s direction may also change. The earlier a factor affects a person, the more important and decisive it is considered to be. At the beginning comes the influence of the parents; after that, everyone has their role.

Giannis Zarotis MSc-PhD

Psychologist – Sport Psychologist

Why do athletes get stressed?

Why do athletes get stressed?
It is one of the main “problems” of athletes. It inhibits their functionality, “spoils” the experience of competitions, reduces their performance. The athlete “wishes” that the day of the competition would pass as quickly as possible. He feels a constant weight in the stomach, a knot in the neck, his body is heavy and he feels weak in any movement or, in another case, tension and hyperactivity. For the athlete, stress is one of the most inhibiting factors in terms of his performance.
The causes of stress are placed on an “imaginary line”, at the top of which are the chances of failure on the consequences of failure and at the bottom, the individual ability of the athlete on the support he receives. The “fraction” that is formed seems to be the basis of the thoughts that create stress in athletes. The thoughts “I am not ready”, “I am not well prepared”, “create” the possibility of failure, with thoughts about the “devastating” consequences of a defeat for the athlete’s personal image creating intense negative emotions. When at the same time he does not consider himself capable of meeting the requirements (ability) and does not have the corresponding support (coach-parents), the emotion intensifies in the negative direction.
To deal with anxiety, the goal is to reduce the numerator and increase the denominator!
The difficulty in dealing with anxiety by athletes is multiplied when the factor that could constitute their “support”, such as the coach or parents, is unintentionally “transferred” to the numerator of the fraction, now referred to as the exponents of the “consequences” of possible failure.
The difficulty of dealing with stress in sports through a “therapeutic” process is intensified as athletes compete almost weekly, so they are constantly exposed to the same stimulus, not having the time required to form a new structure of functional thoughts or to develop a way of managing situations by giving them a more adaptive interpretation.
Is there “therapy”?
The “therapy” of anxiety includes three basic stages: Accepting that “I have anxiety”, managing it (“I can compete even with anxiety”) and ultimately dealing with it, where the athlete’s functional thoughts are sought, in an attempt to “differentiate” his attitude towards himself and his environment.
The image and symptoms of anxiety, as it develops in the competitive environment, form a “special” condition of anxiety, where the “anxiety” intensifies as the competition approaches and is almost eliminated by the end of it. Until the next competitive obligation, where the image and symptoms will be the same or even more dysfunctional, the athlete has time to “work” his thoughts and appear more “optimistic”, investing in his psycho-spiritual improvement.

Giannis Zarotis MSc-PhD
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist

The difficulty of being a high-level athlete!

The difficulty of being a high-level athlete!
Watching the daily life of high-level athletes, whether on television or on the internet, a very pleasant everyday life is captured. Comforts, financial convenience, recognition, or in other words: “They have made their hobby their profession….” For younger athletes, who are inspired by their idols, only what is presented is seen: an easy life with many comforts. Quite misleading…. For everyone, “the big picture” is missing, the one that will show what someone has invested to reach the highest level and at the same time how they stay there.
Successes and recognition leave an impressive imprint, their entire path to this point is captured, however, in a different way. Physically and Psychologically.
A lot of work, many hours of training, two or three times a day, a daily life fully adapted to the instructions of the sport. Rest, nutrition, social life, everything is adapted to the sport, which is not just a priority but the factor that regulates the entire life of the athlete. The body is the element that needs to be in the best possible condition, everything that the athlete’s daily life includes should protect what they have most precious: their body.
The adjustments at the psychological level include both themselves and others! There is the basic requirement to have the same willingness to work and effort every day, for many years, under the condition that they experience even in their personal life (e.g. losses). Their performance is “expected” to always be at a higher level, both by themselves and by the environment. Teams, clubs, federations, friends, spectators, those who are generally involved in sports expect their success, which if it does not come, they are called upon to manage beyond personal take-off and the dissatisfaction of the environment. “Whenever you compete, you should have a very good result….”
Within this context, easy or difficult, comes an injury, which he is called upon to manage, without changing anything in his daily life: he will return as soon as possible!
Sport at the highest level is a pleasant process in terms of recognition, fame and sometimes financial comfort, which is not at all a given for most athletes. Excluding sports with high contracts and sponsors, the rest of the high-level athletes do not prosper financially.
Sport at the highest level is also a process with a lot of effort, many hours of investment, a permanent demand from oneself to be in the best possible psychological state. This element often seems to be the most difficult, looking for the big picture. You can almost never express and operate according to your feelings.
Both athletes and young athletes will help to recognize the condition in which someone is called upon to be and remain at the highest level. High level, high settings…..

Yiannis Zarotis MSc-PhD
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist

Summer rest for athletes

Summer rest for athletes
The summer vacation period is a period that athletes expect, need and at the same time are called upon to make the most of. For athletes, the period of “vacation” varies depending on their level, their competitive obligations, and the demands of each sport.
During the period in which the athlete will “rest”, he needs to invest in different types of rest. Describing the most important types for athletes, we refer to the following types of rest:
Physical: It is ensured with more sleep and reduced mobility in general. Even fun activities require attention as for athletes the body needs to be inactive for a period of time. This period helps the body to heal possible injuries, regain energy and prevent exhaustion.
Mental: Refers to the state in which the person occupies his mind with anything that does not require much thought, anything that does not constitute a complex activity.
Emotional: The person is called upon to avoid anything that is intense or creates strong emotions, especially “psycho-stressful”. Throughout the competitive season, athletes activate their emotions either to manage training or for the needs of the competitions. They experience the “demand” of the environment on themselves and need a period in which they will not try to satisfy the demands of the environment.
Sensory: It would be helpful to avoid screens and anything that stimulates the sensory system for a long period of time. The body also needs to rest the senses! Less mobile and television!
Social: Contacts with friends and in general with people with whom he feels pleasant and comfortable, will help the athlete both to rest and to receive a lot of emotional energy through the pleasant feeling. It will help if he has fun, as long as it does not harm his physical condition.
Different forms of rest will help athletes to “make the most of” the time they have for their rest. This time is important and necessary, as much as it requires a demarcation for its duration. For professional athletes or athletes at a high level, the period of general rest cannot exceed 15-20 days. After that, rest becomes inactivity and it will be very difficult to return to the high level to which he is called upon to respond.
The period of “vacation” is necessary and necessary, it requires focus on all areas of rest, is formed based on the level of the athletes and is also served by their immediate environment! Athletes’ vacations are part of the sport!

Giannis Zarotis MSc-PhD
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist

Is there a “my day” in sports?

Is there a “my day” in sports?
In the sports environment, the expression “it’s my day” is often used, with the aim of referring to an athlete’s very good result, a top performance, his best possible performance. In order to “analyze” the cause of his performance, he adopts this particular expression, considering that he was helped by “his day” to achieve his goal.
While waiting for the match, he thinks “if it will be my day”, whether he will be in the best possible competitive condition, in order to fulfill his desire. After the match, he evaluates the performance, emphasizing the importance of “my day”, as a key factor for his top performance.
Is “my day” ultimately some undefined factor with a specific “role” in the athlete’s performance?
Does it refer to his psychological state, to the way he faced the match before it started, to how he experienced the competitive condition? Did the training process that followed give him enormous potential, physically and technically, to achieve his goal? Did he manage his mental and emotional state on the day of the competition, so as to “bring out his best self”?
If he prepares for four years for the Olympic Games, will he simply wish that it was “my day”?
The physical, mental, emotional state of the athlete, factors that influence his overall performance, are elements that begin and end with the athlete himself. He will determine “his day”, he will prepare himself and focus on those factors that influence the ability to achieve the maximum possible performance. That is why he prepares!
“My day” is like Elytis’ spring: To find it, you make it!
Yiannis Zarotis MSc-PhD
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist

High-level athletes: What differentiates them from other athletes?

High-level athletes: What differentiates them from other athletes?

In all sports, perhaps in every field of human activity, there are protagonists, those who are considered the “elite” of the sport, those referred to as “high-level athletes”.
They are those who have characteristics that differentiate them from other athletes, those who have managed to develop to a great extent some elements that help them “stand out”. These elements refer either to technical issues, or to physical characteristics, or to psychological and spiritual factors.
For tennis, Federer was technically perfect, for track and field Bolt was physically excellent, for football Messi has high technical training, for basketball Jordan had a balance of technical and physical elements. In every sport there is at least one who stands out and many others who belong to the “high level”.
For these athletes, the quality of effort and training is at a high level, combining both the frequency and the quality of the activity they perform.
In competitive conditions, one of the key mental elements that differentiates them is the focus on the appropriate elements during the match. They know where to focus their attention, what to pay special attention to, what to “look for” as an element that will enable them to make the best possible choice. In the marathon, high-level athletes know what to focus on during the match, whether in themselves or in the environment. In football, the focus is placed on the opponent and on what is happening on the field and can be useful information for the athlete: where he is, where his teammates are, where the opponents are, where there is empty space, what options I have, so that I can make the best possible choice. In taekwondo, the focus is on the opponent: where he has gaps, what he is trying to do, how I can exploit his gaps.
What the athlete “deals with” in competitive conditions is also one of the basic elements that will determine his “integration” into high-level athletes.
It is clear in sports in the era we are living in that the physical and technical training of athletes, with the enormous help of technology and the evolution of training programs, is more feasible. There is “know-how” in all sports as well as the appropriate coaches.
The element that is most difficult to train is the mental factor, and in particular the athlete’s focus in the competition, an element that will continue to be the distinguishing difference between athletes and will “place” some at the highest possible level. For now…..

Yiannis Zarotis MSc-Phd
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist
www.psychology.org.gr

Anxiety and Self-Confidence How do they affect sport performance?

Anxiety and Self-Confidence
How do they affect sport performance?

The performance in the competition depends to a large extent on the preparation of the athletes, their training, their daily life and the general “protection” of themselves. The factors affecting performance are analyzed in many categories, whether they are physical, technical, tactical or even emotional-psychological.
The most ‘over-reported’ emotional factors for competitive sport are stress and lack of confidence.
Anxiety, as a negative emotion, comes from the word “angho” which means “to press tightly in the throat”. What everyone feels when experiencing the feeling of stress. Based on the word itself there is no such thing as “positive” stress, instead we seek alertness and psychological preparedness.
Anxiety is the feeling that “heavy body” causes in athletes. Their legs feel heavy, in sports such as taekwondo and karate it will often be reported that “the legs don’t go”, in sports that require movement such as football or tennis, athletes feel that they “can’t move”, in some situations creates hypervigilance to the point where athletes “don’t have control of their movements”. In swimming and in sports with a specific technique, due to stress, the athletes will feel the body tight, to the point that it spoils their technique, while at the same time there is the feeling that “I can’t catch water!”.
Mentally, anxiety is related to “confusion and fatigue” to the point that the athletes cannot “listen” to the coach’s instructions, think about their plan, look for solutions in the match, make quick and correct decisions.
Lack of confidence has a different effect on the match and sometimes acts as a counterweight to one side’s anxiety. “The more confidence, the less stress!”
The athlete without self-confidence shows no dynamism, lacks physical and mental energy and clearly lacks “momentum”, a concept very important for competitive performance. In taekwondo, karate, judo, athletes will not show aggression, their movements will look procedural, “done to be done”, they will not chase the opponent, they will play rather passively. In basketball or football they will not claim the ball, they will not take initiatives, as there is a feeling that “I can’t”. In tennis the strokes of the ball will be without power, in ping-pong the initiative will be lacking, in swimming the movements of the hands will appear without tension. Athletes with a lack of confidence look “like they’re not trying.” But it is not their choice! When you don’t believe you can achieve a goal, what you will lack is the effort. How much will the athlete try for something he doesn’t believe he can achieve?
The two concepts, anxiety and self-confidence, have a central role in the competitive performance of athletes. Athletes are asked to manage them long before the race, so that they are also psychologically ready, without simply waiting for “it’s my day!”. In sports “the day” is determined by the athletes themselves….

Yannis Zarotis MSc-PhD
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist

Can I defeat any opponent? The way of thinking of high-level athletes!

Can I defeat any opponent?
The way of thinking of high-level athletes!

Ulugbek Rasitov from Uzbekistan participated in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in the 68 kg category. At the age of 18 at the time, it was his first participation in Olympic games. He had some accolades as a teenager as in 2018 he won the silver medal in 48kg at the Argentina Youth Olympics and in 2019 he won the 55kg gold medal in the Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships.
In Tokyo, having won the first match, he faced the 29-year-old South Korean Lee Dae-Hoon, who was already a two-time Olympic champion, in the quarterfinals.
For Rasitov, the data for the match were as follows: “I am 18 years old, without experience in corresponding events, without distinctions in the past at the men’s level, representing a country without distinctions at the Olympic Games in Taekwondo.” And “my opponent is the 29-year-old Lee Dae-Hoon, two-time Olympic champion, top of the World ranking, with countless awards and vast experience, representing the country with perhaps the longest tradition in the sport.”
The data was clearly against Rasitov, at this point the “mindset” gives the opponent a huge advantage, based on real data! But not for Rasitov…..
Without thinking about the past, without dealing with the “history” of the opponent, without analyzing the data, his thought “turned” only to “what I will do in the match!”. Looking for ways to win….
Since then he has won seven consecutive races, two Olympic gold medals in two events (Tokyo and Paris)! He also beat Lee Dae-Hoon…And for his country in Tokyo it was the first medal in the Olympic Games!

Same ability – different performance from match to match!

Same ability – different performance from match to match!
For each field of human activity, the “necessary” elements-characteristics vary, depending on the requirements of the conditions. In the sports environment, the adaptation and success of athletes depends on factors that mainly concern physical and technical elements, as those that are “projected” more. Athletes train to develop their sport-specific components with greater emphasis on how to improve in terms of their physical condition as well as their technical knowledge.
Why, however, are they not in the same mood every day? What are the factors that determine their tolerance to exercise fatigue? Why do some understand better the instructions given and develop correspondingly better perception and speed of thought? Why do some athletes become “better” than others, while following the same training? And if someone is talented in technical or physical elements, will they necessarily reach the top? Because for many athletes, training is a high-performance environment, while in competition they find it difficult to “bring out” their best selves. Why are there shifts in performance while ability is either maintained or improved?
Research data and daily experience show that the athlete’s success “depends” on many Psychological and Spiritual factors. Psychological includes motivation, self-confidence, stress management, emotion management, self-control, and other factors that “regulate” the athlete’s emotional state.
Corresponding to the Mental factors, skills such as concentration, the ability to analyze information, speed of thought, decision-making, information selection, understanding of the environment and all the elements that make up the intellectual dimension of the person are included.
The ability obtained as a result of training concerns technical and tactical features of the sport. The ability of the athlete to perform in each match based on his ability, his consistent performance from match to match depends on psycho-spiritual factors.
It shows that it is necessary for athletes, especially at a high level, to focus on the consistency of performance, as a factor that “distinguishes” them and “places” them at the high level. For this purpose, psycho-spiritual factors are for many athletes a field of focus in their daily sports activity.
Otherwise, while the athlete is at a high level he will not perform in every competition, sometimes because he has not managed his emotions and sometimes because he did not “read” the demands of the competition correctly.
Both Psychological and Spiritual elements are the result of corresponding “training”, each athlete has the possibility to “work” on them and based on his effort to acquire them. Athletes choose to focus on technical elements and physical condition, as these are what “show” the most. For the optimal physical condition, it will be necessary to have the corresponding psycho-spiritual condition as well.

Anxiety before and during the competition

Anxiety is for athletes, at any level, a key factor in competition performance. It is described as an emotion, which changes the smooth functioning of the organism, in each of its individual systems, however, it is experienced by each person in a special way. For some stress creates gastrointestinal disturbances, for others mental confusion, all report a feeling of discomfort and dysthymia.
In sports, anxiety “appears” perhaps several days before the competition. It creates over-intensity or even loss of energy, disrupts sleep, “accompanying” athletes in their daily life as an unpleasant feeling.
As they get closer to the race, the symptoms usually intensify, helping to develop further anxiety about the ability to perform. Athletes now have an additional thought: “How can I perform when I feel so uncomfortable?”.
The body becomes heavy, they lose the sense of mobility, the athlete becomes static, with great difficulty in doing anything that is asked of him or “demanded” by the competitive condition. “The body does not follow!” At the second level, the athlete’s cognitive function decreases, the plan he developed is not followed and the coach’s instructions are not listened to, not because he does not pay attention but because he is not able to control the specific mental function: “I lost it my mind, I can’t think or hear anything!’
Each athlete experiences the race differently, some feel anxiety which still affects them during the competition (even if they don’t realize it), some others not to the extent that it will create a problem for them to perform, many athletes feel anxiety, a pleasant feeling in anticipation of the competition.
The difference sometimes lies in the emotional state before the match: is it waiting or anticipation?
Anxiety is an extremely influential factor both in how athletes experience the competitive condition and in how they ultimately perform. At younger ages reducing anxiety improves athletes’ competitive experience, at older ages reducing or controlling anxiety helps achieve dramatically better performance.
Differentiating the way they see the performance process!

Yannis Zarotis MSc-Phd
Psychologist-Sports Psychologist
www.psychology.org.gr