The Potential of Cultural Psychology in Sports Settings

Abstract

Different cultures have different societal structures and different communication style. Additionally, how sports are organized vary from country to country in terms of structure. These factors make athletes across the world demonstrate different psychological characteristics. Despite these differences, these cultural impacts have been paid little attention to, and psychological universality has been explored in the field of sport psychology even though the importance of cultural differences is remained. This review article explores the consideration of cultural psychology within the domain of sport psychology. Specifically, this article compares East Asian culture and North American culture from an achievement motivation perspective. Self-construal, regulatory focus theory, self-determination theory, and achievement goal theory are investigated in order to compare the two cultures. It is recommended that future researchers in the domain of sport psychology refer to both cultural differences as well as psychological universality to deepen insight into the sport psychology field. Practitioners in sport psychology such as mental performance consultants and coaches, are also suggested to consider cultural differences in order to effectively communicate with players and implement more effective interventions.