Personality
Background to the Research Field
Personality traits are stable characteristics that shape how we think, feel, and act, guiding our behavior in everyday life as well as in sports, from training sessions to high-pressure competition. People differ widely in these traits, with some individuals being, for example, more extraverted and outgoing, while others are more agreeable and cooperative.
Personality impacts athletic performance and personal development in many ways. For example, high levels of conscientiousness or self-discipline may help athletes stick to training plans and achieve sustainable progress. Traits such as emotional stability and resulting confidence can enhance mental resilience under pressure, support recovery after intense training, and contribute to overall well-being.
Similarly, motives play a key role in athletic performance. In contrast to personality traits, they focus less on who an athlete is and more on what drives their behavior, energizing and directing effort toward achievement. For example, a strong competitive motive can push athletes to seek challenges, thrive in competitive situations, and continuously strive to outperform themselves and others.
Personality and motives play a key role in the development of young athletes as well as in supporting established professionals. Understanding how an athlete “ticks” enables psychologists, coaches, and support staff to guide and challenge them in the most effective way. It also offers valuable insights into team dynamics. For example, consider how 11 very different personalities come together on a soccer team: Differences in competitiveness, structuredness, stress response, agreeableness, and power orientation are just a few examples of the factors that influence how players interact, collaborate, and sometimes even clash within a team.
An athlete’s personality and motives shape performance motivation, consistency, and collaboration: qualities that often make the difference between average performance and peak achievement. Ultimately, excelling in sports depends on far more than physical ability. It is also a reflection of the athlete’s character and motivational drivers.
Striving for the Best Possible Support
We explore athletes’ personalities and motives through the systematic and regular collection of data using standardized questionnaires. Our goal is simple: to get to know each athlete better and, ultimately, to provide data-driven, individualized support that helps them reach their maximum performance potential.
The Big Five in Focus
Our research centers on the Big Five personality traits – openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability – and how they relate to age, gender, and athletic performance. Do professionals differ from amateurs, and do these differences help explain who reaches elite levels?
In soccer, we have found that both youth and adult elite players, male and female, show higher conscientiousness and emotional stability than their amateur counterparts. Being structured in daily training routines and able to handle pressure effectively seems key to top-level performance.
Building on years of systematic personality assessment at the TSG ResearchLab, we are now conducting longitudinal studies to explore whether these traits emerge from selection or develop over time in youth and young athletes.
Assessing Athlete Motives
We also assess motives systematically and regularly to better understand what drives athletes. For this purpose, we developed the Motiv Profil Sport (MPS) questionnaire, which we continue to validate and refine. In its current form, the MPS measures 11 key motives that can drive athletes, including the pursuit of competition, the desire for power and leadership roles, the need for social connection with teammates, and more.
Applied Perspective in Sport Psychology
Although personality traits are relatively stable, athletes can still develop strategies to plan effectively, manage stress, and optimize their performance. Combined with insights from the MPS, sport psychologists can work closely with athletes and teams to enhance individual performance, well-being, and team cohesion.
Handbook for Psychological Diagnostics in Sport
Handbook of Sport Psychological Diagnostics
by Jan Spielmann, Christoph Herr, Hans-Dieter Hermann & Jan Mayer
The handbook provides a comprehensive overview of established methods and tools for psychological assessment in sports. Developed to support practitioners and researchers in the systematic evaluation of psychological factors relevant to athletic performance, it was created in collaboration with the German Football Association (DFB).
