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Crystal Spheres

Scientific Foundation​

The MSA4Sports isn't just a quiz — it's a rigorously validated assessment built on decades of sports psychology research.

 

The MSA4Sports was originally presented at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) conference in 2010 and was developed in accordance with testing standards set by the American Psychological Association, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the U.S. Department of Labor.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE MSA

The MSA draws from three well-established fields of psychology:

 

  • Social-Cognitive Theory — identifies the mental skills most critical to performance in sports, school, and work

  • Sports Psychology — applies proven methods to help athletes perform under pressure

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — one of the most researched and effective approaches to changing behavior and improving mental health

 

Together, these fields form the foundation of the Mental Skills Model that powers the MSA4Sports.

Image by Bach Tran

KEY SCIENTIFIC STUDIES

The MSA is supported by a wide body of peer-reviewed studies

  1. Anshel, MH (1998). Coping with stress in sport as a function of gender: An exploratory study. Journal of Sport Behavior, 21 (4), 363-376.

  2. Anshel, MH & Porter, A. (1998). Self-regulatory characteristics of competitive swimmers as a function of skill level and gender. Journal of Sport Behavior, 19 (2), 1-15.

  3. Anshel, MH & Wells, B. (2000). Personal and situational variables that describe coping with acute stress in competitive sport. The Journal of Social Psychology, 140 (4), 434-450.

  4. Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248-287.

  5. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 51 (1), 1-26.

  6. Bandura, A. (2005). The primacy of self-regulation in health promotion. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 54 (2), 245-254.

  7. Barlow, DH, Craske, MG, Cerny, JA, & Klosko JS (1989) Behavioral treatment of panic disorder Behavior Therapy 20:261–282.

  8. Bayer, UC & Gollwitzer, PM. (2005). Mindset effects on information search in self-evaluation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35, 313-327.

  9. Beck, AT (2005) The current state of cognitive therapy: a 40-year retrospective. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62:953–959.

  10. Beck, JS (1995). Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. The Guilford Press, New York.

  11. Cervone, D. (2005). Personality architecture: Within person structures and processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 56 (4), 423-452.

  12. Compton, SN, March, JS, Brent, D, Albano, AM V, Weersing R, & Curry, J (2004) Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents: an evidence-based medicine review. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43:930–959.

  13. Deci, E.L. (1975). Intrinsic Motivation. New York: Plenum Press.

  14. Denny, KG & Steiner, H. (2009). External and internal factors influencing happiness in elite collegiate athletes. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40, 55-72.

  15. 15. Duda, J.L. (1993). Goals: A social-cognitive approach to the study of achievement motivation in sport. In R.N. Singer, M. Murphey, & L.K. Tennant (Eds.), Handbook of research on sport psychology (pp. 421-436). New York: MacMillan.

  16. Duda, J.L., & Nicholls, J.G. (1992). Dimension of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 290-299.

  17. Duda, J.L. (1992). Motivation in sport settings: A goal perspectives approach. In G.C. Roberts (Ed.), Motivation in Sport and Exercise (pp. 57-91). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

  18. Dweck, C.S. (1986). Motivational processes affect learning. American Psychologist, 41, 1040-1048.

  19. Fairburn, CG, Norman, PA, Welch, SL, O’Connor, ME, Doll, HA, & Peveler, RC (1995). A prospective study of outcome in bulimia nervosa and the long-term effects of three psychological treatments. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52: 304–312.

  20. Gonida, E., Kiosseoglou, G., & Voulala, K. (2007). Perceptions of parent goals and their contribution to student achievement goal orientation and engagement in the classroom: Grade level differences across adolescence. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 22 (1), 23-29.

  21. Grant, H. & Dweck, CS. (2003). Clarifying achievement goals and their impact. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85 (3), 541-553.

  22. Mischel, W. (2004). Toward an integrative science of the person. Annual Review of Psychology, 55 (1), 1 – 22.

  23. Ntoumanis, N., Biddle, SJH, & Haddock, G. (1999). The mediating role of coping strategies on the relationship between achievement motivation and affect in sport. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 12, 299-327.

  24. Ommundsen, Y, Haugen, R., & Lund, T. (2005). Academic self-concept, implicit theories of ability, and self-regulation strategies. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 49 (5), 461-474.

  25. Roberts, G.C. (Ed.) (1992b). Motivation in sport and exercise, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

  26. Roberts, G.C. (1993). Motivation in sport: Understanding and enhancing the motivation and achievement of children. In R.N. Singer, M. Murphey, & L.K. Tennant (Eds.), Handbook of research on sport psychology (pp. 405-420). New York: MacMillan.

  27. Roth A, & Fonagy P. (1996). What Works for Whom? A Critical Review of Psychotherapy Research. New York, Guilford.

  28. Schwarzer, R. & Renner, B. (2000). Social-cognitive predictors of health behavior: Action self-efficacy and coping self-efficacy. Health Psychology, 19 (5), 487-495.

  29. Smith, SA, Kass, SJ, Rotunda, RJ, & Schneider, SK. (2006). If at first you don’t succeed: Effects of failure on general and task-specific self-efficacy and performance. North American Journal of Psychology, 8 (1), 171-182.

  30. Vansteelandt, K. & Van Mechelen, I. (2006). Individual differences in anger and sadness: In pursuit of active situational features and psychological processes. Journal of Personality, 74 (3), 872-909.

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