This literature review will examine athletes' perceptions of coaches and how those perceptions are influenced by winning and losing and coaches' feedback patterns. The organization of the literature review focuses on the following topical areas: (1) athletes' perceptions of coaches; (2) coaches' feedback patterns; and (3) the effects of winning and losing on athletes' perceptions of coaches.
Smith, Smoll, and Hunt (1977) developed the Coaching Behavior Assessment System (CBAS) to measure and understand the social reinforcements provided by coaches to athletes and the effects of these reinforcements on the athletes and their performance. The general findings of research examining coaching behavior within the framework of the CBAS are that positive associations exist between outcomes and coaching behaviors characterized by feedback that includes mistake-contingent technical information, as opposed to general feedback. The research also found positive associations between outcomes and coaching behaviors that are less controlling and which include lower levels of punishment (Duda & Balaguer, 1999).
The goal-perspective theory of motivation holds athletes' perceptions of the sports environment in which they participate affects their motivation to perform (Ames, 1992). An important element of the sports environment consists of coaching behaviors (Smoll & Smith, 1989). There also are suggestions that an athletes' gender influences perceptions of coaching behaviors (Chelladurai & Riemer, 1998).
The CBAS distinguishes between reactive behaviors and spontaneous behaviors by coaches. There are further differentiations within the reactive-spontaneous framework. Exhibit 1 (on the following page) illustrates the structure of the CBAS. Measurements derived from applications of the CBAS develop frequencies of specific behaviors included in the CBAS. The determination of behavioral frequencies occurs through researcher observation of a...