Our personality is too complex to be explained by a single theory. There are different theories classifying different traits in diverse quantities. One of the most widely personality theory accepted today is that of psychologist Hans Eysenck, who proposed a tripartite model that encompasses most people: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
Both extraversion and introversion are essential personality traits in terms of behavioral regulation. The big difference lies in the reaction to external stimuli. The level that the extrovert skier considers normal may be excessive for the introvert skier. The sensitivity of the arousal system requires less stimulation to be comfortable, which would induce a trait of introversion. In other words, the introvert skier, unlike the extrovert one, tends to seek situations with little stimulation, thus appearing calm and solitary. For example, in a dialogue between introvert and extrovert skiers there is a high probability that they will misinterpret each other since the introvert will be thinking and assimilating the extrovert’s words, while the extrovert will interpret that his silence gives room to continue talking, which will prevent the introvert from properly processing the whole content of the conversation which, at this point, will be more like a monologue of the extrovert. This is relevant when teaching skiing to both personality types.
Extraversion constitutes an expansive neuropsychic activation system and an approach behavior towards satisfaction or rewards derived from pleasant experiences with prevalence of emotion over reasoning.
The characteristics of a skier with an extroverted tendency are:
- Is energized by the external world.
- Has a tendency to verbosity and to think while talking.
- Is sociable in nature. Feels the need to enhance his self-esteem by performing in front of others.
- Learns by attending to events and information given.
- Decides using logic and objective models.
- Copes with skiing by making judgments, being structured, decisive, and organized.
- Tends to challenge risky situations due to a lower level of vigilance.
- Intentionally evokes happy experiences for joy.
- Given his sensitivity to monotony, is prone to seeking novelty. This makes him prone to errors due to fatigue and accidents, aspects that are compensated by his way of seeing things and his good personal efficiency.
- Tends to retain experiences only the ones that interests him, the rest will go unnoticed and will not be registered.
- In conclusion, the extroverted skier presents sociability, risk-taking behavior, activity, impulsiveness, enthusiasm, distractibility, little introspection, responsibility, and pleasure in skiing in a group.
In introversion, the skier possesses an adaptive system tending to avoidance in order to preserve himself from undesirable consequences coming from the environment. The introverted skier uses attentional orientation to detect dangerous stimuli. This anticipatory function is characterized by a vigilant attitude towards threats that determine a behavior inclined towards safety. In relation to risky activities, is prone to protection and helter.
The characteristics of a skier with introverted tendency are:
- Demonstrates sensitivity to environmental stimuli therefore must defend against excesses in order to maintain an optimal level of activation.
- Withdraws into his inner world for new energy and regeneration.
- Is shy and less socially active.
- Is prone to listen and think before speaking.
- Does not depend on external rewards to function.
- Has a tendency to self-talk.
- Seeks a neutral state of mind.
- Learns intuitively and in a calm environment, attending to global possibilities and patterns.
- Is proficient in visualization, orienting his learning by attending to mental images.
- Copes with skiing by perceiving, being flexible, and adaptive.
- Tends to be introspective, a planner, opposed to change, orderly, somewhat pessimistic, with ethical values, cautious, reflective, persevering, reliable, and feels comfortable skiing alone.
Previously, but in the same orientation as Eysenck, the psychologist and psychiatrist Gustav Jung classified personality into introverts, extroverts, and ambivalents. The latter would be people with a mixture of introverted and extroverted traits and, according to the situation, may lean towards introversion or extroversion. These traits influence both the learning of new motor skills and sports performance.
Our personality plays a role in maintaining learning objectives as well as in behavior and, especially, in beliefs about the origins of one’s own skiing successes and failures. A popular belief is that the skier with extroverted traits finds it easier to learn or perform due to his sociability and his interaction with the environment; while the introvert would find it more difficult due to his reserved character and high self-control. The extrovert has a tendency to need to enhance his Ego in front of other skiers and this is, to some extent, an obstacle to learning. On the other hand, having a strong inner personality, the introvert does not need to break the Ego barriers, so this would not become an obstacle to learning.
Returning to Eysenck’s classification, neuroticism is the response of the nervous system, particularly the limbic system, to stress. The characteristics of the neurotic skier are emotional instability, high level of anxiety, low self-esteem, propensity to guilt, and the condition of permanent preoccupation with one’s own negative emotions.
Characteristics of a skier with neurotic tendency:
- Tendency to feel negative effects in stressful situations.
- Presents harmful thoughts and ingrained worry due to a biased interpretation of skiing.
- Is prone to privilege the affective channel, risk-taking, and inattention due to increased stress.
- Exhibits emotional reactions due to vulnerability to perceived threatening contexts.
- Tends to suffer from anxiety or obsession in certain situations to which he overreacts.
- Shows difficulty in returning to emotional stability.
- Is impulsive and shows it by skiing according to his emotions, which vary permanently, making it difficult to achieve a good performance.
In the third segment of the classification, Eysenck proposes psychoticism, which is characterized by the tendency to aggressiveness and hostility exhibited in impulsive behaviors. The skier with a psychotic tendency is prone to be egocentric, insensitive, and irresponsible, but at the same time competitive and objective.
The Somatotype theory
Based on physical build, psychologist Herbert Sheldon proposed a theory in which he argued that people with a certain body type tend to develop a certain personality and proposed the following types:
- According to this theory, the ectomorph skier would be characterized by a physical build with narrow shoulders, long slender arms and legs, narrow face, flat chest, and little musculature. He would be reflective, calm, fragile, self-conscious, pessimistic, and not predisposed to physical activity.
- The endomorph skier would have a round body, wide hips, thin shoulders, and volume in certain parts of his body. It would correspond to a relaxed, adaptive personality, and of a sociable nature.
- The mesomorph skier would have an athletic physique: broad shoulders, narrow chest, strong arms and legs, and more muscle than fat. He would be active, courageous, adventurous, dominant, competitive, and athletic by nature.
Conclusions
- Each personality dimension is in turn shaped by different traits.
- The introverted skier would be energized or motivated by an inner world of thoughts, feelings, and reflections. He possesses little self-confidence, is antisocial, calm, and pessimistic.
- The extrovert skier tends to relate to the outside world, is active, social, a leader, and confident.
- Extroverts prefer active experimentation (doers) while introverts are inclined to reflective observation (observers).
- Within the sphere of neuroticism are shyness, anxiety, worry, sadness, fear, guilt, shame, and moodiness.
- Psychoticism is characterized by impulsivity, cruelty, hostility, coldness, self-centeredness, and lack of empathy.
