Psychological impact of Olympics on athletes and fans revealed

In an Olympic and Paralympics themed issue of The Psychologist, which is published Thursday 28 June, Dr Christian Jarrett looks at the effect competition can have on sporting performance and explains how athletes manage intense pressure.

He’ll also look at how psychology can shed light on some of the great Olympic rivalries and how fans are affected by the highs and lows of watching our national sporting heroes in action.

Dr Jarrett, a Chartered Psychologist and editor of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, says: “Legends will be born and dreams will die this summer as London becomes a crucible for the ultimate sporting competition. The pressure will be intense.

“I’ll be asking how the athletes will cope and whether the heat of competition can lift our sporting heroes to new heights or stifle their promise.”

Elsewhere in the July issue, a broad range of psychologists show that the Olympics reaches parts of psychology other sporting events cannot as they reveal what the Olympics mean to them.

Dr Tadhg MacIntyre looks at the contribution of sport and exercise psychology and the Olympics to mainstream psychology.

There will be a ‘one on one’ with Dan Gould who has worked with the U.S. Olympic team. Craig Aaen-Stockdale looks for answers as he tries to explain how religious experience affects behaviour.

Elizabeth Loftus discusses the false memory debate with Lance Workman. And the Society’s new president, Dr Peter Banister, writes his first column.

The Psychologist is the monthly magazine of the British Psychological Society (BPS).