ABSTRACT
In recent years, researchers have been re-examining how extant concepts in sport psychology can account adequately for the functioning of groups in sport (e.g. Eccles and Tenenbaum, 2004, 2007; see also the 2006, Volume 4, special issue of the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology). A particular concern has been that the existing research on sport groups such as teams and organisations has predominantly involved only social concepts. Furthermore, when it has involved cognitive concepts, the focus has been on understanding the cognitive processes mediating the performance of an individual performer within a group, but seldom those mediating the performance of the group. While each of these perspectives has provided important insights into group functioning in sport, the proposal in this chapter is that the current understanding of this topic could be enhanced substantially by a perspective that involves an integration of both social and cognitive concepts.
