The role of ecological constraints on expertise development

The aim of this paper is to provide explanation and discussion on how unconventional socio-cultural constraints influence the development of skill and expertise of Brazilian football players. On this basis, the central question of this research is this: What are the influential environmental constraints on the development of perceptual-motor skills and expertise of Brazilian football players? The epistemological and methodological assumptions of the "contextualised skill acquisition research" (CSAR) (see Uehara et al., 2014) are used as an underpinning framework for data collection and organization of material. Drawing upon the notion of ethnographic strategies of inquiry for generating and analyzing data, we used qualitative methods such as contextual analysis, participant-observation, and open-ended interviews. At the micro-level of Brazilian society "pelada" emerges as one of the socio-cultural constraints that shapes the talent of Brazilian football players by influencing the development of their perceptual-motor expertise.

Conexões

Objective: This review article delineates some important theoretical concepts that inform sport expertise acquisition studies. In particular, the principles of ecological psychology and dynamical systems theory have united together to form the ecological dynamics, a framework that provides the perfect platform through which to study the role of socio-cultural constraints upon sport expertise. Methodology: The body of information collected for this article was primarily extracted from peer- reviewed articles and academic books. This review article used Brazilian soccer as the case study. Results and discussion: Whilst the sports expertise literature has been guilty of somewhat polarising the influence of either practice or inherited attributes upon motor learning there are nonetheless many useful lessons to be learnt from this review article. For example, sport expertise development takes place over many years and includes numerous formal and informal pathways that athletes can take ...

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2020

In an ecological dynamics rationale, the development of expertise in sports is shaped by interactions of personal, task and environmental constraints. A notable outcome of this process is the distinctive performance styles of athletes shaped by socio-cultural-historical constraints. To understand this process, we examined the role of socio-cultural constraints shaping the development of skill in Brazilian football players at the macrosystem level. A range of data sources were inductively generated and analysed through the qualitative interpretative paradigm, including historical contextual analysis, participant observation, and unstructured interviews. Malandragem (i.e., cunning) emerged as a major focus and our findings suggested that behavioural characteristics, such as mischief and deception, are common attributes valued by many elite Brazilian footballers. Our analysis suggests how the value system of Malandragem is a product of the socio-cultural constraints primarily influence...

Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 2014

Objective: Research on expertise in sport has rarely attempted to examine socio-cultural constraints on athletes. Here, we outline a new contextualised approach to studying sociocultural constraints on individuals, proposing an interpretive, multi-method approach to holistically investigate the interacting constraints on an athlete's development pathway. Aims: We explain a rationale for adopting an interpretive research paradigm (in contrast to traditional positivist approaches) for exploring socio-cultural constraints. The epistemological and methodological assumptions of Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model of Human Development are proposed as an underpinning framework for data collection and organisation of material. We advocate for ethnographic strategies of inquiry, followed by a discussion of potential methods for generating and analysing data: contextual analysis, participant-observation, and open-ended interviews. Finally, we discuss evaluation criteria for this contextualised approach viewed from a coherence theory of truth. Purpose: This position statement seeks to: 1) promote methodological possibilities to investigate the effect of socio cultural constraints on expertise acquisition in sport; and 2), offer significant new theoretical and epistemological insights from the constraints-led approach to expertise and to integrate some of the interdisciplinary differences that exist in the body of sciences.

Frontiers in Psychology

2015

This thesis investigates the role of socio-cultural-historical environmental constraints influencing the development of association football expertise and skill in Brazilian players. Only a small number of studies in the field of motor learning have attempted to address this issue due to the qualitative, interpretive research approach required to analyse socio-cultural themes. However, considering that expertise in sports emerges from the complex interaction of multiple constraints, socio-cultural factors have to be further explored in a contextualised manner so that knowledge in the field of motor learning can be advanced. This thesis presents an interpretive, multi-methods approach to holistically investigate the interacting constraints on the development pathway of Brazilian football players. In contrast to traditional positivist approaches, this thesis is based on the philosophical assumptions of the interpretive research paradigm and the epistemological and methodological tenet...

Essential processes for attaining …, 2006

The dilemma regarding whether or not innate talent is a salient component of sport performance has been of interest for many decades. Howe, Davidson, and Sloboda (1998) rely on the position that if innate talent exists then this talent would be detectable at an early age, yet the literature supports the notion that some form of "talent" exists. However, Howe et al. continue to espouse the following requirement regarding talent: "These early indications of talent provide a basis for predicting who is likely to excel" (pp. 399-400). Their tenant is that if early, predictive detection of talent is lacking, then talent must not exist, and therefore, only training, motivation, and self-confidence (all detectable) can explain expert performance. Others disagree. Rose stated that people inherit dispositions, not destinies. However, it appears that until a direct connection can be verified between genetic predispositions and sport performance, the debate will continue. Scientific literature supports the noticeable impact of one's family and upbringing, his or her historic and current practice regimens, and the individual's genetic makeup, cognitions, perceptions, self-efficacy, and affect have on athletic performance. These factors can primarily be found on two continua: controllability and level of achievement. Each of these factors is measurable, and the measurement tools continue to improve. However, future research must entertain the possibility that athletes function within a system. The "Butterfly Effect" avers that a change in one factor, regardless of its size, can have far reaching impacts in other areas that may, or may not be anticipated. An area of investigation that extends current research paths exploring the lives of experts may include both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to compare experts and non-experts, while controlling for as many variables as possible (e.g., domain, coach, and gender). Such research may further enlighten the path toward understanding more fully the development of expertise in athletics.

2015

ii This thesis investigates the role of socio-cultural-historical environmental constraints influencing the development of association football expertise and skill in Brazilian players. Only a small number of studies in the field of motor learning have attempted to address this issue due to the qualitative, interpretive research approach required to analyse socio-cultural themes. However, considering that expertise in sports emerges from the complex interaction of multiple constraints, socio-cultural factors have to be further explored in a contextualised manner so that knowledge in the field of motor learning can be advanced. This thesis presents an interpretive, multi-methods approach to holistically investigate the interacting constraints on the development pathway of Brazilian football players. In contrast to traditional positivist approaches, this thesis is based on the philosophical assumptions of the interpretive research paradigm and the epistemological and methodological te...

Background: Under the view of dynamical system theory, expertise in sports emerges from the interaction of multiple constraints. At an individual level, important interactions amongst constraints could include the relationships that evolve between one's family, playmates/coaches, and specific training activities. Or more broadly, other environmental constraints can be the strong socio-cultural-historical contexts that influence expertise development in sports around the world, such as rugby (e.g. New Zealand) and football (e.g. Brazil). An increasing number of studies have demonstrated the influence of environmental constraints on the development of sport expertise. Whilst making important contributions to knowledge, such studies have been limited in scope and fail to consider in depth how informal and even aversive learning environment constraints affect skills development.

This paper proposes how ecological dynamics, a theory focusing on the performer-environment relationship, provides a basis for understanding skill acquisition in sport. From this perspective, learners are conceptualized as complex, neurobiological systems in which inherent self-organisation tendencies support the emergence of adaptive behaviours under a range of interacting task and environmental constraints. Intentions, perceptions and actions are viewed as intertwined processes which underpin functional movement solutions assembled by each learner during skill acquisition. These ideas suggest that skill acquisition programmes need to sample information from the performance environment to guide behaviour in practice tasks. Skill acquisition task protocols should allow performers to use movement variability to explore and create opportunities for action, rather than constraining them to passively receiving information. This conceptualisation also needs to characterize the design of talent evaluation tests, which need to faithfully represent the perception-action relationships in the performance environment. Since the dynamic nature of changing task constraints in sports cannot be predicted over longer timescales, an implication is that talent programmes should focus on developing performance expertise in each individual, rather than over-relying on identification of expert performers at specific points in time.