The young player wellbeing podcast: S3 E07 The weight of expectation with Dr Helen Heaviside

Our latest episode, recorded in the Leeds Trinity University podcast studio, is with one of their senior lecturers in sport psychology and published researcher in the field, Dr Helen Heaviside. Helen's research focuses on interpersonal expectancies and impression management. Brad and Toni had absolutely 0 idea about until recording this episode. This episode serves as a major learning experience for as both and forced us to reflect on how expectations affect others and the best ways to manage these expectations. Here's our brief, spoiler free overview on interpersonal expectancies and impression management (sorry in advance, Helen). Interpersonal expectancies are the expectations we, as human beings, have of other people. This concept is particularly interesting in the sport context. Think about the expectations placed on athletes; from fans, media, coaches, teammates, officials. It's a lot, and therefore can have both negative outcomes for wellbeing and performance, if not managed appropriately. Expectancies affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. If we latch on to an expectancy that places unhelpful pressure on us, we might begin to feel stress. When we're stressed our wellbeing might be low, which can negatively impact our performance. That's where impression management comes in, which is all about how to manage the impression (or expectancy) that we are creating of other people and that others create about us. We spend the last part of the episode discussing 'controlling the controllables' to assist with managing impressions. Tune in as we explore interpersonal expectancies and impression management, 2 concepts which might be a bit closer to home than you first thought...