Imagery and Personality: Research on Athletes in Contact and NonContact Sports

This research aimed to evaluate the personality traits and imagery dimensions of athletes involved in contact and non-contact sports in terms of some demographic characteristics and to reveal the relationship between these concepts. The sample of the research consists of 94 female and 174 male active and licensed athletes aged 18 and over from sports clubs operating in Izmir and Manisa provinces. In order to collect data in the study, in addition to the personal information form, the Big Five Personality Questionnaire Turkish Form (B5KT-50-Tr) and the Sports Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ) were used. Percentage, frequency distributions, t-test, and correlation analysis were used in the analysis of the obtained data set. According to the research findings, it was determined that the athletes' averages in the variables of agreeableness and emotional stability were higher than those who were involved in non-contact sports, compared to those who were involved in contact sports. It has been revealed that national athletes have statistically higher cognitive special imagery and agreeableness averages than non-national athletes. Considering the relationship between SIQ and B5KT-50-Tr very weak and weak positive significant relationships were determined between dimensions. On the other hand, a very weak and negative relationship was revealed between the motivational general arousal and the emotional stability dimensions. In conclusion, it can be stated that imagery and personality concepts are related to each other.