The sport psychologist faced with general contradictions or incongruities of psychology

Abstract

In this article the authors wish to state what we consider as eight types of contradictions or incongruities that, in diverse degree, the official Psychology has been presenting up til now, since what theory preaches doesn’t keep in step with the real practice of the profession considered as a whole, and we focus on the role that sport psychology and psychologists play in this context. These incongruities essentially allude to the emphasis showed by the positive approaches to learning, the constructive position in the face of errors and failures, the extolment of empathy abilities, the call of the idiosyncrasy of Psychology as a discipline, the strength of constructivism epistemologies in the post-modern stage, the appeal to a task-based learning orientation, the tendency to a sport Psychology focused on well-being and health of people who practice physical activity, and the discord between formal and informal communication arnong. With this discussion we especially appeal to the value of journals and professional congresses as a form of self-criticism reflection and professional debate also in the sphere of contents that form the sport psychologist himself, not only the science we develop and apply.