Person-task congruence in sports.

The proposition that an athlete's personality and the attributes of the task tend to be congruent was the focus of the study. One hundred and fifty athletes of a Canadian University (Males=87; Females-63) voluntarily participated in the study. Sports were classified on the basis of task dependence (independent versus interdependent), and task variability (closed versus open). The scales of Autonomy, Cognitive Structure, Dominance and Impulsivity were selected from the Personality Research Form. The 2X2X2 analysis of variance (two levels in each of sex, dependence and variability) did not yield consistent support for the notion of person-task congruence in sports. The hypotheses relating Cognitive Structure, Dominance, and Impulsivity to task attributes were confirmed in the case of males only. The finding that athletes in closed sports were significantly more autonomous than athletes in open sports was expected. However, contrary to the hypothesis, the interdependent athletes were significantly more autonomous than independent athletes. The hypothesis that males and females from the same sport would be similar in personality was not confirmed. The problem of classifying some sports tasks on the selected attributes and the need to test the congruency hypothesis with athletes of sufficiently lengthy and equal tenure in competitive athletics were stressed.