Germans love winter sports. Demand for snow sports activities and the resulting economic output have remained at a high level for years. Germany is currently the most important source market for the Alpine region (Roth, R., Siller, H., & Pechlahner, H.; 2017). More than 27 million people (over the age of 13) in Germany regularly participate in winter sports (Roth, R., Krämer, A., & Severiens, J.; 2018).
Building on the findings of the second national baseline study, “Winter Sports in Germany 2018,” this study aims to identify additional psychological and sociocultural influences for the first time. What is the emotional core of outdoor sports for consumers? What are the drivers of outdoor activities? With this in mind, the study aims to examine the specific characteristics of winter sports and classify them within the general psychological framework of outdoor activities.
To explore the appeal of winter sports and the underlying longings and psychological mechanisms, the Cologne-based rheingold Institute, which specializes in depth psychology, has conducted several studies on leisure behavior and outdoor activities. One study deals with “outdoor activities” as a whole, while another specifically focuses on the effectiveness of winter sports—here, the Cologne-based psychologists had skiers, cross-country skiers, and snowshoers lie down on the couch for in-depth interviews lasting several hours to understand their hidden motives. The results reveal four key motivations that drive people to winter sports and specifically counteract our everyday problems.
The study’s design, implementation, data interpretation, and conclusions follow the scientific method of morphological market and media psychology, which was developed at the University of Cologne. Morphological psychology is one of the depth psychological approaches, whereby “depth” refers to uncovering the hidden—unconscious—patterns and mechanisms that underlie experience and behavior.
Outdoor and winter sports activities are also determined not only by rational aspects but also by emotional factors that are decisive for the participants’ actions and their choice of different sports, activities, and destinations. For this in-depth study, the methodology chosen was a two-hour in-depth interview. The cultural-psychological analysis consists of a synthesis of over 1,000 interviews conducted by the rheingold Institute as part of a wide variety of studies.