Anxiety Flashcards
Arousal (Activation)
Continuum of physiological and psychological activation (from deep sleep to extreme excitement/frenzy).
• Symptoms: increased Heart Rate; increased respiratory rate; increased adrenal flow; increased muscular “electrical potential.” (+ “mind is racing”)
Two types of anxiety
Trait-stable disposition
state- ever-changing
Competitive trait anxiety
stable personality disposition that describes an individual’s “tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and to respond to these situations with A-state”
CTA influences the way that people percieve and respond to the same situation in sport.
State Anxiety
A-State
Unstable emotional state characterized by subjective, consciously perceived feelings of apprehension and tension, accompanied by or associated with activation of the autonomic nervous system
Two dimensions of state anxiety
Cognitive and somatic
Cognitive state anxiety
Levels of worry, self doubt, apprehension, concern ( psychological)
Somatic state anxiety
Percieved*** physiological arousal associated with autonomic nervous system (hr, respiration rate, sweating, butterflies)
(SAS) Sport anxiety scale
Situation specific trait measurement
Somatic a trait
cognitive
Smith, smoll, schutz
Self- report measures of competitve trait anxiety (CTA)
Describes how you usually feel when competing in sports/games
SCAT
Sport competition anxiety test
unidimensional frequency measure of CTA
Cognitive CTA research is focused predominantly
- Fear of failure
2. Fear of negative social evaluation
Cognitive CTA research should focus on
Fear of injury
Fear of the unknown
What has replaced SCAT
SAS is the measure of choice in Competitive trait anxiety because its multidimensional view
High CTA athletes will generally experience
higher a-state levels than low CTA athletes in evaluative competitive situation
Perceived demands of situation influence a-state
Situation criticality
Threat to personally meaningful goals
GSR
amount of sweat on skin at given time
Most common measure of state anxiety
Competitve state anxiety inventory 2 (CSAI2)
Somatic a-state
cognitive a state
State confidence
Issues when administering the CSAI2
will they want to fill it out - need it closest to game to get how they feel right now
Social desirability response bias
Confidentiality
Interruption to pregame routine
Focuses athletes attention on otherwise unnoticed emotions/ feelings
TIme consuming
Relationship between state confidence and state anxiety
Negative Linear Relationship (as confidence increases, A-state decreases)
Note: This negative relationship with confidence is usually stronger for cognitive A- State and weaker for somatic A-
High State.
alternative to studying state anxiety
Mental readiness form (MRF) Murphy.
Three bipolar scales corresponding to the three CSAI-2 subscales
cognitive, somatic, confidence
fast 5-15 sec
Define stress
substantial imbalance between demand and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet that demand has important consequences
Stress 4 stages
- (objective)environmental demand
- (subjective) perception of environmental demand
- Stress response (arousal, state anxiety, muscle tension , attention changes
- Behavioural consequences (performance or outcome)
Stage 1 of stress
Athlete is confronted with an “Environmental Demand
-demands are placed upon an individuals physical and psychological capabilities
Stage 2 of stress
2 appraisals
Athlete perceives/appraises the “nature” of the demand.
[Primaryappraisal]:Issituation“threatening”(&important)to
physical/psychological well-being (goals/values)?
[Secondary appraisal]: Do I feel that I have the ability resources to successfully deal [COPE] with demands of the situation?
Secondary appraisal: dominant forms of coping
Emotion-Focused Coping:
“How do I take care of myself”
Strategies designed/used to regulate emotional responses resulting from a
stressor.
(e.g., seek emotional social support; spirituality/religion; humour; relax/breathe)
is adaptive when athlete cannot control the stressor and emotions may be impeding ability to perform.
…but much less adaptive if the stressor (or behaviour) could have been controlled.
Secondary appraisal: dominant forms of coping
Problem-Focused Coping:
Strategies designed to manage or alter the problem that is causing anxiety. (e.g., seek instrumental/informational social support; planning; increased effort; change the plan)
s adaptive when athlete can control the stressor or change the environment/circumstances (or behaviour) to improve chances of success (or reduce threat).
…but of little use (i.e., waste of time/effort) if the stressor cannot be controlled.
Secondary appraisal: dominant forms of coping
Avoidance Coping:
Strategies designed to avoid the stressor. (e.g., pass instead of shoot; “hide” during competition; avoid teammate/opponent/parent; rec. drugs/alcohol)
can be adaptive when athletes need temporary and immediate relief from stressor
Stage 3 of stress
If athlete feels that demands exceed coping capabilities, threat is perceived, and the “stress response” occurs.
negative affect
state anxiety
Loss of focus
Stage 4 of stress
Behavioural consequence (i.e., performance outcome) associated with the stress response.
In general, performance decrements occur. (facilitative vs. debilitative anxiety)
Big 4 mental skills
Goal setting - problem- focused
Mental rehearsal
problem- focused
Self tallk -Problem-focussed (e.g., “Follow-Through”) or. . . Emotion-focussed (“Pressure is a privilege”)
Arousal control
Mimic relaxation. Largely emotion-focussed (e.g., Squared breathing).
Organizational/environmental stressors
- Selection (e.g., unclear/unfair selection criteria)
- Accommodation (e.g., cramped, dirty, noisy, etc.)
- Travel (e.g., poorly planned; jet lag; lost luggage; visas)
- Nutrition (e.g., poor food; inconvenient eating times)
- Sponsorship (e.g., lack of…; sponsor demands)
- Weather (e.g., extreme weather)
- Competition format (e.g., inadequate time between events) • Room mates (e.g., incompatible; snoring, etc.)
Overall importance of competition event
location of each “stage-of-season” game on the “importance continuum” will vary according to each athlete’s perception of his/her situational circumstances/needs/goals.
Situation criticality during the competition
“Stressor severity”is influenced by the stage in the competition,the time remaining, and the score/standings at the moment the stressor is encountered.
Anxiety is primarily________ oriented emotion that is caused by
Future
concerns about the possible negative consequences of failing to achieve a valued goal
Drive theory of arousal
How arousal and anxiety affect performance
Dominant positive linear relationship and likelyhood of dominant response
Social facilitation theory
an application of drive theory
Zajonc (1965) noticed that performance on well- learned and simple tasks improved in the presesnce of others
Dominant Response = Skilled Performance
Noticed that performance on poorly learned and complex tasks decreased in the presence of others
Dominant Response = Unskilled Performance
simple motor skills
perform in the presence of evaluative others for improved performance.
complex motor skills
learn away from the presence of evaluative others.
increased arousal will lead to deterioration in performance…where the dominant response is “unskilled” performance.
Limitation of drive theory
Theory cannot explain why elite athletes sometimes “choke” when highly aroused (i.e., their dominant response should be skilled performance)
Inverted U hypothesis
Degree of arousal vs performance
The optimum point varies as a function of individual and task characteristics
Limitations of inverted u hypothesis
How would you explain a sudden crash in performance?
• Focuses only on physiological arousal (not anxiety).
•Assumes that everyone’s Ideal performance state is associated with a moderate level of arousal.
IZOF
Yuri hanin
Individualized zones of optimal performance
Hanin’s original IZOF model was based on a “unidimensional assessment of A-state
Establishing IZOF for the combination of cognitive and somatic scored is much more complicated
Finding an athletes IZOF
IZOF is established using an intra-individual assessment protocol based on multiple observations
Multiple measures of pre-competition A- state and corresponding performance measures.
issues with IZOF
Takes a long time given need for multiple assessments.
Difficulty getting “valid” measures of performance.
Need considerable expertise to identify performance-anxiety (arousal) zones (…presence of “outliers”)
How do we track/control differences in “event importance”?
This is an exercise in athlete self-awareness (but can we realistically teach/expect [or trust] athletes to do this on their own?)
multidimensional anxiety theory
…theorizes that cognitive and somatic A-state differentially affect performance.
• …few consistent findings because this theory treats each A-state dimension separately, while in reality, cognitive and somatic A-state coexist and operate simultaneously.
problem for most anxiety performance research
Most A- state measures are taken before competition, or before performance occurs, Thus, A-state can (and usually does) change during competition when performing a task
Catastrophe theory
HARDY
When cognitive anxiety is low = inverted u
When anxiety is high= catastrophe after certain point
Strengths of catastrophe theory
(1) Theory suggests that higher levels of cognitive anxiety (i.e., worry) can be good, when combined with moderate arousal.
(2) Theory helps account for sudden “crash” in performance (i.e., explains the classic “choke” in high performance sport).
(3) Theory suggests that performer needs to “completely relax” after catastrophe, and then re-activate him/herself to moderate arousal.
(4) Recognizes interaction between somatic and cognitive anxiety.
Weakness of catastrophe theory
(1) Problem: Confusion over Arousal vs Somatic Anxiety.
(2) Problem: Extremely hard to test.
…requires anxiety and arousal measures during
performance. (Artificial laboratory settings)
Reversal theory
Kerr
postulates that the manner in which an individual interprets his/her level of physiological arousal affects performance.
Theory predicts that rehearsals in interpretations of arrousal levels can occur very quickly ( also linked to appraisal/ interpretation of situational demands)
Paratelic state-
Paratelic state- playful, process focused
relaxation
Telic state
Telic state - serious concerned,
outcome focused
unpleasent
Hedonic tone
Affective perception/ interpretation of arousal state.
Anxiety Intensity and Direction
Premise: it is a persons interpretation of their anxiety symptoms that is critical to explain performance
we need to know anxiety intensity levels and person’s interpretation of these levels (i.e., facilitative or debilitative towards performance).
How/ why does elevated arousal influence performance
1) Muscle tension and coordination difficulties.
2) Attention/Concentration Changes.
Muscle tension and coordination difficulties.
- High A-trait subjects had significantly poorer performance in comparison to low A-trait subjects after bogus feedback.
- High A-trait subjects (1) contracted muscles for longer duration, and (2) had significantly more “co-contraction” of “opposing” muscle groups.
Involuntary co-contraction of muscle groups can be devastating in fine/complex motor skills ( yips in a golf putt)
Attention/Concentration Changes.
Preoccupation with worries or somatic symptoms or automated processes = “inappropriate task focus”.
“Cognitive Interference” (CI): any thoughts that are not directly related to the process required for successful task execution).
4 Ps
Attention concentration changes
Positive; Present; [Process]; Purpose
Increased anxiety causes focus to ..
Narrow- external / internal focus when a broad external focus is needed
Over aroused focus can become to broad causing you to
take in too many “task-irrelevant” cues.
Kahneman (1973) argues that attention has a “limited capacity”
IPMC
ironic processes of mental control
describes circumstances in which people commit
precisely counterintentional errors.”
dont hit the ball into the water
