Anxiety

Question 1

Define anxiety

Answer 1

A negative aspect of stress characterised by irrational thinking, loss of concentration and fear of failure

Question 2

What are the two different types of anxiety

Answer 2

trait and state

Trait: personality trait, consistent, stable, a player worrying before all games, anxious behaviour all the time

State: situation dependent, temporary rush of anxiety, called by threatening circumstances, e.g taking a pen

A high trait anxiety would mean a performer is more likely to have a higher state anxiety

Question 3

Competitive trait and competitive state

Answer 3

Competitive trait:
The performer is naturally anxious in all sporting situations, they generally have trait anxiety, a skier may always believe they will fall regardless

Competitive state:
The performer is anxious in the specific sporting situations only, will have high pressure when taking a penalty, could be caused by a negative past experience

Question 4

What are the two anxiety types

Answer 4

Somatic and cognitive

Somatic: physiological, muscular tension, shaking, pacing, poor co-ordination, sweating and increased heart rate

Cognitive: psychological, irrational thinking due to nerves, worrying, confusion and loss of concentration

Somatic anxiety: similar to an inverted U diagram
Cognitive anxiety: negative linear

Greater the cognitive anxiety the worse the performance!

Question 5

How long before you become anxious before a competition

Answer 5

1 hour 30 mins

Question 6

Causes of anxiety

Answer 6

being watched

• letting the team down
• playing badly
• Injury
• increased competition
• running out of time when losing

Question 7

Measuring anxiety: questionnaires , observation and physical testing

Answer 7

Questionnaires- pros/cons
Pros: quick/easy, cheap and efficient service to run, easy comparison
Cons: inaccurate answers for it to be socially desirable, answers may depend on mood, can lead to biased answers given and answers can be influenced by time (rushing)

Examples:
SCAT: sport competition anxiety test
-a questionnaire used by sports psychologists to measure anxiety
CSAI: competitive sports anxiety inventory
-the SCAT was extended to this in 1990. A questionnaire used by sports psychologists to measure anxiety

Question 8

Observations:

Answer 8

Observations are measured by watching the performer
Pro: true to life
Con: subjective, must know the performer, time consuming, may need more than one observer and the players behaviour might change if they know they are being watched

Question 9

Physiological measures

Answer 9

Physiological measures physical resonances from the body
Pros:factual and slow comparisons measure in real life game situations
Cons: training needed to learn to the equipmen, wearing the device may restrict the performance and the performer may be more stressed due to wearing the device

Question 10

Explain how different types of anxiety can affect sports performance

Answer 10

A trait is anxiety in most situations- always nervous before games
A state anxiety is specific to the situation and can change
If you had the trait you’re more likely to experience the state