ANXIETY IN SPORT AND EXERCISE

Question 1

What is arousal?

Answer 1

• A blend of physiological and psychological activation of an individual’s autonomic nervous system.

Question 2

What is anxiety?

Answer 2

• Negative emotion with the following characteristics:
• Elicited following an appraisal (evaluation).
• Universal across people of all cultures.
• Has a distinct physiology.
• Observed through discrete facial expression.
• Associated with unique set of action tendencies.

Question 3

What is cognitive anxiety?

Answer 3

• Concerns or worries that reduces ability to focus or concentrate.
• mental component

Question 4

What is somatic anxiety?

Answer 4

• Physiological and affective elements that develop directly from autonomic arousal
• racing heart, butterflies

Question 5

What is social anxiety?

Answer 5

• Occurs during social situations.
• i.e. Speaking in front of groups.
• Occurs when evaluations may happen.

Question 6

What is competitive trait anxiety?

Answer 6

• Associated with sport or competition.

- i.e. Concerns about body, performance, skills.

Question 7

What is social physique anxiety?

Answer 7

• Experiencing anxiety due to others’ evaluations of physique in social settings.
• Often occurs in exercise context.

Question 8

What is state anxiety?

Answer 8

• anxiety that is experienced at a particular moment in time, and can change from moment to moment

Question 9

What is trait anxiety?

Answer 9

• a general predisposition to perceive a variety of situations as threatening

Question 10

What are some signs or arousal and state anxiety?

Answer 10

• Cold, clammy hands
• Need to urinate frequently
• Profuse sweating
• Negative self-talk

Question 11

What are the dimensions of the anxiety response?

Answer 11

• intensity of symptoms
• frequency of cognitive intrusions
• directional interpretation of symptoms

Question 12

What are the five personal sources of anxiety?

Answer 12

• Experience, and skill level
• Gender
• Trait anxiety
• Self-confidence and self-presentational beliefs
• Self-regulation strategies

Question 13

What are some aspects of the experience and skill level sector of personal anxiety?

Answer 13

• Results of research have multiple interpretations

- Depends on interpretation based on experience.

Question 14

What are some aspects of the gender sector of personal anxiety?

Answer 14

• Research failed to find differences between female and male competitive responses.
• Females experience higher social physique anxiety (SPA) in exercise roles.

Question 15

What are some aspects of the trait anxiety sector of personal anxiety?

Answer 15

• Individual’s trait anxiety level affects threat perception.
• everyone experiences, intensity varries

Question 16

What are some aspects of the self confidence and self presentation beliefs sector of personal anxiety?

Answer 16

• Beliefs about capability and presenting body favourably are sources of anxiety.
• Confidence lowers levels of pre-competitive anxiety.
• self presentation and self presentational efficacy

Question 17

What is self-presentation?

Answer 17

-

Question 18

What is self-presentation?

Answer 18

• Process by which individuals attempt to monitor and control other people’s impression of them

Question 19

What is self-presentational efficacy?

Answer 19

• Confidence of one’s ability to present images of being an exerciser.

Question 20

What are some environmental sources of anxiety?

Answer 20

• Temporal patterning in the sport environment
• Mirrors in the exercise environment
• Clothing in the exercise environment
• Characteristics of other exercisers
• Exercise leader characteristics

Question 21

What are some self regulation strategies?

Answer 21

• coping skills

- self-handicapping behaviours

Question 22

What are coping skills?

Answer 22

• Behaviours to adjust physiological arousal & degree of worry or concern i.e. imagery, self-talk.

Question 23

What is self-handicapping behaviour?

Answer 23

• Actions or choices that externalize failure and internalize success.
• ex.) exaggerating injuries

Question 24

Temporal patterning in the sport environment

Answer 24

• the intensity of an athlete’s anxiety response changes during the lead-up to the event as well as over the course of the event
• somatic anxiety peaks a couple hours before the event

Question 25

What is the drive theory?

Answer 25

• as physiological arousal increases, performance improves

- habit strength, arousal/drive

Question 26

What is the inverted-U hypothesis?

Answer 26

• performance increases as arousal increases, but only up to a certain point

Question 27

What is the zones of optimal functioning theory?

Answer 27

• varies among athletes
• zoned athletes have better performance
• anxiety is not detrimental to performance

Question 28

What is the cusp catastrophe theory?

Answer 28

• cognitive state anxiety and physical arousal

- athletic performance is complex

Question 29

How many predictions are there in relation to the cusp catastrophe theory?

Answer 29

• 5 (look in notebook 1)