Arousal, Stress And Anxiety

Question 1

What is arousal?

Answer 1

A state of activation that varies from deep sleep to intense excitement and is not necessarily positive/negative

Question 2

What is anxiety?

Answer 2

A negative emotional state with feelings of nervousness/worry associated with activation or arousal of the body

Has both a cognitive and somatic component

Question 3

What is trait anxiety?

Answer 3

A personality characteristic where there is a general tendency to perceive situations as anxiety-provoking

Question 4

What is state anxiety?

Answer 4

Situation specifc feelings of worry and tension

Cognitive - degree to which one has negative thoughts
Somatic - moment to moment changes in physiological activation

Question 5

How is anxiety/arousal measured in sport?

Answer 5

Self-report measures are used

• global measures
• multidimensional measure

Question 6

What does the CSAI-2 measure?

Answer 6

Measures self-confidence state cognitive and state somatic anxiety

Question 7

What is anxiety intensity and direction , (Jones,1995)

Answer 7

Intensity refers to how much anxiety one feels

Direction refers to whether to individual perceives the anxiety as facilitative or debilitative to performance (facilitative leads to superior performance)

Question 8

What did Jones and Swain find?

Answer 8

That elite athletes feel less anxiety but use it to facilitate performance a lot more than non-elite athletes

Question 9

What is the model of stress?

Answer 9

Environmental demand -> individuals perception of demand -> stress response: arousal/anxiety -> behavioural outcomes

Question 10

What are the sources of stress?

Answer 10

Situational sources - importance placed on the event, uncertainty about the outcome of the event

Personal sources - trait anxiety, perceived incompetence