arousal, stress and anxiety

Question 1

what is stress?

Answer 1

“A substantial imbalance between the physical and psychological demands placed on an individual and their response capability, under conditions where failure has importance consequences”

Question 2

what is stage 1 of the stress process?

Answer 2

Environmental demands (physical and psychological)

Question 3

what is stage 2 of the stress process?

Answer 3

Athlete perceives the “nature” of the demand

Question 4

what are the 2 types of appraisal in stage 2 of the stress process?

Answer 4

• Primary appraisal: Is situation
“threatening” (& important) to
physical/psychological well-being (goals/values)?

• Secondary appraisal: Do I feel that I have the ability/ resources to successfully deal with demands of the situation?

Question 5

what is stage 3 of the stress process?

Answer 5

Stress responses

Question 6

If athlete feels that demands exceed coping capabilities, threat is perceived. what are the stress response’s as a result?

Answer 6

• Arousal
• Negative affect
• State Anxiety
• Loss of Focus/Attention

Question 7

what is stage 4 of the stress process?

Answer 7

Behavioural consequences (i.e., performance outcome) associated with the stress response.

Question 8

what are 3 categories of stressors?

Answer 8

• Competition Stressors:
e.g., opposition, injury, expectations

• Organisational Stressors:
e.g., finances, time, interpersonal relationships

• Personal Stressors:
e.g., family, friends

Question 9

what are the 3 dominant forms of coping?

Answer 9

1. Emotion-focused coping
2. Problem-focused coping
3. Avoidance coping

Question 10

what is Emotion-focused coping?

Answer 10

Strategies designed to regulate emotional responses resulting from a
stressor. (e.g., seek emotional social support; positive reinterpretation &
growth)

Question 11

what is Problem-focused coping?

Answer 11

Strategies designed to manage or alter the problem that is causing anxiety. (e.g., seek instrumental/informational social support; planning;
increased effort)

Question 12

what is Avoidance-focused coping?

Answer 12

Strategies designed to avoid the stressor. (e.g., pass instead of shoot;
“hide” during competition)

Question 13

what Arousal (activation) entail?

Answer 13

• Continuum of physiological and psychological activation( cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety)

Question 14

what are the symptoms of somatic anxiety?

Answer 14

heart rate, respiratory rate,

adrenal flow, muscular ‘electrical potential’

Question 15

what are the 4 positive and negative affective states?

Answer 15

• E.g., Low Arousal = “I feel relaxed” (+ affect)
• E.g., Low Arousal = “I feel bored” (- affect)
• E.g., High Arousal = “I feel excited” (+ affect)
• E.g., High Arousal = “I feel scared” (- affect)

Question 16

what is anxiety?

Answer 16

• Negative/unpleasant emotional/affective state

• Feeling of ‘nervousness’,
worry, and apprehension

• Associated with activation/arousal of the body

Question 17

what is cognitive anxiety?

Answer 17

Worry, Self-doubt, Concern, Apprehension

Question 18

what is competitive trait anxiety?

Answer 18

…stable personality disposition that describes an individual’s “tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and to respond to these
situations

Influences the way that people interpret/perceive
and respond to the same situation

Question 19

what is cognitive and somatic state anxiety?

Answer 19

Cognitive state anxiety
• Intensity and frequency of momentary worries and concerns

Somatic state anxiety
• Intensity and frequency of perceived unpleasant physiological response to threatening situation

Question 20

what is perceived control state anxiety?

Answer 20

The degree to which one has the resources and ability to meet challenges.

Question 21

what is drive theory?

Answer 21

most likely response will occur if arousal increases (depends on ability, skill type personality)

Question 22

what is inverted U theory?

Answer 22

best performance occurs at mid arousal (depends on personality, skill type and ability)

Question 23

what are the problems with the inverted U theory?

Answer 23

• How would you explain a sudden crash in performance?
• Focuses only on physiological arousal (not anxiety).
• Assumes that everyone’s IPS is associated with a moderate level of arousal.

Question 24

what is the individual zone of optimal functioning (IZOF) theory?

Answer 24

different people perform best at different levels of anxiety:

athlete A: low anxiety level
athlete B: moderate anxiety level
athlete C: high anxiety level

Question 25

how do you find an athlete’s IZOF?

Answer 25

• IZOF is established using an intra-individual assessment protocol based
on multiple observations.

• Multiple measures of pre-competition A-state and corresponding performance measures.

Question 26

performance measures for IZOF?

Answer 26

• Subjective athlete rating.
• Subjective coach rating.
• Objective measures?

Question 27

practical IZOF issues?

Answer 27

• 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”)
…establishing IZOF for the combination of cognitive and somatic scores is much more complicated.

• Hanin’s original IZOF model was based on a “unidimensional” assessment of A-state
• How do we track/control differences in “event importance”?
• This is an exercise in athlete self-awareness

Question 28

what is attentional focus?

Answer 28

• Concentration of mental effort on sensory or
mental events (Solso, 1995).

• Focus on relevant environment cues
• Maintain attentional focus over time
• Shifting attentional focus when necessary

Question 29

what are the 3 attentional focus?

Answer 29

too broad attentional field= low arousal

optimal attentional field=moderate arousal

too narrow attentional field= high arousal

Question 30

attentional focus-broad and external?

Answer 30

used to rapidly assess a situation

Question 31

attentional focus-broad and internal?

Answer 31

used to analyse and plan

Question 32

attentional focus-narrow and external?

Answer 32

used to focus exclusively on one or two external cues

Question 33

attentional focus-narrow and internal?

Answer 33

used to mentally rehearse an upcoming performance or control and emotional state

Question 34

what is the catastrophe model?

Answer 34

used to highlight that past a certain level of arousal your performance dramatically worsens, but can improve if removed from situation and reduce arousal.

Question 35

facilitative/debilitative anxiety (positive)

Answer 35

stressor-yes, can control-view anxiety as facilitative

Question 36

facilitative/debilitative anxiety (negative)

Answer 36

stressor-no, can’t control-view anxiety as debilitative