B.3 : Psychology of sport Flashcards
State Anxiety
(A type of anxiety)
State Anxiety-
Is an emotional state consisting of feelings of apprehension, nervousness, and physiological
The person’s emotional state at any given time - variable from situation to situation
Ex) During a basketball game, the player’s anxiety will change. From the beginning, when it is 5 seconds before the Jump Ball their heart is pounding → once they are actually in the game there is a lower stress rate → Finally the last 30 seconds to a tied tournament game.
Trait Anxiety
(A type of anxiety)
Trait Anxiety-
A person’s disposition to interpreting a situation as threatening and responding with an increase in state anxiety.
Athletes who have a high trait anxiety view more situations as more threatening than those with lower trait anxiety and so respond with a higher state anxiety. This is known as competitive trait anxiety
What is anxiety?
What are two components?
Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress
The two components-
Cognitive anxiety- The worry component. A chain of negative thoughts and images that are relatively uncontrollable.
Somatic anxiety- The physical component. Awareness of physiological changes that provides a signal to the individual that they are anxious.
What is arousal?
Arousal is a physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli.
What are the 4 stages of stress?
With these 4 stages (down below), is the progression of a person’s stress level and explanation.
- Stage 1- Environmental Demand (physical and psychological)
- Stage 2- Individual’s perception of environmental demand (the amount of physical or psychological “threat perceived)
- Stage 3- Stress response
- Arousal
- state anxiety
- muscle tension
- attention changes
- Stage 4- Behavioral consequences (the outcome of the performance)
What is Eustress?
Eustress – This is positive and gives a feeling of fulfillment and arousal. It can increase focus, attention, and skill level. Some athletes actively seek and need stressful situations.
Drive Reduction Theory
(theoretical approaches to arousal)
• drive reduction theory- Focuses on how motivation originates from biological needs or drives. In this theory, a person’s behavior is an external display of his desire to satisfy his physical deficiencies.
As Arousal shoots up so does the performance
Problems- little research to support this theory, People are not always motivated by their internal needs, Athletes can perform poorly if overly stressed.
Inverted-U hypothesis-
(theoretical approaches to arousal)
• Inverted-U hypothesis- The relationship between pressure and performance. This explains the level of positive pressure at which people perform at their best.
As arousal increases, so does performance, up to an optimal point. Further increases in arousal cause performance to decline.
Problems- Not everyone has similar arousals. Some performers don’t slowly decrease, instead, it takes a longer time to decrease.
Catastrophe theory
(theoretical approaches to arousal)
- As arousal increases, so does performance, up to an optimal point. Afterward, a rapid decline in performance occurs.
- Problems-
- Difficult to study scientifically
- Shows it’s necessary to control anxiety
- Catastrophe theory also talks specifically about cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety.
How anxiety is measured
CSAI- Measures three components: cognitive state anxiety, somatic state anxiety, self-confidence.
- Given out before competition but more than once, such as a week before, a day before, and half an hour before this.
- It enables researchers to discover baseline levels of anxiety and compare it with pre-competition levels to see if they differ.
SCAT
- It is a self-report questionnaire in which people rate how nervous they feel both in general and in specific situations.
- The scoring system for the questions gives an indication of both the state anxiety and the trait anxiety of the performer.
Discuss the emotions that may influence an athlete’s performance or experience in a physical activity
(B.3.4)
Participation in sports and exercise influences a range of participant emotions such as depression, anxiety, and pleasure.
Emotions that may be prevalent in physical activity:
- Positive emotions such as excitement, relief, pride
- Negative emotions such as anger, guilt, shame, anxiety, boredom
- For example, a negative mood is more likely to remember negative memories of past failures, and thus reduce our feelings of confidence to perform or vice versa.
———> You missed a penalty shot when you were young and everyone got mad at you and now you have to shoot a penalty shot to win the game. This action lowers your confidence because you do not want a repeat.
