Individual differences Flashcards
What is personality?
the patterns of thoughts and feelings and the way we interact with our environment.
What is trait anxiety?
genetically determined, innate anxiety that is the same no matter the environment. It’s enduring.
What is state anxiety?
anxiety occurring in a specific situation due to fear of failing, fear of injury or high arousal levels
What are the two types of state anxiety (examples of each)?
Somatic = the body’s response (sweating, increase HR, increase blood pressure and muscle tension)
Cognitive = psychological worry over the situation such as worrying, irrational thoughts and confusion
What is a type A personality?
impatient, intolerant and high stress levels
What is a type B personality?
relaxed, tolerant and not stressed
What’s the difference between stable and unstable personality traits?
Stable = doesn’t swing from one emotion to another, reliable, consistent
Unstable = someone who is highly anxious and has an unpredictable personality.
What’s the difference between an extrovert and an introvert?
extrovert = seeks social situations, outgoing, likes to have an audience, easily bored as RAS is not easily stimulated
introverts = dislikes social situations, shy, dislikes performing with a crowd, easily over aroused as RAS is easily stimulated
What is the social learning theory of personality?
behaviour is learnt from observing and copying significant others. If deemed successful then it’s more likely to be repeated. It is unpredictable so situational
Explain the interactionist theory of personality?
personality is determined by the relationship between our traits and environment so it’s situational
What is attitude?
A predisposition to act or think
in a particular way towards something or someone.
What 3 parts make up the triadic model of attitudes?
Affective = our emotions
Behaviour = how we act
Cognitive = what we think
What is prejudice?
A preconceived opinion thats generally untrue about something
What makes persuasive communication effective?
The persuader needs to be of high status
The message needs to be accurate and good quality
The recipient needs to be open to persuasion
The recipient needs to feel comfortable where the discussion is taking place
What is persuasive communication used for?
changing attitudes or a part of an attitude.
What is motivation?
The amount of drive you have to achieve your goal
What is arousal?
The amount of drive/stimulation we have to achieve something or perform.
What’s the drive, inverted U and catastrophe theory?
Drive = linear relationship between arousal and performance
Inverted U = increased performance to optimum arousal then decline after more arousal
Catastrophe = initial increase in performance with arousal but then extreme decline occurs due to arousal being too high. This can be saved by reducing arousal.
What is trait anxiety?
anxiety that will always occur in any scenario (not situational) and it’s due to your personality (your born with it, innate).
What is aggression?
The intent to harm outside the rules of the sports event.
What cue utilisation?
keeping focussed on what’s important to you and not being distracted by irrelevant information
Which theory suggests that aggression is a natural response?
Instinct theory of aggression.
What’s the frustration-aggression hypothesis?
drive to goal - obstacle preventing achieving the goal - frustrated - aggression - either reduces frustration leading to success or aggression leads to punishment and further frustration.
What’s the aggressive cue hypothesis (Berkowitz 1969)?
performers arousal increases causing frustration. Certain tiggers/cues can then make the aggressive act more likely
What are the four processes in Bandura’s social learning theory?
Attention
Retention
Motor Reproduction
Motivation
What’s the difference between social facilitation and inhibtion?
Facilitation = Positive influence of others on sporting performance,
Inhibition = Negative influence of others on sporting performance.
What is evaluation apprehension?
The raising of arousal levels due to the audience judging the performance causing the performer to revert to their dominant response
Which personality types perform well in front of a crowd?
Type B and extroverts.
What three factors influence how much a crowd affects a performer?
Personality factors, Levels of experience and types of skill
Which types of skills are more easily performed in front of an audience?
simple or gross due to them requiring high arousal produced through the presence of an audience.
Name some strategies to minimise social inhibition?
shut out audience, practice with an audience, relaxation techniques (slow breathing), decreasing the importance of the event,
What are the two ways of changing someone’s attitude?
Creating cognitive dissonance and persuasive communication
What is the attention process in social learning theory?
the performer concentrates on the demonstration and coach highlights key points. Model should be attractive/ a role model
What is the retention process in social learning theory?
demo is repeated and coach ensures the performer can remember the demo, they create a clear mental image by visualisation or mental rehearsal
What is the motor reproduction process in social learning theory?
performer must be mentally and physically able to replicate the demo how they remember it
What is the motivation process of social learning theory?
performer must have determination to copy and learn the skill, coach can help by offering praise and extrinsic rewards
Pros and cons of the drive theory?
pros :
1. shows why elites perform well at high arousal
2. simple to understand
3. extroverts will have an increased performance at high arousal
4. relates to gross skills which need high arousal to be performed better
Cons :
1. too simplistic
2. performance never increases in a linear pattern
3. cognitive learners perform worse at high arousal levels
4. doesn’t take into account individual differences
5. doesn’t explain decreases in performance at high arousal
Pros and cons of inverted U theory?
pros:
1. more realistic than drive
2. above and below optimum arousal, performance often worsens
3. recognises that optimum arousal shifts dependant on personality or skill type
cons:
1. performance never gradually increases then decreases
2. performance can recover after over arousal
Pros and cons of catastrophe theory?
pros:
1. shows sudden decline when over aroused which is more likely than gradual drop
2. a performer can recover performance by lowering arousal
Cons:
1. not all performers have a dramatic/sudden drop in performance
2. doesn’t account for personality
