Lecture 4 - Performance Development - MAC

Question 1

What are the traditional Psychological skills training techniques?
3 things, what do they each aim to control?

Answer 1

1. Self-talk (aims to change or control affective processes)
2. Imagery (aims to control content of internal images)
3. Arousal Regulation (aims to control bodily states)

All 3 of these aim to control/ change bodily states/ physiological processes to improve performance - can still perform well if these arent controlled

Question 2

What are the 3 categorisations from the committee on science and practice?

Answer 2

Experimental (Bottom)

• not enough evidence to suggest using this
• e.g. goal-setting, imagery, self-talk

Probably Efficacious (Middle)
- in certain contexts, with certain people this could work, e.g. mindfulness/ MAC

Well-established (top)

• lots of evidence
• e.g. clinical based interventions

Question 3

How did Beilock suggest imagery was not that effective?

Answer 3

In their study, although 2 imagery types were the least effective (suppression and replacement). The rest were all bunched together, so doesn’t really suggest imagery has much effect on performance

Question 4

Outline meta-cognitive scanning as a theory of why imagery may not be that beneficial?

Answer 4

= thinking about your thoughts, what am i thinking about right now

• can lead to excessive self-focus and only concentrating on internal states
• not focusing on external stuff/ cues relevant to the task
• this is the essence of performance dysfunction - which can be caused by imagery/ self-talk - too much self-focus

Question 5

To have succesful performance, what do your cognitions need to be like?

Answer 5

• meta-cognitive attention needs to be focused on external cues (like opposition), options and contingencies
• Minimal self-judgement/ monitoring of your psychological state
• need to use cognitive resources effieicently - concentrating on task relevant cues

Question 6

Who came up with the MAC model?

*****

Answer 6

Gardener & Moore

- combined elements of a number of different interventions

Question 7

What are the crux of acceptance based models?

Answer 7

“to modify the relationship with internal experiences, rather than seeking to change their form or frequency”

• these approaches do not seek to change, just to modify relationship between stimulus and performance
• we need to change how we view it so it doesnt effect us

Question 8

What have acceptance based interventions been linked to?

*****

Answer 8

• subtsance abuse
• depression
• relationship issues

Question 9

What are the typical hypothesis/ results of research into PST

Answer 9

Hypothesis: Providing PST teaching will REDUCE ANXIETY and IMPROVE CONFIDENCE - these will then IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.

Results: PST did REDUCE ANXIETY and did IMPROVE CONFIDENCE - but this didnt really have any effect on performance

If youre trying to improve performance, maybe dont try this, but if you want to reduce anxiety and improve performance, then this is the stuff for you

Question 10

Outline Crocker et al (1988) method

Answer 10

Acceptance Research

• gave p’s skills to deal with stress - not change
• measured how much they were focused on performance, and how much they attend in the moment
• measured how they coped with experienced emotion

Question 11

Outline Crocker et al (1988) findings

Answer 11

• levels of anxiety didnt change, they could just cope with it better
• this improved performance!

Question 12

What is Kabat-Zinn (1994)’s definition of mindfulness?

Answer 12

Paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally

Question 13

Outline Mindfulness

Answer 13

• not daydreaming
• it is purposeful attending to something in the moment
• not thinking about how you’re being judged/ what you should do next - just about your state in the exact present moment
• detach yourelf from labels of emotions and just focus solely on what you are feeling/experiencing
• its a skill - need to practice
• similar to flow states - acceptance and focus on the moment

Question 14

Outline mindfulness and comparisons to self-talk

*********

Answer 14

• mindfulness tries to reduces verbal component of worry
• worry tends to manifest itself as self-talk
• self-talk can be motivational but it can also be detrimental and increase worry
• mindfulness increases self-awareness
• can notice and question habitual responses - why do i always respond in this way

Question 15

Outline Gooding & Gardner (2009) mindfulness research

Answer 15

17 College basketballers

• looked at free throw success
• were asked how anxious they were and how mindful they were before the throw
• mindfulness correlated with free throw %, more than anxiety did

Question 16

What is Hayes et al (1999) definition of Commitment?

****

Answer 16

“Consistent and effortful engagement in behavioursl that lead to attainment of personal values”

Question 17

Outline commitment

Answer 17

once you have knowledge and awareness of personal values - make sure your performance in high pressure situations are consistent with these
- can work to change them - takes a while!

Question 18

Define experiential avoidance

Answer 18

• when something is stressful/ high pressure - you just want to run away from it
• it is just short term gratification - taking measures to avoid pressure/ stress
• acceptance is a long term approach to end this

Question 19

Outline what happens before having a MAC intervention

*****

Answer 19

• Neutral event happens
• event creates stress/ anxiety (negative emotions)
• this leads to negative cognitions (this is stressful, i cant do it)
• This leads to experiential avoidance, e.g. withdrawal of effort
• this experiential avoidance contradicts your goals/ intentions

Question 20

Outline what happens after having a MAC intervention

**

Answer 20

• same event
• leads to same negative emotions
• this time, you dont let it cause negative cognitions - you are mindful, you accept, and you commit - after being more aware of values driving your behaviour
• e.g. “its okay to be upset sometimes, its normal”
• this leads to behaviour that is adaptive, goal directed behaviour

Question 21

What is research into MAC often about?

**

Answer 21

• dieting, as experiential avoidance here
• e.g. had a bad day -> negative mood -> experiential avoidance and getting instant gratification (eating unhealthy food) -> short term mood regulation
• after MAC - negative mood doesn’t mean you need to eat unhealthy food - just a habit/schema we need to break
• focus on preventing short term avoidance - once youve got this under control you can change your focus to be on long-term mood regulation

Question 22

Outline Wolanin (2005)
- PdII vs PDyii

Answer 22

11 collegiate volleyballers
7 control athletes

Within 11 athletes, 6 were PDII - elites needing topping off
5 of 11 were PDyII - something needs to be fixed

in MAC group, performance got 3% better, control got worse (but just coincidence)

within MAC group
PDII get 14% better
PDyII got worse 6-8%!

Question 23

What were Wolanin (2005)’s conclusions?

Answer 23

For those who were healthy, MAC interventions really helped

• but for those in performance dysfunction - it didnt help
• need to choose right intervention for that classification

Question 24

What do you need to consider before educating athlete with the intervention? *****

Answer 24

• Intervention rationale - why did you choose this intervention? whats going to work for them?
• personal experience - have you done anything like this before - start to see links between external events and cognitions/ affect
• start to learn how to control internal states

Question 25

Whats the protocol behind mindfulness?

*****

Answer 25

• its a skill that must be practiced
• develop non-judgemental present-moment attention - dont want them to think stress is bad
• dont do experiential avoidance - dont avoid negative stress
• attentional refocusing training - practice lots and lots

Question 26

What is the protocol behind commitment

Answer 26

• start to ID what their goals/ values are - and what they do that is in line with those
• start distinguishing outcomes and processes
• cognitive diffusion - weird schemas/ patterns of behaviour - e.g. self-handicapping
• need to try and stop these weird things and focus on values

Question 27

What is protocol behind acceptance

Answer 27

Continued training of acceptance of internal states - embracing them

Question 28

what is the protocol of integrating into real life?

*****

Answer 28

• start taking it into actual scenarios
• integrate what they’ve learned into sport/ life contexts
• build it up steadily - start in training, they try a competition
• have to get constant feedback - hows it going?
• eventually, practicing this will become automatic