Lecture 4: Stress and anxiety

Question 1

Arousal

Answer 1

• A general physiological and psychological activation varying on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement - Gould, Greenleaf and Krane, 2002

Question 2

what is arousal determined by?

Answer 2

physiological processes such as emotions

Question 3

theories of arousal

Answer 3

drive theory

inverted U theory

Question 4

drive theory

Answer 4

○ Hull 1943
○ Proportional linear relationship
○ More psyched up - better the performance
○ Increased drive (arousal) will increase likelihood of dominant response/most usual behaviour
○ Performance will be worse for poorer learnt or complex skills
○ Limited empirical support in sport for it
○ Increasing drive (arousal) - performers resort to previously learnt skills because they are dominant - but may be incorrect (novices, intermediates)
○ Even highly skilled players ‘choke’ in highly charged situations e.g. a penalty shoot out

Question 5

inverted-U hypothesis

Answer 5

○ Yerkes and Dodson, 1908
○ Predicts performance effectiveness will increase as arousal increases
§ Up to some optimal point
§ Further increases in arousal will produce a decrease in performance
○ Suggests behaviour is aroused and directed toward balance or optimal state
○ General notion is accepted - experience under arousal, optimal arousal, over arousal
○ Recent evidence support predictions on simple tasks (Landers and Arent, 2010)
○ Criticism (Gould and Udry, 1994; Hardy, 1990)
§ Optimal arousal at midpoint?
§ Nature of arousal itself?
○ Taken as far as can - explore other views

“ a catastrophe for sport psychology” (Hardy & Fazey, 1987)
“If… the inverted-U hypothesis reveals only that the motivated outperform the apathetic and the terrified, it should be consigned to the true-but-trivial category” (Neiss, 1988)

Question 6

anxiety

Answer 6

• A negative emotional state with feelings of nervousness, worry and apprehension associated with activation or arousal - Weinberg and Gould, 2011

Question 7

trait anxiety

Answer 7

• Trait anxiety: aspect of personality - an individual with trait anxiety will experience anxiety regardless of the situation (how do you usually feel?)

Question 8

state anxiety

Answer 8

• State anxiety: how you feel right now (multidimensional)
  ○ Cognitive anxiety
  ○ Somatic anxiety

Question 9

types of state anxiety

Answer 9

cognitive and somatic anxiety

Question 10

relationship between trait and state anxiety

Answer 10

• Individuals with high trait anxiety usually have high levels of state anxiety in highly competitive, evaluative situations.
  ○ High trait anxious individuals can learn coping skills to reduce state anxiety
  ○ Knowing a person’s level of trait anxiety
  § Useful in predicting how they will react to competition, evaluation and threatening situations
  § Weinberg and Gould, 2011

Question 11

cognitive anxiety

Answer 11

○ Concerned with extent to which one worries or has negative thoughts
			§ Lack a sense of self confidence
			§ Disrupted attentions
			§ Sense of worry, fear, doubt, etc
			§ Worrisome expectation of failure
			§ Negative concerns about performance
			§ Impaired ability to concentrate
		○ Psychological responses

Question 12

somatic anxiety

Answer 12

○ Concerned with the moment-to-moment changes in one's perception of physiological activation
			§ Unusual feelings of nausea
			§ Increased respiration rates
			§ Increased blood pressure
			§ Increased muscle tension
			§ Increased perspiration
		○ Physiological responses

Question 13

components of anxiety

Answer 13

○ Multidimensional
○ Cognitive (mental)
§ Worry and have negative thoughts
○ Somatic (physical)
§ Nervousness and tension, increased perspiration, pounding heart
○ Behavioural (little research)
§ Tense facial expression, changes in communication

Question 14

stress

Answer 14

• A substantial imbalance between demand (physical and/or psychological) and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet that demand has important consequences - McGrath, 1970

Question 15

fight or flight response

Answer 15

○ Increased heart rate
		○ Inhibits peristalsis
		○ Shivering/goose bumps
		○ Pupils dilate
		○ Increase perspiration
		○ Glycogen to glucose
		○ (Nor)adrenaline

Question 16

the stress process (McGrath, 1970)

Answer 16

stage 1: environmental demand (physical and psychological)

stage 2: individual’s perception of the environmental demand (amount of psychological or physical ‘threat’ perceived)

stage 3: stress response (physical and psychological)

• arousal
• state anxiety (cognitive and somatic)
• muscle tension
• attention changes

stage 4: behavioural consequences (performance or outcome)

This occurs in a cycle

Question 17

what causes stress and anxiety?

Answer 17

situational sources
individual factors (Weiner and Gould, 2011)

Question 18

situational sources of stress and anxiety

Answer 18

○ Event importance: the more important the event, the more stressful it is likely to be; importance of the event to the individual
Expectations: too much pressure (from parents, coaches) can add to competitive anxiety; low expectations regarding performance can also invoke anxiety

Question 19

individual factors causing stress and anxiety

Answer 19

○ Trait anxiety: individuals high in trait anxiety are more likely to see competition as stressful (genetics, experience).
○ Performance concerns: perfectionism and over concern with image is associated with high anxiety.
○ Locus of control: the extent to which we believe that we are in control of our lives; low locus of control individuals are generally more susceptible to stress and anxiety.
○ Self-esteem: those with low self-esteem experience lower self-confidence and more state anxiety.
○ Social physique anxiety: the degree to which one becomes anxious when others observe their physiques.

Question 20

when can stress and anxiety be experienced in sport?

Answer 20

○ Days leading to competition
○ Immediately prior to competition
○ During competition
○ After competition

Question 21

relationship between cognitive and somatic anxiety and time to event (Martens et al., 1990)

Answer 21

○ CSAI-2 measured 48h, 24h, 2h and 5mins before
○ Cognitive anxiety stayed stable
○ Somatic anxiety increases prior to event onset

See physical flashcard

Question 22

individual differences in anxiety and performance

Answer 22

§ cognitive levels elevated but stable as competition approaches
§ Somatic anxiety levels low
□ Day prior to competition - somatic anxiety rises
§ On starting competition both cognitive and somatic anxiety decrease

Question 23

cognitive anxiety reduction strategies

Answer 23

○ Reducing the importance of the competition
○ Implementation of effective goal-setting programme
○ Pre-performance routines

Question 24

somatic anxiety reduction strategies

Answer 24

○ Breathing
○ Relaxation techniques
○ Parking

Question 25

study on multidimensional state anxiety

Answer 25

○ Do anxious swimmer swim slower? (Burton, 1988)
○ Predicts different relationships between different components of anxiety and performance

	○ Support for the 3 predictions in Burton's (1988) study of swimmers
	○ Relationship strongest in short duration events
	○ Relationships are generally weak
	○ It doesn't account for interactive effects

Question 26

study on anxiety in sport

Answer 26

• Meta-analysis of 48 studies investigating cognitive anxiety and self-confidence subscales
  
  • Effect sizes
    ○ Small: 0.2
    ○ Medium: 0.5
    ○ Large: 0.8
    Quantitative measure of the magnitude of the experimental effect, the larger the effect size, the stronger the relationship between two variables.

Effect sizes higher for men - suggests precompetitive cognitive anxiety and self confidence impact performance of men more than women.
High-standard conditions produce more anxiety shown by larger effect sizes.

Question 27

how does anxiety effect sport?

Answer 27

• Anxiety often impairs performance on ‘difficult’ tasks (Eysenck and Calvo, 1992)
  
  • But findings are complex and inconsistent… why?
    ○ Anxiety is complex
    ○ Pre-event assessment
    ○ Blunt performance measures
    ○ In-event coping
    ○ Task characteristics
    ○ Self-report measures
    “It is probably not very realistic for pre-performance measures of anxiety to predict actual performance to any great extent” (Jones et al., 1993)

Question 28

theories linking to anxiety and arousal

Answer 28

• The drive theory
  
  • The inverted U hypothesis
  • The IZOF model
  • Catastrophe theory

Question 29

individual zone of optimal functioning (IZOF)

Answer 29

• Optimal zone rather than optimal point

- Zone changes depending on sport depending on level of activation needed in that sport.

Question 30

catastrophe theory

Answer 30

○ Focuses on the interactive effects of arousal, cognitive anxiety and performance

Fazey and Hardy. 1991

- Implications for athletes
	○ After a catastrophic decline in performance, the athlete must:
		A. Completely relax physically
		B. Cognitively restructure or eliminate worries and regain confidence and control, and
		C. Reactivate him/herself in a controlled manner to again reach an optimal level of functioning

Question 31

directional anxiety

Answer 31

Directional anxiety (Jones, Swain and Hardy, 1993)

- Limitation of measuring just anxiety intensity
- Interpretation of symptoms important

Question 32

cognitive methods of anxiety management

Answer 32

○ Imagery
○ Thought stopping
○ Positive self-talk
○ Rational thinking

Question 33

somatic methods of anxiety management

Answer 33

○ Progressive muscular relaxation

○ Biofeedback

Question 34

when is catastrophe theory applicable?

Answer 34

under conditions of high cognitive anxiety