Lecture 4: Stress and anxiety Flashcards
Arousal
- A general physiological and psychological activation varying on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement - Gould, Greenleaf and Krane, 2002
what is arousal determined by?
physiological processes such as emotions
theories of arousal
drive theory
inverted U theory
drive theory
○ 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
inverted-U hypothesis
○ 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)
anxiety
- A negative emotional state with feelings of nervousness, worry and apprehension associated with activation or arousal - Weinberg and Gould, 2011
trait anxiety
- Trait anxiety: aspect of personality - an individual with trait anxiety will experience anxiety regardless of the situation (how do you usually feel?)
state anxiety
- State anxiety: how you feel right now (multidimensional)
○ Cognitive anxiety
○ Somatic anxiety
types of state anxiety
cognitive and somatic anxiety
relationship between trait and state anxiety
- 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
cognitive anxiety
○ 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
somatic anxiety
○ 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
components of anxiety
○ 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
stress
- 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
fight or flight response
○ Increased heart rate ○ Inhibits peristalsis ○ Shivering/goose bumps ○ Pupils dilate ○ Increase perspiration ○ Glycogen to glucose ○ (Nor)adrenaline
the stress process (McGrath, 1970)
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
what causes stress and anxiety?
situational sources individual factors (Weiner and Gould, 2011)
situational sources of stress and anxiety
○ 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
individual factors causing stress and anxiety
○ 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.
when can stress and anxiety be experienced in sport?
○ Days leading to competition
○ Immediately prior to competition
○ During competition
○ After competition
relationship between cognitive and somatic anxiety and time to event (Martens et al., 1990)
○ CSAI-2 measured 48h, 24h, 2h and 5mins before
○ Cognitive anxiety stayed stable
○ Somatic anxiety increases prior to event onset
See physical flashcard
individual differences in anxiety and performance
§ 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
cognitive anxiety reduction strategies
○ Reducing the importance of the competition
○ Implementation of effective goal-setting programme
○ Pre-performance routines
somatic anxiety reduction strategies
○ Breathing
○ Relaxation techniques
○ Parking
study on multidimensional state anxiety
○ 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
study on anxiety in sport
- 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
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.
how does anxiety effect sport?
- 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)
- But findings are complex and inconsistent… why?
theories linking to anxiety and arousal
- The drive theory
- The inverted U hypothesis
- The IZOF model
- Catastrophe theory
individual zone of optimal functioning (IZOF)
- Optimal zone rather than optimal point
- Zone changes depending on sport depending on level of activation needed in that sport.
catastrophe theory
○ 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
directional anxiety
Directional anxiety (Jones, Swain and Hardy, 1993)
- Limitation of measuring just anxiety intensity - Interpretation of symptoms important
cognitive methods of anxiety management
○ Imagery
○ Thought stopping
○ Positive self-talk
○ Rational thinking
somatic methods of anxiety management
○ Progressive muscular relaxation
○ Biofeedback
when is catastrophe theory applicable?
under conditions of high cognitive anxiety
