Lecture 6: Arousal and anxiety

Question 1

What is stress?

Answer 1

Relationship between the person and the environment appraised by the person as relevant to their wellbeing and in which the resources are taxed or exceeded.

Question 2

What are the types of stressors in sport?

Answer 2

Competitive stressors
Organisation stressors
Personal stressors

Question 3

Competitive anxiety facets

Answer 3

Competitive anxiety involves the trait (predisposition) and state (immediate emotional state) anxiety
Somatic- perceptions of physiological arousal state in stressful situations
Cognitive- thoughts experienced in stressful situations

Question 4

How to differentiate between intensity, frequency, and interpretation of anxiety?

Answer 4

Intense- how distracting is it?
Frequency - how often is it?
Interpretation- how is it perceived?

Question 5

Describe the theory of challenge

Answer 5

Competition results in demand appraisals like danger, uncertainty, effort, which can result in resource appraisals (self efficacy, control, approach/avoidance goals) or physiological and emotional consequences. Can result in performance consequences like decision-making, cognitive functioning, task-engagement, skilled performance and physical functioning.

Question 6

How is stress an imbalance?

Answer 6

Between demands of an organism or their capacity to cope with demands.
- Good balance between demands and resources
- Low stress balance can result in boredom when resources higher than demands
- High stress when demands exceed resources

Question 7

How is stress different to anxiety?

Answer 7

Anxiety experienced in short-term and before events, while stress is longer term and a reaction to a stressor-> over-simplified

Question 8

What is the transactional model of stress?

Answer 8

Situational demands -> perception of demand and coping ability -> subjective experience of stress -> physiological and psychological changes-> feedback and responses (physiological, behavioural coping)

Question 9

How do Lazarus and Folkman describe the interaction between demands and resources?

Answer 9

Primary appraisals
-> situational demands of what is at stake?
Secondary appraisals
-> perceived available coping resources and a cognitive-evaluative process

Question 10

Primary appraisal

Answer 10

• goal relevance (judgement if transaction is significant to goals and wellbeing)
• goal congruence (will the situation facilitate or prevent the achievement of a goal?)
• type of ego involvement so the type of personal goal relevant to the situation: self-esteem, moral values, ego ideals, meanings and ideas, wellbeing and life goals

Question 11

Secondary appraisal

Answer 11

• attribution of blame/credit for an outcome-> known as story behind the outcome
• coping potential (can you remove the harm or threat?)
• future expectations (change of current situation for better or worse)

Question 12

What are responses to stress?

Answer 12

• physical
• physiological
• cognitive
• emotional

Question 13

Arousal characteristics

Answer 13

Cognitive and physiological activation of the person, varying from deep sleep to extreme excitement. Involves responses to changes in the situation which influences activation. Autonomic nervous system responses: increased heart rate, muscle tension. Involves an immediate response to new stimuli or input.

Question 14

Activation characteristics

Answer 14

Cognitive and physiological activity that is geared towards preparing a planned response to some anticipated situation. Anticipation is the readiness to respond.

Question 15

Inverted- u theory

Answer 15

Argues that if performance is worse, that arousal needs to decline

Question 16

How can we critically evaluate this theory?

Answer 16

• too simplistic
• does not distinguish between type of sport and required motor skills
• high levels of arousal does not mean high levels of negative emotions
• does not consider cognitive anxiety and the interaction with arousal
• ignores the info-processing demands of task

Question 17

Multidimensional anxiety theory

Answer 17

Interaction between physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety.
Argues that:
- cognitive anxiety has a negative linear relationship with performance
- somatic anxiety had an inverted U relationship with performance
- self-confidence has a positive relationship with performance

Question 18

How can we critically evaluate multidimensional anxiety?

Answer 18

• does not explain how there can be sudden drops in performance
• unclear how cognitive and somatic anxiety interact
• positive relationship btw cognitive anxiety and performance can exist

Question 19

How does the time influence the nature of competitive state anxiety?

Answer 19

• frequency and intensity of cognitive anxiety start early
• frequency and intensity increases right before the competition for somatic anxiety

Question 20

Cusp catastrophe model

Answer 20

• Low cognitive anxiety follows the inverted U relation
• High cognitive anxiety and increases in arousal improve performance up to a point
• High arousal and cognitive anxiety can result in declining performance if the arousal goes beyond this point
• Can only be helped by reducing the physiological arousal
• Self-confidence will moderate the effects of cognitive anxiety and physiological arousal on performance

Question 21

Processing efficiency theory

Answer 21

A distraction model that suggests that stress reduces processing capacity of information processing system (distraction theory)

Question 22

Attentional control theory

Answer 22

A more complex distraction model also suggesting that stress compromises efficiency of information processing
(goal directed versus stimulus driven system, distraction theory)

Question 23

Conscious processing hypothesis

Answer 23

Stress causes the athlete to attempt to consciously control previously automated motor skills resulting in skill disruption (explicit monitoring theory)

Question 24

What are the two opposing views?

Answer 24

• Distraction inhibits the processing of relevant information-> low processing efficiency
• Normally processing the well-learnt skill outside of working memory-> explicit monitoring

Question 25

What is the biopsychosocial model of arousal regulation?

Answer 25

Challenge and threat states are motivational performance states which has cognitive, affective physiological components and can compare demands of the situation with perceived available resources.
- challenge: sufficient or nearly sufficient perceived available resources to cope with situational demands
- threat: not enough perceived available resources to cope with demands of situation

Question 26

Physiological components

Answer 26

There are cardiovascular patterns for a challenge and threat. Toughness model argues that there is better adaptation over time.
For both: heart rate increases and attenuated PEP
Challenge: total peripheral resistance reactivity decreases, cardiac output reactivity increases
Threat: total peripheral resistance reactivity increases and cardiac output reactivity decreases

Question 27

What can affect how we appraise a situation?

Answer 27

Sport situation -> demands (pressure and expectations) -> resources (self-efficacy, perceived control and approach motivation)-> either challenge or threat

Question 28

Cardiac output

Answer 28

Oxygenated blood flowing around the body

Question 29

Total peripheral resistance reactivity

Answer 29

Narrowing of blood vessels-> body has to work harder

Question 30

Process of hormone release in stress

Answer 30

1. Increased sympathetic adreno-medullary activity relates to increase in norepinephrine and epinephrine which relates to a challenge state
2. Increased pituitary-adreno-cortical (PAC) activity relates to increase in cortisol. PAC and SAM relate to a threat state

Question 31

What are the cognitive components?

Answer 31

Self-efficacy is the belief in our ability to succeed in a situation/task
Perceived control is the belief that the situation is in control
Approach/avoidance goals so either achieving a positive outcome or avoiding a negative outcome

Question 32

What makes up the challenge state?

Answer 32

High self-efficacy, high perceived control, approach focus

Question 33

What makes up the threat state?

Answer 33

Low self-efficacy, low perceived control and avoidance focus

Question 34

Emotional consequences of the states

Answer 34

Positive emotions, better performance = challenge state
Negative emotions, worse performance= threat state

Question 35

What are the starting points of the intervention?

Answer 35

Assessment first and identify symptoms. Aim is enjoyment but controversial. Stress is seen as a long-term process which leads to coping while anxiety is a state which needs to be regulated.

Question 36

What are the effects of interventions on anxiety?

Answer 36

• small to medium effects of interventions on competitive anxiety
• findings robust findings despite interventions and participant characteistics
• effects of intervention greater for higher level athletes than lower level athletes-> awareness and ability to integrate
• interventions effective for different intensity subscales

Question 37

Stress management interventions

Answer 37

Reduction- reduce symptoms linked with stress
Restructure- change interpretation of anxiety
Energize is using interventions to increase arousal

Question 38

What has research found about restructuring?

Answer 38

Pressure was induced but interpretation for one group is less harmful while the reappraisal did not change for the group. The reappraisal group performed better. Having different imagery scripts like a challenge script (confidence in ability) and threat script )doubts about performing) and a neutral script had an impact on anxiety levels.

Question 39

Different ways to relax

Answer 39

• diaphragmatic breathing (breathing properly to aid in the amount of oxygen in blood and imagine tension draining from bodies)
• progressive muscular relaxation (relaxing major muscle groups and alternating tension, which teaches you how an absence of tension can feel)