Lecture 7: Arousal & Anxiety

Question 1

explain the Consensual Modal Model

Answer 1

It starts with a certain situation (trigger). This situation gets attention from the person, which leads to appraisal (evaluation) of the situation by the person (development). Based on the evaluation, a certain emotional response develops (manifestation/expression). This emotional response has a physiological as well as a behavioral component and leads to certain effects (effects/consequences), which can in turn lead to another emotional response. This whole process of situation, attention, appraisal, response and effects is influenced by individual differences and emotional regulation.

Question 2

what is the difference between trait and state anxiety

Answer 2

State anxiety is a momentary and temporary feeling, while trait anxiety expresses the general tendency to experience anxiety in different situations.

Question 3

explain the sport psychological approach to anxiety (Hackfort) —> (4 types of fear)

Answer 3

People in competitive sports are particularly concerned about the uncertainty of the situation. This feeling of uncertainty manifests in four types of fear:
(1) fear of failure
(2) the unknown,
(3) negative social evaluation
(4) injury or physical harm
The openness of the outcome of competition leads to anxiety because both success and failure are possible, and because the outcome is only partly under your control.

Question 4

what are 4 social-psychological factors that may have an influence on anxiety/arousal

Answer 4

1. Audience effects; performing in front of a supportive audience increases the pressure to perform and leads to a decrease in accuracy performance
2. Contingencies; rewards or punishments are usually contingent on performance and can lead to perceptions of pressure
3. Competition; formal or informal competition leads to the perception of pressure and often to worse performance
4. Importance of the event; the more important an event is perceived to be, the more pressure to perform and the more anxiety; specifically if it is closely related to a persons self-esteem

Question 5

what are 2 kinds of processes that are influenced by anxiety in sport and explain them

Answer 5

1. Attention processes; anxiety/pressure can lead to a distortion of both top-down (consciously directed attention) and bottom-up (automatically attracted attention) processes
2. Appraisal processes; characteristics of a situation are assessed in terms of their meaning for the person, and in the case of anxiety, the situation is appraised as threatening

Question 6

explain the Transactional Stress Model (in relation to appraisal processes) by Lazarus

Answer 6

• There is a bidirectional/transactional relationship between the individual and the situation/environment, in which 2 cognitive processes mediate whether (subjective) stress is actually triggered by an (objective) stressor
• These cognitive processes should essentially be about appraising the significance and characteristics of the situation and events in this transactional relationship
• This appraisal includes how significant the situation is for a person; ”is there something at stake” (primary appraisal), and whether the individual has the resources to cope with the demands of the situation; “are there resources available to deal with it” (secondary appraisal)
• Situational demand and resource appraisal in competition lead to the existence and the intensity of anxiety

Question 7

explain Quiet Eye (QE)

Answer 7

= the last fixation of an eye movement before the start of the final movement; these periods lead to better motor performance due to effective motor programming
–> the longer the QE, the better the performance

Question 8

explain the anxiety response in sport in terms of 3 components

Answer 8

1. Experiential component; makes up the “feeling” and its accompanying thoughts, its the level of reaction that probably has the fundamental meaning for the person (its usually in the forefront)
   - emotionality/somatic anxiety = anxious arousal; the subjective perception of bodily experiences
   - worry/cognitive anxiety = anxious apprehension; cognitive component of anxiety; worry, apprehensions and thought loops
2. Physiological component; emotions are accompanied with activation states of the body (changes in physiological systems)
   Physiological indicators of anxiety:
   - respiratory-cardiovascular
   - electrophysiological
   - biochemical changes
3. Behavioural component; comprises
   - expressive behaviour = submissive or rushed behaviour gives the impression that someone is experiencing anxiety; tends to lead to worse outcomes
   - information processing = altered attention and decision-making processes lead to changes in behaviour; anxiety is expressed in the fact that distracting thoughts are harder to control and the focus of attention is directed to threat-relevant stimuli
   –> attention processes can be inferred by recording eye movements (anxiety effects the duration of the QE and the number of fixations)

Question 9

explain the Attentional Control Theory (ACT)

Answer 9

• Anxiety reduces information processing efficiency but doesn’t always affect performance, as effort and motivation can compensate.
• ACT distinguishes between proactive (top-down) control (intentional focus) and reactive (bottom-up) control (automatic response to stimuli)
• Under pressure, proactive control is disrupted, leading to more distractions and impaired focus.
• ACT for Sports highlights that in sports, anxiety arises from distorted attention control and misinterpreting stimuli (e.g., spectators as threats).
• This anxiety increases error monitoring, creating a vicious cycle of anxiety and performance errors.
• Attention control only breaks down under high anxiety, requiring special motivation or self-control to overcome.

Question 10

what are 4 theories to explain the link between anxiety and athletic performance

Answer 10

1. Drive theory (Hull, Spence) = a motivation theory which assumes that energy activation of the organism occurs when especially primary and thus mostly physiological needs are threatened or unstable (so-called drive). With increasing
   drive, the activation (“arousal”) also increases, which in turn increases effort, emotions and motivation. The greater the drive or activation, the better the sporting performance should be.
   2.Inverted-U Hypothesis = initially positive effect of increased (anxiety-related) activation but, rather than linear, an inverted U-shaped connection between anxiety (activation) and performance;
   - when activation increases, (athletic) performance also increases until an optimal activation level is reached
   - once the optimal activation level is reached, however, a further increase in activation leads to decreased performance.
   - This means that moderate activation levels
   create optimal performance.
2. Multidimensional Anxiety Theory = somatic and cognitive anxiety have differential effects on anxiety, and self-confidence has a moderating influence on the anxiety-performance relationship
   - Cognitive anxiety; performance decreases with an increase in cognitive anxiety because essential resources are consumed by cognitive anxiety and therefore no further attention capacity is available to support task performance
   - Somatic anxiety; the relationship between somatic anxiety and performance has an inverted-U relationship, whereby optimal performance can be expected with moderate somatic anxiety
   - Positive linear relationship between self-confidence and performance
3. Cusp Catastrophe Theory =
   - Low cognitive anxiety, variations in physiologal arousal follows inverted U type relation on performance effects
   - High cognitive anxiety, increases in arousal will improve performance up to an optimal point
   - High arousal and cognitive anxiety, performance should decline dramatically (hysteresis) if arousal goes bevond this optimal point

Question 11

explain optimal performance

Answer 11

= characterized by the direction of attentional focus towards task-related information and simultaneous ignoring of irrelevant information

Question 12

explain distraction in the context of choking under pressure

Answer 12

Distraction models of choking show that athletes are more easily distracted by task-irrelevant information when their anxiety increases; Choking occurs mainly because the processing of task-irrelevant information exceeds a certain level of attention capacity and thus reduces the potential space of attention that would be necessary for optimal performance
–> anxiety might impair working memory functions; as a result, more task-irrelevant internal and external stimuli are processed, and the capacity of working memory decreases further

Question 13

explain movement focused attention in the context of choking under pressure

Answer 13

Self-focus models assume that choking occurs because attention is focused on the execution of movement when anxiety increases; conscious observation or even conscious execution of movements should then interfere with the otherwise automatic execution of movements and lead to choking under pressure

Question 14

explain environmental/personal characteristics as moderators in the context of choking under pressure

Answer 14

People differ in their inclination to certain attention of information processing processes, especially when under pressure;
- some individuals have a predisposition to focus on the execution of movement –> related to failure
- state-oriented people tend to maintain cognitive, affective and attention-related states (eg. to ruminate) even if this is accompanied by impaired performance; whereas action-oriented people are able to change these states in order to optimize their performance

Question 15

explain 3 other kinds of anxiety in sports

Answer 15

• anxiety in the form of concerns about one’s appearance can lead to both increased or decreased physical activity
• Sensation-seekers—people in search of unusual, intense experiences—increase their anxiety experiences through risky behaviour; anxiety is perceived as pleasant
• for many people who practice dangerous outdoor sports, the focus is not on the anxiety experience but on coping with anxiety—which then also leads to preventive safety behaviour

Question 16

from what two temporal perspectives can managing anxiety be viewed and explain them (in the context of coping with anxiety)

Answer 16

1. Anticipation; anxiety often arises in anticipation and is an expression of the perception of a threat from a future situation
2. Compensation; temporally prior to an event, it is primarily about managing the situation and preventing the feeling of anxiety from arising in the first place; compensatory strategies are also necessary if anxiety is to be regulated in a situation

Question 17

what are two forms of avoidance coping

Answer 17

• Problem-focused coping with anxiety tries to directly change the situation or behaviour
• Emotion-focused coping attempts to alleviate the stress and its associated experiences

Question 18

what are the 3 factors of the three-factorial system of coping (in the context of coping with anxiety)

Answer 18

1. Mastery coping = includes all attempts to bring the situation under control and/or to remove the stress or anxiety trigger. This includes, for example, methods of goal-setting or targeted preparation
2. Internal regulation = attempts to control the internal, psychological and physiological stress or anxiety reaction, for example, by relaxing or blocking out the environment with a towel
3. Goal withdrawal = aims at overcoming stress and anxiety by not pursuing the goal of the action or by lowering expectations

Question 19

explain self-handicapping in the context of coping with anxiety

Answer 19

= any action or choice of performance setting that enhances the opportunity to externalize (or excuse) failure and to internalize (reasonably accept credit for) success

Question 20

what are 2 ways of regulating anxiety in sports

Answer 20

1. Aim at the prevention of anxiety (“antecedent-focused”)
2. Change the experience and the anxiety reaction (“response-focused”):
   - Avoiding or changing the situation before a competition
   - Focusing attention on less anxiety-inducing stimuli
   - Reappraising of the situation
   - Changing the emotional response, for example, through relaxation exercises or routines

Question 21

give an overview of the Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) (4 key components)

Answer 21

4 Key components:
1. Demand appraisals; for challenge and threat states to occur, the athlete must perceive the demands of a situation as dangerous, uncertain and requiring effort (motivational state = a situation in which there is pressure on the athlete to perform)
2. Resource appraisals; self-efficacy, perceptions of control and achievement/avoidance goals
- challenge state: high self-efficacy, high perception of control, and focus on approach goals (sufficient resources to deal with demands of situation)
- threat state: low self-efficacy and control, and focus on avoidance goals
3. Physiological responses;
- challenge state: increased sympathetic-adreno-medullary (SAM) –> coordinated cardiovascular response
- threat state: increased SAM activity is accompanied by increased pituitary-adreno-cortical (PAC) and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity, and subsequent cortisol release
4. Emotional consequences; positive emotions are typically associated with a challenge state, and negative emotions with a threat state

Question 22

explain how social support can work as a moderator of the effects of stressors on outcomes

Answer 22

Perceived social support aids the appraisal process by redefining the situational threat and influencing the individual’s perceived control and ability to cope

Question 23

what are 4 suggestions for future research (based on the TCTSA article)

Answer 23

1. Measurement Tools: Emphasizes the need for standardized procedures in measuring physiological responses related to challenge and threat states.
2. Transparency in Reporting: Encourages clear reporting of physiological data, including the duration and time course of measurements.
3. Reconsideration of Resources: Suggests exploring the role of social support and other resources in managing challenge and threat states.
4. Behavioral Outcomes: Recommends investigating decision-making processes and their relationship with challenge and threat states.

Question 24

what are 3 things that primary appraisal (transactional stress model, Lazarus) depends on

Answer 24

• Goal relevance: Judgment if transaction is significant to your goals and well-being, “is something at stake?”
• Goal congruence: Will the situation facilitate or prevent the achievement of a goal? “is stimulus harmful or beneficial?”
• Type of ego involvement: Type of personal goal relevant to the situation; Social and self-esteem, moral values, ego ideals, meanings and ideas, others persons and their well-being, and life goals; “What is at stake?”

Question 25

what are 3 kinds of causes of stress

Answer 25

1. competitive stressors
2. organizational stressors (eg. interpersonal demands, performer’s role in the organization)
3. personal stressors (eg. lifestyle, financial demands)

Question 26

explain bracing

Answer 26

Also called double pull, this is when a muscle tenses up due to worry and anxiety, it contracts or is shortened. This is due to the voluntary muscles in humans being arranged in pairs. When a muscle tightens because of perceived stress, its opposite sets up a counter tension to hold the segment of the body in place. The resulting double pull can build up formidable heights of tension over much of the body, yet most people will not identify it. This double pull explains why a person can be scared stiff and rigid with anger or unable to move because of fright.

Question 27

explain differential relaxation

Answer 27

When excessive muscular tension occurs, it interferes with execution of the skill because it prevents appropriately coordinating movement. Proper form in a movement involves using just the right amount of tension at any given time in the relevant muscles. Athletes can learn the right amount of contraction, that is, to expend only those energies necessary to execute the skill.

Question 28

explain competitive anxiety

Answer 28

situation-specific, negative (unpleasant) emotional response to one’s view of competitive stressors, and the general involvement in competition, as threats
–> worry, heightened perception of physiological state and levels of arousal

Question 29

what is important when it comes to appraisal of anxiety symptoms

Answer 29

whether athletes interpret their anxiety symptoms as having a facilitative or debilitative effect on their performance

Question 30

what are 4 types of immediate responses of coaches in relation to the demands that they experience in their roles and explain their effect

Answer 30

1. cognitive; e.g., negative thoughts, maladaptive attributions, loss of focus, making negative decisions
2. affective; e.g., emotions such as anger and anxiety, becoming “moodier”
3. physiological; e.g., tension, increased heart rate, shaking
4. behavioral; e.g., sharper tone of voice and agitated body language
   –> although some positive responses are highlighted, most have been suggested to have a negative effect on coaching style, quality of coaching and relations with athletes

Question 31

explain the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) hypothesis

Answer 31

A practical tool for helping athletes establish the level (i.e., intensity) of emotions experienced (e.g., pre- performance anxiety, excitement, anger) within which the best performance occurs (often referred to as “being in the zone”). If the intensity of these emotions is outside of the “optimal” zone or range, performance will suffer. There is inter-individual and intra-individual variability in how athletes subjectively perceive their emotions in relation to their impact on performance (facilitative or debilitative).

Question 32

what are 3 mechanistic explanations for the relationship between stress and performance

Answer 32

1. Processing efficiency theory (PET): suggests that when a person is anxious, a proportion of their attentional capacity for the task is filled by task-irrelevant cognitive worry, effectively reducing their working memory capacity, impairing cognitive processing efficiency, and, potentially, performance; cognitive anxiety or worry may also signal the importance of the task to the individual and lead to an increased investment in the task
2. Attentional control theory (ACT): extension to PET; anxiety impairs the efficiency of attention because it causes a shift in attention to threat-related stimuli rather than toward task- and goal-relevant stimuli. The inability to exercise attentional control may be compensated for by inhibition and shifting functions that stop the effect of the threat-related stimuli and shift attentional resources to task demands. Therefore, while anxiety influences efficiency (the relationship between effective task performance and the use of attentional resources), it does not influence effectiveness (outcome in terms of performance accuracy).
3. Conscious processing hypothesis (CPH): an anxious performer starts to use excessive thinking (reinvestment), which leads to the execution of skills with an inward attention that in turn can lead to a failure to execute the skill successfully , a process that is commonly referred to as paralysis by analysis. That is, skills that are normally undertaken with little or no thought become disrupted due to the skilled athlete trying to “consciously” control the movement.

Question 33

explain 3 emotion-focused approaches and 1 problem-focused approach for sport psychology consultants based on the models explaining the relationship between stress and performance

Answer 33

Emotion-focused:
1. Reduction appraoch: The first perspective is that when elevated arousal and competitive anxiety have a detrimental effect on performance, a reduction approach is required to reduce the symptoms associated with stress.
2. Restructuring approach: The second perspective is based on the principle that high levels of anxiety and arousal associated with a stress experience need not be detrimental, but may be interpreted in a positive way that actually benefits performance. This notion is fundamental to the restructuring approach, in which athletes are taught to restructure interpretations of symptoms from a negative to a positive viewpoint.
3. Energizing approach: The third perspective describes circumstances whereby athletes possess an insufficient activation state in relation to their sporting task or activity (i.e., underarousal). Here, sport psychology consultants take an energizing approach—that is, they try to enhance performance by using interventions that increase arousal.

Problem-focused:
1. Prevention approach: The fourth perspective entails trying to prevent or manage the stressful demands (stressors) the individual experiences.

Question 34

explain the difference between arousal and activation

Answer 34

Arousal = Cognitive and physiological activation of the person, varying from deep sleep to extreme excitement; arousal is about responses to changes in the situation – and this could influence activation; autonomic nervous system responses – increased heart rate, butterflies in the stomach, muscle tension; immediate responses to new stimuli or input
Activation = Cognitive and physiological activity that is geared towards preparing a planned response to some anticipated situation
- ANTICIPATION = readiness to respond

Question 35

what is the difference between somatic anxiety and cognitive anxiety

Answer 35

Cognitive anxiety = Mental component; thoughts experienced in stressful situations
Somatic anxiety = Physical component; perceptions of physiological arousal state in stressful situations

Question 36

what are 5 criticisms for the inverted-U theory

Answer 36

1. Too simplistic
2. Type of sport and the required motor skills; within sports there are different motor skills
3. High levels of arousal do not mean high levels of negative emotions per se
4. Does not consider cognitive anxiety and interaction with arousal
5. Ignores the information-processing demands of tasks

Question 37

what are 3 criticisms of the multidimensional anxiety theory

Answer 37

1. How can multidimensional anxiety theory explain sudden drops in performance
2. How do cognitive and somatic anxiety interact
3. A positive relationship between cognitive anxiety and performance can exist - doesn’t account for this

Question 38

explain challenges states and threat states

Answer 38

Challenges states = Sufficient or nearly sufficient perceived available resources to cope with the demands of the situation
Threat states = Not enough perceived available resources to cope with the demands of the situation

Question 39

what are 4 physiological changes in challenge vs threat states

Answer 39

Challenge; lower Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR) reactivity, higher Cardiac Output (CO) reactivity
Threat; higher Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR) reactivity, lower Cardiac Output (CO) reactivity
Both; higher heart rate, attenuated PEP

Question 40

what are 3 cognitive consequences of challenge vs threat states and what combinations lead to them

Answer 40

1. Self-efficacy:
   - Belief in our ability to succeed in a particular situation/task
2. Perceived control
   - The extent to which an individual believes that the situation is within their control
3. Approach/avoidance goals
   -Achieving a positive outcome (want to improve PB)
   - Avoiding a negative outcome (don’t want to perform worse than in the last match)
   Challenge state: high self-efficacy, high perceived control, approach focus
   Threat state: low self-efficacy, low perceived control, avoidance focus

Question 41

what 4 things do we know about the effect of interventions on anxiety

Answer 41

1. Small to medium effect of psychological interventions on competitive anxiety.
2. Finding robust regardless of various intervention and participant characteristics.
3. Effects of intervention greater for higher level athletes than lower level athletes.
4. Interventions effective for different intensity subscales of the CSAI-2/2R.

Question 42

what are two reduction techniques for stress management

Answer 42

1. Diaphragmatic breathing:
   - Pushing abdomen out and create a vacuum in longs
   - Breathing properly aids relaxation and increases the amount of oxygen in the blood
   - Facilitates removal of waste products by carrying more energy to the muscles
   - Focus on relaxing muscles, imagine tension gradually draining from bodies
2. Progressive muscular relaxation:
   - Alternating tension (contraction phase) and relaxation of major muscle groups
   - Contraction phase teaches awareness of how absence of tension can feel
   - Start to recognise unwanted tension