mental preparation for sports

Question 1

term arousal

Answer 1

physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli

Question 2

how can arousal be triggered?

Answer 2

by both pleasant/positive and unpleasant/negative situations

Question 3

what can cause a heart attack?

Answer 3

continuum ranging from a very deep sleep-like state to excessive and uncontrolled activation of numerous body systems

Question 4

effects of arousal

Answer 4

• heartbeat goes faster
• breathing goes faster
• increase in sweat
• better focus
• better concentration
• mind interacts with the body

Question 5

term autonomic arousal

Answer 5

seen as the immediate response to a stressor, it also accelerates fight or flight responses

Question 6

physiological arousal

Answer 6

refers to physical readiness for action:
- heart and breathing rates
- sweating
- reaction times are indicators for this

Question 7

psychological arousal

Answer 7

refers to the emotional and motivational state of the sportsperson and can range from indifference and boredom to alertness and then high excitement or tension

Question 8

theoretical approaches

Answer 8

1. drive reduction theory
2. inverted U-hypothesis
3. catastrophe theory

Question 9

drive reduction theory

Answer 9

proposes that arousal increases to meet the perceived demands of the task, so the performance is more likely to reflect the most unusual behavior (dominant habit).

Question 10

what does drive reduction theory state?

Answer 10

humans are motivated to reduce the state of tension caused when certain biological needs are not satisfied.
helps explain behaviors that have strong biological

Question 11

inverted U-hypothesis

Answer 11

suggests that (to a certain point) arousal levels are too low for certain performances. Athletes are not “psyched up” enough. But there is a point where arousal turns to anxiety and performance starts to deteriorate (“psyched out”)

Question 12

catastrophe theory

Answer 12

multidimensional approach, suggests that performance depends on a complex interaction between arousal and cognitive state anxiety. Performance does not gradually get worse as arousal increases, it rapidly and dramatically deteriorates → catastrophically

Question 13

emotions that may influence an athletes performance in a physical activity

Answer 13

participation in sport and exercise influences a range of participant emotions such as depression, anxiety and pleasure.
+ positive emotions
- negative emotions

Question 14

+ positive emotions

Answer 14

excitement, relief, pride… Often leads to improved performance

Question 15

• negative emotions

Answer 15

anger, guilt, shame, anxiety and boredom… leads to decreased performance

Question 16

positive mood

Answer 16

• prime us to positive previous outcomes.
• increase our confidence to perform.
• positive self-talk, increased self-esteem, increased problem solving when faced with performance issues.

Question 17

negative mood

Answer 17

• prime us to remember negative memories of past failures.
• reduce our feelings of confidence to perform.
• feeling of helplessness, impending failure, decreasing reasoning

Question 18

term anxiety

Answer 18

• linked to the negative emotional feelings a person experiences such as worry, nervousness, apprehension or unease about something with an uncertain outcome (when winning or not losing is very important)

Question 19

types of anxiety

Answer 19

• cognitive anxiety
• somatic anxiety
• state anxiety
• trait anxiety

Question 20

cognitive anxiety

Answer 20

characterized by thoughts and perceptions of worry/doubt and negative expectations (mind), about performance, self-evaluation & evaluation by others.

Question 21

positive effects (cognitive anxiety)

Answer 21

• faster information processing
• increased attention

Question 22

negative effects (cognitive anxiety)

Answer 22

• confusion / irrational thoughts
• lack of concentration
• nervousness
• apprehension

Question 23

somatic anxiety

Answer 23

• relates our perceptions of our bodily state (physiological arousal).
• provide signal to individual they are anxious.

Question 24

state (situation) anxiety

Answer 24

temporary negative emotion of apprehensiveness and tension in threatening situations and is situation specific

Question 25

trait (innate) anxiety

Answer 25

relatively enduring disposition that causes people at the high end of the continuum to view a wide range of non-dangerous circumstances as threatening

Question 26

how anxiety is measured

Answer 26

• easy to administrate
• can be used with large groups
• can be open to bias / respondents can reply how they think they should not how they actually feel
• responses are open to misunderstanding by non-experts

Question 27

the questionnaire

Answer 27

• is not sensitive to small changes in anxiety levels
• is inconvenient in a real sport situation/can actually interfere with anxiety response

Question 28

SCAT (Sport Competition Anxiety Test)

Answer 28

aimed to find out competitors are likely to become too anxious in a competitive situation.
scoring from a sport specific situation gives an indication of that person’s level of state anxiety in competition-specific situations

Question 29

4 factors related to competitive anxiety

Answer 29

1. individual differences
2. different types of anxiety
3. specific anxiety trait
4. the competition

Question 30

CSAI - 2

Answer 30

• given out before competition but more than once, such as a week before, a day before, and half an hour before this.
• enables researchers to discover baseline levels of anxiety and compare it with pre-competition levels to see if they differ

Question 31

measured three components

Answer 31

cognitive, somatic, self-efficacy

Question 32

CTAI

Answer 32

• is a self-report questionnaire in which people rate how nervous they feel both in general and in specific situations.
• the scoring system for the questions gives an indication of both the state anxiety and the trait anxiety of the performer

Question 33

Selye’s deifinition

Answer 33

non-specific response of the body to any demand made in it

Question 34

definition of stress

Answer 34

a substantial imbalance between the demand (physical and/or psychological) and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet that demands where failure to meet that demands has important consequences

Question 35

sources of stress

Answer 35

competition, frustration, conflict, personal, physiological & climate, audience

Question 36

analyzing stress

Answer 36

as a sequential
process it is important to differentiate between the performer’s
perception of stress and the actual potential environmental
stressors (stress can have a negative effect on performance but
also a positive effect)

Question 37

top performers need to feel under pressure to perform well

Answer 37

• reduce the problem
• reduce the stress
• control arousal

Question 38

classification of these techniques

Answer 38

mainly somatic or cognitive, and can be taught through psychological skills training (PST – refers to the systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills)

Question 39

PST

Answer 39

studies and some coaches say that PST can attribute for 50-90% of an athlete’s performance, however, PST is not just for elite athletes, is not just for problem athletes and does not give quick fix solutions

Question 40

arousal curves

Answer 40

• who is capable of the best performance?
• who needs to be really psyched up before he performs at his best?
• whose level of arousal needs to be very carefully controlled for good performance?