mental preparation for sports Flashcards
term arousal
physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli
how can arousal be triggered?
by both pleasant/positive and unpleasant/negative situations
what can cause a heart attack?
continuum ranging from a very deep sleep-like state to excessive and uncontrolled activation of numerous body systems
effects of arousal
- heartbeat goes faster
- breathing goes faster
- increase in sweat
- better focus
- better concentration
- mind interacts with the body
term autonomic arousal
seen as the immediate response to a stressor, it also accelerates fight or flight responses
physiological arousal
refers to physical readiness for action:
- heart and breathing rates
- sweating
- reaction times are indicators for this
psychological arousal
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
theoretical approaches
- drive reduction theory
- inverted U-hypothesis
- catastrophe theory
drive reduction theory
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).
what does drive reduction theory state?
humans are motivated to reduce the state of tension caused when certain biological needs are not satisfied.
helps explain behaviors that have strong biological
inverted U-hypothesis
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”)
catastrophe theory
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
emotions that may influence an athletes performance in a physical activity
participation in sport and exercise influences a range of participant emotions such as depression, anxiety and pleasure.
+ positive emotions
- negative emotions
+ positive emotions
excitement, relief, pride… Often leads to improved performance
- negative emotions
anger, guilt, shame, anxiety and boredom… leads to decreased performance
positive mood
- 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.
negative mood
- prime us to remember negative memories of past failures.
- reduce our feelings of confidence to perform.
- feeling of helplessness, impending failure, decreasing reasoning
term anxiety
- 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)
types of anxiety
- cognitive anxiety
- somatic anxiety
- state anxiety
- trait anxiety
cognitive anxiety
characterized by thoughts and perceptions of worry/doubt and negative expectations (mind), about performance, self-evaluation & evaluation by others.
positive effects (cognitive anxiety)
- faster information processing
- increased attention
negative effects (cognitive anxiety)
- confusion / irrational thoughts
- lack of concentration
- nervousness
- apprehension
somatic anxiety
- relates our perceptions of our bodily state (physiological arousal).
- provide signal to individual they are anxious.
state (situation) anxiety
temporary negative emotion of apprehensiveness and tension in threatening situations and is situation specific
trait (innate) anxiety
relatively enduring disposition that causes people at the high end of the continuum to view a wide range of non-dangerous circumstances as threatening
how anxiety is measured
- 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
the questionnaire
- is not sensitive to small changes in anxiety levels
- is inconvenient in a real sport situation/can actually interfere with anxiety response
SCAT (Sport Competition Anxiety Test)
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
4 factors related to competitive anxiety
- individual differences
- different types of anxiety
- specific anxiety trait
- the competition
CSAI - 2
- 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
measured three components
cognitive, somatic, self-efficacy
CTAI
- 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
Selye’s deifinition
non-specific response of the body to any demand made in it
definition of stress
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
sources of stress
competition, frustration, conflict, personal, physiological & climate, audience
analyzing stress
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)
top performers need to feel under pressure to perform well
- reduce the problem
- reduce the stress
- control arousal
classification of these techniques
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)
PST
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
arousal curves
- 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?
