Mental Toughness (Year 2)

Question 1

7 characteristics of MT?

Answer 1

•  7 characteristics of MT:
self-confidence, 
negative energy, 
attention 
control, 
visual and imagery control, 
motivation, 
positive energy, 
and attitude control.

Question 2

Nature of mental Toughness?

Answer 2

• Having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to, generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, lifestyle) that sport places on a performer
• Specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure.

Question 3

Nature of mental toughness-characteristics and ranking?

Answer 3

1) Having an unshakeable self-
belief in your ability;

2) Having an unshakeable self-
belief that you possess unique
qualities and abilities;

3) having an insatiable desire and internalised motives to succeed;
(4) bouncing back from performance setbacks;

(5) thriving on the pressure of
competition;

• 6) accepting that competition
anxiety is inevitable and knowing
you can cope with it;

• 7) not being adversely affected
by others’ performances;

• (8) remaining fully-focused in the face of personal life distractions;

• (9) switching a sport focus on
and off as required……

Question 4

Nature of mental toughness-characteristics and ranking?

Answer 4

(10) remaining fully-focused on the task at hand in the face of
competition-specific distractions;

(11) pushing back the boundaries of physical and
emotional pain; and

(12) regaining psychological control following unexpected,
uncontrollable event

Question 5

Nature of mental toughness: mindset, training, comp, post comp?

Answer 5

• Attitude/mindset: Belief and focus.

• Training: Using long-term goals as the source of motivation,
controlling the environment, pushing yourself to the limit.

• Competition: Handling pressure, belief, regulating performance,
staying focused, awareness and in control of thoughts and feelings,
controlling the environment.

• Post-competition: Handling failure, Handling success.

Question 6

ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUALISATION OF MT

4C’S

Answer 6

Commitment, Control, Challenge, and Confidence

Question 7

4C’S DEFINITION OF MT

Answer 7

• Mentally tough individuals tend to be sociable and outgoing; as they are able to remain calm and relaxed. They are competitive in many situations and have lower anxiety levels than others. With a
high sense of self‐belief and an unshakeable faith that they control their own destiny, these individuals can remain relatively unaffected by competition or adversity.

Question 8

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MT AND

SPORTING OUTCOMES

Answer 8

• Pressurised performance, flow (Crust & Swann, 2013), psychological
strategies (Crust & Azadi, 2010), stress appraisal (Kaiseler et al., 2007 )
beliefs pain, and adherence in sport injury rehabilitation (Levy et al.,
2006), and emotional intelligence, resilience, self‐efficacy, and
motivation (Nicholls et al., 2015); physical activity (e.g., Brand et al.,
2017); sleep, and psychological functioning (Brand, Kalak, et al.,
2017)…etc.,

Question 9

DEVELOPING MT: attributes and perceived underlying mechanisms?

Answer 9

1. Having an unshakable self-belief in your ability to achieve your competition goals
2. coaches’ leadership, social support.
3. unshakeable self-belief that you possess qualities and ability that make you better than your opponent
4. demonstration of ability, mastery
5. having a desire and internalized motives to succeed
6. coaches’ leadership, competitive rivalry, critical incidents.
7. bouncing back, increase in determination to succeed.
8. competitive rivalry, internalized motives to succeed.
9. ignoring physical and emotional pain whilst maintaining technique and effort.
10. leadership and rivalry, enjoyment and motivation for success.
11. competition anxiety is inevitable.
12. social support.
13. Thriving on pressure.
14. social support.
15. regaining psychological control.
16. social support.

Question 10

critique?

Answer 10

• Jones (2002) definition referees to being “better” than the opponent

• Ideal / Fantasy / absolute language… “unshakable belief” “insatiable
desire” – overcome any hurdle….achieving goals….is this human?

• Definition developed from elite and super elite athletes and coaches / sport psychologist that work with them. Assumptions of MT
• Reinventing the wheel (e.g., its no different from Grit or hardiness)

Question 11

Grit?

Answer 11

• Grit is defined as the disposition to pursue long‐term goals with
“passion and perseverance” (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly,
2007, pp. 1087–1088)

• It can be distinguished conceptually in terms of: (1) stability. That is,
mental toughness is characterized as state-like in nature whereas grit is
conceptualized as a higher‐order personality trait characterized by
cross‐situational and temporal consistencies in passion and
perseverance toward a long‐term, overarching goal

Question 12

Grit (2)

Answer 12

• (2) the conceptual scope: Mental toughness is concerned primarily
with multiple subordinate goals (i.e., performance and process) that
feed into superordinate goals, whereas grit is salient for superordinate
goals (e.g., make the Olympic team).

Question 13

Hardiness?

Answer 13

• Hardiness  is  a  personality  disposition  (Kobasa,  1979)  –  so  transferable 
and stable (where as MT is specific and state-like).

• Clough et al. (2002) did place their own work on mental toughness in the theoretical foundations of hardiness, and so viewed mental toughness as a
related yet distinct construct.

• Clough et al. suggested that confidence in ones abilities and inter-personal
confidence distinguishes mental toughness from hardiness, specifically
due to the unique nature of sport settings