performance anxiety Flashcards
when can competitive sport produce anxiety?
1) pre-performance
2) after a mistake
3) in a high pressure situation
define arousal:
a mix of physiological & psychological activity in a person
define anxiety:
a negative emotional state characterised by nervousness, worry & apprehension and associated with activation or arousal of the body
who defined anxiety?
weinberg & gould, 2019
what is cognitive anxiety?
the thought component - e.g. feelings of nervousness
what is somatic anxiety?
the physical component - e.g. feeling nausea
what is trait anxiety?
part of a persons personality (stable)
what is state anxiety?
something felt in the moment (unstable)
what might cause performance anxiety?
1) unrealistic expectations
2) perceived external pressure
3) internal pressure
4) uncertainty of a situation
symptoms of cognitive anxiety:
1) indecisiveness
2) confusion
3) poor concentration
4) negative thoughts
5) loss of confidence
symptoms of somatic anxiety:
1) racing heart
2) sweating
3) nausea
4) needing to urinate
5) increased respiration
resulting behaviours from anxiety:
1) playing safe
2) introversion
3) uncharacteristic extraversion
4) avoidance of eye contact
5) incessant talking
inverted U theory (yerkes & dodson, 1908)
low arousal levels = low performance
as arousal increases so does performance until an optimal point - then performance decreases
multi-dimensional anxiety theory (martens et al, 1990)
the relationship is negative-linear - as cognitive anxiety increases, performance decreases
catastrophe theory (jones & hardy, 1989)
after arousal has passed its optimal point, an increase in arousal leads to a catastrophic drop in performance
