Psychological factors affecting performance 2.2 Sport psychology. Flashcards
Describe Personality.
The patterns of thoughts and feelings and the ways in which we interact with our environment and other people that makes us a unique person.
Describe the Trait Theory of Personality.
Does not believe that the situation or environment has any baring on a person’s behaviour.
Behaviour is said to be consistent.
Behaviour is predictable.
Give the Advantages and Disadvantages of Trait Theory of Personality.
Advantages:
Simple.
Predictable.
Measurable.
Disadvantages:
Overly simple.
Ignores Learning.
Doesn’t explain how Identical twins are different.
Describe Anxiety.
A negative emotional state that is closely associated with arousal. It is experiencing apprehension and being aware of high arousal linked to our fears and worries.
Describe a Type A personality.
Highly competitive.
Strong desire to succeed.
Works fast.
Likes to be in control.
Prone to suffer stress.
Describe a Type B personality.
Non-competitive.
Unambitious.
Works more slowly.
Does not enjoy being in control.
Less prone to stress.
Describe a Stable personality trait.
Someone who does not swing from one emotion to another but is rather consistent in emotional behaviour.
Describe a Unstable (neurotic) personality trait.
Someone who is highly anxious and has unpredictable emotions.
Describe an Extrovert.
A person who seeks social situations and likes excitment but lacks concentration, takes more to get these people aroused.
Describe an Introvert.
A person who does not seek social situations but likes peace and quiet and is good at concentrating, more easily aroused.
Describe the social learning theory.
Suggests that rather than being born with characteristics we learn them from other people especially from those we hold in high esteem.
Says behaviour changes depending on the situation.
Personality is learned by observing, modelling and imitating behaviour.
Describe the Interactionist approach.
Recognises that Trait theory and Social learning theory both have a role in determining behaviour and personality.
Offers a more realistic explanation for personality.
We have inherent traits that we adapt based on the environment we are in.
Describe Attitude.
A predisposition to act in a particular way towards someone or something.
Although Attitude is an enduring emotional and behavioural response and although it can be established firmly, an attitude is unstable and can be changed and controlled.
State the positive factors affecting Attitude formation.
Positive:
Belief in the benefits of exercise.
Enjoyable experience in sport.
Being good at a particular sport.
Being excited by the challenge of sport.
Using sport as a stress relief.
The influence of others when participation is the norm.
State the negative factors affecting Attitude formation.
Negative:
Not believing in the benefits of exercise.
A bad past experience like an injury.
A lack of Natural ability.
Fear of taking part in sport.
Suffering stress when taking part in sport.
The influence of others when non-participation is the norm.
Describe the components of attitude (Triadic model).
Cognitive component:
What we know and believe about the attitude object (beliefs/facts).
Affective component:
How we feel about the attitude object (emotions).
Behavioural component:
How we behave towards, respond to or intend to respond to the attitude object (Behaviour).
Name the two methods of changing attitudes.
Persuasive communication.
Cognitive dissonae.
Describe Persuasive communication.
Trying to talk your way into changing their beliefs.
The effectiveness of the persuasion depends on:
The persuader, how high esteem the person is held.
The message, the quality of the message the persuader is giving.
The receiver, weather this person is open to listening to change.
Describe Cognitive dissonance.
This idea is that by contradicting the persons belief you can change it for example a rugby player may belief cardio is to girlie so the coach shows some of the best rugby players do lots of cardio challenging his beliefs.
Describe motivation.
The internal mechanism and external stimuli which arouse and direct our behaviour. Is the phycological drive to succeed.
Describe Drive.
Directed motivation or ‘energised behaviour that an individual has towards achieving a certain goal.
Name the two types of Motivation.
Intrinsic motivation.
External motivation.
Describe Intrinsic motivation.
The drive from within like wanting to get better for it’s own sake encompasses feelings of fun and enjoyment.
Describe External motivation.
Comes from an outside source like a trophy or rewards.
Valuable for beginners but will eventually undermine Intrinsic motivation.
Describe Arousal.
The energised state or the readiness for action that motivates us to behave in a particular way.
Define Somatic aroual.
Relates to the changing physiological state of the body e.g. increased heart rate.
Define Cognitive arousal.
Relates to the changing psychological state of the body e.g. increases in anxiety.
Describe Drive theory.
Shows a linear relationship between performance and arousal. At low arousal performance is low.
Describe the Inverted U theory.
States performance increases with arousal to a certain optimal point past this point it starts to decrease. Graph is mirrored at the peak.
Describe the catastrophe theory.
Like Inverted u theory catastrophe theory claims that as somatic anxiety increases there is an increase in performance.
However this model gives an extra level saying that performance will reach a maximum if cognitive anxiety is kept under control if not athlete will go belong optimal.
Drop is not smooth it’s a dramatic cliff.
After drop performer can re-join curve.
Describe Trait Anxiety.
A trait that is enduring in an individual. A performer with high Trait anxiety has the predisposition or the potential to react to situations with apprehension.
Describe Competitive trait anxiety.
A tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening, and to respond to these situations with feelings of apprehension or tension.
Describe State anxiety.
The athlete’s emotional state at any given time, variable from situation to situation.
Describe the optimal zone of performance.
An important state of well-being. This zone is an emotional response that facilitates top performance and is often referred to as peak flow experience.
Describe Aggression.
Is the intent to harm or injure outside the rules of the game.
Describe Assertion.
Forceful behaviour within the rules of the game.
Describe the Instinct theory of aggresion.
Views aggression as natural.
Humans develop aggression as an instinct.
Inevitable and therefore predictable.
Describe the Frustration-aggression hypothesis.
Frustration will always lead to aggression.
Any blocking of goals that an individual is trying to reach increases drive thus aggression and frustration.
if success follows aggression then catharsis is reached.
Describe the Social learning theory of aggression.
Aggression is learned by observation of others.
Reinforced by social acceptance.
For example if we see a team mate fouling an opponent and this stops them from playing well meaning it’s reinforced and copied.
Describe the Aggressive cue theory.
For aggression to occur certain stimuli must be present.
These stimuli are cues for performer which are subconsciously linked to aggression.
Frustration causes anger which creates a readiness for aggression if cues are present aggression is likely.
Describe Social Facilitation.
The positive influence on performance from others who are watching or competing.
Describe Social Inhibition.
The negative influence on performance from others who are watching or competing.
Describe a Group.
A collection of people who both share similar goals and interact with one another.
Name the four stages of Team formation.
Forming.
Storming.
Norming.
Performing.
Describe the Forming stage of a team formation.
High dependence on leader for guidance.
Group members getting to know each other.
Very little agreement.
Roles are unclear.
Team leader needs to give strong direction.
Describe the Storming stage of team formation.
Decisions are difficult.
Team members are establishing themselves.
Focus is clearer.
Cliques formed.
Leader has a more advisory role.
Describe the Norming stage of team formation.
More agreement and consensus of opinion.
Roles and responsibilities are accepted.
Decisions are made through group agreement.
Strong sense of commitment and unity.
Social and friendly.
Respect the leader and leadership is shared.
Describe the Performing stage of team formation.
Clear vision and aim.
No interference of participation from the leader.
Focus is on achieving goals.
Disagreements occur but are resolved within the team.
No need to be instructed or assisted.
Give the equation for productivity in a team.
Actual productivity= potential productivity- Losses due to faulty processes.
State the 2 losses in productivity due to faulty processes.
Co-ordination problems like timing of team members, team strategies not being good enough.
Motivational problems, if not motivated to put in 100% then Productivity will decrease.
Describe the Ringelmann effect.
Occurs when individual performance decreases as a group size increases.
Bigger teams cause individual players within it not to try as hard.
Describe Social loafing.
Some individuals in a group seem to lose motivation, due to the fact they start to lose identity when placed in a group and believe they won’t be singled out and can hide behind others.
