Sport Psychology Flashcards
choking
athletes who view specific scenarios as a threat perform vastly different than athletes who view a similar scenario as a challenge
ex) penalty kick shootouts in pro soccer, which determine a winner in knockout competitions such as the world cup
conversion rate of penalty takers who were kicking the final shot of a penalty shootout
by Jordet and Hartman
compared:
- the shooter’s team was down by a goal and he had to make the kick to tie; if he missed, the team would lose
- the shooter’s team was tied, and he did not have to make the shot, but if he did, the team would win the game
results:
- found that the first scenario, when missing the kick would cause a loss, pro players only converted 62% of shots
- when conversion would result in win, kickers were successful 92% of the time
how do sport psychologists define “choking”?
- most athletes and coaches would agree that choking happens when you are firmly in command of your performance or the competition and you lost because of a change in your mental state
- choking under pressure decreases the standard level of athletic performance, of an athlete when they may be at their peak performance
- choking is suboptimal performance, not just poor performance. it’s a performance that’s inferior to what you can do and have done in the past and occurs when you feel pressure to get everything right
choking under pressure: the role of fear of negative evaluation
by mesagno, harvey and janelle
fear of negative evaluation (FNE)
- predisposes people toward expectations that negative evaluation about public and private aspects of the self will occur
- leads to anxiety, which leads to choking
procedure: familiarization, low pressure, high pressure
conclusion: FNE is an important psychological characteristic of the choking susceptible athlete
limitation: if anxiety caused the performance change - what was the mechanistic pathway? (i.e. altered attentional focus and/or motor coordination)
anxiety, attentional control, and performance impairment in penalty kicks
by wilson, wood, vine
used mobile eye gaze registration system (eye tracker)
design: low threat, high threat conditions
conclusion:
- experienced footballers looked at the goalkeeper significantly earlier, more often and for longer periods when anxious, with these changes in attentional control negatively influencing resultant shot placement
- findings offer a mechanistic explanation as to why kicks are missed in pressure environments
- interventions that can change this type attention offers promise for assisting athletes deal with pressure moments
mace (1990)
- athletes must demonstrate symptoms of anxiety that are detrimental to performance
- the effectiveness of the intervention is enhanced if a considerable amount of time is devoted to the specific needs of the athlete
- training and testing conditions should simulate the conditions under which the athlete must perform
self-refulation training, state anxiety, and sport performance
by prapavessis et al
competitive elite rifle shooters
case study advantages:
- emphasis is on helping the individual or organization
- provides an in-depth analysis of how the variables of interest affect each other
- potentially more informative
- potentially less expensive
competitive anxiety-sport performance findings: equivocal
possible reasons
- operational definitions of anxiety and performance
- individual differences (intra subject vs. inter group variation)
intervention: self-regulation program; breathing and stretching, progressive muscle relaxation, thought stoppage, ECG biofeedback
results:
treatment - less self-reported cognitive and somatic anxiety
more self-report state confidence
less urinary noradenaline and adrenaline
less gun vibration
higher heart rate than baseline for rounds 1 and 3, but less at round 2
more forearm tension
less performance error
manipulation check:
- threats to internal validity
- potential environment and personal differences between baseline and treatment
limitations:
- expectancy effect
- generalization of findings
conclusions: a multi-method self-regulation intervention program reduced state anxiety (for most anxiety indices) and improved performance for an elite rifle shooter
historical perspective
- earliest reported study of the social facilitation phenomenon was that of Triplett - the effect of co-action on bicycling performance
1) un-paced cyclist
2) paced cyclist
3) cyclist racing against another competitor
social facilitation terminology
audience
- non-interactive - passive onlookers
- interactive - audience has verbal and emotional contact with athletes
co-actors - two or more individuals performing side by side by independently
home advantage in sport competitions
by carron A.V. & hausenblas
- home winning percentage minus away winning percentage
- for any given year a team could have a positive, negative or null home winning %
game location factors
by courneya & carron
rules: no home advantage from battling last
travel: interaction for No. of time zones crossed x time between games explained 1% of variance in HA
increase in No. of time zones crossed and decreased time between games results in a home advantage
crowd: crowd density explained 1% of the variance in the HA
learning: HA small/large surface = 65.6%
HA rest of league = 64.5%
learning/crowd: domed: won 10.5% more games at home than on the road
open air: won 7.2% more games at home than on road
psychological states
by terry, walrond & carron
competitors’ states: significant differences in competitors’ psychological states at home versus away
AT HOME: decrease in tension, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion, cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety
and increase in vigor and self-confidence
because competitors are more confident when playing at home, they believe they will be more successful and, as such, play better at home as part of the self-fulfilling philosophy
coaches’ states: no differences in mood states at home vs away
coaches expressed significantly more confidence for home games
coaches’ strategies: coaches reported they used more defensive fore-checking approach on the road than at home
competitors’ behavioural states
competitors’ behavioural states: most research has focused on aggressive behaviour
most studies have shown that visiting teams commit more fouls than home teams
testosterone is linked to dominace and aggression in animals and it also may be linked to territory defending
testosterone levels in home vs away
by wolfson and neave
results: players’ testosterone levels were similar between training and away matches, but 40% - 67% higher for home matches (dependent on the match rival)
team behaviour: a more defensive fore-checking approach was adopted on the road than at home
fouls at home vs away
by lehman & reifman
findings: stars - less fouls called at home
non-stars - no difference in fouls at home vs away
officiating bias
by nevill et al
results: officials made more subjective decisions penalties and sending off in favor of the home side, and the observed imbalance appears to increase in divisions with larger crowds
noise of crowd influenced observers to award fewer fouls against home players, and more fouls against away when compared with the groups receiving only visual stimulus
the result was echoed by the match referee
by dennis & carron
examinded: the impact of game location on team penalties not called by officials in the NHL
findings: no evidence of officiating bias in the NHL
attributions and learned helplessness
the way people viiew negative events that happen to them can have an impact on whether they feel helpless or not
ex) math test, there are several things you could say were the reason for that:”Im stupid”, “I didn’t study hard enough”, “test was too hard”
each of those reasons can be seen as a different type of attribution
an attribution is the factor that a person blames for the outcome of a situation. attribution can be made for both positive and negative events. psychologists discovered that there are specific types of attributions that cause learned helplessness. the attributions likely to cause learned helplessness are internal, stable, and global.
internal attribution
an internal attribution is any attribution that gives the cause of an event as something to do with the person, as opposed to something in the outside world.
ex) you believe you failed the test because you’re stupid, thats an internal attribution. compare that to believing that the test was too hard - that’s an external attribution; blaming the test, which is outside your control
stable attribution
a stable attribution is one that doesn’t change over time or across situations.
ex) believing you failed because you’re stupid is a stable attribution; the fact that you’re stupid won’t change depending on the situation. compare that to believing that you failed because you didnt study enough. that’s not a stable attribution because next time you can change that and study more
global attribution
a global attribution is the belief that the factors affecting the outcome applies to a large number of situations, not just one of them.
ex) beliving you failed the test because you’re stupid is a global attribution because it is true in that class and in many others. however, if you believe you failed the test because you are bad at that particular subject, it is specific; just because you failed the math test, doesn’t mean that you’d fail in other tests
leared helplessness in sport
by prapavessis and carron
purpose: to examine whether athletes have maladaptive achievement patterns associated with learned helplessness and attributional dimensions used by athletes exhibiting maladaptive achievement patterns to explain unsuccessful outcomes
conclusions: subjects classified with a maladaptive achievement pattern associated with LH had a different attributional style to explain failure performances than those with a non maladaptive achievement pattern
findings are consistent with the attribution theory of LH
implications: how does one go about changing maladaptive achievement patterns of LH and associated attributional styles?
