Sport Psychology Ch. 7,8

Question 1

Chronological Age
Biological Age
Somatic Age
Training age

Answer 1

• Chronological Age: a stage of maturation or development by age in
months or years
• Biological Age: a stage of maturation measured in terms of skeletal age,
physique maturity, or sexual maturation.
• Somatic age reflects the degree of growth in overall stature or smaller,
subdimensions of the body (e.g., limb length).
• Training age: the length of time the child has consistently followed a
formalized and supervised resistance training program

Question 2

Growth cartilage location

Answer 2

Growth cartilage in children is located at the epiphyseal plate, the
joint surface, and the apophyseal insertions.

Question 3

Peak gains

Boys vs Girls

Answer 3

• In boys, peak gains in strength typically occur about 1.2 years after peak
height velocity and 0.8 years after peak weight velocity.
• In girls, peak gains in strength also typically occur after peak height
velocity, although there is more individual variation in the relationship of
strength to height and body weight.
• On average, peak strength is usually attained by age 20 in untrained
women and between the ages of 20 and 30 in untrained men.

Question 4

3 different body types

Answer 4

• mesomorphic - muscular and broader shoulders
• endomorphic - rounder and broader hips
• ectomorphic - slender and tall

Question 5

Strength differences between men and women

Answer 5

• In terms of absolute strength, women generally have about two-thirds the
strength of men.
• If comparisons are made relative to fat-free mass or muscle cross-sectional
area, differences in strength between men and women tend to disappear.
which indicates that muscle quality is not sex specific.
Women can increase their strength at the same rate as men or faster.

Question 6

Female Athlete Triad

Answer 6

refers to the interrelationships between energy availability, menstrual function,
and bone mineral density, is a health risk for female athletes who train for
prolonged periods of time with insufficient caloric intake to meet the high energy
expenditure of training and adaptations
• Amenorrhea is defined as the absence of a menstrual cycle for more than
three months
• Data show that in females, resistance training increases bone mineral
density in various skeletal regions of the body
• When prescribing resistance training programs for females, strength and
conditioning professionals must ensure that nutritional intake supports the
training prescription in order to stimulate adaptation and facilitate
recovery

Question 7

Osteopenia:

Answer 7

a bone mineral density between −1 and −2.5 standard deviations (SD)
of the young adult mean.

Question 8

Osteoporosis:

Answer 8

a bone mineral density below −2.5 SD of the young adult mean.

Question 9

Anxiety: State and Trait

Answer 9

• State anxiety is the actual experience of apprehension and uncontrolled arousal.
• Trait anxiety is a personality characteristic, which represents a latent disposition
to perceive situations as threatening.

Question 10

Cognitive Anxiety

Somatic Anxiety

Answer 10

• Cognitive Anxiety relates to psychological processes and worrisome
thoughts.
• Somatic Anxiety relates to such physical symptoms as tense muscles,
tachycardia, and the butterflies

Question 11

Stress vs Stressor

Answer 11

• Stress: any disruption from homeostasis or mental and physical calm; can
be a negative (distress) or a positive (eustress) state.
• Stressor: an environmental or cognitive event that precipitates stress.

Question 12

High arousal and focus vs very high arousal

Answer 12

• At low levels of arousal both relevant and irrelevant cues can come to the
athlete’s awareness. The athlete may not concentrate well at these under-aroused
levels.
• As arousal increases up to a moderate level, the athlete experiences more focus
because of the exclusion of task-irrelevant cues.
• At too high levels of arousal, the athlete may not notice task-relevant cues.

Question 13

Attentional Style
• Internal-external
Broad-narrow

Answer 13

Internal-external
• An introspective versus an externally oriented perspective

Broad-narrow
• An integrative (expansive) versus a highly selective orientation

Question 14

Intrinsic Motivation

Answer 14

• Intrinsic motivation is a desire to be competent and self-determining.
• The athlete is a self-starter because of his or her love of the game.

Question 15

Achievement Motivation

Answer 15

• Achievement motivation is the athlete’s wish to engage in competition or social
comparison.
• Whoever is higher in achievement motivation will be the better athlete because he
or she has an appetite for competition

Question 16

Positive and Negative Reinforcement in Coaching

Answer 16

• Positive reinforcement is the act of increasing the probability of occurrence of a
given behavior by following it with or presenting an action, object, or event such
as praise, decals on the helmet, or prizes and awards.
• Negative reinforcement also increases the probability of occurrence of a given
operant by removing an act, object, or event that is typically aversive.

• Application of Positive and Negative Reinforcement
• Coaches should generally subscribe to a reinforcement strategy to assist athletes
in focusing on what they do correctly.
• Punishment should be used sparingly because it increases the likelihood that the
athlete will focus on what he or she is doing incorrectly.
• Positive reinforcement aids focus on task-relevant cues.
• Punishment floods attentional capacity with a predominance of task-irrelevant
cues.

Question 17

Inverted-U Theory

Answer 17

• Arousal facilitates performance up to an optimal level, beyond which further
increases in arousal are associated with reduced performance
• Skill Level
• The more skill an athlete has developed, the better he or she can
perform during states of less or greater than optimal arousal.

• Task Complexity
• Simple skills can tolerate a higher degree of arousal (and
attentional narrowing).
• Skills involving a lot of decision making require low levels of
arousal.
• Personality
• Extroverts are sensory reducers, whereas introverts are sensory
augmenters, or increasers.

• Trait Anxiety
• The athlete with low trait anxiety can handle higher levels of
pressure.

Question 18

Optimal Functioning Theory

Answer 18

• Different people perform best with very different levels of arousal.

Question 19

Catastrophe Theory

Answer 19

• When increases in physiological arousal occur in the presence of cognitive
anxiety, a sudden drop (rather than a gradual decline) in performance occurs.

Question 20

Self-Efficacy

Answer 20

• Perceived self-confidence about a given task in a specific situation may be a
better predictor of task execution than either arousal or anxiety.

Question 21

Process goals vs outcome goals

Answer 21

• Process Goals
• Goals over whose achievement the athlete has control
• Outcome Goals
• Goals over which the athlete has little control, such as winning

Question 22

Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR)

Answer 22

• By going through a series of alternate muscular tensing and relaxing
phases, the athlete learns to become aware of somatic tension and thereby
to control it.

Question 23

Autogenic Training

Answer 23

The PMR cycle for each muscle group is replaced with an attentional state
that focuses on

Question 24

Systematic Desensitization

Answer 24

• A hybrid of cognitive and somatic techniques that allows an athlete to replace a
fear response to various cues with a relaxation response