Sports Psychology

Question 1

*attitudes

Answer 1

what an individual believes, how they feel and act towards an attitude object

aren’t permanent but can be hard to change

Question 2

attitude formation - past experiences

Answer 2

winning matches or titles is enjoyable to leads to a positive attitude - high perception of ability which increases confidence

loosing or getting injured can lead to negative ability - lower self confidence and poor perception of their abilities. they may develop learned helplessness

Question 3

attitude formation - socialisation

Answer 3

an individual wanting to fit in with their peers surrounding them

if its the norm for family and friends to participate in sports then you often conform and join in

Question 4

attitude formation - social learning

Answer 4

imitating the actions of close ones such as peers and teachers
-reinforcement and praise have particularly strong effect

Question 5

attitude formation - media

Answer 5

high - profile role models showing positive attitudes will often rub onto us as we look up to them

Question 6

*triadic model - cab

Answer 6

attitude is made up of three components:

1 cognitive - beliefs/thoughts
2 affective - emotions/feelings
3 behavioural - actions/responses

beliefs don’t always correspond with behaviour due to circumstances

Question 7

changing attitudes

Answer 7

• ensuring positive experiences happen
• praise positive attitudes/behaviours
• punish negative attitudes/behaviours
• highlight positive role models

Question 8

persuasive communication

Answer 8

involves significant other or expert encourage change

-need clear message about why you should adapt your mindset

Question 9

cognitive dissonance

Answer 9

creating dissonance by creating unease in performer
- changing a negative attitude component into positive causing individual to challenge their whole attitude and change it

Question 10

weiner’s model

Answer 10

internal external

stable ability task difficulty

unstable effort luck

Question 11

locus of causality

Answer 11

internal - outcome was within the performers control ability or effort

external - outcome under control of environment task difficulty or luck

Question 12

stability dimension

Answer 12

stable - reason for outcome is relatively permanent ability or task difficulty

unstable - changeable either for mins or even weeks luck or effort

Question 13

*learned helplessness

Answer 13

performers attribute their failures internally to stable reason and fail to attribute successes internally

usually occurs when performer has low self confidence due to past failures
similar characteristics to naf performers

Question 14

*strategies to avoid learned helplessness

Answer 14

• setting realistic achievable goals
• raise self-efficacy using banduras model
• highlight previous successful performers
• positive reinforcement and encouragement

Question 15

*attribution retraining

Answer 15

process of changing performers negative attributions to positive ones

perception of why they failed is altered from being internally-stable to:

• controllable factors (can be changed to create success)
• external factors (not their doing)
• internal factors (can be adapted by them to become better)

success attributed internally to ability

Question 16

*self-efficacy

Answer 16

the amount of confidence you have in a specific task, sport or situation
-directly linked to past experiences

Question 17

*bandura’s model of self-efficacy

Answer 17

four factors influence level of self-efficacy - coach use to raise levels

1 performance accomplishments (remind of pervious successes)
2 vicarious experiences (show performer with similar characteristics doing skill)
3 verbal persuasion (praise and positive reinforcement should be used)
4 emotional arousal (show how to control arousal levels-cognitive or somatic)

Question 18

*fieldler’s contingency model

Answer 18

an interactionist approach where the leader adapts their style to situation

Question 19

*fieldler’s two leadership styles

Answer 19

task orientated leader: concerned with achieving goals with pragmatic approach;
direct and authoritarian; used in most and least favourable situations
-cognitive performers-large groups-limited time-dangerous-males-

person orientated leader: focuses on developing harmony and good relationships; open to suggestions in more democratic approach; used moderately favourable situations
-advanced performers-smaller groups-long time frame-females-

Question 20

*fieldler’s different situations

Answer 20

most favourable situ - leader in strong position of authority and has respect. members have good relationships and task is clear

moderately favourable situ - leader has some power and respect, some good relationships and parts of the task is clear.

least favourable situ - no power or respect for the leader leading to hospitality. could be fighting within group members and the task is unclear.

Question 21

*chelladurai’s model of leadership

Answer 21

to ensure group satisfaction and high performance levels leaders must adapt by considering three factors

once considered the leader must try to balance their style of leadership with them to gain the highest performance and group satisfaction levels

the more the leaders actual behaviour matches (congruence) what the group wants and the situation needs - the better the performance will be

Question 22

self serving bias

Question 23

vealey’s model of confidence

Answer 23

undertake task with certain levels of trait and state confidence as well as competiveness orientation

produces responce (attempting skill) and considers outcome. if they consider it a positive result: -level of SC-trait increases

• level of SC-state increases
• approch behaviuor more likely
• increase competitiveness orientation

Question 24

characteristics of a leader

Answer 24

• effective communicator
• charasmatic
• empathetic
• knowledge
• confident
• flexible

Question 25

prescribed leader

Answer 25

chosen from outside the group

able to bring new ideas to the group however could cause disagreements if opposition to the new leader

Question 26

emergent leader

Answer 26

selected from within existing group

high levek of respect for this player but have had the same experiences so may not have new strategies

Question 27

trait perspective - eysenck

Answer 27

performer is born with their personality - genetically determined

personality is stable and enduring so behaviour can be predicted

Question 28

social learning perspective - bandura

Answer 28

personality is learned through our experiences and changes according to the situation

we observe and copy behaviours of significant others (role models, parents…)
- if their behaviour is successful or praised by coach it is more likely to be imitated

Question 29

interactionist perspective - lewin

Answer 29

personality is made up of traits and the influence of environmental experiences
-accepts both trait and social learning approaches-

lewin suggested personality is produced when their natural predispositions and their experiences combine in a specific situation

Question 30

interactionist perspective - hollander

Answer 30

3 aspects to a personality:

1. the core - the real you and your true beliefs and values which stays constant
2. typical responses - how an individual usually responds
3. role-related behaviour - how they respond in a specific environment which may be uncharacteristic

Question 31

using personality knowledge to improve performance

Answer 31

if a coach understands a players innate personality they can use this to help

• they may substitute them if they recognise its going to get violent/aggressive
• they may offer cognitive/somatic strategies to reduce stress and then they can utilise these and not do their instinctive response

Question 32

arousal

Answer 32

the level of somatic or cognitive stimulation that gets you ready to perform

being aroused to the correct level is key in sport

Question 33

drive theory

Answer 33

as arousal increases so does performance (linear)

at high arousal the performer reverts to their dominant response

• in autonomous phase their dr is correct so performance is high
• in cognitive phase their dr is likely wrong so performance is low

doesn’t account for elite performers who deteriorate under pressure

Question 34

inverted U theory

Answer 34

as arousal increases so does performance up to optimum point at moderate arousal. after this performance decreases due to over arousal

optimum arousal level differs depending on:
experience
personality
type of skill

accounts for experiences, personality and skill impacting success
doesn’t account for elite performers dramatic decreases

Question 35

optimum performance at lower arousal

Answer 35

happens in situations involving:

• novice/cognitive performers
• introverts with high resting level of adrenaline
• fine skills requiring precision and control
• complex skills needing several decisions

Question 36

optimum performance at high levels

Answer 36

happens in situations involving:

• advanced/autonomous performers
• extroverts with low restring adrenaline levels looking for adventure
• gross skills
• simple skills with few decisions to be made

Question 37

catastrophe theory

Answer 37

as arousal increases so does performance quality up to an optimum point at moderate arousal. then a dramatic decrease in performance as a result of high somatic and high cognitive anxiety

effects can be reversed by using relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation

explains catastrophes in elite performers

Question 38

hanin’s zone of optimal functioning

Answer 38

optimum performance is reached during a band or zone

zone is a mental state rarely experienced and include:

• performing at optimum arousal levels
• feeling completely calm
• complete attentional control - concentrated on the task
• performing on autopilot
• feeling completely confident that success is inevitable
• performing smoothly, efficiently and effortlessly

Question 39

peak flow experience

Answer 39

it is the ultimate positive psychological state for a performer