Sports Psychology Flashcards
What are the two types of motivation?
Extrinsic and intrinsic
What is extrinsic motivation and give an example.
It is when you gain external reinforcement, earning a reward/ avoid punishment.
For example, money, trophy, fame or good grades
What is intrinsic motivation and give an example.
A behaviour that is driven by internal rewards.
For example, satisfaction, mateship, improvements, passion or enjoyment.
What makes you mentally tough (SCAMS)?
Self-confidence Concentration Arousal regulation Motivation Stress management
What are strategies to become mentally tough?
Goal setting Relaxation techniques Imagery Performance routine Self-talk (positive)
What are the two types of stress? Describe them
Eustress: beneficial stress that motivates or helps you focus your energy. It is short term, perceived to be in our coping abilities, feels citing and improves performance. Eg. Strength workout
Distress: it is not beneficial and can cause anxiety or concern, feels unpleasant, decreases your performance and can lead to mental and physical problems. Eg. Illness or injury
Describe the relationship between arousal and performance.
Arousal is mental alertness. When under-aroused your performance is limited and when over-aroused your performance will be damaged.
Peak performance is optimal
Under-aroused is left of peak performance
Over-aroused is right of the peak performance
Your athlete is underperforming due to low arousal levels, explain three strategies to increase arousal and performance.
Help them set achievable goals
Have them imagine perfecting the skill
Give them a positive talk
Describe the relationship between arousal and performance when completing an easy task compared to a hard task.
When completing a hard task your arousal levels are lower to produce and optimal performance.
When completing an easy task your arousal levels need to be higher to produce and optimal performance.
Eg. Kicking a ball into the goals with a goalkeeper vs kicking a ball into the goals.
Why does an athletes arousal levels increase to be at an athletes optimal performance if they were a novice, intermediate or advanced athlete?
Because in order for an advanced player to have an optimal performance, they need to beat their personal best. Their personal best will be a lot better than a novices personal best and therefore need higher arousal levels.
How would an athlete feel if they were under-aroused?
Legarthy Apathy Easily distracted Indifference to a poor performance Low motivation
How would an athlete feel if they were over-aroused?
Nervous/butterflies Anxious Nausea Elevated heart rate Reduced ability to concentrate on relevant stimulus
How would you increase your arousal levels?
Breathing: short, sharp and deep breaths
Self-talk: positive and motivational words to lift arousal
Music: promotes enthusiasm, up tempo
Imagery: energetic performance, visualise perfection
Pre-Comp activities: warm-up, activity before the game
Pre-game psych-up: motivational address from captain/coach
How would you decrease arousal levels?
Progressive muscle relaxation: tensing then releasing muscle groups
Breathing control: breathe deeply, muscle tension decreases (box breathing)
Biofeedback: heart monitor, sweat, blood pressure
Meditation: relaxation and concentration, quiet place
Auto genic training: hypnosis, mental exercises
What is the difference between relevant and relevant cues?
Relevant cues are cues that help you to perform at your best and irrelevant cues are cues that may distract you from performing. Relevant cue stay Be sight, touch or sound.
What is your “optimal performance”?
Tactical skills: correct strategies & tactics given the strength & weaknesses of the team
Psychological skills: appropriate level of mental skills required to succeed
Physiological prep: developing appropriate energy systems & physical attributes
Technical skills: necessary skills to play at that level
What makes a mentally tough athlete, a mentally tough athlete?
They have the ability to focus and concentrate
They are able to rebound from failure
They are able to deal with pressure
They are able to persist against adversity
What are the four C’s of mental toughness?
Control: influence a given situation
Commitment: strive towards a goal
Confidence: believe that they will succeed
Challenge: see challenge as an opportunity
What are the three phases or psychological skills training?
Education phase: players are made aware of how to benefit psychological skills
Acquisition phase: learn how specific skills will benefit them
Practice phase: skills are regularly practiced
What are the benefits of mental skills?
Improved self-confidence Improved emotional control Increased motivation Improved concentration Positive approach towards a given task
Which SCAMS do you have to regulate and which do you have to increase?
You have to increase motivation, concentration and self confidence
You need to regulate arousal levels and stress&tension management.
Why does stress occur?
Stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the task and the ability level of the performer to respond to a situation where failure has consequences.
How can you create distress?
Increase productivity (angry) Parents yelling
How can stress be beneficial?
By focussing it into energy and motivation
How does stress impact performance?
High levels of distress decrease performance
How can you learn to respond better to stress?
Getting better coping skills
Better breathing routines
Get education or training on it
How does stress affect anxiety management?
Stress can be a positive factor when ability meets the demands of the task and an athlete looks forward to competing nevertheless, stress becomes negative if athletes find the level of stress excessive and feel threatened by the demands.
What are the four stages of stress?
Stage 1: demands of the situation
Stage 2: athletes perception of the demand
Stage 3: athletes response to the situation
Stage 4: impact on the performance
What are the two types of situational sources?
The importance of the game: the more important the event, the greater the stress
Experienced players cope better with stress than non-experienced.
Result uncertainty: stress increases if the teams are evenly matched and the result is close.
What are personal sources in relation to stress?
How athletes perceive situation affects how much stress they have
Individual differences impact how stressful a particular situation is
What are the four stress management techniques?
Assessment: athletes are interviewed to analyse what causes them stress and their response to stress.
Education: athletes are made aware of their physical and mental response to stress
Skill acquisition phase: athletes are taught coping strategies
Skill rehearsal: athletes practice putting the coping strategies into play in stressful situations
What is anxiety?
A negative emotion which is an individual interpretation of a situation.
It the fear of “what might happen”.
Athletes arousal is being affected by negative feelings
What are the three responses to anxiety?
Somatic response: increased heart rate, breathing rate and muscular tension
Cognitive response: fear of failure, loss of self esteem, fear of judgement, increased alertness
Behavioural response: fidgeting, biting fingernails, avoiding eye contact.
How can anxiety boost an athletes performance?
Because of a:
Fear of failure
Fear of being judged
Fear of letting others down
How can high stress affect arousal?
High stress leads to over-arousal result in gin a narrow-internal attention focus, leading to missing cues and diminished performance.
What can too much anxiety lead to?
Capitulation or “choking” where athletes fail to perform
What is State anxiety?
And immediate emotional state of fear, tension and increased arousal.
What is trait anxiety?
Relates to personality of performer and their perception of the situation
What does a performer with high trait anxiety look like compared to a performer with low trait anxiety?
A performer with high trait anxiety feels nervous, threatened by the demands of the task and are fearful of the outcomes. They experience more state anxiety.
People with low trait anxiety have a high esteem, be confident of their ability to score a goal.
What are some physiological responses to stress?
Dry mouth Nausea
Sleeplessness Muscular tension
Need to urinate Vomiting
Butterflies Increased blood pressure
Increased Adrenalin levels
Increased respiration rate
What are some psychological response to stress?
Indecision Confusion
Missed cues Loss of confidence
Imagined cues
Irritability
Fear
Why is Adrenalin released?
Adrenalin is released when the body is under stress and can have positive or negative effects
What are some positive effects of Adrenalin?
Physiological arousal
Increased alertness
Prepare body for explosive action
Beneficial to performance in sport
What are some negative effects of Adrenalin?
Impaired decision making
Impaired execution of fine motor skills
Execution of complex skills becomes difficult
Why do players in the zone have optimal arousal and produce their best performance?
Because they feel:
Self confident Focussed and ready for the task at hand
Motivated Mentally in control
Physically in control
Alert and ready for unexpected situations
What are keys to managing stress?
Reduce/control physiological response
Limit the number of tasks taking on Be prepared
Priorities tasks Get regular exercise
Make positive changes to behaviour Maintain a balanced diet
Have a positive attitude Have set ‘relaxation times’
What are the four parts of Nideffers’ model of attention?
Broad external: used to rapidly assess a situation
Narrow external: used to focus on the 1-2 external cues
Narrow internal: used to mentally rehearse an upcoming performance
Broad internal: used to analyse and plan
What is goal setting?
It involves the process of identifying what you want to achieve and planning the steps that will be needed to be taken to achieve it.
What are the three types of goals that you set?
Outcome goals: focuses on outcome of performance eg. Making finals
Performance goals: personal goals athletes set for themselves to achieve during the performance eg. Kick 3 goals in soccer
Process goals: focuses on specific aspect of a performance eg. Follow through in a free throw
What are 5 things that make your goal setting effective?
Short term: attainable in the immediate/ near future within 6 months
Long term: play off scratch and join pga tour school within 5 years.
Motivation of athlete: why he athlete is performing and what level they want to achieve.
Ability: setting goals that can’t be achieved decreases motivation leading to drop outs
Age: young performers respond to short term goals better.
How do you make a SMARTER goal?
Specific: clear, unambiguous goals to focus on
Measurable: need to be assessable to see if progress is occurring
Action-oriented: action required to achieve desired goal
Realistic: goals need to be achievable
Time phased: specific date for completion
Effective: capable of attaining desired results
Received: monitored and adjusted if necessary
