Week 4 - Stress And Anxiety Flashcards
Define Arousal
A general physiological activation varying on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement (Gould et al 2002)
AN increase level of mental excitement and alertness.
State of being excited, keen mentally and physically ready
What is Drive theory?
Proportional linear relationship
More psyched up - better the performance
Increased drive (arousal) will increase likelihood of dominant response/most usual behaviour
Performance will be worse for poorer learnt or complex skills.
Increasing drive - performers resort to previously learnt skills because they are dominant - but may be incorrect.
Even highly skilled players choke In highly charged situations
Under v Overarousal
Under - underperform, lack drive and determination, may not be excited or focused enough to perform
Over - Feel stressed, anxious/nervoud, could become psyched out by opposition.
Physical Symptoms - inc HR, sweating, nausea
Mistakes are made and performance declines
What is the inverted-U Hypothesis?
performance inc as arousal inc to an optimal point, further inc will produce dec in performance.
Underarousal has neg effect on performance
Optimal level where performance is best
Overarousal has neg effect on perf
Recent evidence support predications on simple tasks
“A catastrophe for sport psych” (HArdy and Fazey, 1987)
What is anxiety?
‘A negative emotional state w feelings of nervousness, worry and apprehension associated w activation or arousal of the body’ (Weinberg & Gould, 2011)
In Sport: ‘ an unpleasant psychological state in reaction to perceived stress concerning the performance of a task under pressure ( Cheng te al. , 2009)
Trait v state anxiety
Trait - Aspect of personality - an individual w trait anxiety will experience anxiety regardless of the situation (how you feel usually)
State - how you feel right now
Individuals w high trait anxiety usually have high state anxiety in highly competitive evaluative situations.
High trait anxious individuals can learn coping skills to reduce state anxiety.
Knowing a persons level of trait anxiety is useful in predicting how they will react to competition, evaluation and threatening situations.
What is cognitive anxiety?
Concerned with extent to which one worries or has negative thoughts
-lack a sense of self confidence
- disrupted attentions
- sense of worry, fear, doubt, etc
-worrisome expectation of failure
- negative concerns about performance
- Impaired ability to conc
What are some causes of anxiety?
Pressure - greater fear of failure in high pressure/important situation
Uncertainty - not knowing whether you will succeed or not
Effect on self-esteem - concern about what others might think if you perform poorly
Fear of harm - fear of injury or pain in dangerous activities.
Frustration - worrying that you may not achieve targets
What is stress? (McGrath, 1970)
‘A substantial imbalance between demand and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet that demand has important consequences’
What are some effects of stress?
Inc HR
Inhibits peristalsis
Shivering/goose bumps
Pupils Dilate
Inc perspiration
Glycogen to glucose
(Nor)adrenaline
What are some sources of stress?
Performance issues
Environmental issues
Organizational issues
Physical danger
Parental pressure
What is multidimensional anxiety theory?
Predicts different relationships between different components of anxiety and performance
Studies show these two anxiety components differentials predict performance - precise predictions of multidimensional anxiety theory have not been consistently supported(Mellalieu et al 2006)
