Anxiety Measurement / Stress Management lesson summary

Anxiety can be measured in 3 main ways - observation, biofeedback & self-report questionnaires. Observation can give accurate, ecologically valid results as it takes place in the sporting environment.    However, the observer's measurements are subjective and they must know the performer to note any unusual behaviour.
Biofeedback measures physiological responses such as heart rate and sweat, therefore these measurements are reliable. However, they lack ecological validity and could be a natural reaction to being evaluated.
Questionnaires are easy and cheap to administer with large numbers. However, performers may lie, misinterpret questions or give socially desirable responses.
The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) measures state and trait anxiety separately using generic, non sport-specific questions.
The Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT) measures trait anxiety. Therefore is also a predictor of state anxiety. It asks sport-specific questions.
The Competition State Anxiety Inventory 2 (CSAI-2) measures somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and confidence separately.

Anxiety Management techniques should match the type of anxiety (cognitive or somatic). They need to be learned / practised, can distract the performer or block out the stress or calm the performer down.
Cognitive techniques include:
Thought Stopping: uses a mental or physical action, word or cue, re-directing thoughts to positive, calm ones.
Self Talk: develops positive thoughts to replace negative to break bad habits or remind them of key techniques.
Imagery: uses positive mental pictures of perfect performances to remove anxiety. There are 2 types. Internal sees what the performer would see and is good for kinaesthesis. External sees themselves completing the movement and is good to correct technique.
Attention control: focusing on the correct type of attention for the sport - broad or narrow, internal or external.
Goal Setting: Performance goals take away the anxiety of Outcome goals and should be set using SMARTER principles.
Somatic techniques include:
Progressive Muscular Relaxation: contracts then relaxes muscles starting with peripheral muscles moving inwards, reducing tension of muscles.
Breathing control: uses deep, diaphragmatic breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth.
Centering: focuses energy on the centre / core of the body using repeating key words or mantra.
Biofeedback: can be used as a learning tool to acknowledge when anxious and then use other techniques to reduce stress.

Anxiety Measurement & Management

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Arousal theories lesson summary

Drive theory suggests that as arousal increases, performance increases. However, with high arousal, the Dominant Response takes over. This Dominant Response or habit is the most well-learned response or the one most likely to occur. Therefore, an expert's DR is well-learned and is likely to be a good one, meaning they will perform well with high arousal. A beginner's DR is not well-learned and is likely to be a poor one, meaning they will perform badly with high arousal.
Inverted-U theory suggests that as arousal increases performance increases up to an optimal point which is moderate levels of arousal. However, as arousal increases past this point, performance decreases. Cue Utilisation theory explains why this is the case. This theory suggests that with low levels of arousal, focus is too broad and the performer takes in too many cues. Selective attention occurs with moderate arousal and high levels of arousal mean attentional narrowing occurs, meaning the performer takes in too few cues.
Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning suggests that there is a zone of optimal arousal, not a point and that different performers have their zone at different levels of arousal. Some performers enjoy low levels of arousal or remaining calm, others enjoy being pumped up with high levels of arousal. Where the zone is can depend on 3 main factors - personality, the task and experience. Extroverts enjoy high levels of arousal whereas introverts like low levels of arousal. Complex skills require low levels of arousal whereas simple skills need high levels. Experts can deal with high levels of arousal whereas beginners cannot and need low levels.
Catastrophe theory looks at the relationship between arousal and performance under conditions of high cognitive anxiety. Under these conditions, performance increases as arousal increases and indeed a performer can have an excellent performance if they keep arousal under control. However, if over-arousal occurs, a dramatic decline in performance (catastrophe) occurs. If the performer has time (half time, timeout etc) to lower their arousal levels, they may be able to get back to optimal performance.
Peak Flow occurs with the best performances. It happens when the performer is in the zone with optimal levels of arousal. The performer is extremely confident and focused and success seems effortless.

CLICK HERE for Anxiety test

CLICK HERE for an article about Anxiety in sport

Arousal theories lesson

Anxiety 1 Lesson Summary

Anxiety is a negative emotional state with feelings of nervousness, worry & apprehension. There are 4 main types of anxiety: Cognitive, Somatic, Trait & State. Cognitive anxiety is psychological - it is negative concerns and thoughts about expectations and performance. e.g. "I can't do this". Somatic anxiety is negative perceptions of physiological responses - feeling too tense, sweating too much etc. Cognitive anxiety has a negative impact on performance in sport - as cognitive anxiety increases, performance decreases; whereas somatic anxiety has an inverted-U relationship with performance - some somatic anxiety means performance increases but as it increases further, performance suffers. Cognitive anxiety increases days before the competition and can fluctuate during a performance based on how well the performer is playing. Somatic anxiety increases in the hours before a competition then decreases once the competition starts. Trait anxiety is a natural level of anxiety that a performer has and remains stable. State anxiety is how anxious a performer is in a certain situation. 

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Anxiety 1 - types of anxiety

Aggression 2 - theories & controlling aggression lesson summary

Instinct theory is the Trait theory of aggression. It suggests that aggression is genetically inherited and that we have a natural instinct to dominate others. Therefore, aggression can occur in all situations, including sport. Aggression releases a feeling of 'catharsis' as you let off steam and pent-up energy.
Social Learning theory suggests aggression is learnt from the environment through modelling of high status or models similar to the performer. Non-aggressive behaviour can also be learnt. Aggression is more likely to occur if the act is reinforced, or not punished (or if the performer thinks it will be reinforced or not punished).
Frustration-Aggression theory suggests that frustration occurs as a result of a goal being blocked. This frustration leads to aggression and if the aggression is successful, the performer releases catharsis but if the act is unsuccessful or punished, the performer becomes more frustrated which can lead to a greater likelihood of further aggression
Aggression Cue hypothesis suggests frustration leads to over-arousal and this state puts the performer in a state where they are ready to be aggressive. It only takes one aggressive 'cue' in the environment to push the performer over the edge and commit an aggressive act. Examples of such cues are an opponent being aggressive to the performer, equipment like stick and helmets that are associated with violence, or even your local rival's shirt.

Aggression can be controlled / reduced by the performer themselves, the coach, an official or National Governing Body. The performer can remove themselves from the situation, lower arousal levels, set performance goals and use non-aggressive role models. The coach can punish the aggressive player by substituting them, try not to reinforce aggression, set performance goals and and teach them to lower arousal. The official can pre-warn the players, be consistent and fair with decisions and punish aggression immediately. The NGB can ban or fine aggressive players, provide fair play awards and use non-aggressive role models.

Aggression 2 - Theories & Controlling aggression

Decide whether each sporting example is aggression or assertion and if aggression, what type?

Aggression 1 lesson summary

Aggression has 4 criteria: it must be a behaviour, there must be harm or injury, the harm must be suffered by another person and the act must be intentional. The exam board credits a 5th criteria (even though, technically it is incorrect) : it is against the rules of the sport.

Hostile Aggression: is where the primary (only) goal is to hurt the other person. these acts are often an angry / emotional response and will be outside the rules. Examples of hostile aggression are often the worst forms - Mike Tyson biting Holfield's ear, Roy Keane tackling Haaland on the knee and Manu Tuilagi punching Chris Ashton.

Instrumental Aggression: is where the primary goal is to win and the secondary goal (used as the instrument to achieve the win) is aggression. In other words, you are aggressive in order to win. Examples could be a tackle in football where you follow through in order to hurt the start player so they don't play well or boxing.

Assertiveness / Assertion: is where you play physically tough and hard but fair. There is no intent to harm & so any harm is accidental. Assertiveness is NOT aggressive. Examples could be going in 100% to win the ball in a tackle or trying your best to beat your opponent to the ball.

Aggression 1 - types of aggression

Sport Psych Time:

Topic: Aggression 1

(MUST) Find definitions for hostile aggression, instrumental aggression & assertion

(SHOULD) Know the 4(5) criteria for aggression

(COULD) give a sporting example of hostile aggression, instrumental aggression & assertion

Attitudes Lesson Summary

There are 3 components of an attitude - Cognitive (knowledge about the attitude object), Affective (emotions or feelings) and Behavioural (intent how to behave or actual behaviour). 

Attitudes can be measured in the 3 usual ways: Interview, Observation and Questionnaires.

Attitudes are entirely learnt, they are not natural. We learn them from significant others: parents, peers, role models, teachers and coaches. We can also learn them from past experiences and the media.

There are 2 main methods of changing a bad attitude: Persuasive Communication & Cognitive Dissonance. 
Persuasive Communication has 4 main factors in order to be effective. 1. Persuader should be respected or of high status or a role model. 2. Message should be pitched at correct level and be balanced between emotion and logic. 3. Recipient must be willing to listen 4. Situation can help influence e.g. if others are present   
Cognitive Dissonance aims to create dissonance or conflict between the 3 components of the attitude by changing 1 of the components. Cognitive part can be changed by giving the recipient new facts or knowledge. Affective part can be changed by making the experience fun or enjoyable. Behavioural part can be changed by giving reinforcement for positive behaviour. 

Attitudes screencast

Attributions Lesson Summary

Weiner's model 
2 dimensions - Locus of Causality (Internal / External) & Locus of Stability (Stable / Unstable)
4 groups - Ability (Internal / Stable); Task Difficulty (External / Stable); Effort (Internal / Unstable); Luck (External / Unstable)

High Naf performers would tend to attribute success to External-Unstable factors (Luck) & failure to Internal-Stable factors (Lack of Ability). This leads to the performer being in a state of Learned Helplessness - a feeling that failure is inevitable. This can lead to the performer giving up, even when success is possible. There are 2 types of Learned Helplessness - Global: you think you are bad at all sports & Specific: you think you are bad at a specific sport or skill.

Coaches can try to avoid Learned Helplessness through Attribution Retraining - trying to get the performer to give better attributions than those above. There are two main methods of doing this. 1. Controllable (Internal-Unstable) attributions such as effort are good in success or failure as the performer will strive to work hard in the future. 2. Self-serving Bias protects a performer's confidence by attributing failure to External-Unstable factors such as luck and success to Internal-Stable factors such as ability.

Attributions lesson:

Attributions lesson:

Attributions lesson:

Attributions lesson

Achievement Motivation lesson summary

Need to Achieve (Nach) is the satisfaction in success, whereas Need to Avoid Failure (Naf) is the shame experienced in failure... Both motivate us

A performer with high Nach is confident, persistant, approaches a challenge, enjoys feedback, is performance orientated, doesn’t worry about failure and likes to play opponents of a similar level

A performer with high Naf lacks confidence, gives up easily, avoids a challenge, hates feedback, is result orientated and likes to play opponents much better or much worse than them.

Approach behaviour can be encouraged by ensuring success, gradually increasing task difficulty, reinforcing success to improve self efficacy, encouraging risk taking, setting challenging goals,

The situation can also motivate us. Probability of success is how likely victory is and Incentive value of success is the reward gained from the victory. These 2 factors work together to influence how much the situation affects Achievement Motivation. The most motivating situation is when Probability of Success is 50/50

Achievement Motivation screencast

Personality Lesson 2 Summary

Profile of Mood States (Morgan) results showed elite performers to have an "Iceberg profile" with high scores in vigour and low scores in tension, depression, fatigue, confusion and anger compared to non-elite performers. 
We can criticise this as it measures mood, not personality and mood is variable. also not all elite performers have the profile and some non-elite do have it. It is also not surprising performers who are high in tension, depression etc are not performing well. You can also use generic criticisms of questionnaires here.

Personality Profiling has 2 arguments - Credulous approach says it is useful as we can channel performers with certain traits to certain sports (e.g. calm, type B into golf); Sceptical approach says we shouldn't use profiling as other factors are more important (skill levels, physiology etc)

Social Learning Theory suggests the Environment determines behaviour and we adapt our behaviour due to the situation we are in. We learn this behaviour through 2 methods - modelling and reinforcement. We model other people (of high status or if they are similar to us) and if our actions are reinforced we are more likely to do it again.

Interactionist theory suggests personality is determined by an interaction of traits and environment (B=fPE) so is a combination of Trait theory and Social Learning theory. Therefore our behaviour is the same in a stable environment but will change if we change the environment. 
Hollander put forward an Interactionist theory with 3 parts - Psychological core (traits), Typical Responses & Role related behaviour (Social Learning)

Personality Lesson 1 Summary

Trait theory of Personality

Suggests personality is genetic / inherited / innate

Therefore is stable & enduring

Therefore behaviour is consistent or predictable 

Methods of Measuring Personality

Questionnaires

Some advantages:

easy to administer

cheap to produce

produce lot of data

can be used anywhere

usually reliable

Some disadvantages:

Lack of validity as difficult to define what personality is

Misinterpretation of questions

Answers may not be truthful / provide socially desirable answers

Questions may not allow for full answers

biased questions

Situation when completed may not be ideal

Interview

Some advantages:

greater validity than questionnaires

can gather more detailed answers

Some disadvantages:

lower reliability due to different answers

depends on skill of interviewer to ask relevant questions & interpret answers

expensive and time consuming

Observation

Some advantages:

personality profile can be built up over period of time

high ecological validity as takes place in "real life"

Some disadvantages:

subjective

Reliant on skill of the observer

Time consuming / expensive / needs to be completed several times

Observer needs to know normal behaviour patterns of performer for comparison

May need several observers (at the same time)

If performer knows observation is occurring they may behave differently

This article discusses lots of topics from Sport Psych intro lesson, inc nature v nurture, 10,000 hours & deliberate practice, myelin, growth mindset and luck! Are winners born or made?

This video shows Carol Dweck's work about Growth Mindset v Fixed Mindset as discussed in  intro lesson 

Lesson 1: We will look at whether Nature or Nurture is more important in determining behaviour & performance in sport. What do you think?

Sport Psych Topic List:

Here are your topics for study this year in Sport Psych... I've put in brackets the amount of lessons it normally takes for each topic. We will also have recap lessons, exam questions test lessons mixed in and revision lessons towards the end of the year!

Introduction: Nature / Nurture (1)

The Individual Sport Performer:

Personality (2)
Achievement Motivation (1)
Attributions & Learned Helplessness (1)
Attitudes (1)
Aggression (2)

Psychological Skills:

Arousal & Anxiety (3)
Confidence & Self Efficacy (1)
Goal Setting (1)

Social Factors:

Group Dynamics (2)
Leadership (1)
Audience (1)

PHED 3 Exam questions & Markschemes

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Check out this BBC video from the 2012 Olympics BBC coverage about the importance of Sport Pyschology in elite performance