The two features of a sports group are: - Interaction between group members. - A collective identity. 2. Social loafing 4 for 4

1. SPORT
PSYCHOLOGY
1ARISE ROBY

2. THE PERFORMER AS AN
INDIVIDUAL
Unit 1
2ARISE ROBY

3. Is Your “Unique Individual
Make-up”THERE ARE 3THEORIES…
Stable Unstable
Introvert
Extrovert
A
PERSONALITY
1) Trait Theory
-Personality is innate, consistent in all
situations and enduring
-Attempts to “profile” the individual
E.g. Esyenck
4 personality types on a matrix
3ARISE ROBY

4. PERSONALITY (cont…)
2) Social LearningTheory
Personality is:
Learned from significant others e.g. role models,
our peers and the media
Learned from experience by the process
Observe Identify Reinforced Copy
(BANDURA)
4ARISE ROBY

5. PERSONALITY (cont…)
3) InteractionistTheory
-Combines both Trait and Social Learning
theories
-Summarised by the formula B = f (P x E)
-Behaviour is adapted to the situation
-Accounts for behaviour change
5ARISE ROBY

6. PERSONALITY (cont…)
E.g. a boxer is calm at home, but assertive and
determined in the boxing ring.
6ARISE ROBY

7. PROBLEMS WITH PERSONALITY
RESEARCH
PROBLEMS
 Attempts at “profiling” are unsuccessful because:
inconclusive
Personality changes
within the game
Personality changes
when not competing in
the game
 Traits are poor
predictors of behaviour
RESEARCH
unreliable
invalid
7ARISE ROBY

8. HOW TO MEASURE PERSONALITY
Advantages Disadvantages
Questionnaire
Observation
Physiological
Measure
-Efficient
-True to life
-Factual, can
compare
-Biased Answer
-Subjective
-Cumbersome
TASK: Complete the table suggesting 2 advantages
and 2 disadvantages for each method
-Deals with lots of
info
-misunderstand
questions
-During real
game
-Behaviour change
when watched
-During performance -Increased stress
8ARISE ROBY

9. ATTITUDES
THERE ARE THREE PARTS…
“Are states of readiness directed
at attitude objects”
1) Cognitive – Your thoughts
2) Affective – Your feelings
3) Behavioural – Your actions
e.g. a belief in exercise benefits
e.g. enjoying training
e.g. training 3 times a week
9ARISE ROBY

10. FORMATION OF ATTITUDES
Attitudes can be positive or negative
POSITIVEThe Media
Role Models
Influence of
Significant Others
Enjoyable
Experiences
A Belief in
Ability
Stress Release After
Competing
10ARISE ROBY

11. NEGATIVE
The Media
Influence of
Significant Others
A Bad Experience
e.g. an injury
Lack of Ability
Stress in
Competition
FORMATION OF ATTITUDES
11ARISE ROBY

12. CHANGING ATTITUDES
 Persuasion from a ‘perceived expert’
 Make it fun when training
 Allow early success
 Point out the benefits of exercise
 Use positive reinforcement and rewards
 Use role models
 Cognitive Dissonance
Negative attitudes can be changed to positive
attitudes by…
12ARISE ROBY

13. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
“Is a challenge to existing beliefs
causing „disharmony‟ in an individual
and a motivation to change attitudes”
E.g. a rugby player who thinks aerobics is for girls may
change his opinion if told only the fittest people do aerobics
“Is a rugby player fit
enough for this?”
13ARISE ROBY

14. PREJUDICE
“Is an extreme attitude”
FORMED
BY…
EXAMPLES
Influence of
Significant Others
The Media Fitting In With
The Group
Bad Experience
Your TeamOfficials
Gender
Race
Age
14ARISE ROBY

15. PREJUDICE
TASK: Discuss how you as a teacher
or coach could prevent a prejudice in
sport
Cognitive
Dissonance
Media Education
Use Role Models
Punish Unfair
BehaviourReinforce Fair Play
PREVENTION
15ARISE ROBY

16. AGGRESSION IN SPORT
Aggression
Aggression Assertion?
Control
Frustration
- Uncontrolled
- Intent to harm
- Outside rules
- Reactive
- Controlled
- No intent to harm
- Within rules
- Motivated
Assertion
Definitions
16ARISE ROBY

17. AGGRESSION IN SPORT
Aggression Assertion
In most sports it is easy to distinguish between
aggression and assertion, but in some sports it is
a grey area
TASK: Discuss whether you think boxing is aggressive
or assertive
- Intent to harm - Within the rules
- Reactive - Motivated
17ARISE ROBY

18. THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
THERE ARE 4 THEORIES…
1) Instinct Theory
-The aggressive response is innate
- It is a product of our evolution and
will surface under provocation
 Instinct theory suggests we
are born with aggressive
inclinations and we will use
them if we need to
18ARISE ROBY

19. THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
2) The F-A Hypothesis
- Aggression is inevitable when frustrating circumstances
cause our goals to be blocked
E.g. a referee’s decision, poor play or being fouled
- If the aggressive tendency can be released, Catharsis
may occur. If the aggression cannot be released even
more frustration can occur.
19ARISE ROBY

20. THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
2)The F-A Hypothesis (Cont…)
Drive Obstacle Frustration Inevitable Aggression
PunishmentMore Aggression
SuccessCatharsis
 Here is a model to explain the
F-A Hypothesis
20ARISE ROBY

21. THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
3) The Aggression Cue Hypothesis
-Aggression only occurs if learned „cues‟ are present
- Such pre-learned cues, learned from the coach or
other players, trigger the aggressive response
E.g. A coach may have allowed a football player to elbow
the defender as his team works for positions in the penalty
area as a corner is taken. The taking of a corner is a
learned cue for an aggressive response
 Here is a model to explain the Aggression Cue Hypothesis
Goals Blocked
Aggression Unlikely
Aggression Likely
No Cues Present
Cues Present
Arousal
21ARISE ROBY

22. THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
4) Social Learning Theory
- Aggression is learned from experience, coaches, role
models and significant others
- Aggressive behaviour will be copied if it is reinforced
Observe Identify Reinforced Copy
- Bandura suggested that children will copy the
aggressive behaviour of adults, especially in a live
situation
E.g. A basketball player sees her team captain foul an
opponent she is marking closely and the opposing player
is put off her game
22ARISE ROBY

23. CAUSES OF AGGRESSION
Aggression
In Sport
Over Arousal
EnvironmentContact
Unfair
Decisions
Frustration
Personality
Traits Intimidation
Stress
Type of Sport Social LearningImportance of Event
Losing Expectations Blow to self esteem
23ARISE ROBY

24. HOW TO PREVENT AGGRESSION
Coach Player
TASK: Can you complete the table suggesting 4
measures a coach could take and 3 measures a
player could take to prevent aggression?
- Punish of substitute a
player
- Reinforce non-aggressive
acts
- Promote peer group
pressure
- Set non-aggressive
goals
- Use relaxation techniques
- Practice mental rehearsal
- Channel the aggressive
response
24ARISE ROBY

25. UNIT 1 – EXAM QUESTIONS
1. Use an example from sport to illustrate what is
meant by the intentionalist approach to personality?
(4 marks)
2. Give an example of a prejudice that may occur in
sport and show how such a prejudice may have been
formed. (4 marks)
3. Define the term aggression as used in sport
psychology and explain how a coach of a sports team
could eliminate the aggressive tendencies of his or her
players. (4 marks)
25ARISE ROBY

26. 1. Interactionist approach 3 marks from 3 of:
-B = f(PxE)
-Combines trait and social learning
- Innate characteristics are adapted to the situation
- Accounts for behaviour change
-1 mark for example
UNIT 1 – EXAM ANSWERS
26ARISE ROBY

27. UNIT 1 – EXAM ANSWERS
2. Prejudice 1 mark for example
- Racism/ sexism/ ageism/ gender/ officials
3 marks from 3 of
- Social learning
- Media
- Peer group pressure
- Historical influences
- Bad past experience over valued
27ARISE ROBY

28. UNIT 1 – EXAM ANSWERS
3. Aggression
1 mark for definition
-Intent to harm/ outside rules/ reactive
3 marks for 3 ways to eliminate
- Punishment of aggression/ substitution
- Reinforce fair play
-Promote peer group pressure
- Set non aggressive goals
28ARISE ROBY

29. THE PERFORMER IN A
TEAM
Unit 2
29ARISE ROBY

30. SPORTS GROUPS
 A group has the following features:
- Interaction between group members.
-A collective identity.
- Shared objectives or a common goal.
30ARISE ROBY

31. STEINER’S MODEL OF GROUP
PERFORMANCE
Actual Productivity = Potential Productivity – Losses due to
Faulty Processes
 Actual Productivity is the result
 Potential Productivity is the groups best performance
 Faulty Processes include the things that go wrong
such as lack of cohesion, poor group co-ordination and
motivational losses
31ARISE ROBY

32. GROUP CO-ORDINATION
Lack of co-ordination may be caused by:
Poor
Strategies
Bad Timing
Misunderstanding of roles
or the coaches instructions
Poor Tactics
Lack of
communication
Caused by
32ARISE ROBY

33. THE TYPE OF SPORT AFFECTS
CO-ORDINATION
TASK: Discuss how much co-ordination is
needed in the following sports:
Marathon Running
Netball
Double Sculls Rowing
The more people involved the
more co-ordination is needed.
Individual sports need less co-
ordination than co-active sports
(a pair) and team interactive
sports need most co-ordination
Answer:
33ARISE ROBY

34. MOTIVATIONAL LOSSES-SOCIAL
LOAFING
 Social loafing is a loss of individual motivation due to lack
of performance identification
Caused by
A belief your
effort won‟t
change the
results
Others
not trying
Lack of
reinforcement
Low ability Low confidence
Others may cover
for you 34ARISE ROBY

35. TASK: Now that you know what causes
social loafing, how could you prevent it?
Prevention
Highlighting individual
performanceStatistics
Peer group
pressure
Give roles
Set goals
SOCIAL LOAFING
35ARISE ROBY

36. MOTIVATIONAL LOSSES IN THE
GROUP
The Ringlemann Effect states that:
“Group performance decreases with group size”
 A study of “tug of war” found that a team of
eight did not pull eight times as hard as an
individual !!
36ARISE ROBY

37. GROUP COHESION
The desire of the group members to achieve
their goals
Affected
by
Past
success
Likelihood of
future
success
Sharing common
goals
Unequal pay
or rewards
Communication
Threats to the
team
Similarity of
group members
Type of sportSize of
group
Personality
37ARISE ROBY

38. GROUP COHESION (cont…)
TASK: As a coach, discuss how you would ensure your
team works together in a cohesive manner:
Promoted by:  Goal Setting
 Promoting group identity
 Interactive drills in training
 Giving roles
 Clear tactics
38ARISE ROBY

39. MODEL OF COHESION
Attraction –
What gets you to the
group
Integration –
How the group “gel”
Task Cohesion –
Achievement
Social cohesion – How
group members get on
Cohesion
Attraction Integration
Task Social Task Social
Athletes are attracted to the
sport for social purposes and
to make progress (task)
Only in the team they must
interact with others (social)
and try to achieve their goals.
39ARISE ROBY

40. LEADERSHIP
THERE 2 TYPES OF LEADER…
1) Prescribed
2) Emergent
- Appointed by an outside source E.g. Sven Goran Eriksson
- From within the group
Qualities of a
Leader
Charisma
Motivator
Communicator
Skills
Experience
Empathy
40ARISE ROBY

41. LEADERSHIP STYLES
Six styles a leader can adopt are:
1) Autocratic
3) Training
6) Laissez Faire
5) Social Support
4) Rewarding
2) Democratic
- Dictates to the group and makes all the decisions
- Listens to group ideas before deciding on action
- Structured skills and drills
- Motivational strategies such as praise and rewards e.g
“player of the match”
- One to one feedback
- No leader input, leaving the group to get on with it 41ARISE ROBY

42. THE CHOICE OF LEADERSHIP STYLE
CAN DEPEND ON HOW GOOD THE
SITUATION IS
 Fielders Contingency Model
Autocratic – Leader is best in a positive (Most Favourable) or negative (least favourable situation)
Autocratic
Most favourable
Clear Task
Group get on
Strong leader
Democratic Autocratic
Least favourable
Unclear task
Hostile group
Weak leader
Democratic – Leader is best in moderately favourable
situation
42ARISE ROBY

43. ACCORDING TO CHELLADURAI
3 FACTORS AFFECT LEADERSHIP
Group Leader
Situation
TASK: Can you give
examples from sport of
situation, group and leader
variables?
43ARISE ROBY

44. LEADERSHIP (cont…)
Situation can be affected by:
 Time available
 Type of task
 Danger
Leader can be affected by:
 Leader characteristics
 Preferences
Group can be affected by:
 Group size
 Group ability
 Group hostility 44ARISE ROBY

45. FACTORS AFFECTING CHOICE OF
LEADERSHIP STYLES - SUMMARY
The more leaders actual behaviour matches the needs of
the group and the demands of the situation the more
satisfaction is gained from the performance.
Situation Demands
Leader
Group
Actual
Prefer
=
=
Satisfaction
 Chelladurai
 Leadership is affected by 3 factors:
45ARISE ROBY

46. ARE LEADERS BORN OR MADE?
 Leaders are born
with innate
characteristics
Some argue that: Others say that:
 Leaders learn from
experience or role
models
But perhaps:
 Leaders adapt to the situation
NATURE NURTURE
INTERACTION
46ARISE ROBY

47. Conduct a class discussion or
debate on the motion
“All leaders are born great and
male!”
Perhaps the boys would like to argue
against the girls in this discussion!!
47ARISE ROBY

48. GOAL SETTING
Setting targets improves performance because:
 Allows targets to be met
 Builds confidence
 Provides motivation
 Lowers arousal
48ARISE ROBY

49. TYPES OF GOALS
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Steps to success
Process goals about technique
Performance goals about beating your last
attempt
Outcome or product goals.
The ultimate aim!
Short term
goals
Long term
goals
49ARISE ROBY

50. CONSIDERATIONS WHEN GOAL
SETTING
S pecific
 M easured
 E xciting
 A greed
 R ealistic, but challenging
 T imed
 R ecorded
 Goals should not just concern winning, not everyone
can win.
 Personal performance goals provide intrinsic motivation
and can be achieved by everyone! 50ARISE ROBY

51. UNIT 2 – EXAM QUESTIONS
1. Name two features of a sports group. (2 marks)
2. What is meant by the term social loafing and
how can a sports coach help to prevent social
loafing occurring in their team? (4 marks)
3. Explain three factors that could influence the
choice of style chosen by the leader of a sports
group. (3 marks)
51ARISE ROBY

52. UNIT 2 – EXAM ANSWERS
1. Group features 2 for 2 of:
- Shared common goals
- Interaction
- Common identity
52ARISE ROBY

53. UNIT 2 – EXAM ANSWERS
2. Social Loafing
1 mark for definition
-Loss of individual motivation in a group due to
lack of performance identification
Prevention of social loafing, 3 marks for 3 of:
-Highlight individual performance
- Statistics
- Set goals
- Give roles
- promote peer group pressure
53ARISE ROBY

54. UNIT 2 – EXAM ANSWERS
3. Leadership choice, 3 for 3 of:
-Situation – danger/time/facilities
- Leader – characteristics/personality
- Group – size/ability/hostility
54ARISE ROBY

55. Unit 3
EMOTIONAL CONTROL
IN SPORT
55ARISE ROBY

56. CONFIDENCE IN SPORT
Is a “Belief in your ability to master a situation”
According to Vealey confidence is based on:
1. Personality-
Your level of competitiveness and
achievement motivation
2. Experience-
Your amount of past success on the task and
your belief in your ability to succeed in future
3. Situation-
Playing at home or away for example
56ARISE ROBY

57. TRAIT V STATE CONFIDENCE
Trait Confidence –
Is innate confidence shown in most situations
 State confidence –
The interaction between these two is
important. A naturally confident hockey
player who has taken many penalty flicks
before will be very confident of scoring
from the spot in future games.
Is situation specific e.g.
Taking a penalty
57ARISE ROBY

58. CONFIDENCE-SELF EFFICACY
THEORY
 4 factors affect confidence in any situation
According to Bandura
1. Performance Accomplishments-
What you have done before
2. Vicarious Experience-
Seeing others do it
3. Verbal Persuasion-
Encouragement
4. Emotional Arousal
Your level of anxiety
 If all 4 factors are positive then a
highly satisfactory performance will
result 58ARISE ROBY

59. PROMOTING CONFIDENCE
TASK: Taking into account the 4 influences on self
efficacy, how could a coach develop confidence in his o
hers players?
Promoting
Confidence
Attribute success
internally
Use positive
reinforcement
and
encouragement
Set attainable
yet challenging
goals
Show similar
aged role
models
successfully
doing the task
Control
arousal with
relaxation
techniques Allow early
success
Give accurate
demonstrations
59ARISE ROBY

60. ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION
 Is the desire with which competitive
situations are approached or avoided
 The degree of competitiveness
can be a personality trait, and/or it
can be developed through sporting
experiences and change with the
situation
60ARISE ROBY

61. ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION (cont…)
Atkinson suggested 2 personality types:
1. NACH 2. NAF
- Welcome competition
- They take risks
- Welcome feedback
- Like a challenge
- Try harder after failure
- The need to achieve - The need to avoid failure
- Avoid competition
- Take the easy option
- Give up easily
- Do not take responsibility
for their actions
61ARISE ROBY

62. THE DEGREE OF ACHIEVEMENT
MOTIVATION IS INFLUENCED BY THE
TASK AND SITUATION
COMPETITIVENESS
Have I done it
before?
How motivated
am i?
Am I in a familiar
environment?
Task
How easy
How hard
What’s the
incentive?
How will I
feel if I
succeed?
TASK:
Place the influences on achievement motivation listed above in
rank order according to how important they are in promoting
competitiveness and confidence. 62ARISE ROBY

63. AROUSAL IN SPORT
 Arousal is an energised state of readiness to perform
 Increases in arousal can be cause by:
- Simply being watched
- By a challenging situation such as a major game
 The relationship between arousal and
performance is explained by a number of theories
TASK: Give some examples of
situations in sport that may cause high
levels of arousal
63ARISE ROBY

64. DRIVE THEORY
 Is explained by the formula P = f (D x H)
 Initial motivation causes increased
drive, more effort, more success and a
repetition of the same response
 At high arousal we pick up less
information and focus on the dominant
response.
- If the task is simple or the performer is
an expert then this response will be
correct.
- If the task is complex or the performer is
a novice then performance may be
impaired 64ARISE ROBY

65. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AROUSAL AND
PERFORMANCE
Performance
Arousal
 Drive Theory
High
Low High
65ARISE ROBY

66. Inverted U
Performance
ArousalLow High
High
Under Over
Moderate
 Increased arousal
improves performance but
only to a moderate level after
which more arousal causes
performance to suffer
 Under and over arousal can be equally bad for
performance
66ARISE ROBY

67. A moderate level of arousal
is not always the best
At low arousal At high arousal
- Introverts perform best
because they already
have high adrenaline
levels
- A novice performs best
because they need to
concentrate on lots of info
- Fine and complex skills are
performed best because they
require control and decision
making
- Extroverts can tolerate
extra adrenaline
- Experts are used to
the pressure and can
operate on limited info
- Gross and simple
skills are performed
best because they
need less control and
decision making 67ARISE ROBY

68. CATASTROPHE THEORY
 Increased arousal improves performance to a point but an
intense combination of somatic and cognitive anxieties
causes a dramatic deterioration in performance
Low
High
High
Arousal
Performance
Quality
 Is an adaptation of the Inverted U
 To return to adequate performance the
athlete must relax to the point before the
catastrophe occurred 68ARISE ROBY

69. THE ZONE OF OPTIMUM
FUNCTIONING
 According to Hanin athletes perform best not at a point
(inverted u) but in an area or “zone” that is reached by
advanced cognitive techniques such as imagery and
visualisation
In Zone Out Of Zone
Out of Zone In Zone Out of Zone
Out of Zone In Zone
Athlete A
Low Zone
Athlete B
Moderate Zone
Athlete C
High Zone
Low High
Anxiety Level
 The zone is an adapted version of the Inverted U
69ARISE ROBY

70. THE ZONE
TASK:
Athlete A performs best at a low arousal zone
Athlete B at moderate arousal
Athlete C at high arousal
 Give examples from sport of tasks
that would be appropriate for athlete
A, B and C
70ARISE ROBY

71. ANSWERS:
Athlete A – Low arousal
Athlete B – Moderate arousal
Athlete C – High arousal
Golf Putt
Rugby Tackle
Volleyball block
71ARISE ROBY

72. FEATURES OF THE ZONE
Extreme confidence
Outcome
assured
Automatic
control
Total focus Effortless smooth
performance
Relaxed
Anxiety is low
Energised yet
calm
72ARISE ROBY

73. STRESS IN SPORT
 Is a response to a demanding situation or threat
If we think we can match the threat a positive and confident
performance results.
If we think we can‟t meet the demands of the situation, distress
results.
Our perception of the situation is important. Can we hack it?
Positive Negative
We think we can
beat the threat
We think we can‟t
meet the demands of
the situation = anxiety
73ARISE ROBY

74. A SUMMARY OF STRESS
Stressors Stress Response Stress Experience
Conflict
Competition
Climate
Frustration
Crowd
Fatigue
Alarm
Resist
Exhaust
Includes increases
in heart rate,
sweating and
increased
adrenaline
Positive
Or
Negative
Depends on your
perception.
Can you meet the
threat?
74ARISE ROBY

75. TASK: Explain, using examples from sport, what
you think is meant by “conflict”, “competition” and
“frustration” as stressors.
Answer:
Conflict:-
Playing against an established international
player
Competition:-
Reaching a major final with lots of athletes
close to your p.b
Frustration:-
Being fouled just when you are about to
score the equalising goal
75ARISE ROBY

76. ANXIETY
Is a negative aspect of stress. Characterised by
irrational thinking, loss of concentration and fear
of failure
Anxiety
isTrait State
- Personality trait
- Consistent
- Stable
- Anxious behaviour
all the time
- A player worrying
before all games
- Situation dependant
- Temporary rush of
anxiety
- Caused by
threatening
circumstances
- E.g. taking a
penalty 76ARISE ROBY

77. CAUSES OF ANXIETY
 Worries about:
Causes
Letting the
team down
Playing badly
Injury
Meeting training
demands
Running out
of time when
losing
Pleasing the
crowd
77ARISE ROBY

78. THE SCAT TEST
Statements Hardly ever Sometimes Often
1) Competing
against others is
socially
enjoyable
2) Before I
compete I feel
uneasy
3) Before I
compete I worry
about not playing
well
4) I am a good
sportsperson
when I compete
5) When I
compete I worry
about making
mistakes
Tick appropriate box e.g.
78ARISE ROBY

79. THE SCAT TEST (cont…)
Statements Hardly ever Sometimes Often
6) Competing
against others is
socially
enjoyable
7) Before I
compete I feel
uneasy
8) Before I
compete I worry
about not playing
well
9) I am a good
sportsperson
when I compete
View the next slide for how to calculate your SCAT score
79ARISE ROBY

80. HOW TO SCORE THE SCAT TEST
For each statement, 3 responses are possible:
The test items are 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9
Items 1, 4 and 7 are not scored
 Items 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9 are scored
according to the following key:
Hardly ever = 1
Sometimes = 2
Often = 3
 Item 6 is scored as follows:
Often = 1
Sometimes = 2
Hardly ever = 3
 The higher the
score, the higher is
your competitive
anxiety 80ARISE ROBY

81. SPORTS COMPETITION ANXIETY TEST
(SCAT)
(Martens)
 A questionnaire that measures anxiety
cause by sporting competition
 The main findings of the test are:-
1) Anxiety is interactive.
State and Trait effects combine. A natural worrier
would be even more nervous taking a penalty.
If you have the trait you‟re more likely to get the
state.
2) Athletes are not equally anxious all the time
3) Being watched is a main cause of anxiety
4) Anxiety is therefore multi- dimensional
81ARISE ROBY

82. ANXIETY CAN BE PRESENT IN
TWO WAYS
Somatic Cognitive
- Physical - of the body
- Muscular tension
- Shaking
- Pacing
- Poor co-ordination
- Sweating
- Increased heart rate
- In the mind
- Irrational thinking
- Worrying
- Confusion
- Loss of concentration
82ARISE ROBY

83. MULTI DIMENSIONAL ANXIETY
 Somatic anxiety mirrors the inverted U. Increases in
somatic anxiety improve performance to a point after
which performance deteriorates
Performance
Quality
Level of State Anxiety
Cognitive Anxiety
Somatic Anxiety
The Relationship Between Anxiety And Performance
 Cognitive anxiety has a linear effect. Increases in
cognitive anxiety makes performance worse.
83ARISE ROBY

84. MULTI DIMENSIONAL ANXIETY
 Cognitive anxieties and present well before a major sporting
event but somatic anxiety emerges just before the game.
Lack of physical signs during the days leading up to the game
does not mean lack of anxiety
Cognitive Anxiety
Somatic Anxiety
1 Week Before Day
before
2hrs
before
1hr
before
Start of
Event
Time to Event
84ARISE ROBY

85. TO CONTROL ANXIETY AND STRESS
 Controlling cognitive anxiety
Imagery-
Using the senses
to recreate a past
success. Attempts
to build confidence
Visualisation-
Creating a mental
picture of doing a
task in a real game
situation, and
succeeding
Mental Rehearsal-
Going over the
performance in the
mind, maybe rehearse
a sequence
Positive Self
Talk-
Convincing
yourself you
can do it or
reminding
yourself of
tactics
Goal Setting-
Motivating yourself by
setting targets
Cognitive
85ARISE ROBY

86. CONTROLLING SOMATIC ANXIETY
Somatic
Progressive
relaxation
techniques-
Used to relieve
muscular
tension
Biofeedback-
Used to test
which of the
anxiety control
methods works
best for you
Breathing
exercises-
Learn to control
breathing to
reduce anxiety
86ARISE ROBY

87. ATTENTION IN SPORT
FOCUSING ON RELEVANT CUES
 Niddefer argued that the performer must choose the
right attentional style for the right situation
 The styles are:
 Broad-
Attending to several stimuli
with wide vision
 Narrow-
Focusing on one or
two cues
 External-
Looking at the
environment
 Internal-
Inner thoughts
87ARISE ROBY

88. SUMMARY OF ATTENTION IN
SPORT
Broad
Narrow
External Internal
Position of players
in a game e.g.
Midfield in soccer
Focus on the ball
e.g. Golf ball to hole
Analyse and plan.
Coaches tactics after
watching the game
Mental Rehearsal
Focus at the start
88ARISE ROBY

89. CUE UTILISATION-
EASTERBROOK
 The amount of information we can
process is related to our level of
activation or arousal
 At low arousal we have a broad
attentional field, take in many cues but can
become confused
 At high arousal the attentional field
narrows and we only focus on a few
cues, maybe missing relevant information
 At moderate arousal we
focus on the relevant stimuli
89ARISE ROBY

90. EFFECTS OF ATTENTION
OVERLOAD
TASK: What do you think might happen to a sports
performer who has too much information to deal with?
Answer:
Loss of
concentration
Increased
anxiety
Too much
attention on
irrelevant cues
A tendency to fall
back on the
dominant responseConfusion
Effects
90ARISE ROBY

91. SOCIAL FACILITATION
The Effects Of Others On Performance
4) Co-Actors -
 According to Zajonc there are 4 types of others
present in sport:
1) An audience -
Just watches
2) Competitors -
Are in conflict with
the performer
3) Supporters -
Encourage or
criticise
performance
Are doing the
sport alongside
you
91ARISE ROBY

92. HERE ARE SOME FEATURES OF
SOCIAL FACILITATION
 Inhibition -
- When performance
is made worse
 Facilitation -
- When
performance is
improved
 Audience -
 Evaluation
Apprehension -
 Dominant
Response -
 Increased Arousal
- Focusing on one or
two cues as our ability
to take in information
reduces
- The fear of being
judged
- Watching
performance
92ARISE ROBY

93. TASK: Can you put these features (from the
previous slide) in the order you think they would
occur?
1) Dominant Response
2) Evaluation Apprehension
3) Audience
4) Increased Arousal
SUMMARY OF FACILITATION/
INHIBITION
5) Inhibition
6) Facilitation
93ARISE ROBY

94. SUMMARY OF FACILITATION/
INHIBITION
Audience
IncreasedArousal
Evaluation Apprehension
Dominant Response
Improved performance
Simple Task
Impaired performance
Complex Task/
beginner
Answer:
1
2
3
4
FACILITATION INHIBITION
5
94ARISE ROBY

95. COPING WITH AN AUDIENCE
 To combat the pressure of being watched coaches and
players should:
Focus on
the task
Train in front
of a crowd
Lower arousal
with relaxation
techniques
Decrease the
importance of the
event
95ARISE ROBY

96. EVALUATION APPREHENSION
 Is the perceived fear of being judged
 This fear is made worse if:
Audience is
know to us
We are
lacking
confidence
Audience
are critical
Audience are
experts e.g.
chief scouts
Evaluation
Apprehension
96ARISE ROBY

97. DISTRACTION/ CONFLICT THEORY
 Explains that it is hard to be multi-tasked and concentrate
on two things at once.
Task
Distraction
Conflict Arousal Performance effects
 Conflict between task and distraction causes increased
arousal, anxiety and lack of concentration
 When playing sport and trying to concentrate on task
demands we may be distracted by both internally (our
anxieties) and externally (the crowd)
97ARISE ROBY

98. ATTRIBUTION
 The perceived causes of events
 The reasons we give for winning/ losing can effect future effort
 The reasons for winning/ losing can be within our control or not
our fault – The “Causality” dimension
 They can be permanent or changeable – “Stability”
- An internal reason is within our control
- An external reasons is out of our control
- A stable reason is unlikely to change
in the short term
- An unstable reason can change from minute
to minute 98ARISE ROBY

99. A FRAMEWORK FOR ATTRIBUTION
Reasons you might give for winning or losing a game
could be…
Your ability Luck
The effort you put in
Coaching you
have been given
Playing a good
team
The amount of
practice you did
The officials
99ARISE ROBY

100. A FRAMEWORK FOR ATTRIBUTION
Ability Coaching
Effort
Amount Of
Practice
Luck
Task
Officials
Internal External
Stable
Unstable
Stability
Causality
TASK: Can you put the reasons from the previous
slide into the model below
100ARISE ROBY

101. SELF SERVING BIAS
 We like to attribute success to internal and stable factors and
losing to external factors beyond our control
 Therefore if your team lost, the blame can
fall on the ref, luck, or quality of opposition
and If you played well, its put down to effort
and ability
 Praise effort and reward ability to ensure
your players keep trying
101ARISE ROBY

102. LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
 It is a belief that failure is inevitable, caused
by blaming internal/ stable reasons for losing
 Global learned helplessness means you
think you can‟t succeed at all, specific
learned helplessness relates to one sport
 To counter learned helplessness you should:
- Get away from internal reasons such as ability and
blame, the coach, your tactics, your equipment or
other external reasons
- Introduce attributional re-training
- Be positive
 It occurs when you blame yourself for losing
102ARISE ROBY

103. ATTRIBUTION – CONTINUE
EFFORT
Explain early failure
Allow early success
Stress personal
improvement
Make it fun
TASK: As a coach, given your knowledge of
attribution, how could you ensure that your players
continue to try in the future?
Attribute success internally
Blame external
reasons for failures
Attribution
103ARISE ROBY

104. UNIT 3 – EXAM QUESTIONS
1. Identify one main method of measuring stress in
sport and give three ways in which a coach can help
an athlete to reduce stress. (4 marks)
2. Explain the factors that could affect performance
when playing in front of a large crowd at an important
local match. (4 marks)
3. Use examples from sport to illustrate the factors a
coach must consider when setting goals for an
athlete. (4 marks)
104ARISE ROBY

105. UNIT 3 – EXAM ANSWERS
1. Stress measure 1 mark for:
- questionnaire e.g SCAT/ observation/
physiological responses
3 marks for three of:
- Reduce importance of event
- Goal setting
- Teach relaxation techniques
- Point out past successes
- Counter athletes negative perception
105ARISE ROBY

106. UNIT 3 – EXAM ANSWERS
2. Playing in front of a crowd, 4 from 4 of:
-Increased arousal
- Playing away/home field advantage
- Experts could play better
- Novices could play worse
- Proximity of crowd
- Evaluation apprehension/knowledge of crowd
- Crowd known to you
- Simple tasks performed well
- Complex tasks performed worse
106ARISE ROBY

107. UNIT 3 – EXAM ANSWERS
3. Goal Setting, 4 marks from 4 of (must
have examples):
SMARTER
-Specific
- Measured
- Agreed
- Realistic
- Timed
-Exciting
-Recorded
107ARISE ROBY