Monday 17 March 2014

Cavazos, The effects of arousal on sports performance [online] Available from: http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6868363_effects-arousal-sports-performance.html [Monday 10th March 2014]


LinkedIn Corporation (2014), Beating sports stress [online] Available from: http://www.slideshare.net/dmevela/beating-sports-stress-how-does-stress-affect-sports-performance-and-how-you-can-cope-with-it [ Monday 10th March 2014]

Harry Guntrip (1961) Personality Structure and human interaction [online] London British Libary cataloguing Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YsvnV4jtGJ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA15&dq=freud+1933+psychodynamic+theory+personality&ots=Q1QfLOIMJw&sig=M1QaLnrRaiytGJ9UX0SgCYxTU68#v=onepage&q=freud%201933%20psychodynamic%20theory%20personality&f=false [Monday 10th March 2014]

Weinburg & Gould (2007), Foundations of sport and exercise psychology, 4th ed, Human Kinetics, United States.

Arousal, Stress and Anxiety



History

Anecdotal evidence suggests ability to cope with pressure is vital for success in sport.
Descriptive research confirms this idea: Gould et al. (2002) found that ability to regulate arousal levels is associated with optimal athletic performance.
“Anxiety” is a construct with three main dimensions - cognitive, somatic and behavioural.
At cognitive level, anxiety involves worry and negative appraisal of self/future.
At somatic level, anxiety involves rapid heart beat, increased perspiration, shortness of breath and other stress symptoms.
At behavioural level, anxiety involves tension, agitation and restlessness.
Anxiety has two main types - state anxiety (transient, situation-specific dread) and trait anxiety (general, enduring trait of apprehension)
“Arousal” is a form of undifferentiated bodily energy or alertness which ranges on a continuum from low (in sleep) to high (intense excitement)
Whereas arousal involves undifferentiated energy, anxiety is an emotional label for a negatively interpreted arousal experience
Many top athletes view pre-competitive arousal as sign of excitement rather than anxiety.
For example, Tiger Woods (2001): “the challenge is hitting good golf shots when you have to … to do it when the nerves are fluttering, the heart pounding, the palms sweating … that’s the thrill”.
Research suggests that arousal can have either a debilitative or a facilitative effect on performance depending on how it is perceived by athlete (Jones and Swain, 1992).
This finding suggests that anxiety scales need to measure direction as well as intensity of emotion.


Arousal

General physiological and psychological activation of the organism that varies on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement.
(Gould & Krane, 1992)

Arousal is a blend of physiology and psychological activity in a person, and it refers to the intensity dimensions of motivation at a particular moment. The instenstiy of arousal falls along a continuum ranging from not at all aroused to completely aroused (deep sleep – intense excitement)

Anxiety is a negative emotional state with feelings of worry, nervousness, and apprehension associated with activation or arousal of the body.

Physiological state of readiness and psychological activation.
Involves the autonomic nervous system.
Body’s way of preparing you for “fight or flight”.

Yerkes-Dodson Law



Arousal has multiple effects on athletic performance during sports. Arousal enhances blood flow and oxygen in the brain, neural and musculoskeletal systems. Arousal stimulates adrenalin and other stimulant hormone production. Arousal that is excessively high or low hurts athletic performance. Some effects of arousal on sports performance include muscular tension, decision-making speed, concentration and focus, rhythm and coordination.


Arousal increases muscular tension by stimulating blood flow. People with low arousal levels exhibit less tension than people with heightened arousal levels heightened blood flow and muscular tension is necessary for performance during sports and athletic activities. But excessive muscular tension hinders athletic performance because muscle tissue is too stiff to respond appropriately. Stiff muscles may exhibit delayed reactions, early reactions, too much force or too little force. Athletes with muscular tension that is too low exhibit delayed reactions and too little force.

Arousal affects decision making by stimulated blood flow and oxygen to the brain and neuronal system. People with lower arousal levels exhibit slower decision-making than people with heightened arousal levels. Quick decision-making is necessary for performance during sports and athletic activities for calculating and planning and bodily movements. Excessively fast decision-making hinders athletic performance because it leads to erratic decisions that do not effectively evaluate situations. Low arousal and decision-making that is excessively slow hinders athletic performance because these athletes do not have the capacity to adequately calculate responses or response speeds.

Arousal enhances focus and concentration by stimulating adrenalin and other stimulating hormone secretion in the brain. People with low arousal levels may exhibit low concentration and focus that is similar to someone that has just woken from sleep. People with higher arousal levels exhibit heightened concentration and focus. Concentration and focus is necessary for performance during sports and athletic activities to establish competitive advantage against opponents perform efficiently or evaluate situations thoroughly). Excessively heightened concentration and focus hinders athletic performance, because it can lead to hypersensitivity to irrelevant stimuli or blind athletes to other relevant information. Likewise, low concentration and focus hurts athletic performance, because these athletes do not the capacity to perceive and respond to relevant sensory information.


Arousal affects rhythm and coordination by stimulated blood flow and oxygen to the brain, neural and musculoskeletal system. People with lower arousal levels exhibit less rhythm and coordination than people with heightened arousal levels. Rhythm and coordination is necessary for performance during sports and athletic activities to complete precise and efficient muscular movements. Excessive arousal hinders athletic performance because it reduces rhythm and coordination. Low arousal and excessively low rhythm and coordination hinder athletic performance, because these athletes do not have the capacity to perform precise muscular movements.

Stress

A substantial imbalance between and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet demands has important consequences (this is typically what we think of as Distress but we can have Eustress). (McGrath 1970)

Non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it.
Unemotional bodily response to some type of stressor.
Can be either good or bad, depending upon the individual’s personal interpretation.
  • Eustress (e.g., winning a lottery).
  • Distress (e.g., receiving a failing grade on a test) .

Stress is a ‘perceived inability to cope with perceived demands’

When demands are seen as negative and threatening…these types of demands are known as STRESSORS!!

  • Threaten our self-esteem
  • Cause personal harm
  • Create uncertainty or fear of the unknown
  • Create frustration
  • Create pressure

There are many different types of triggers that can cause stress:

  • Internal-things we think about e.g. past memories and experiences, current injuries and our own feelings of self worth.
  • External- things in our environment e.g. competition, weather, spiders, transport problems
  • Personal factors-People we share our lives with friends, family, and life factors e.g. money and health
  • Occupational factors-job we do, people we work with and the work conditions. In sport that could be the relationship with team mates etc.


Example


Demand – the stressor (PowerPoint presentation in front of a crowd)

Perception of demand (this is going to be nerve wracking, what if I forget my words and have done it wrong?)

Stress response – arousal of the body and anxiety (shaky voice, sweaty palms, heart rate thumping)

Outcome – poor performance

Before, during or even after a sports event, stress can affect you in many ways that would ultimately determine the outcome of your performance. Under the negative effects of stress a form of psychological tension eg) performance anxiety may develop which has a tendency to distract you from staying focused which in turn would adversely affect the outcome of your performance in any sports event. 

In addition to the psychological effects of stress, we may also experience negative physical effects of stress. Your body may experience physical tension.


Anxiety

Anxiety is a negative emotional state characterized by nervousness, worry and apprehension and associated with activation or arousal of the body. Thus, anxiety has a thought component called cognitive anxiety. It also has a somatic anxiety component, which is a degree of physical activation perceived. In addition to the distinction between cognitive and somatic anxiety, another important distinction to make is between state and trait anxiety.

Tension and worry that results from distress
A negatively charged emotional state characterized by discomfort and nervousness
Two forms of anxiety:
  • Trait anxiety: a personality characteristic.
  • State anxiety: a “right now” kind of anxiety.

Trait Anxiety-

A motive or acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening.

State Anxiety-

Emotional state characterized by subjective, consciously perceived feelings of apprehension and tension, accompanied by additional arousal.
nb: varies according to perceived threat.




Two components of state anxiety:

  • Cognitive state anxiety  (psychological component)
  • Caused by fear of failure .
  • Result of worrying.
  • “I am afraid I am going to lose”.
  • Somatic state anxiety (physical component)
  • perception of physiological responses.
  • “I feel nervous before a major contest”.



Drive Theory

“Drive theory” (e.g. Hull, 1943) postulates a linear relationship between arousal and performance
Largely rejected as simplistic and inaccurate (e.g. cannot explain why some athletes “choke” under high arousal)





The diagram shows that the higher the arousal levels the higher the performance levels are going to be. 

Psychologist first saw the relationship between arousal and performance as direct and linear (Spence & Spence, 1966). According to this view called Drive Theory, as an individuals arousal or state anxiety increases, so too does the performance. The more psyched up an athlete becomes, for example, the better that individual performs.

Inverted-U” hypothesis 
(e.g. Oxendine, 1984).

Suggests that arousal and performance are related in curvilinear manner: increased arousal held to improve performance up to certain point beyond which further increases may impair it.

This theory seems plausible but is difficult to test  empirically due to a lack of independent measures of arousal and inadequate specification of point beyond which diminishing returns occur.





Relationship between somatic anxiety and performance takes the form of an inverted-U.

Relationship between cognitive anxiety and athletic performance has been shown to be linear and negative.
Increases in somatic anxiety are associated with improved athletic performance up to a certain optimal level; therefore, athletes should attempt to increase their somatic anxiety up to an optimal level by “psyching-up”.
The lower the level of cognitive state anxiety, the better the athlete will perform; therefore, athletes must learn to deal with the symptoms of cognitive anxiety.

The relationship between arousal states and performance levels. The view holds that at low arousal levels, performance will be low. The athlete is not psyched up, as arousal increases so does performance up to the optimal point where best performance results. Further increases in arousal, however, cause performance to decline. So this view is represented by and inverted U that reflects high performance with the optimal level of arousal and lesser performance with either low or very high arousal. 


The “catastrophe” theory model 
(Hardy, 1996).



Suggests that arousal has different effects on sport performance depending on cognitive anxiety.

Specifically, it increases performance when cognitive anxiety is low but may may lead to a sudden (catastrophic) decline in performance when cognitive anxiety is relatively high.
Some support for catastrophe theory but its complexity makes it difficult to test.





  • Deterioration is much more extreme.
  • Can not be put right by merely calming down.
  • Going over the top!
  • Ability to concentrate.
  • Recovery can be very difficult.
  • Requires mental toughness.
According to this model, performance depends on the complex interaction of arousal and cognitive anxiety. The catastrophe model predicts that physiological arousal is related to performance in a inverted U fashion, but only when an athlete is not worried or has low anxiety. If cognitive anxiety is high the increases in arousal at some point reach a kind of threshold, just past the point of optimal arousal level, and afterwards a rapid decline in performance the 'catastrophe' occurs and can have huge affects on performance.


Reversal Theory





Reversal theory relates to moods and feelings to motivation, arousal and anxiety.

Kerr's application of the reversal theory (1985, 1997) contends that the way in which arousal affects performance depends basically on an individuals interpretation of the arousal level. 

Processing Efficiency: Eysenck & Calvo (1992)

“Processing efficiency” theory (Eysenck and Calvo, 1992) which suggests that anxiety may affect processing efficiency (mediated by working memory resources) rather than task effectiveness
Predicts that anxious athletes will have to work harder to maintain same level of performance they would display if not anxious
Promising theory but has received little attention

Conscious Processing:
Masters (1992)

“Conscious processing” hypothesis (Masters, 1992) suggests  that anxiety may cause “paralysis by analysis” by encouraging athletes to exert conscious control over previously automated skills
Thus anxiety may induce regression from implicit/automatic control to explicit/verbal control
Supported by finding that skills learned implicitly are more resistant to effects of anxiety than skills learned explicitly (Masters, 1992)
However, this finding not replicated consistently

For example: a golf swing professionals not worrying about there golf swing, constantly thinking about it will decrease the chances of them actually completing the swing.


Attentional Narrowing

This diagram shows that to achieve the optimal arousal is to look straight out in front of you so that there can not be any distractions.


Increased muscle tension and coordination difficulties
Attention and concentration changes
Narrowing of attention
Shift to dominant style
Attending to inappropriate cues
Performance worries and situation-irrelevant thoughts

Increased arousal and state anxiety also influence athletic performance through changes in attention, concentration and visual search patterns. For example a ice hockey (goalie) player needs to maintain a broad but optimal focus of attention as three opponents break into is end of the ice. If he becomes preoccupied with the other player who has the hockey puck and not focusing his full attention of the full range then the opponents could easily score past him.

History of Sports Psychology

The relationship between mind & body has been known for centuries.
Ancient Greeks believed exercise was an important component of both physical and mental health, in the sixteenth century, Mendez wrote the book entitled “Book of Bodily Exercise”, which discussed the effects of exercise on the mind.

Psychologist & Philosopher James said,
“Everyone knows the effect of physical exercise on the mood: how much more cheerful and courageous one feels when the body has been toned up, than when it is run down…  Those feelings are sometimes of worry, breathlessness, anxiety, and tension; sometimes of peace and repose.  It is certain that physical exercise will tend to train the body toward the latter feelings.  The latter feelings are certainly an essential ingredient in all perfect human character.”

Exercise and sports psychology is concerned with the psychology of human movement as it is reflected in our behaviour, thoughts and feelings of the individuals engaging in that movement.
Many of the theories and methodologies that are used in exercise and sports psychology come from its parent discipline psychology.

Exercise and sports psychology has two primary research objectives:

Determination of the psychological antecedents of participation in sports and physical activity
  •         Personality factors that might lead someone to participate in sports or physical activity.
  •        Examine effects of pre-competition anxiety or confidence on performance.

Determine what the psychological consequences of participating in sports or physical activity.
  •      How exercise might influence anxiety, depression or well-being.
  •     How sports performance might influence feelings of self-confidence or self-efficacy.


Personality

Have you ever tried to describe your own personality? If you have, you probably found yourself listing adjectives like funny, outgoing, happy or stable. Maybe you remembered how you reacted in various situations. Is there more personality than these kinds of attributes? Many theorists have attempted to define personality and they agree on one aspect: uniqueness. In essence personality refers to the characteristics or blend of characteristic to make a person unique. (Weinburg&Gould 2007)

The best way to understand personality is through a structure.
The structure can be divided into three separate but related levels.

The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person unique can be applied into this structure…

(Hollander 1967)

  • Psychological core
  • Typical responses
  • Role- related behaviour 
  












      Psychological Core:


The most basic level of your own personality, this is the deepest component it includes your attitudes and values, interests and motives and beliefs about yourself. The psychological core represents the centrepiece of your personality and is the ‘THE REAL YOU’ not who others think you are. For example: basic values might revolve around the importance of family, friends in your life.

Typical Responses:

Typical responses are the ways that we each learn to adjust to the environment or how we usually respond to the world around us. For example: you might be happy, shy and even tempered, the often typical responses are good indicators of your psychological core.

Role Related Behaviour:

This behaviour is the most changeable aspect of your personality. Your behaviour changes as your perceptions of the environment change. Different situations require playing different roles. For example: Being at university, being a football coach to then being with family and loved ones.

Psychodynamic Approach (Freud, 1933)

Behaviour is determined by a number of unconscious, constantly changing factors that often conflict with one another. Emphasis is placed on understanding the person as a whole, rather than identifying isolated traits.
  • ID: basic instincts – no conscious control. Eating when hungry
  • EGO: Conscious link with situation. Seeks to satisfy desire of ID.
  • SUPEREGO: your ‘moral arm’. Judges whether behaviour of EGO is appropriate

These components interact to produce individual patterns of behaviour in sporting situations

According to this theory, personality is formed because of a permanent state of conflict between seeking (ID), releasing (EGO) and inhibiting (SUPEREGO) behaviour.This theory provides a good explanation for aggression in sport. However, this raises the question is personality nature or nurture?

The psychodynamic approach is complex; it views personality as a dynamic set of processes that are constantly changing and often in conflict with one another (Vealey, 2002). 

Trait Approach

Behaviour is determined by relatively stable traits that are fundamental units of personality. These traits predispose one to act in a certain way, regardless of the situation.
WHAT ARE TRAITS?
  • A trait is said to be a characteristic inherited at birth
  • Causes you to act in a certain way
  • Stable and enduring across all situations


Trait theory attempts to predict behaviour via personality traits *B=F(P)*
Cattell (1965) identified 16 groups of traits, arranged in hierarchical order with the strongest overriding others. Measurement through questionnaires.

Cattell's sixteen factors of personality, all bipolar are listed below.

                                                         1   2   3    4    5   6   7   8
                  reserved                   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -     outgoing
                   less intelligent                                                     more intelligent
                   affected by feelings                                            emotionally stable
                   submissive                                                          dominant
                   serious                                                                happy-go-lucky
                   expedient                                                             conscientious
                   timid                                                                    venturesome
                   tough-minded                                                      sensitive
                   trusting                                                                suspicious
                   practical                                                              imaginative
                   forthright                                                             shrewd
                   self-assured                                                        apprehensive
                   conservative                                                        experimenting
                   group dependent                                                 self-sufficient
                   uncontrolled                                                         controlled
                   relaxed                                                                 tense

Eysenck (1968) supported Cattells work, although suggested that ‘personality types’ should be used.

Therefore, a number of possible behaviours could happen although the personality type would still predict response.
Eysenck developed an inventory that was based on the theory that personality could be measured from looking at TWO dimensions.
  • Introversion – Extroversion 
  • Neuroticism – Stability            









Distance runners have been found to be mainly introverted whilst footballers have been found to be mainly extroverts

Athletes have been found to be towards the unstable, neurotic end of the scale. This may explain why they have the drive to train hard.
Girdano (1990)

Developed from trait theory is the ‘Narrow Band approach’
Very simply, it defines 2 personality types: type A and type B

TYPE A:
  • Highly competitive, strong desire to succeed, works fast, likes control, suffers stress

TYPE B:
  • Non-competitive, un-ambitious, works at slower pace, does not enjoy control, relaxes easily


Trait approach

Current impact: Has little influence.
Weakness: Knowing traits will not always help predict behaviour in particular situations.
Contribution: Emphasizes the importance of traits and the measurement of such dispositions.

Situational/State Approach

This differs from the trait approach in that behaviour is determined largely by the situation or environment.

Current impact: Has little influence.
Weakness: Situation will not always influence individual behaviour.
Contribution: Emphasizes the importance of the situation.



Social Learning Theory – Bandura (1963)

B=F(E)

States that behaviour changes with the situation
Rather than being born with characteristics, we learn them from other people, especially those we hold in high esteem
  • e.g. significant others such as role models, friends & parents

Therefore responses by the individual cannot be predicted
Learning takes place in two ways:
  • Observation (modelling)
  • Social reinforcement

Weakness:
Doesn’t take into account inherited behaviours

Some relationship exists between personality traits and states and sport performance, but it  is far from perfect or precise, no single definitive personality profile has been found that consistently distinguishes athletes from non-athletes. Few personality differences are evident between male and female athletes.
 Morgan’s (1980) mental health model shows that successful athletes exhibit greater positive mental health than do less successful athletes. However, precise predictions have not been achieved and should not be used for team selection.


The Iceburg Profile

                                                                                               






Type A behaviour patterns (particularly the anger-hostility component) are associated with cardiovascular disease and appear to be altered via exercise. Exercise and increased fitness appear to be associated with increases in self-esteem, especially in individuals with low self-esteem.

Motivation

What is Motivation?

Motivation can be defined simply as the direction and intensity of one’s effort (Sage, 1977). Sport and exercise psychologists can view motivation from several specific vantage points, including achievement motivation, motivation in the form of competitive stress, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. These varied forms of motivation are all parts of the more general definition of motivation.
Direction of effort refers to whether an individual seeks out, approaches, or is attracted to situations, Intensity of effort refers to how much effort an individual puts forth in a situation and direction and intensity of effort are closely related.

Motivation can be categorised into two types:
  • Intrinsic
  • Extrinsic

Intrinsic Motivation
  • Intrinsic (self) motivation comes from our own inner drive.

                                E.g. taking part in something for enjoyment
  • The pleasure of being successful and performing skilfully
  • Pleasure gained from being with others
  • Improving skill and fitness levels


Extrinsic Motivation
  • Extrinsic motivation comes from rewards and outside pressures.

                Examples: Winning competitions
  • Being praised for our achievements
  • To satisfy the expectation of parents and coaches
  • Material Rewards e.g. money and medals.

The views of motivation;
Participant- or Trait-centred View-
  • Motivated behaviour is primarily a function of individual characteristics (e.g., needs, goals, personality).

Situation-Centred View-
  • Motivated behaviour is primarily determined by the situation.

Interactional View-
  • Motivated behaviour results from the interaction of participant factors and situational factors.


Achievement Motivation



Achievement motivation


  • A person’s orientation to strive for task success, persist in the face of failure, and experience pride in accomplishments (Gill, 2000)

Competitiveness

  • “A disposition to strive for satisfaction when making comparisons with some standard of excellence in the presence of evaluative others” (Martens, 1986)


What is Achievement Motivation?

“…the athlete’s predisposition to approach or avoid a competitive situation”.
This is much more than getting motivated for a one off event.

“..it is the fundamental, internal drive that motivates athletes to commit a large proportion of their lives to achieve a particular goal.” (Cox, 1985)

Your motivation to do well in an achievement situation is referred to as achievement motivation. Sport specific achievement motivation = Competitiveness.




McClelland-Atkinson Model





  • The Need to Achieve Success (TAS): People with the tendency to approach success
  • The Need to Avoid Failure (TAF): People with the tendency to avoid failure

The need to achieve success:

These people are motivated to succeed and not worried about the possibility of failure.
They are more competitive and tend to be stimulated by situations involving risk.
They are more likely to accept challenges where the probability of success is low and perceive easy tasks to be too boring to attempt.
Enjoy being evaluated on the basis of Ego/ability goals.

The need to avoid failure:

These people are scared of failure and as such lack a competitive edge.
Hate being evaluated on Ego/ability goals as these might lower self-esteem.
They are more likely to accept challenges where the probability of success is quite high or attempt tasks that are impossible because they might actually get credit for having a go against the odds (heroic failure)!






Attribution Theory

Attribution categories:

  • Stability
  • Locus of causality
  • Locus of control




Attributions
Psychological result
  • Stable
  • Internal cause
  • In one’s control

  • Increased expectation of success
  • Increased pride or shame
  • Increased motivation


Achievement Goal Theory

Outcome goal orientation (or competitive goal orientation) focuses on comparing performance with that of others and defeating others.

Task goal orientation (or mastery goal orientation) focuses on improving relative to one’s own past performances.




Ronnie O’Sullivan

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s is a well-known snooker player, not just because of his amazing skills within snooker but his attitudes and personality. From a sports psychology view his personality and motivation levels reflect on his sports performance levels. As we all know motivation and personality links in together, Ronnie O’Sullivan is a big icon to analyse. I feel that he has both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to motivate his success as he likes the rewards that he gets such as the money involves for example he retired early and came back into the snooker world once again for the money. But he also does the sports for his father which is a big impact for him which is an intrinsic factor. For his personality he would be classed as a type A personality group. His personality when player a game of snooker is a not great as he would walk out after a game instead of waiting around.



Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbIs8jb-Ryc