Psychological Factors Affecting Sports Performance. Before during and after an event.
Factors affecting sports performance Personality Aggression Arousal, anxiety and stress Motivation Confidence Concentration.
Personality There are 4 basic personality traits Extrovert- outgoing, loud, confident Introvert- shy, quiet Stable- prefer order, creature of habit Unstable- unpredictable, plan ahead poorly.
Personality Team players tend to be more extroverted than individual sports players. Most athletes show the following characteristics Extroversion Dominance Enthusiasm Confidence Aggression High activity levels
Cox (1994) “an athlete is more: independent, objective, intelligent, socially outgoing, extroverted nd less anxious than a non athlete.”
Confidence “to become a champion you must look and act like a champion.” (Muhammad Ali) Confidence in your own ability Appearing confident Positive self talk e.g I am good at…
Concentration Successful athletes have increased levels of concentration. Successful athletes can shut out distractions e.g crowds They have a positive focus
Motivation The will to win Based on rewards and punishments Rewards- recognition, success, self esteem. Punishments- criticism, loss of team place, failure, loss of self esteem.
Arousal, anxiety and stress. Performance is affected by state of mind. Arousal is a response to stress Anxiety is the degree of confidence in your own ability Stress is the demands of the situation you are in. There are 3 main theories.
Inverted U hypothesis (Oxendine 1988) Optimum performance is achieved by managing arousal and anxiety.
Catastrophe Theory (Hardy and Fasey 1988) Each individual responds in a unique way to competitive anxiety. This is reflected in the individuals performance and may be difficult to predict.
Optimum arousal theory (Yuri Hanins 1983) Athletes have a zone of optimum functioning (ZOF). If their anxiety/ arousal level falls within their ZOF their performance will be at its peak. It is a sports psychologists job to maintain ZOF during a competition.
Aggression This is the deliberate intention to hurt someone. It is argued that it is either a personality trait or a learned behaviour. Some aggression is needed to be successful.
Factors that increase levels of aggression. Losing Competing away from home. Type of sport Current values and norms within sport and society. The games importance to the individual.
Too much aggression can lead to a decrease in performance or removal from the activity e.g being sent off. The athlete has become more focused on the other competitors than the competition. A05 prepare a leaflet for the England football squad preparing for Germany 2006. what factors might affect their performance? You are taking on the role of team sports psychologist.