1. Quick Quiz Define arousal (1) Describe the Drive theory of arousal (2)
What does the Inverted U theory suggest about the relationship between arousal and performance? (2)
According to the inverted U theory, how can personality, task complexity and level of performer affect the relationship between arousal and performance? (3)
Describe the Catastrophe theory (2)

2. Psychological factors affecting performance
Sports Psychology
Individual Differences - Anxiety

3. Learning Objectives Learning Objective:
Understand how anxiety affects performance
Learning Outcomes:
All: Describe the different types of anxiety
Most: Explain how anxiety can affect performance
Some: Evaluate the effect of anxiety on performance in a variety of situations

4. Key Terms Anxiety State anxiety Trait anxiety Somatic anxiety
Cognitive anxiety
Competitive Trait Anxiety

5. Key Terms Anxiety – the negative aspect of experiencing stress.
State anxiety – anxiety felt in a specific situation
Trait anxiety – general levels of anxiety for a person in any situation
Somatic anxiety – the feelings of anxiety associated with the body e.g. feeling sick
Cognitive anxiety – the feelings of anxiety associated with the brain – e.g. worrying thoughts
Competitive Trait Anxiety - A tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and to respond to these situations with feelings of apprehension or tension.

6. Anxiety
Anxiety is the negative aspect of experiencing stress and can be caused in sport by worry or apprehension experienced, or due to the dear of failing in a competitive situation.
Arousal levels are high due to emotional responses.
We may be under intense stress in sports situations because of the importance of winning or the presence of a large crowd.
Anxiety describes our feelings of being threatened: threat of physical harm, threat to our self-esteem, threat of letting people down or the fear of being punished.
Some people seem to be able to cope with anxiety and remain calm, others can become extremely stressed and even physically ill.

7. Trait Anxiety
Your level of anxiety is likely to be similar in all situations.

8. State Anxiety
Your level of anxiety is likely to be different, depending on the situation.

9. Competition Anxiety
People will experience different levels of anxiety in a competition due to a number of factors including:
Individual differences – how they perceive and interact with the situation
Types of anxiety – their levels of trait anxiety and state anxiety for that type of situation
Competitive trait anxiety – how they generally perceive competitive situations
The competition process – how they use coping factors to help them deal with any stressors.

10. Competitive Trait Anxiety
A tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and to respond to these situations with feelings of apprehension or tension.

11. Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT)
This involves giving competitors a self-report questionnaire to assess the anxiety felt during competition.
It tests tendencies to become anxious about competition and should be useful in predicting how anxious a performer will be in future competition.

12. Somatic Anxiety

13. Cognitive Anxiety

14. Zone of Optimal Functioning
An important state of well-being. An emotional response that facilitates top performance and is often referred to as the peak flow experience

15. Peak Flow Experience

16. ‘In the Zone’
Be relaxed. You need a balance between wanting to achieve the very best and yet being relaxed and in control
Be confident . Have an overall belief that you have great ability. A lapse in performance will not undermine this belief. You will not show fear and you will exude pride and confidence. You expect success rather than hope for it.
Be completely focused. You will be completely absorbed by your performance. You will not dwell on what has happened before and what may happen in the future.
Activity is effortless. You can accomplish often complex and difficult tasks with very little effort. Body and mind are working almost perfectly together.
Movements are automatic. There is no real thought that foes into your movement. You move instinctively and there seems to be little conscious thought.
Fun. When you are experiencing the flow enjoyment is immense. You experience satisfaction and fulfilment.
In control. You have command over your body and emotions. You are in charge and direct your own destiny.

17. Cue Utilisation
Selective attention test
Attention is more affective if the performer concentrates on cues that are relevant at the particular time: keeping the focus and not being distracted is a feature of a top performer.
If cues in the environment are not used effectively, then the sports person fails to gather relevant information from around the field of play. There is also the danger that the player could be distracted too easily by irrelevant cues.
By training yourself to select to the relevant cues will enhance performance.

18. Cue Utilisation Theory
Easterbrook (’59) proposed this theory that states that as the arousal level of the athlete increases, their attention narrows.
This can be viewed alongside the inverted U theory. Optimal level of arousal is seen as being moderate because this is when the athlete's cueing ignores irrelevant cues but concentrates on the relevant ones.
If arousal levels are too low then both the irrelevant and relevant cues are attended to
If arousal levels are too high the irrelevant and relevant cues are ignored and consequently there is a drop in performance.

19. Exam Questions
June 2016 – 3b- Explain what is meant by ‘state anxiety’ and ‘trait anxiety’. Give a practical example of how anxiety might influence performance in sport (5)