Sport Psychology: Exam 2

Advantages and Disadvantages of Physiological Measurements

- Advantages: Avoids problems of social desirability/misreporting, difficult to produce false data, data can be collected during athletic events. - Disadvantage: EEG an fMRI themselves can increase anxiety, Physiological measures are influence by factors other than stress (gender, weight, overall physical health), high levels of arousal can indicate positive feelings, expensive and time consuming to collect date, fast, measures can be acquired through observation, without the use of questionnaire.

Social Approval Goal Orientation:

- Desire for social acceptance and avoiding embarrassment/defeat. - Particularly important for interactive and team-sport athletes.

How Can We Increase Motivation?

- Create Motivating Environments. - Emphasize Effort, Not Outcomes. - Recognize Individual Differences. - Use Appropriate Reinforcement. - Give Positive and Personal Feedback.

Athletes who focus on Mastery Goals:

- Greater Sportsmanship. - Like their teammates and coach more.

Value of external awards:

- Meta-analysis of 96, external rewards do not decrease intrinsic motivation. - Verbal praise actually leads to an increase in intrinsic motivation. - top ranked professional golfers, having a financial incentive to preform leads to improved performance (especially for players who are close to attaining a very lucrative prize).

Athletes who are focused on performance goals:

- More willingness to break a rule. - Lie to an official and cheat. - More likely to engage in aggressive and anti-social behavior in an attempt to outperform opponents and teammates.

Hazards of External Motivation.

- Overjustification: extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic interest. - Recreational college athletes are higher in intrinsic motivation than competitive athletes. - Athletes on athletic scholarship report that their intrinsic motivation would decrease if the scholarships were taken away. - Athletes not on athletic scholarships report their intrinsic motivation would decrease if such an award was given.

A Team Approach to Goal Setting

- The planning phase: the coaching staff conducts a need assessment exercise, carefully reviewing the team as a whole, and each individual, relative to areas of needed improvement. - The meeting phase: team goals can be reflected upon and discussed (process and performance goals tell the athlete exactly what they must do as a team to accomplish outcome goals. - The evaluation phase: monitoring a process and performance goals should take place following each competition, as well as after practice session.

Appropriate Reinforcement.

- Types of reinforcers: material reinforcers, social rewards, activity rewards, outings. Reinforcement will vary based on athletes' interests, ability, personality, and age. Frequent reinforcement is very helpful to young or new athletes. Reward behaviors that is close to the desired behaviors. Rewarding performance (effort) is better than rewarding outcomes. Coaches should reward both physical skills and social/emotional skills. Good Sportsmanship, being a "team player", following team rules.

Ego (preformance) goal orientation.

A goal orientation in which people are motivated by a desire to outperform others. An extrinsically motivated plater, strives to be better than someone else, tends to chose easier tasks, prefer to compete against those they can beat. Ego + Nature Orientation: Goal to avoid embarrassment or defeat and social approval.

Identified Regulation/extrinsic motivation

Athlete identifies with an extrinsic motivation to the degree that is perceived as being his or her own. Identified regulation is present when athlete engages in an uninteresting activity in order to excel at an interesting activity (e.g., weight lifting).

Types of Motivation.

1) Intrinsic motivation: comes from an internal source: fun of competing, a desire to learn new skills, and the excitement of preforming well. 2) Extrinsic Motivation: comes from an external source: awards, trophies, money, praise, or social status. 3) Social/Group motivation effects.

Five Factors for Achievement Anxiety

1) fear of performance failure. 2) fear of negative social evaluation. 3) fear of physical harm. 4) situation ambiguity. 5) disruption of well-learned routine.

Social Approve Goal Orientation

A goal orientation in which people are focused on achieving social acceptance and avoiding embarrassment and defeat.

Principles of Effective Goal Settings:

1) make goals specific, measurable, and observable. 2) clearly identify time constraints. 3) use moderately difficult goals. 4) write goals down and monitor them. 5) use mix of process, performance, and outcome goals, short-term and long-term goals, difficult and moderate goals. 6) use short range goals to achieve long range goals. 7) set team and individual performance goals. 8) set practice and competition goals. 9) make sure goals are internalized by athlete. 10) consider personality and individual differences in goal setting.

Transactional Model

A model proposing that how people interpret or appraise a particular event is a more important predictor of the experience of a stressful event than the actual event.

Achievement Motivation

A motivation to master tasks, achieve at a high level, and persist even when confronted by obstacles. Focus on mastering a task, achieving at a high level, persisting even when confronted by obstacles. Often described as competitiveness. Men tend to be higher in competitiveness than women (sex differences may be linked to social factors or biological factors {e.g., testosterone})

Self-Confidence.

A person's overall view of him-or herself as being generally capable.

Achievement Goal Theory

A theory positing that different people are motivated by different types of goals, in which some people are motivated to pursue a goal by the desire to gain mastery over a given task or skill (task or mastery orientation) whereas others are motivated by a desire to outperform others (ego or performance orientation).

Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning Theory

A theory proposing that each athlete has an optimal level arousal (or the "individualized zone"_ in which best performance occurs. The level of arousal (or anxiety) that leads to peak performance differs for different athletes. Each athlete has an optimum level of arousal ("individualized zone"). Research with collegiate, Olympic, and professional athletes generally supports this model.

Goal Setting Theory

A theory proposing that setting specific, but difficult, goals as well as providing feedback about such goals improves performance. Athletes who form goals are energized to show increased effort, thus increasing effectiveness at reaching goals.

Self-determination Theory

A theory that describes the role of three basic psychological needs — the need for effectance, relatedness, and autonomy — in influencing motivation.

Trait Anxiety

A type of behavioral disposition, or personality dimension, in which people generally react anxiously, even in situations that should not be anxiety provoking.

Observational Learning.

A type of learning that occurs when people observe others' behaviors.

Amotivation

An absence of motivation.

Integrated Regulation/extrinsic motivation

An exteral behavior formerly considered to be controlling becomes fully assimilated and internally controlled by the athlete (comes to perceive coach's controlling behavior be in own best interest).

Approach vs. Avoidance Motivation.

Approaching a desirable goal vs. avoiding an undesirable goal. Focus on approach versus avoidance goals impacts intrinsic motivations performance. Focusing on approaching mastering skills predicts greater enjoyment and performance. Focusing on avoiding poor play leads to worse performance.

Cognitive versus Somatic Anxiety

Cognitive Anxiety: starts high and remains high as event approaches. Fluctuates throughout the contest as probability of success changes. Arises from thoughts and concerns. Somatic Anxiety: starts low but increases rapidly as event approaches. Dissipates rapidly once event begins. Racing heartbeat, faster breathing, or feelings of nausea.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Report Measurements

Commonly used by sport psychologists, researchers, and coaches to measure athletes' level of arousal, anxiety, and stress. - Advantages: Easy to complete, can provide data from large samples of athletes, measures provide numerical, objective data, provide information that can only be learned by asking. - Disadvantages: They may deliberately falsify information, requires large samples of data for reliable prediction, may be long and take considerable time to complete.

Why is Goal Setting Effective?

Direct Attention: Goal setting causes the athlete to focus attention upon the task and upon achieving the goal relative to the task. Increased Effort: Once an athlete's attention is directed toward a particular goal, it is necessary for the athlete to put forth the effort necessary to achieve the goal. Persistence: As long as the goal is present and the athlete wants to obtain the goal, he will persist in the effort needed to accomplish it. Development of New Learning Strategies: Forces the athlete to learn new and better ways of accomplishing a skill or task.

Introjected/extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation that is only partially internalized or assimilated. Athlete has partially internalized a motive, but still perceives the motivation as controlling.

Positive and Personal Feedback:

Feedback marks progress towards goals and demonstrates that coaches are genuinely interested in helping them learn and improve. Increases intrinsic motivation. Verbal and non-verbal praise can motivate. Coaches need to use specific types of feedback to help athletes change their behavior. - Feedback should be: Be empathic, Give choices, Provide clear and attainable objectives, Include specific solutions to improve performance, and Be delivered in a respectful tone of voice. - Through positive feedback players: See that the coach valued their hard work, Realize that mistakes are part of learning, and Believed that high efforts will lead to improvement. Coaches need to give personal, and personalized feedback whenever possible.

Create Motivating Environments By:

Focus on rewarding improvements over time and emphasizing the importance of effort. Helps athletes believe that coach expects they can do well. Increase intrinsic motivation, which leads to better performance. Emphasizing effort instead of outcome reduces pressure an athletes. Be sure to develop all athletes' skills (not just the best player). - Recognize Individual Differences: Athletes are motivated by different strategies (having fun, making friends, winning scholarships, losing weight, learning new skills, and gaining status). Motives may change over time, even within the course of a season.

Performance Goals

Goals measured in terms of achieving a particular level of individual achievement, often in a competition. Focus on a particular outcome, regardless of how other teams or competitors perform, less dependent on others' performances. Focus on individual achievement. Example: Running a mile in a given amount of time. Striking out a certain number of batters. Scoring a specific number of points in a basketball game.

Objective Goals

Goals that are measurable in a specific and precise way.

Benefits of Intrinsic Motivation.

Higher levels of enjoyment of and commitment to their sport. Better predictor of participation in a particular sport (leads to better performance). More likely to experience flow. More likely to practice.

Social Loafing.

Individuals' tendency to reduce their own individuality output when their contributions on a fast will be combined with those of other people. More likely to occur when individuals' output isn't clear or measurable. Other members on a person's team are high ability. Person doesn't feel his/her output will make a meaningful difference.

Performance Environment.

Leads to extrinsic motivation, pressure, anxiety, use of maladaptive coping strategies. Athletes' goal orientation can change over time based on the environment. - to create you want to emphasize: outperforming others, avoiding making mistakes, rewarding only the best.

external/extrinsic motivation

Least self-determined form of extrinsic motivation. A behavior performed only to obtain an external reward or to avoid punishment.

Goal Proximity: Short-Term Versus Long-Term

Long-term goals: provide direction to help identify where you are going. Short-term goals: are the stepping stones to reach long-term goals. They promote the motivation and self-confidence increments necessary to purse those long-term objectives.

Motivation Continuum

Lowest to Highest on Self-Determination. - Amotivation. - Extrinsic Motivation: External Regulation. Introjection Regulation. Identified Regulation. Integrated Regulation. -Intrinsic Motivation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Measuring Arousal and Anxiety Behavioral Measures

Observe outward manifestations of anxiety or stress. (fidgeting, heavy breathing, rapid heart rate, or nausea). Can avoid some self-report problems (unwilling to admit feeling anxious). - Advantages: Fast, measurable, can be acquired through observation without the use of a questionnaire. - Disadvantages: Athletes may control their behavioral indicators (feel more anxiety than they show), different people show anxiety in different ways, the anxiety an athlete reports feeling may not match physiological indicators of such arousal.

Influences on Self-efficacy.

Own experiences: habitually successful, but have to attribute success to own ability rather than luck. Vicarious experience: judge our performance by looking at others - especially peers. Verbal persuasion: others express their confidence in a person's ability. Emotional arousal: level of arousal, sleep, or panic.

Measuring Arousal and Anxiety Physiological Measurements

Physiological arousal: heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, muscle tension, and skin conductance. Biochemical measures: the presence of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol can be detected in blood and urine test. Brain activity measurements: EEG to measure electrical activity, and fMRI measures blood flow to specific areas of the brain.

Social Facilitation Theory: Choking

Presence of supporting audiences can lead to worse performances, especially in high pressure situations where expectations are high. High pressure situations cause anxiety, disrupting athletes' ability to execute. Home teams have a higher winning percentage, but home teams play especially poorly under high pressure situations.

Effectiveness of Goal Types

Research supports a multiple goal setting strategy. Outcome goals least effective when used in isolation. Outcome goals: may increase anxiety, college athletes tend to focus on outcome goals. Process goals: athletes who are successful goal setters. Process and Performance: Easier to adjust and modify, and within the athlete's control. Individual goals may conflict with team goals. Goal setting has a positive effect on performance across many sports. Goal setting is the most common mental skills used by injured athletes in their recovery.

Goal.

Something a person is consciously and deliberately trying to accomplish.

The Automatic Nervous System

Sympathetic NS arouses (fight-or-flight). Hypothalamus activates SNS & Encocrine System. Adrenal glands release epinephrine and norepinephrine. Parasympathetic NS calms (rest and digest). The pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) Adrenal glands produce glucocorticoids, or steroid hormones, such as cortisol, helping to protect the body from injuries.

Team Versus Individual Goals

Team goals focus on boosting cohesion and collective performance. Individual goals are role-specific in order to maximize team success.

Self-Report Measurements

The Sport Competition Anxiety Test: trait anxiety, used with both adult and children athletes. The Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2) and the Cognitive Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire (CSAQ): trait anxiety. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2: cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, self-confidence.

Primary Appraisal

The first stage of the transactional model in which people assess the situation and what it will mean for them.

Why Team Goals Promote Social Loafing?

The larger the number of team members, the less effort each athlete expends. Social loafing declines when identifiability and accountability increase. Individual goals counter social loafing. A combination of team and individual goals is recommended.

Somatic Anxiety

The physiological response to a stressful situation, such as a racing heartbeat, faster breathing, or feelings of nausea. (Symptoms: Increased blood pressure, pounding heart, increased respiration rate, sweating, clammy hands and feet, butterflies, adrenaline surge, dry mouth, need to urinate, muscular tension, tightness in neck and shoulders, trembling, incessant talking, blushing, pacing up and down, distorted vison, twitching, yawning, voice distortion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, sleeplessness.)

Secondary Appraisal

The second stage of the transactional; model in which people assess the resources available for coping with a situation.

Primary Versus Secondary Appraisal

Transactional model: how people appraise a particular event is more important than the event itself. Primary appraisal: interpret the situation and how it relates to them (am I in danger?) Secondary appraisal: assess the resources available for coping. (what can I do about this?)

Arousal

a blend of physiological and psychological activity. Arousal is a form of undifferentiated bodily energy or alertness which ranges on a continuum from low (in sleep) and to high (intense excitement). Arousal involves undifferentiated energy.

Competitiveness

a desire to achieve at a high level, specifically within a sport setting.

Anxiety

a feeling of nervousness and worry. Has two main types: State Anxiety and Trait Anxiety. Anxiety is an emotional label for a negatively interpreted arousal experience.

Task (Mastery) Goal Orientation

a goal orientation in which people are motivated to pursue by a desire to gain mastery over a given task or skill. Intrinsically motivated players will strive to reach 'task' goals that reflect personal improvement and skill learning, prefer competing against high quality opponents.

Sport-confidence Model

a model describing people's enduring beliefs about their competence within athletics, in particular their confidence in cognitive efficiency, physical skills/training, and resilience. There are three types of sport-confidence are: 1) cognitive efficiency. 2) physical skills training. 3) resilience.

Catastrophe Model

a model predicting that at levels of low cognitive anxiety, moderate levels of physiological arousal lead to best performance, whereas at high levels of cognitive anxiety, even moderate levels of physiological arousal can have negative effects on performance. Interaction between the effects of somatic and cognitive anxiety on performance. Claims that the inverted U best describes the influence of physiological arousal on performance for people at low levels of cognitive anxiety. If performance pressure is low, gradual increases in arousal will improve performance; further increase will impair. If performance pressure is high + moderate or high cognitive anxiety, increased physiological arousal can lead to a "catastrophe": sudden and substantial drop in performance. Relatively little empirical research has examined this overall model.

Integrated theory of motivation in sport.

a model proposing that social factors, coaches' behavior, and whether a situation emphasizes cooperation or competition influence athletes' beliefs about themselves, which in turn influence whether athletes' fundamental psychological needs are met (their need to feel competent, independent, or autonomous and able to relate to other people); these social and psychological factors then lead to the type of motivation an athlete experiences. Psychological mediators mediate the cause- and- effect relationship between social factors and motivation. - Social Factors: Success/Failure. Competition/Cooperation. Coach's Behavior. - Psychological Mediators: Perceptions of Competence Perception of Autonomy (self-determination). Relatedness. -Motivation Continuum. -Consequences.

Overjustification.

a phenomenon in which the presence of external rewards undermines intrinsic interest.

Flow

a positive state in which a person feels a balance between the challenges of the situation and their skills to cope with these challenges. Positive state in which a person feel a balance between the challenges of the situation and their skills to cope. - State of flow: Very positive state, fully absorbed performance, no sense of time passing, achieve positive results.

Self-Efficacy Theory

a theory describing the importance of having a belief in one's own ability to carry out a given task. Describes the importance of having a belief in one's own ability to carry out a given task. Self-Confidence refers to a person's OVERALL view of him or herself as being generally capable. Self-efficacy refers to a person's self-confidence within a SPECIFIC domain. Within the right domain, people with high self-efficacy are more likely to exert effort, set more challenging goals, and persist longer.

Need Achievement Theory.

a theory describing the role of both personal factors and situational factors in predicting achievement behavior; this theory takes into account people's desires to both achieve success and avoid failure, as well as the probability of success and the incentive value of that success in a given situation. People vary in their motivation to avoid failure and achieve success. People take into consideration the specific achievement situation they are facing, including their probability of success and the incentive value of that success. Interaction of personal and situational factors influences athletes' behavioral tendencies and emotional reaction.

Drive Theory

a theory proposing that in general higher levels of arousal result in better performance, but that athletes' skill level also influences this association. a relationship between arousal and performance. An increase in arousal is proportional to an increase in the quality of performance. The quality of performance depends on how well the skill has been learned. (Example: MLB players about to be traded: before the trade = lower batting averages/slugging. after the trade = increased batting averages/slugging. maintained over the next year.

Multidimensional Anxiety Theory

a theory proposing that peak performance occurs at a moderate level of physiological arousal, but at a low level of cognitive state anxiety. Somatic and Cognitive anxiety influences performance in different ways. Peak performance occurs at a moderate level of physiological arousal. Cognitive state anxiety is negatively associated with performance. Peak performance requires low levels of worry. Somatic state anxiety was associated with decreased performance at high and low levels but with increased performance at moderate levels.

Social Facilitation Theory

a theory proposing that people who engage in a task in front of others experience higher levels of arousal than those who are by themselves, which leads to enhanced performance on easy tasks but impairs performance on difficult tasks. People who engage in a task in front of others experience higher levels of arousal than those who are by themselves. Different effects on performance depending on how good a person is at a particular task. (If you are good at a task, arousal will lead you to preform even better. If you are not so good at a task, arousal may lead to worse performance). Easy Task Versus Complex Task. Presence of people may be energizing. Knowing that you are evaluated or judged by others may be the real cause for difference in performance.

Inverted-U Theory

a theory proposing that performance is lowest when arousal is very low or very high and highest when arousal is at a moderate level. High arousal is associated with increased performance, but only up to a point. Performance is lowest when arousal is very low (boredom) or very high (anxiety). Highest when arousal is at a moderate level. Ideal level of arousal depends on the sport. Athlete's skill level impacts the level of arousal necessary for peak performance. Inexperienced athletes may benefit more from low arousal. Experienced athletes may benefit more from high arousal.

Competence Motivation Theory

a theory stating that positive experiences lead to greater feelings of competence, whereas negative experiences reduce perceived competence. Describes the importance of feeling worthy and competent. Experiencing successful results leads to an increase in self-efficacy and positive feelings, increasing perceived competence. Experiencing negative results leads to negative feelings, such as shame and anxiety decreasing competence motivation. Athletes who receive positive feedback increase in perceived competence (leads to higher levels of intrinsic motivation). Athletes who receive more frequent praise and information report feeling higher in perceived competence. Those who receive more frequent corrective information following a mistake feel lower in perceived confidence.

Reversal Theory

a theory that arousal impacts performance differently depending on how a person interprets that arousal. Arousal and anxiety have different effects on performance for different people. Arousal impacts performance depending on how a person interprets that arousal. Kerr and Males (2010), elite lacrosse players who lost all four games at a world championship tournament. Circumstances that could have been seen in a positive light were instead viewed in a negative light. May have contributed to overall poor performance.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

a theory that extends self-determination theory by focusing specifically on the causes of intrinsic motivation and the factors that may increase and decrease such motivation. - Controlling Aspect: Undermine Intrinsic Motivation. Athlete perceives that reason for participation is to earn reward. Participation no longer due to love of the activity, but to promise of external reward. Self-determination or autonomy is lost because athlete feels like a "pawn" who is acted on. - Informational Aspect: Enhance Intrinsic Motivation. External rewards do no always result in loss of intrinsic motivation. If external rewards provide information to the athlete taken as evidence of his or her personal competence, then feelings of self-determination are enhanced. - Athletes see positive feedback as more informational and less controlling than negative feedback. Positive feedback increases intrinsic motivation. Negative feedback decreased intrinsic motivation as well as lower perceived competence. Coach's behavior may have a stronger impact on motivation than the presence of an athletic scholarship.

State Anxiety

a type of anxiety caused by a given situation.

Cognitive Anxiety

a type of anxiety that is caused by thoughts, worries, or concerns. (Symptoms: Indecision, sense of confusion, feeling heavy, negative thoughts, poor concentration, irritability, fear, forgetfulness, loss of confidence, images of failure, defeatist self-talk, feeling rushed, feeling weak, constant dissatisfaction, unable to take instructions, thoughts of avoidance.)

SMART Goals

an acronym used in reference to specific (S), measurable (M), action oriented (A), realistic (R), and timely (T).

Stress

an imbalance between the demands of the situation a person is in and their beliefs about their ability to cope with that situation. Eustress (good) and Distress (bad).

Process Goals

goals measured in terms of engaging in specific sport behaviors that contribute to performance. Focus on the specific actions or behaviors an athlete needs to perform. Linked with achieving outcome/performance goals. Example: Keeping a firm but relaxed grip on a golf club. Keeping knees bent when landing a dismount.

Outcome Goals

goals measured in terms of winning, either at an individual or at a team level. Focus on competitive results, typically a comparison to opponent. Dependent on athlete's performance and the performance of others. Examples: Finishing a season with a certain number of wins. Defeating a particular player. Winning a gold medal.

Subjective Goals

goals that describe general statements of intentions.

Mastery- Focused Environment.

leads to higher levels of perceived competence, self-esteem, enjoyment, intrinsic motivation, and the experience of flow. - to create you want to emphasize: working hard, developing skills, showing improvement over time, and valuing each athlete's role.

Extrinsic (or external) motivation.

motivation that comes from an external source, such as awards, trophies, money, praise, or social status.

Why Do Goal-Setting Fail to Work?

poorly written goal statements. failure to devise a good-attainment strategy. failure to follow goal-attainment strategy. failure to monitor performance progress. discouragement (goals too difficult, use of outcome goals, too many goals). stress, fatigue, lack of time, academic pressures, social relationships, lack of confidence.

Motivation.

the direction and intensity of one's effort. Motivation is the foundation all athletic effort and accomplishment. Without your desire and determination to improve your sports performances, all of the other mental factors, confidence, intensity, focus, and emotions, are meaningless.

Goal Difficulty.

the relative challenge associated with achieving a particular goal, which can be easy, moderately difficult, or very difficult.

Goal Specificity

the relative precision describing a particular goal, which can be general and vague or precise and distinct.

Self-handicapping.

the strategy in which people adopt or claim impediments to success as a way of maintaining self-esteem. Those who are low in self-esteem are especially likely to engage in self-handicapping.