Section B: Psychology of sport performance

3. Mental preparation for sport performance

Syllabus

• Commitment – Goal setting – Understand the importance and relevance to sport (related to anxiety

management)– Factors affecting the setting of goals (SMARTER)– The candidate should set sporting goals and justify the use of

short/intermediate/long term goals and process/performance/product goals to improve performance

• Self-confidence– Sports confidence (Vealey)– The concepts of trait-sports confidence, competitiveness orientation,

state sports confidence– Self efficacy (Bandura)

Syllabus• Concentration

– Attentional control – Cue utilisation (Easterbrook) and its link with arousal – Attentional styles (Nideffer)

• Emotional control – Definition of activation and arousal – Awareness of their relationship to personality, ability level and complexity of the task – Zone of optimum functioning theory (Hanin) – Definition of anxiety – The nature and influences of anxiety

• Trait distinction • Multi-dimensional theory• Sports competition anxiety

– Anxiety management • Cognitive techniques • Somatic techniques

Commitment

• Goal setting can affect performance in four ways

– By directing attention – By regulating the amount of effort that is put into a

given task – Ensuring effort is sustained until the goal is reached – By motivating people to develop a variety of

strategies to reach their goals

SMARTER• S

– Specific • M

– Measurable • A

– Agreed • R

– Realistic • T

– Time-phased • E

– Exciting • R

– Recorded

Different types of goals

• Performance goals – Are concerned with performance judged against

other performances– Are related to specific behaviours – May affect outcome goals

• Process-oriented goals – Concentrate on the performer’s technique and

tactics

Goal difficulty

• Research has shown that setting difficult goals leads to better performance than setting medium or easy goals

• Goals must be achievable but challenging (allows for motivation)

Other factors affecting goal setting • Long-term and short-term goals

– Achievement of long-term goals is a progressive process and must start with achieving short-term goals

– Short-term goals provide greater opportunity for success, which reinforce positive feelings, and help control anxiety levels

• Evaluation – The measurement of goals will give information about success, in itself

a motivating factor• Sharing decision making

– Goals set through negotiation and agreements are for more effective than externally set goals

– Participant has sense of ownership and be better motivated – Likely to be fairer and more realistic

Vealey’s sport confidence model

Vealey’s sport confidence model

• Sport confidence is the belief or degree of certainty individuals possess about their ability to be successful in sport

Self-confidence

• A specific form of confidence, known as self-efficacy.

• This is not an overall self-confidence but varies within each situation we find ourselves in.

• Most people will choose to participate in sports at which they have a high self-efficacy, or belief in their ability at the task in hand.

Self-efficacy is affected by four factors:

• Performance accomplishments - Past achievements in the activity encourage a feeling of self-efficacy

• Vicarious experiences - Seeing someone else, who you believe to be of the same or lower standard to yourself, complete the task well provides confidence that you too can achieve

• Verbal persuasion - Encouragement and positive words from those close to you can instill a sense of confidence

• Emotional arousal - Control over arousal levels provides greater self-efficacy

These four factors can help athletes with low self-efficacy to boost their confidence and perform better by:

• Setting achievable goals and highlighting successes• Using a peer to demonstrate new techniques• Promoting support and encouragement from the athletes family and friends• Using stress management techniques to aid relaxation

Concentration

• Attention– The ability to focus on cues appearing in the

display and identify those which are relevant – Selective attention, and attentional or perceptual

narrowing are linked to arousal – Capacity theories suggest that two or more tasks

can be completed simultaneously, provided the total attentional capacity is not exceeded

Concentration

• Nideffer suggested individual’s are either “effective” or “ineffective attenders”

• The former are able to process information externally, allowing them to switch their focus of attention quickly without missing important cues

• The latter experience difficulty concentrating, become confused and miss the relevant cues

Attentional or perceptual narrowing

• Links arousal levels directly to the individual’s ability to focus on relevant cues and stimuli

• Cue Utilisation – Attention is more effective if the performer

concentrates on cues that are relevant – As the arousal level of the athlete increases, his/her

attention narrows• If arousal levels are too low, then both irrelevant and

relevant cues are attended to • If arousal levels are too high the irrelevant and relevant

cues are ignored and there is a drop in performance • VERY SIMILAR PRINCIPLE TO INVERTED U THEORY

Emotional control

• Anxiety – Negative emotional feelings caused by an increase in

arousal levels when a performer is faced with a situation in which they feel threatened or fear failure

– State anxiety• Occurs when the performer is placed in a particular

situation that can vary from moment to moment

– Trait anxiety • The general disposition of an individual to perceive

situations as threatening

The nature of stress

• Stressors– The environmental changes that can induce a

stress response • Stress response – The physiological changes that occur as a result of

stress• Stress experience– The way we perceive the situation

Stressors

• Competition • Conflict • Frustration • Climate

Competitive trait anxiety

• A tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and to respond to these situations with feelings of apprehension or tension

• Sport competition anxiety test – Competitive state anxiety inventory 2

• Examine three aspects of a sports performer in a competitive situation– The respondent’s somatic anxiety – The respondent’s cognitive anxiety – The respondent’s self-confidence

• Questionnaires are given out a week before, 24hrs before and 30min before

Stress management

• Two types of state anxiety have been recognised – Somatic anxiety– Cognitive anxiety

• Management of cognitive anxiety can affect the somatic anxiety, and vice versa

• The zone of optimal functioning is often cited as an important state of well-being

Zone of optimal functioning

• The unique level of arousal for an athlete, which allows them to perform with maximum concentration and effort

Physical Relaxation

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation – This involves the deliberate contraction of muscles followed by a

greater relaxation• Self-Directed Relaxation

– Relies on the athletes ability to isolate and relax individual muscle groups. This can be improved through practice

• Deep Breathing – This has calming effects on the mind as well as physiological effects

such as reducing heart rate• Biofeedback

– Observing physiological measurements such as heart rate and breathing rate allow the athlete to focus their attention on reducing these measures

Imagery• Imagery is the use of mental images and scenarios to help relax the mind. • This can be either internal (seeing your performance from within your

body) or external (viewing your performance as if you are someone or somewhere else).

• Imagery can be used to relax by picturing a favourite place or calming scene or to rehearse the up-coming performance.

• Mental rehearsal is thought to be effective on three levels– Neuromuscular: Thinking through a movement produces the correct order and

force of muscular contraction, much like a dry-run– Cognitive: Thinking through and planning an event in the mind can help the

athlete to deal with scenarios as they arise– Confidence building: The certainty in the athletes mind of what they are going

to do during the event, game plans etc can help reduce anxiety and increase motivation