Cognitive Strategies
From Mark H. Anshell’s book Sport Psychology
CHAPTER #2: CHARACTERISTICS OF
SUCCESSFUL ATHLETES
PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
DISPOSITIONS:
Competitiveness, confidence and self control would appear to be strongly linked to performance success.
A document that examines any type of psychological trait is described as an inventory, scale, or profile.
Difference between Psychological Disposition and
Personality Traits:
Traits are commonly regarded as properties of persons that dispose them to react in certain ways in given situations and are narrower in scope than dispositions
Are considered enduring and stable which means:
That individuals have a predisposition to act in a certain way in most but not all situations
That their actions are consistent /predictable under various conditions
Dispositions are broad, pervasive, encompassing ways of relating to particular types of people or situations
PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
DISPOSITIONS:
Personality: defined in terms of traits possessed by an individual
Personality Inventories have Not been shown to be consistent from sport to non sport situations
Using Personality Inventories:
Personality scales have been used inappropriately to examine changes in personality traits over time.
This is in compatible with the design of any instrument that examines personality because traits are stable and enduring.
Inventories can predict athletic behavior and success only
10% of the time.
Sometimes th terms and factors used in personalities scales are not universally defined (Who is an athlete?)
Some personality traits are better predictors of success than others
USING PERSONALITY INVENTORIES:
Answers to questions on a personality inventory can be faked
Lie Scales: include questions inserted in the inventory that are either discarded when the results are computed or used to detect response inconsistencies.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI):
Meant to diagnose illness
CPI: Requires a reading comprehension level of 10 th grade
MMPI, CPI, and Cattell’s 16 PF: Do not include a single item related to thoughts, emotions, or behaviors in competitive sport situations. Thus inventories from these may not be valid as predictors of sports performance.
USING PERSONALITY INVENTORIES:
Primary shortcomings: is the lack of a conceptual (theoretical) framework with no defined body of literature on which to case comparisons between athlete and non athletes, male or female, or elite and non elites. Termed the shotgun approach.
Limitations:
Poor sampling techniques in which whole teams are examined without controlling for skill level, age, gender, and cultural differences.
Improper use of statistical procedures is a problem. Some statistics are better than others
USING PERSONALITY INVENTORIES:
Evidence does not support the existence of a consistent psychological profile of highly successful performers.
Whether these traits are inherited, developed, or both is not clear.
Results of personality profile cannot predict sports success perfectly and therefore should not be used as a way to identify talent.
Personality and Gender Roles
:
Gender Role Orientation: (masculine/feminine/androgynous)
These characteristics are not on opposite sides of a spectrum but rather separate clusters of personality traits.
Gills 1992 – there is no reason why males should possess only masculine characteristics and female only feminine characteristics.
The healthiest individuals possess both and have a greater flexibility of behavior.
Gills 1992 – female athletes possess more masculine characteristics than female non athletes. Competition demands assertive behavior.
LeUnes and Nation 1995 – females who score higher on perceived feminine traits will experience a higher degree of gender role conflict and e less comfortable in competitive sport situations than females with high androgynous and masculine scores.
Gill 1992 – female athletes do not express a feminine gender role orientation and they respond with more of an androgynous orientation than masculine orientation.
Friedman and Berger 1991 – androgynous and masculine female should succeed in sport without experiencing the sex (gender) role conflict that the feminine scorer would feel.
Friedman and Berger 1991 – three stress reduction techniques on stress as a function of gender, masculinity, and femininity include:
Jogging, relaxation training, and group interaction.
Psychological masculinity influences the effectiveness of the stress reduction activities. Psychological femininity does not.
Perceived masculinity personality traits are highly desirable for mental and physical well being in both males and females.
THE ELITE ATHLETE: A PROFILE
Defined as athletes who are eligible for competition at the national, international, or Olympic level, or who are professional sports persons.
Early Sports Personality Research:
Williams 1980 – personality characteristics of successful athletes:
Women in individual sports were more dominant, aggressive, adventures, sensitive, independent, self-sufficient, and introverted than women who engage in team sports.
Female competitors tend to be assertive, dominant, self sufficient, received, achievement orientated, and intelligent, and have an average to low emotionality.
EARLY SPORTS PERSONALITY RESEARCH:
Reilly 1979 – Cattell 16 PF to assess soccer players and were found to be stable, extroverted, tough minded, highly efficient, aggressive, and dominant.
Paige 1973 – Football players are rough mindedness, extroverted, self control, but even though they are extroverted he is not sure of himself as his actions may indicate.
Kroll and Peterson 1965 – Difference between winning and losing football teams. Main difference was that the winning teams were less sportsmanlike. Concluded that personality was not an important factor in football performance.
EARLY SPORTS PERSONALITY RESEARCH:
Bennett 1979 – Successful wrestlers scored higher on measures of self confidence, perceiving their skills as closer to their maximum potential, and on their ability to focus attention on task related issues.
Morgan 1979 – (POMS) Profile of Mood States
Iceberg profile: Reflects the consequences of competition among elite competitors rather than acting as an antecedent or predictor on skilled performance.
Recent Advances in Sport Personality Research:
POMS was developed as a measure of mood for psychiatric outpatients, specifically individuals with mental illness who are about to be discharged from the hospital.
An inventory that is not used with population for which it was designed is invalid.
Generally highly skilled athletes score relatively low in neuroticism, tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion.
Recent Advances in Sport Personality Research:
They tend to score high in self confidence, self concept, self esteem,. Vigor, need achievement, dominance, aggression, intelligence, self sufficiency, mental toughness, independence, sociability, creativity, stability, and extroversion.
Psychological profiles of elite athletes reveals a person who is mentally healthy, physically and psychologically mature, and committed to excellence.
Recent Advances in Sport Personality Research:
Psychological Dispositions:
Purpose of this section is to review selected personal characteristics of elite sports competitors.
The characteristics are depicted as styles or tendencies of thinking and not personality traits.
Vanden Auweele 1993 – elite athletes possess more self confidence, less anxiety, both prior to and during competition; more effective techniques for managing anxiety; greater concentration on task specific goals and movements; better ability to cope with unexpectedly poor performance; and more positive thought content.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Risk Taking:
Risk: defined in most dictionaries as a dangerous element or factor, possibility of loss or injury, hazardous speculation, danger, or peril.
Malone’s (1985): Concludes that the athlete’s perception of danger creates excitement and a desire to master the environment. However, skilled competitors will rarely perform tasks for which they are not well trained and physically fit.
These behaviors occur most often during situations that require solving problems and making decisions.
Elite athletes will have a “go for it” attitude where a less skilled athlete will tend to back off.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Stimulus Seeking:
Or sensation seeking: Athletes enjoy the challenge presented in competitive sport
Stimulus seeking is a motivational factor to participate in sport and to engage in risk taking behaviors.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Competitiveness:
Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ) to measure the extent of this desire to win along three dimensions:
Competitiveness
Win orientation
Goal Orientation
COMPETITIVENESS CONTINUED…
Athletes score higher on all three dimensions with competitiveness being the major discriminator.
Elite athletes did not score uniformly high on win orientation but were more oriented toward the quality of their performance than toward the contest’s outcome.
Measure their success by performing at their personal best rather than by only winning or losing
Implications for coaches is that quality performance deserves at least as much recognition as the contest’s outcome.
Psychological Dispositions:
Self confidence:
Self confidence (sport confidence) is one of the most important mental states for success in sport competition.
It is the athlete’s belief about his/her ability to be successful in performing a desired skill.
Feltz 1988 – defined self confidence as the “belief that one can successfully execute a specific activity rather than a global trait that accounts for overall optimism.
State Sport Confidence: is the belief or degree of certainty individuals possess at one particular moment about their ability to be successful at sport
SELF CONFIDENCE CONTINUED…….
Trait Sport Confidence: is depicted as their usual belief about their sport success.
Maintaining high confidence is accompanied by positive emotions, improved concentration, increased effort, lower susceptibility to mental distractions, reduced muscular tension, improved ability to remember and use game strategies, and more rapid and accurate decision making.
Coaches and the athletes must employ mental and behavioral strategies that induce self confidence.
Self Efficiency: a concept associated with confidence, is a situational specific form of self confidence the athlete’s convection to perform successfully skills that are required to produce a certain desirable outcome.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Attention to Style:
Nideffer 1979: defines attention to style as a predisposition to attend to the environment in a certain personalized manner, depicted internal, external, broad, or narrow.
Each person possesses a unique manner of attending to environmental stimuli
Important issues in depicting elite performers are their ability to shift attention as the situation demands and that their attentional style is compatible with the types of skills they most often perform.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Expectations for Success:
One reason for upsets in sports is that more successful teams do not perceive their opponent as threat to their success.
Expectation of success must be as high as possible.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Mental Toughness:
Dr. James Loehr (1982,1991,1994): Generated the term mental toughness meaning to reach and sustain high performance – the athletes ideal performance state – under pressure by expanding capacity physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The belief in a mental toughness gene is very tempting because it absolves the athlete of feeling responsible for failure.
This is self destructive thinking.
Mentally tough competitors are self motivated and self directed, positive but realistic, in control of their emotions, calm and relaxed under fire, highly energetic and ready for action, determined, mentally alert and focused, dogged self confidence, and fully responsible.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITIONS:
Ability to Regulate Stress:
Terry Orlick (1986, 1990): claims that the ability t remain cool under situations of tension and stress is the true sign of a champion.
Key is not to eliminate stress but to regulate it by using proper coping techniques
The ability t cope with failure is another trait of the successful athlete
ABILITY TO REGULATE STRESS:
Coaches should be careful not to overreact to an athlete’s mistakes.
Participant will be cautious in order to avoid further mistakes, and risk taking will be the last thing on his or her mind.
Better players learn from their mistakes then put them out of their thoughts.
Behavioral Tendencies:
Pregame preparation can take the form of superstitious behaviors.
Preevent and event behavioral tendencies: pg
41-43
Routines:
Routines are thoughts and behaviors that are automatically integrated into our day.
Purposes: Reducing the amount of in depth thinking that must be done, maintaining emotional control, regulating our physical, mental, and emotional performance preparation, both before and during competition.
Rituals help athletes move from the cognitive stage to the automatic stage of performing sport skills.
Routines:
Rituals help the competitor maintain self control and concentration under conditions of high duress and pressure.
Loehr 1990: Repetition of the right physical, mental and emotional habits eventually brings them under automatic control.
Routines:
The 16 Second Cure: Loehr’s 4 stage mental and physical routine.
Stage 1: The Positive Physical Response
Purpose is to help the athlete maintain positive emotion, and reduce the chance of anger, disappointment, and frustration.
3-5 Seconds
athlete makes a quick decisive move (clap hands)
Self talk is “no problem, come on, nice shot”
THE 16 SECOND CURE: LOEHR’S 4 STAGE
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ROUTINE.
Stage 2: The Relaxation Response
Allows athlete’s body to recover from physical and emotional stress of the previous point
6-15 seconds
The more stressful the point the more time you take.
Think calming thoughts “settle down, relax”
THE 16 SECOND CURE: LOEHR’S 4 STAGE
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ROUTINE.
Stage 3: The Preparation Response
Pre serve period for what the athlete intends to do before the next serve.
Project confident and aggressive image
Self Talk: “ I have full confidence in winning the point”
Plan strategy
THE 16 SECOND CURE: LOEHR’S 4 STAGE
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ROUTINE.
Stage 4: The Automatic Ritual Response
4 seconds
Deepen concentration and produces an instinctive, automatic form of play.
This delay in serving reduces the tendency to rush the next serve under pressure.
Avoid thoughts of technique and self talk
Serve should be mentally rehearsed
Same rituals should be repeated on second serve if first is missed.
Good for entering and maintaining their optimal zone for concentration and attention focus.
Cognitive Strategies:
Cognitive and mental strategies are used to:
Improve the processing of information and enhance learning and remembering
To affect ones emotions favorably
The Sport Psychologist (1990): athletes often lack knowledge about the existence of mental skills and how to apply them correctly.
Cognitive Strategies:
Pitfalls :
Paralysis by Analysis: Over prescribing cognitive strategies (they may become distracted or less coordinated in performing the task at hand.
Cognitive Strategies:
Three things to Remember:
Mental skills are skills and need to be learned
Athletes can be burdened by learning and using too many skills
Athletes differ in their need to use certain types of cognitive strategies
Cognitive Strategies:
Help athletes select and learn the strategies that best meet their needs.
Cognitive Strategies used during contest: Table
2.1: pg 46 - 47
Cognitive Strategies:
Relaxation:
Is the reduction or complete absence of muscular activity in the voluntary muscles.
Includes: progressive relaxation, autogenic training, biofeedback. Imagery, centering, and hypnosis.
Relaxation is not always the proper response. Self talk may be preferred
Used correctly it can be a valid and proven means of preventing or reducing muscular tension and anxiety while improving concentration and self confidence.
Cognitive Strategies:
Positive Self Talk:
Best way to maintain self confidence
Purpose: used to gain or to maintain self confidence, focusing inwardly and thinking about ones strengths and rather than about ones opponent can generate a sense of self control and responsibility for a contest’s outcome.
And to analysis the movement positively.
Cognitive Strategies:
Attentional Focus:
Now where and when to focus their attention
This allows them to exclude information that might slow their responses or interfere with their sensations.
Do not focus on outcomes
Attention should be directed to the task at hand
Thinking about winning or losing within the event cause a lack of focus on what you need to do in order to win.
Cognitive Strategies:
Arousal Regulation:
Superior athletes know 2 things about the process of psychological arousal:
Their optimal level of arousal
When and how to begin the psyching techniques.
Cognitive Strategies:
Making Accurate Attributions:
Attributions consist of a persons attempts to explain the causes of an event, specifically in response to a performance outcome.
Athletes more often than not accurately explain the causes of and tend to feel responsible for their performance results.
Performance Expectations
:
Muhammad Ali mental strategies 3 purposes:
To raise his expectations of success
To lower the expectations of his opponent
T eliminate or mask his fear
Essential quality of a champion is that they are positive
Performance Expectations
:
Denis Waitley “The Psychology of Winning”
1978: Six attitude qualities:
Positive Self Expectancy
Overall attitude of personal optimism and enthusiasm
Gets what he/she expects
Self talk is “I was good today; I’ll be better tomorrow”
DENIS WAITLEY “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
WINNING” 1978: SIX ATTITUDE QUALITIES:
Positive Self Image
We cannot do what our self image does not allow us to do.
Self talk is “I can see myself growing, achieving, improving, and winning.
Waitley – “it’s not who individuals are that holds them back, but who they think they are not.
DENIS WAITLEY “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
WINNING” 1978: SIX ATTITUDE QUALITIES:
Positive Self Control
Taking control of the events in one’s life is characteristic of winners
DENIS WAITLEY “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
WINNING” 1978: SIX ATTITUDE QUALITIES:
Positive Self Esteem
Winners are inner directed
They tend to choode modes who exemplify the high goals and acheivments to which they aspire.
Winners are secure enough as individuals and as athletes to respect themselves as well as their peers and opponents.
Losers are far less secure and need to criticize and undermine others.
DENIS WAITLEY “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
WINNING” 1978: SIX ATTITUDE QUALITIES:
Positive Self Direction
Winners have an action plan to turn fantasy into fact.
Game plan for life, called the power of purpose
It is comprised of knowing what they want to accomplish on a day to day basis
Having a purpose for life allows us to survive and to feel fulfilled.
Self direction is about finding your purpose, your contributions to life to feel satisfied
DENIS WAITLEY “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
WINNING” 1978: SIX ATTITUDE QUALITIES:
Positive Self Awareness
Cratty 1984 - Most superior athletes prefer to know all they can about themselves
Winners know who they are and their potential both as individuals and as athletes
The have learned to ask for and to accept the feedback and judgments’ of others
Winners say “I know who I am and where I am going
PEAK PERFORMANCE: A STATE OF ALTERED
CONSCIOUSNESS
Athlete’s mental state just prior and during peak experiences is characterized by complete absorption in the task at hand
This allows for the proper internal attentional focus
Quicker and clearer focus on movement cues results in faster reaction time and movement in a controlled skillful manner
A person’s peak performance does not necessarily exceed that of other persons, but rather surpasses what could be anticipated for that individual in a particular situation.
PEAK PERFORMANCE: A STATE OF ALTERED
CONSCIOUSNESS
Describes peak experiences as being temporary, non voluntary, and unique.
There is an absence of thinking during the skill execution.
Emotionally, peak performers report an extremely fulfilling and happy psycho emotional state
Focused Attention and feelings of confidence were the most apparent mental states are associated with peak performance.
PEAK PERFORMANCE: A STATE OF ALTERED
CONSCIOUSNESS
Being in the flow the experience of performing in an emotional high
Athlete’s are in the state of flow when they are totally involved in an activity and experience a number of positive feelings, including freedom from self consciousness and great enjoyment of the process
PEAK PERFORMANCE: A STATE OF ALTERED
CONSCIOUSNESS
Cratty 1984 – classified flow states into 4 categories:
Anxiety or arousal
Extremely Good Feelings
Positive in performance phenomenon in which a well prepared athlete develops very positive feeling during most of the period of the competitive period
CRATTY 1984 – CLASSIFIED FLOW STATES INTO
4 CATEGORIES:
Mental Escaping
Runner high
Performers can dissociate themselves from the physical demands, even pain, of prolonged, arduous physical activity.
Mentally floating
Postcontest mental break
The need to recuperate from the physical and psychological demands
“buzzing out” or “coming down” period.
PEAK PERFORMANCE: A STATE OF ALTERED
CONSCIOUSNESS
Garfield and Bennett (1984): asserts that the most important factor for experiencing peak performance is “ letting go”.
Figure 2.3: The flow state scale pg. 52 and Cues of
Peak Performance Feelings pg. 53
FLOW STATE SCALE BY JACKSON AND MARSH
(1996): STUDIES IDENTIFY NINE COMPONENTS
OF FLOW
Challenge Skill Balance: My abilities matched the high challenge of the situation)
Action Awareness Merging: things just seemed to be happing automatically)
Clear Goals: I knew clearly what I wanted to do
Concentration at the task at Hand: My attention was focused clearly on what I was doing
FLOW STATE SCALE BY JACKSON AND MARSH
(1996): STUDIES IDENTIFY NINE COMPONENTS
OF FLOW
Sense of Control: I was not concerned on how I was presenting myself
Loss of self –consciousness: I performed automatically
Transformation of time: at times it was if things were happening in slow motion
Autotelic experience: the experience left me feeling great
Flow state scale should be used immediately after performance in order to ensure accurate and immediate feeling.
Preparing an Athlete for Peak Performance:
Routines that are conducted on the day of, and immediately before, the event also help athletes regulate their stress, anxiety and arousal levels
One method: is to use a checklist that list all of the required behavioral and cognitive strategies to be performed at some point, usually within one week of the competition
Mental Game Checklist: Figure 2.4 pg. 55
This review process sets in motion a self expectation that each point is necessary for success and therefore will be followed.
Preparing an Athlete for Peak Performance:
Finally, the list should be reviewed at some convenient time after the event to determine which aspects could be improved before the next competition. Each item is worded so that higher scores are more desirable.
The athlete is invited to add his/her own items is viewed desirable and a natural part of the athlete’s routine during a particular time period from week to week
Having a desirable attitude or emotional intensity (anxiety or aggression), or engaging in a specific action (intake of food/drink, or taking a walk)
Purpose is to ensure that an athlete current score is as high as or better than the previous scores.
Anxiety about Failure and Success:
Ronald Smith (1984): most common sources of anxiety in athletes are fears of failure and resulting social disapproval or rejection.
Fear of Failure (FOF): or motive to avoid failure
Defined by Atkinson (1966) as a disposition to avoid failure and/or a capacity for experiencing shame or humiliation as a consequence of failure
Failure provokes fear
FOF will be high for athletes whose self esteem is firmly entrenched in successful sport performance or successful outcomes while for others whose self esteem is derived from multiple sources (fitness and health, family, social relationships, academic success, religion), FOF in sport context will be reduced.
Fearing failure is one primary cause of competitive trait anxiety.
Recommendations for coaches and parents to help prevent or reduce FOF in the athlete:
Regardless of the outcomes be supportive of the individual’s attempts to perform at his/her best.
Emphasize better effort and avoid informing an athlete that losing was due to low ability. Persistent feelings of low competence bring on a sense of helplessness, depression, and low self esteem.
Define success and failure broadly. Even in a loss the team did something right.
Have reasonably high expectations of the athletes performance
Look for signs of FOF. Include:
Chronic complaining (excuse for anticipated failure)
Excessive Talking/ Continued Boasting (cover up for anxiety)
Inability to sit still (display of nervous energy)
Crying (stress release mechanism)
Look for signs of FOF. Include:
Frequent absenteeism from practices and games (If I don’t try I won’t fail)
A quick temper (a sign of considerable fear and insecurity)
Frequent Injury or abnormal recovery time from an injury
Tendency to avoid taking risks
Avoid asking the athlete about his/her emotions (tends to invite stress. The athlete thinks that the coach expects these type of thoughts or further direct the athlete’s attention toward such feelings
Fear of Success (FOS):
9 syndromes that may explain the source of antecedents of FOS:
Athletes fear of social and emotional isolation that accompanies success (ostracism)
Athlete’s guilt from self assertion in competition
Athletes protect themselves from competition because they fear discovering their true potential: fears of succeeding are derived from fearing failure
9 SYNDROMES THAT MAY EXPLAIN THE SOURCE
OF ANTECEDENTS OF FOS:
Athlete’s may feel anxiety about surpassing a previous record by an admired performer
Dealing with the pressure to constantly match or exceed one’s previous best performance: This explanation is the most valid. Trying to live up to the fans and Medias expectations can be to demanding.
9 SYNDROMES THAT MAY EXPLAIN THE SOURCE
OF ANTECEDENTS OF FOS:
Cratty (1983): the individuals involved simply were afraid of being the best, thus creating a situation in which others would direct their energies toward defeating them. There is also the fear that by winning they lose support because fans will cheer the underdog.
Some athletes are fearful of living up to the expectation of others after they have demonstrated competent performance
9 SYNDROMES THAT MAY EXPLAIN THE SOURCE
OF ANTECEDENTS OF FOS:
Too much pressure to maintain high standards and are unable to deal with criticism from others.
Silva (1982): men athletes had less FOS than female athletes
It is the drive to succeed that truly separates winners.
CHOKING:
Defined as reduced performance quality under pressure circumstances; the inability to perform up to previously exhibited standards.
Baumeister (1984): 2 Factors that Causes
Choking
High pressure to succeed
Heightened state of self consciousness
CHOKING:
Subjects with low SC dispositions placed in self conscious situations brought on by the expectations of the observers cope least well under pressure
Highly self – conscious persons would actually be less likely to choke than persons who are habitually less self conscious.
Choking is greater among those habitually low in self consciousness – who are less accustomed to dealing with high pressure conditions confirms that the athlete’s inability to cope with the pressure, that is, to choke, may be partly created be an evaluative (highly expectancy) audience.
HOW SPECTATORS AFFECT AN ATHLETE’S
PERFORMANCE:
Contends that one of our greatest needs on our way to self actualization is the need for recognition from others.
Elite athletes are not only comfortable with being observed by others, they prefer it.
Swartz and Barsky (1977): concluded that the home team won only 53 to 64 percent of the time. During the playoffs home team lost more pressure home games in basketball and baseball
HOW SPECTATORS AFFECT AN ATHLETE’S
PERFORMANCE:
Courneya and Carron (1992): Explanations for better performance at the home arena might include higher arousal and aggression levels by the home team.
Zajonc (1965): Social Facilitation (effect of an audience on sport performance)
Critical factor that decides whether an audience will improve or inhibit performance is whether the performer’s dominant response is correct or incorrect .
THREE FACTORS DECIDES THE CORRECTNESS
OF A RESPONSE
Task difficulty
The person’s skill level
The type of audience (those who the athlete believes are qualified might inhibit performance if the task is complex for the athlete)
An evaluative audience may improve performance if the individual finds the task simple.
Simple tasks are not performed well while responses to complex tasks tend to improve measurably when athlete performs in front of a passive audience where they do not feel threatened.
The degree to which an athlete perceives and reacts to the makeup of an audience is referred to as its
Evaluative Potential
Evaluative Apprehension: If evaluative potential hurts performance.
Less complex skills are better performed in the presence of an evaluative audience than with passive observers.
More difficult tasks are likely to be better performed in the presence of passive observers than evaluators.
WHAT CAN ATHLETES AND COACHES DO ABOUT
APPREHENSION?
Focus their attention on the task at hand
Athlete who is learning a complex skill should practice until the skill is mastered before performing it in a competitive setting.
Ignore the crown and focus on the task at hand
The effect of the audience can predict performance only 3% of the time
COPING WITH STRESS:
Have the ability to quickly recover from, or ignore, less pleasant aspects of competitive sports.
Winners are capable of redirecting their energies in a productive manner.
Failure to quickly adapt to unpleasant experiences often result in poor performance.
COPING WITH STRESS:
Krohn and Hindel (1988): found that vigilant coping strategies (focusing on threatening information) are more harmful to the athlete’s emotional and performance responses to acute stress than
“cognitive avoidance strategies” (avoiding threat relevant information)
Coping with Competitive Situations:
Top Competitors Cope with stress by:
Plan each aspect of their performance
Have at least one alternative behavior for every planned action.
Quality players calmly plan and correctly execute changes in strategy in response to an opponent who is experiencing success.
Orlick (1980): the best way to prevent panic situations and anxiety is to begin thinking about and implementing solutions before problems get out of hand.
Coping with Pain:
Why some players can cope with sports related pain better than others.
Ryan (1976):
No difference in the pain threshold of the three groups
Differences were noted in pain tolerance in which contact sport athlete’s tolerated the most pain.
4 steps in Coping with the Onset of Pain:
They Use Cognitive Strategies: Developing self statements and mental imagery to handle it.
They Confront and Handle the Pain: Self statements such as “you will get through this” or “Ignore my body, and concentrate on the opponent”.
4 steps in Coping with the Onset of Pain:
Elite Athletes Cope with Pain at Critical Moments:
Focus on their injuries only between plays, but will ignore injuries when executing movements on the field or when concentrating on opponents.
They use Reinforcement Self Statements: When the stressful activity ceases, they assess the coping strategy by asking “Was it better to keep my feelings inside? Should I tell others of my discomfort? Ect…
Elite athletes tend to use one of two mental techniques in coping with physical discomfort,
Association and Dissociation.
Association: Is to be “in touch” with ones body and to maintain the necessary effort and motivation to meet challenges and personal goals. Demands internal focus. It can backfire due to a mis-focusing of their attention.
One reason injured athletes do not return is that their attention is incorrectly aimed toward the injured area rather than on environment factors.
Dissociation: entails being mentally preoccupied with external events as opposed to internal feeling and sensations. Attention externally on the musical input and away from the physical responses to vigorous exercise.
Coping with Sports Related Stress:
Chronic stress communication problems with coaches or other team members, low team member satisfaction, chronic injury or pain, and prolonged poor performance (slumping).
Coping is usually defined as “conscious psychological and physical efforts to improve one’s resourcfulness in dealing with stressful events… or to reduce external demands”. (Anshel et al. 2001)
Two important characteristics of coping:
Coping is a conscious and effortful process the athlete is aware of the stressors and uses strategies to manage the demands or enhance internal resources.
Coping is a learned skill and is not a personality trait.
It is not necessarily performed effectively. Coping can be adaptive (effective in reducing perceived stress) or maladaptive (have ineffective properties) in reducing the stressor’s intensity. (Smoking, Drugs, ect..)
Before suggesting ways to deal with stress it is important to separate the athletes coping style form the use of coping strategies.
Coping Style: is a disposition that refers to the athlete’s preference, or tendency, to use a certain category of coping strategy following chronic or acute forms of stress.
Examples are:
Approach and avoidance
Attention and distraction
Monitoring and blunting
Problem focused and emotion focused
Coping Strategies: are state and situational measures consisting of the athlete’s use of one or more cognitive or behavioral methods of overcoming chronic or acute stress.
Examples:
Seeking information
Thinking about and trying to resolve the issue.
Seeing social support
Discounting the source of the stressor
Consistent use of a certain coping strategy would reflect the individuals coping style.
One important implication for identifying a athlete’s coping style is to assist coaches and sport psychologist in teaching coping strategies to athletes that are compatible with their style of coping.
COPING INTERVENTIONS:
Use techniques to handle stress both during and between contests.
Chronic Stress Programs are implemented between and immediately preceding competitive events.
COPING INTERVENTIONS:
They include:
Gauron’s (1986): Cognitive Self Regulation Program based on the athlete’s ability to control attitudes, perceptions, thoughts, and internal dialog.
Meichenbaum’s (1985) Stress Inoculation Training: Focuses on stratefies to circumvent the unpleasant effects of stress
COPE model (Anshell 1990): describes cognitive behavioral strategies to handle acute forms of stress caused mainly by negative input from others
, primarily coaches.
COPE MODEL (ANSHELL 1990):
C – Control Emotions:
Immediate Reaction upon exposure to hostile input
(Fight or Flight Reflex)
Model requires taking a few deep breaths and regain composure
Athlete’s can remain aware of and receptive to any important information that will contribute to better subsequent performance.
COPE MODEL (ANSHELL 1990):
O – Organize Input:
Objective here is for the athlete to deal rationally with the stressful episode.
Know the difference between important and unimportant information.
John Feinstein (1986) “A Season on the Brink”
Bobby Knight and his players reaction to him.
O – ORGANIZE INPUT CONTINUED
Organizing input is to integrate all of it and then decide what has validity and what does not refers to this technique as language discrimination.
Hear all of it and then develop skills to integrate what is desirable and try to forget undesirable input quickly.
Best way to do this is:
Stop thinking about the stressful episode at least temporarily.
Quickly refocus on environmental task demands
COPE MODEL (ANSHELL 1990):
P – Plan Response:
Performer must quickly begin to plan upcoming actins based on recent feedback and experiences.
Acknowledge strengths, strategies or tendencies of the opponent or concentrate on correcting his/her own performance.
Thoughts must go from integrating information to using it.
COPE MODEL (ANSHELL 1990):
E – Execute:
Athlete who has been intimidated or upset by others negative remarks will hesitate, take fewer risks, and lack self confidence in subsequent performances
Objective at this stage is to execute purposeful movements with the appropriate level of assertiveness, arousal, and concentration.
E – EXECUTE:
Cognitive techniques that help athletes overcome sudden and chronic stress:
Discounting: is a mental strategy athletes use to reduce the importance of undesirable messages or experiences. It helps organize information as meaningful and non-meaningful.
PSYCHOLOGY OF DRUG ABUSE:
Goal of Recreational drug user is often altering his/her psychological state.
Creatine Increases muscular Power and speed in sport events.
Athletes were asked to respond to their impression and perceptions of drug taking on their team r among players they know.
Males took performance drugs to be competitive more than any other reason.
The most common reason for taking recreational drugs was to reduce tension and anxiety.
Drug taking is primarily a function of coping with the pressures t succeed in sport
