Lew Hardy
The ability to resist the potentially disruptive
effects of stress and produce best
performances under most pressure
Personality characteristics
Coping strategies
Mental skills
Brain mechanisms
Appraisal
Anxiety, robustness, and resilience
Stubbornness – fight and struggle
Attributional style
Dispositional optimism
Sensitivity to threat
“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the
views they take of them”
(Epictetus, Ancient Greek Philosopher)
Challenge
Threat
Loss
Spring time in
in Paris
Catastrophising
Over generalising
Discounting the positive
Mind reading
Predicting the future /scare mongering
Black and white thinking
Taking things personally
“Pain is just weakness leaving the body”
Parachute Regiment maxim
Intensity of symptoms
Interpretation of symptoms
Effects of anxiety – robustness and resilience
(recovery)
Smith et al (2001); Hardy &
Hutchinson (2007); Beattie et al (2010)
Persistence in maintaining goal directed
behaviour
Willingness to fight and struggle
Middleton et al (2004); Bull et al
(2005)
“Ugly runs are worth just as much as beautiful
runs”
Tim Boon, Head Coach, England
Cricket Development Programme
Reasons we give for events – e.g., success
and failure
Attributional dimensions – controllability,
stability, globality
Impact on emotion and behaviour
Elite performers attribute failure to
controllable causes
Gould et al (2002)
Olympic gold medallists
Hurricane victims
Active not a passive state – opportunity to
influence vs no need to do anything
Links to attributional style
Gould et al (2002); Carver & Sheier
(1998)
“Every day is a fishing day, but not every day
is a catching day”
Adie Byrrell, U17 Head Coach,
England Cricket Development
Programme
Neural networks in the brain:
Activation – readiness to act
Arousal – response to new stimuli
Coordination – make adjustments if
necessary
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory
Pribram & McGuiness (1975); Gray
(1970); Gray & McNaughton (2000)
Mental
Toughness
Low Reward
Sensitivity
High Reward
Sensitivity
Low
Hi
Punishment
Sensitivity
Active Coping
Planning
Suppress competing activities
Vent or control emotions
Social support: advice and emotional
Positive reinterpretation and growth
Acceptance
Denial
Disengagement: behaviourally or mentally
Problem focused Coping – active coping,
planning, suppress competing responses
Emotional focused coping – venting/controlling
emotions, social support
Re-appraisal – positive reinterpretation,
acceptance
Avoidance – denial, behavioural, mental
Gender differences
Range of strategies
Demands
Supports
Constraints
See all the Choices
Punishment conditioned stimuli
Practice
Coping skills
Inspirational delivery
Everything is good for you if it doesn’t kill you
What we think influences what we do and who
we are: appraisal, interpretation, and
attributions
Mental Toughness is not always pretty
See danger early, find choices and positives
later
Wide range of well-rehearsed coping
strategies
Every threat and loss is an opportunity
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