Lew Hardy
The ability to resist the potentially disruptive
effects of stress and produce best
performances under most pressure
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Personality characteristics
Coping strategies
Mental skills
Brain mechanisms
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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)
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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
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Intensity of symptoms
Interpretation of symptoms
Effects of anxiety – robustness and resilience
(recovery)
Smith et al (2001); Hardy &
Hutchinson (2007); Beattie et al (2010)
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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
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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)
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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)
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“Every day is a fishing day, but not every day
is a catching day”
Adie Byrrell, U17 Head Coach,
England Cricket Development
Programme
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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
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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
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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
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Punishment conditioned stimuli
Practice
Coping skills
Inspirational delivery
Everything is good for you if it doesn’t kill you
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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