Chapter 4
Arousal, Stress, & Anxiety
Arousal
• Arousal – blend of physiological &
psychological activity in a person AND the
intensity at the moment.
• Arousal intensity is on a continuum – low
(coma) to high (increased heart rate &
respiration, sweat)
• Can be pleasant or unpleasant
Anxiety
• A negative emotional state that has worry,
nervousness, apprehension and
associated with activation or arousal of the
body
• Two parts:
– cognitive anxiety – thought – worry,
apprehension
– Somatic anxiety – the degree of physical
activity perceived.
Two types of anxiety
1) State anxiety – the ever-changing mood
component
• Cognitive state anxiety – the degree one
worries or has negative thoughts
• Somatic state anxiety – the moment-to
moment changes in perceived
physiological activation.
Two types of anxiety – cont.
2) Trait Anxiety - a part of the personality –
an acquired behavioral tendency of
disposition that influences behavior
• This predisposes an individual to perceive
as threatening things that really aren’t
threatening.
• They may respond with state anxiety
reactions that do not really fit the situation.
• High trait-anxious people usually have
more state anxiety in highly competitive,
evaluative situations than do people with
lower trait anxiety.
Measuring anxiety and arousal
• May look at physical changes: heart rate,
respiration, skin conductivity, biochemistry
• May have the person report “my hands are
sweating.” Called – self-report measures
• May rate low to high
Generally, if you have high trait anxiety, you
will have high state anxiety.
– May be situation specific.
– May learn coping skills to over come this.
Stress and stress process
• Stress – occurs when there is a
substantial imbalance between the
physical & psychological demands placed
on an individual and his/her response
capability – and under conditions where
failure to meet the demand has important
consequences.
Four stage stress process
You can intervene at any time
Sources of stress and anxiety
1-Situational sources of stress
– event importance
– uncertainty
2-Personal sources of stress
– trait anxiety
– self-esteem
– social physique anxiety
How arousal & anxiety affect
performance
1) Drive Theory – as an individual’s arousal
or state anxiety increase, so does his or
her performance.
- Related to socialfacilitation theory
Social facilitation theory – predicts that the
presence of others helps performance on
well-learned or simple tasks and inhibits or
lessens performance on unlearned or
complex tasks.
• So increased arousal will bring out the
dominant response
• Implication – eliminate audiences and
evaluation in learning situations
• 2) Inverted-U Hypothesis –as arousal
increases, so does performance up to an
optimal point where best performance
results, Further increases in arousal,
however, cause performance to decline.
Inverted C theory – cont.
• Maximum arousal level is lower when:
need fine muscle control (archery)
or have to make
complex decisions (quarterback).
• Maximum arousal level is higher when:
skills are mostly large muscle actions
(weight lifter) or simple decisions are
needed (cross country skiing).
3) Individualizing zones of
optimal functioning
• Athletes have a zone of optimal state
anxiety in which their best performance
occurs.
• Does NOT have to be at the midpoint of
the continuum, but varies with each
person
• Optimal level is NOT one point, but a
bandwidth.
Individualizing Zones of Optimal
Functioning – cont.
4) Other Theories - un-tested or
little support
a) Multidimensional Anxiety Theory
• Looks at how somatic anxiety and
cognitive anxiety affect performance.
b) Catastrophe Model – performance
deteriorates with worry + high physical
arousal
c) Reversal – how the athlete interprets
arousal will impact performance. (Can
shift positive to negative and vice versa.)
Anxiety – Direction and intensity
• How an athlete interprets the direction of
anxiety (facilitating or debilitating) has a
significant effect on the anxietyperformance relationship.
Anxiety – Direction and intensity
– cont.
• To understand the anxiety-performance
relationship, both the intensity (how much
anxiety one feels) and direction
(a person’s interpretation of anxiety as
being facilitating or debilitating to
performance) must be considered.
• Coaches should help athletes realize that
arousal & anxiety are conditions of
excitement - not fear
Significance of ArousalPerformance Views
• Arousal and state anxiety do not always have a
negative effect on performance—they can be
facilitative or debilitative depending on the
interpretation.
• Self-confidence and enhanced perceptions of
control are critical to perceiving anxiety as
facilitative.
Significance of ArousalPerformance Views – cont.
• Some optimal level of arousal leads to peak
performance, but the optimal levels of
physiological activation and arousal-related
thoughts (worry) are not the same.
• Interaction of physiological activation
and arousal interpretation is more
important than actual levels of each.
Significance of ArousalPerformance Views – cont.
• Psyching-up” strategies should be employed
with caution because it is difficult to recover
from a catastrophe.
• Athletes should have well-practiced self-talk,
imagery, and goal-setting skills for coping with
anxiety.
Why does arousal influence
performance?
• Increases in arousal cause muscle to
become more tense and this may interfere
with coordination
Attention and concentration
changes
Normally:
Increased arousal
• Increased arousal causes a narrowing of a
performer’s attentional field, misses
important cues AND they scan the field of
play less often.
Under-aroused
• Attention & concentration change
– Under-aroused, the focus is too broad – sees
relevant AND irrelevant cues
Implications for practice
1) Identify the optimal combination of
arousal related emotions needed for best
performance
a) Help athletes find this combination
b) Help athletes use strategies to
maintain this combination.
Implications for practice
• Recognize how personal and situational
factors interact to influence arousal,
anxiety, and performance
Implications for practice
3) Recognize the signs of increased arousal and
anxiety in participants
– cold, clammy hands
– need to urinate frequently,
– profuse sweating,
– negative self-talk
– dazed look in the eyes
– increased muscle tension
– butterflies in stomach
– feel ill, headache, dry mouth, constantly
sick, trouble sleeping, can't concentrate,
performs better in noncompetitive situations.
Implications for practice – cont.
Tailor coaching & instructional practices to
individuals.
Ex- High trait anxiety + low self-esteem
in a very evaluative situation = deemphasize situation and stress athlete’s
preparation.
• Moderate levels of trait anxiety + moderate
self esteem in high stress = ok
• Low trait anxiety + high self-esteem in a
non-threatening environment = must have
pep talk
Implications for practice – cont.
Develop confidence in performers to help them
cope with increased stress and anxiety.
• To increase confidence:
– foster a positive environment, i.e., give
frequent and sincere encouragement
– instill a positive orientation to mistakes and
losing. If losing becomes too important, they
won’t get better.
– provide many simulation situations – practice
for the unexpected.