Applied Psych Sports – Flashcards

-Definition: "Sport psychology is the scientific study of people and their behaviours in sport and exercise activities and the practical application of that knowledge." (Weinberg & Gould, 1999).

3 myths about sport psychology: - It is only useful when trying to break a slump. -Is a last resort and used when all else fails. - Something must be wrong with an athlete if they work with a sports psychologist.

3 truths about sport psychology: -Mental skills coaching helps athletes apply strategies to perform consistently and without mental barriers which can hold them back. -Mental skills coaching helps athletes develop mental toughness and enter the "zone" quicker. -Sport psychologist help people think smarter and more confidently in training and competition.

-Today we are going to explore why sport psychology is needed based on the barriers which can effect optimal performance. -We are going to look at two main psychological barriers; emotional issues (arousal, stress and anxiety) and motivation. -Next week we will look at the mental skills training side of sport psychology.

-Although these terms are often used interchangeably it is important to distinguish amongst them. -Arousal: a mix of both physiological and psychological activity in a person, referring to the intensity of motivation at a particular moment. -Stress: an imbalance between demand and response capabilities. -Anxiety: a negative emotional state characterised by nervousness, worry and apprehension.

-Your own ability and resources: Physical Mental VS -What you are expected to do.

-State anxiety: temporary, ever changing emotional state of subjective feelings. These can be cognitive (thoughts) or somatic (feelings). -Trait anxiety: a behavioural disposition to perceive a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening.

-Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. -This is one inventory used in sport to measure state anxiety. Trait anxiety is not often used as it is more innate and therefore more difficult to change with an intervention.

-There are a variety of different theories on how arousal and anxiety affect performance. -It is important for us to understand the theories of how arousal and anxiety can affect performance however it is vital to remember that every athlete is different and arousal and anxiety affect different people in different ways. -Driska et al. (2012) elite swimming coaching saw a vital element of mental strength being the ability to retain psychological control on poor training (and match) days. -Inverted U Hypothesis -Catastrophe Model -Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF)

-Woodman & Davis (2008) measured novice golfers using Mental Readiness Form 3 MRF3 whilst putting and increased anxiety by telling them the winner would receive £50.00. The participants were also told to not "over-shoot", putt the ball further away from the hole. -Those with high cognitive anxiety scores made more errors, especially putting the ball past the hole.

-McKay et al (2008) interviewed elite UK track athletes to identify sources of strain (things that put them under stress or make them feel anxious). The stressors were categorised into three groups; competitive, organisational and personal domains. -Kingston, Lane and Thomas (2010) found that as competitions drew closer, athletes were more likely to doubt their ability, mental and physical preparation and feel that the situation they were about to compete in favoured other athletes. -It was also found that females were more likely to use coping strategies such as social support, environmental comfort and looking to the coach for leadership than men.

-Affects: -the choice of activity -how much effort we put in -how many times we try -Motivation is often explored in terms of what people want to achieve or goal orientations. There are two types of goal orientations: -Task or Mastery- learn a new skill, be with friends, challenge oneself. -Ego or Outcome- win a match, be praised by others, win awards.

-Ommundsen et al. (2006) found that parents and coaches had the biggest influence on player's self belief. Interestingly, if players had critical parents but supportive coaches, the players had high self belief. -Smith, Smoll & Cumming (2007) developed a training programme for basketball coaches to educate them on the importance of a "mastery-involving" motivational climate. -They found a significant decrease in anxiety and increase in mastery goal orientations in the players coached by the trained coaches. Players coached by "untrained" coaches increased in anxiety throughout the season. -The intervention had a positive effect on both boys and girls.

- Sport psychology is the application of scientific principals to improve sporting performance. -One way to improve performance is to eliminate or decrease barriers to performance. -Arousal, stress and anxiety effect athletes in different ways but too little arousal or too much anxiety usually leads to a less than optimal performance. -Goal orientations should be a mix of task and ego for a psychological healthy athlete however there is no definitive research that tells us what difference goal orientation has on performance.

-Last week we looked at factors that can affect performance and this week we are going to look at some techniques to improve performance. These techniques are often called mental skills training. -The main mental skills we are going to explore are goal setting and self-talk. -We are also going to explore how to improve the performance of a team.

-3 types of goals; outcome, performance and process. -Outcome goals- a competitive result of an event i.e. Win a race. -Performance goals- achieving standards or performance objectives independently of other competitors i.e. Beat my personal best time/score. -Process goals- focus on the actions an individual or team must engage in a performance to perform well i.e. A swimmer may set a goal of maintaining a long, stretched-out arm pull in her freestyle stroke.

-Specific - detailed, clear. -Positive - what you want to achieve, challenging. -Observable - see progress, measurable. -Realistic - capabilities, time, resources. -Timeframed - helps make specific, measurable and realistic. -Yourself- all goals should start with "I".

- Burton et al. (2001) conducted a meta-analysis and found that 78% (44 out of 56) studies in sport and exercise found that goal setting had moderate to strong effects. -Common factors for why goal setting was not successful were: -Not setting specific goals, setting too many goals, failing to adjust goals, failing to recognise individual differences and not providing follow up and evaluation. In recent years, the importance of reflective practice has also been highlighted (Stephenson & Jowett, 2009). -Van Yperen (2009) found that goal commitment along with problem-focused coping strategies and seeking social support were the three key predictors or whether or not a young footballer made it as a professional.

-Improves motivation. -Is something the athlete can do alone. -Is simple to understand. -Allows the athlete to see their own improvements (and hopefully the benefits of working with a sport psychologist!)

-Intrapersonal communication, the communication we have with ourselves. (Weinberg,& Gould,1999). -Can be both positive and negative, evidence suggests that the more positive self-talk an athlete uses then the more successful they will be. -But what is positive self-talk?

-Experienced Australian golfers were split into three groups of self talkers. -The first group were told to think of three words that were components of their technique (arms, weight, hands). -The second group were told to think of one word that summed up their putting study action (smooth). -The third group were told to think of three irrelevant words such as colours (blue, green, yellow). -Every golfer putted in two separate conditions. The first was in a low anxiety condition whereas the second putt was in a high anxiety condition (the highest scores would win money). -The high anxiety condition only had an effect for the golfers who had to think about components of their technique. -The group which performed the best were the golfers who had to think of one word about their actions.

-Investigated the effect of a season long mental training program on two elite junior tennis players. They used goal setting and positive self-talk as well as routines, arousal control and imagery. -Using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 they found that their training lessened competitive anxiety and increased self-confidence. -What do you think the limitations of this study are?

-Comprehension. -Memory retrieval. -Decision making process of athlete. -General demand characteristics. Woodcock et al. (2012)

-Can be divided into two types: task and social. Task cohesion is how a group works together towards a common goal whereas social cohesion reflects the interpersonal attractions among group members. -Hardy, Eyes and Carron (2005) found that teams with high social cohesion were not necessarily successful (often the opposite is true) therefore sport psychologists focus on improving task cohesion.

-It is important to understand how we measure cohesion otherwise how would we know that our interventions have been successful? -The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) is often used as it distinguishes between the individual and the group and between task and social concerns. -It contains statements such as "I like this teams style of play" and "We all take responsibility for any loss or poor performance by our team" . The players have a 9 point scale for whether they agree or disagree. -The subscales are attraction to group (task), attraction to group (social), group integration (task), group integration (social).

-Weinberg and Gould (1999) note how there are many contradicting results in cohesion studies between the link between cohesion and performance. One potential reason for this is the distinction between social and task cohesion is not always made. -However, Bloom et al (2003) interviewed expert sports coaches and found that it was generally believed that including team building exercises in training programs increased the development of cohesion and improved performance. -Team building exercises can be divided into three categories; social (e.g. team outings), physical (e.g. 10 k runs) and psychological (e.g.identifying and discussing the variables needed to achieve team success).

-Senécal, Loughead &Bloom (2008) divided eight basketball teams into two groups (those who would and those who would not undergo team goal setting). -Everyone filled out the GEQ. Both groups scored the same perceptions of cohesion at the start of the season however by the end of the season, athletes in the team goal-setting condition held higher perceptions of cohesion than athletes in the control condition.

- Cannot only be used/taught once, needs to be repeated and adjusted for optimal performance. -Be aware that there are many other factors involved in improving sport performance, you need to be fully trained in mental skills training to implement things such as self-talk.