Anxiety

A2 Sport Psychology

Mr Harris

“The negative aspect of experiencing stress. Anxiety is the worry – that unpleasant feeling –

experienced because of the fear of the possibility of failure”

Types of Anxiety

Anxiety is thought to be multi dimensional, there are 2 main types

1.

2.

Cognitive

• Concerns and worries, negative expectations and thoughts

• E.g indecision, can’t concentrate, “I can’t do it”

Somatic Anxiety

• Perceived physiological responses• E.g. I feel weak, I’m too tense, “I’m sweating

too much”

Anxiety effects on Performance

• Relatively recent research has shown:

Explain the relationship on each graph

Cog. Anx.

Performance PerformancePerformance

Som. Anx. Confidence

A-Trait and A-State

• Trait anxiety (A-trait)- an enduring personality trait , tendency to view all situations as threatening. Our general level of anxiety. This can determine our level of State anxiety.

• State anxiety (A-state)- anxiety felt in a certain situation at a given time, this can change during the course of a game.

Measuring Anxiety

1. Physiological Measures – e.g. measurement of HR, muscle tension, sweating and body temp.

2. Observation

3. Questionnaires

Each measurement technique has its own problems what are they?

Questionnaires

• The STAI• The SCAT• The CSAI

1. Make a table with 3 columns, one column for each type of questionnaire.

2. Give the full name for each questionnaire.3. Explain what types of anxiety each questionnaire measures4. Explain how it works5. Any pros cons.

Relationship between situation and personality factors

Competitive situation

CompetitiveA-trait

Perception of threat

A-state reaction

Coping with Stress

Perception of ability to cope

Perceived importance of the situation

Perceived demands of the

situation