Individual Differences: Anxiety

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Anxiety

  • Anxiety is the negative aspect of experiencing stress.
  • It can be caused in sport by: worry or apprehension - maybe due to fear of failing.
  • Arousal levels are high, due to emotional responses.
  • Anxiety describes our feelings of being threatened:
    • Threat of physical harm
    • Threat to our self-esteem
    • Threat of letting other people down
    • Fear of being punished
  • Some competitiors seem to be able to cope with anxiety and remain calm.
  • Others can become extremely stressed/physically ill.
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Anxiety: Competitive Anxiety

  • Competitive Anxiety: The worry or apprehension experienced during or about competitive experiences.
  • 4 major factors are related to competitive anxiety:
    • 1. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES:
      • The way people interact with a situation e.g. important games will generate more anxiety than 'friendlies'.
    • 2. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANXIETY:
      • They're all treated in different ways. Speilberger (1996) identified trait and state anxiety.
      • Trait Anxiety: A trait is enduring in an individual. A performer with a high trait anxiety has the predisposition or the potential to react to situations with apprehension. 
      • State Anxiety: Anxiety that is felt in a particular situation.
    • 3. GENERAL OR SPECIFIC ANXIETY: 
      • High trait anxiety perfromers are likely to become anxious in highly stressful situations but are not equally anxious in all stressful situations. 
      • Some players may, for instance, be extremley anxious in training, but natural in game play.
      • Competitive Trait Anxiety: A tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and respond to these situations with feelings of apprehension or tension.
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Anxiety: Competitive Anxiety

  • 4. THE COMPETITON PROCESS:
    • Involves the interaction between personality factors, competitive trait anxiety and the situation.
    • The interaction will affect behaviour and may cause state anxiety.
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The Sport Competition Anxiety Test (****)

  • Give competitors a questionnaire to assess the anxiety they felt during the competetion.
  • This test measures Competitive Trait Anxiety.
  • Reliable because it tests tendencies to become anxious about competition.
  • It should be useful in predicting how anxious a perfromer will be in future competitions.
  • The results of **** are closely related to the state anxiety a performer feels before a competiton.
  • **** is a personality measure, but it's not just aspects of personality that determine anxiety levels - situational variables nned to be taken into consideration.
  • Using **** has found cognitive state anxiety increases as the competition approaches. 
  • Somatic state anxiety tends to be low leading up to the competition but increases a few hours before.
  • THE EFFECTS OF BOTH OF THESE TYPES OF ANXIETY ON PERFORMANCE CAN BE CATASTROPHIC UNLESS CONTROLLED.
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Anxiety: Somatic and Cognitive Anxiety

  • 2 types of anxiety have been identified:
    • 1. Somatic (body)
    • 2. Cognitive (mind)
  • Somatic anxiety examples: sweating, shaking, nausea.
  • Cognitive anxiety examples: worrying, apprehension.
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Anxiety: Zone of Optimal Functioning

  • This zone is an 'emotional response' that facilitates top performance.
  • It is often referred to as the 'peak flow experience'.
  • How to acheive the zone:
  • BE RELAXED
    • As a top performer, you don't need very high levels of arousal. A balance is needed between wanting to acheive the best and being in control and relaxed.
  • BE CONFIDENT
    • Have an overall belief that you have good ability. A lapse in performance won't undermine this belief. You will not show fear. You expect success rather than hope for it.
  • BE COMPLETELY FOCUSED
    • Will be completely absorbed by your performance. You won't dwell on what has happened before or what may happen in the future.
  • ACTIVITY IS EFFORTLESS
    • Often accomplish complex tasks with little effort. Body and mind are working perfectly together.
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Anxiety: Zone of Optimal Functioning

  • MOVEMENTS ARE AUTOMATIC
    • No real thought that goes into movement. Movements are instictive and seems to be little conscious thought.
  • FUN
    • When experieincing flow, enjoyment is immense. Experience satisfaction. Without fun experience, unlikely to acheive peak flow experience.
  • IN CONTROL
    • Command over your body and emotions. You dictate your own destiny. 
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Anxiety: Cue Utilisation

  • Attention is more effective if the performer concentrates on cues that are relevant at a particular time.
  • Keeping focus and not being distracted is a feature of a top performer.
  • Danger that a player could be distracted too easily by irrelevent cues, such as crowds shouting.
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