Psychology within the Coaching Process II

CSC206 Week Three

Learning Outcomes
To develop an understanding of the nature of stress, anxiety and competitive pressure

To develop a critical understanding of stress using Lazurus model To appreciate different approaches to the concept of stress and apply these approaches to specific examples To explain the antecedents and consequences of anxiety
To distinguish between situation specific or general anxiety

Example - Tennis
Tennis Jana Novotna What made the difference?

Choking
The inability of a performer to control excess anxiety (often referred to as choking) will invariably lead to some form of dysfunction in concentration (Crisfield and Maynard, 2006) Do we agree with this definition?

Arousal Revised
What are the physical responses to stress?
Faster heartbeat Shallow breathing Sweaty palms Lack of focus Negative images

Was all this happening to Jana?

Potential Linearity
Is the response to stress simply stimuls => response? This would constitute a behaviourist way of thinking

What criticisms might we have of this approach?

Does this match our own experience of anxiety or stress?

Further Examples
Golf Jean van de Velde John Cook Greg Norman Didnt the same thing happen to the eventual winners? Why a difference in performance?

Stress
Stress is a substantial imbalance between what we believe is demanded of us (competitive demand) and what we perceive our capabilities to be for meeting those demands (personal control), for situations in which success is important (Burton and Raedeke, 2008)

Perception determines amount of stress we experience NOT the situation itself So stress may or may not cause us to feel strain

Potential Causes
What causes these reactions?
Environmental Sociological Biological Psychological

Anxiety
What is it?
Examples from your own experience Are there anxious people? Or just anxiety producing situations?

State or Trait?
Situation specific or general in nature? State anxiety an immediate emotional state that is characterized by apprehension, fear, tension, and in increase in psychological arousal (Cox, 1998) Trait anxiety Personality disposition that results in perception of certain situations as threatening, and then to respond with increased state anxiety

What is anxiety?
Endler (1978) saw any combination of the following five factors increasing state anxiety Threat to a persons ego Threat of personal harm Ambiguity Disruption of routine Threat of a negative social evaluation

Misconception
Is a situation is inherently stressful?
Is this true if someone has the skills to cope Is it true that anxiety is inherently bad? Some people thrive

Types of Anxiety?
Facilitative anxiety Anxiety that is perceived to be helpful to performance Debilitative anxiety Anxiety that is perceived to be harmful to performance State anxiety State response, the emotion Trait anxiety Disposition to see situations as stressful

Stimulus Approach 1
Stressors are an environmental variable
Certain elements within an environment will be stressful to all

Can provide a list of stressors to avoid

Stimulus Approach 2
Early mainstream research used stress counts to score a variety of situations
Death of someone close Divorce

Jail term

Holiday Christmas Minor law violations

Example Three
Cycling Chris Hoy Athens 2004

Lazarus (1966)
Challenged existing behaviourist explanation of stress Stimulus => Response Positivism dominant in science (1966) Cognitive appraisal essential Behaviourists could not account for individual differences under the same stress High competitive demand Athletes evaluation of event as important The greater the uncertainty about achieving success The more important a goal

Interactionist Approach 1
The interaction of person and environment determines the emotional response (in this case anxiety)
Stressors cause anxiety only to the extent they are perceived as threatening to the individual

Interactionist Approach 2
Anxiety is a function of trait and situation TRAIT ANXIETY THE ENVIRONMENT

STATE ANXIETY

Lazarus & Folkman (1984)

Relational/Transactional approach Cognitive-Motivational-Relational Theory Anxiety (and other emotions) arise from transaction between individual and the environment

Lazarus & Folkman

The emotions we experience determined by a series of appraisals

We are constantly appraising

Primary appraisal Secondary appraisal

Primary Appraisal
Process of evaluating the impact of an event on physical and psychological well-being
Irrelevance
Nothing here to impact on me

Benign-Positive
This is only going to be good

Stress

Potential for damage to well-being

Secondary Appraisal
Evaluation of what can be done about the stressful situation Do I need to act?
Weigh up coping options Am I capable of doing it? Can I control the situation? If yes Positive emotions If no Likely to be anxiety

Lazarus & Folkmans Stress Process Approach

Person Situation Primary Appraisal

Reappraisal Threat
Secondary Appraisal Not Cope Negative Stress

No Threat No Stress
Cope Positive Stress

Summary
Different approaches to stress have offered different things to sport psychologists Lazarus approach offers most to
Developing understanding of anxiety Giving practitioners framework for dealing with anxiety

Can Coaches Help?

Possibly Goal setting Imagery Relaxation and Energisation Self-talk Stress management

Next Week
Introduction to Mental Skills Training
Re-consider your anxiety producing situation What helped?