Multidimensional approaches to stress anxiety and performance

Question 1

What dis Lacey challenge in 1967?

Answer 1

Whether the stress response (activation, arousal or anxiety) is unidimensional

Question 2

What 3 responses did Lacey (1967) distinguish in association with changes in arousal/activation?

Answer 2

1. Cognitive response (measured by electrical activity in the brain)
2. Somatic response (measured by BP and HR)
3. Overt behavioural

Question 3

What 2 key responses did Lacey (1967) show supporting the suggestion that the stress response is not unidimensional?

Answer 3

1. ‘Situational stereotypy’ - the pattern of response is different in different situations
2. ‘Directional Ractionation’ - all measures do not change in the same direction, even within the same response system

Question 4

Give an example of Directional Ractionation

Answer 4

Vigilance task (watching screen for changing signals)
- palmar conductance (hand sweating) increases (suggesting increased arousal)
- HR and BP reduce (suggesting decreased arousal)

Question 5

What is Situational Stereotypy?

Answer 5

Pattern of stress response differing in different situations

Question 6

Give an example explaining the difference between arousal and somatic anxiety

Answer 6

Physiological arousal - increased heart rate

Somatic anxiety - perception of increased heart rate

Question 7

What is the matching hypothesis?

Which theory of anxiety does it relate to?

Who proposed it?

Answer 7

Interventions need to be targeted at the nature of the type of anxiety e.g. cognitive measure to address cognitive anxiety

Multidimensional theory

Davidson and Schwartz (1976)

Question 8

What is temporal patterning with respect to anxiety?

Answer 8

Changes in intensity of different elements of anxiety over time

Question 9

Who originally advanced research into temporal patterning in a sports context?

Answer 9

Martens et al. (1990)

Question 10

What are the key findings regarding temporal patterning and what differences have some later studies found with regard to females?

Answer 10

Cognitive anxiety increase several days in advance of competition and remains stable until the competition begins

Somatic anxiety begins to rise just before the competition and continues to rise until it begins

Some evidence - for females cognitive anxiety increases steadily a competition approaches

Question 11

What are the main implications from multidimensional theory?

Answer 11

Interventions should be matched to the temporal patterning and symptoms of anxiety

Question 12

What does ‘antecedents’ mean with respect to anxiety?

Answer 12

The causes of anxiety

Question 13

What is self efficacy

Answer 13

A situation-specific form of self confidence

The perceptions of one’s ability to perform a task successfully

Question 14

Who was the key proponent regarding self efficacy?

Answer 14

Bandura (1977)

Question 15

What impact have noise an anxiety stressors been found to have on different aspects of performance?

Who’s work considered this?

Answer 15

Increase alertness and selectivity

Decrease accuracy and short term memory performance

Hockey and Hamilton 1983

Question 16

What are the 3 stages of Jones (1995) model of the directional aspect of anxiety?

Answer 16

1. Stressor
2. Perception of whether can/cannot control
3. Interpretation of anxiety as facilitative vs debilitative

Question 17

In Jones (1995) model of directional interpretation of anxiety what does the intensity of the stress depend on?

Answer 17

Individual differences (e.g. trait anxiety and self esteem)

Question 18

In Jones (1995) model of directional interpretation of anxiety what factors is the perception of control impacted by/related to?

Answer 18

Whether view situation as:

1. challenge (have resources and coping skills to meet demand)
2. Threat

Question 19

What implication does the model of directional interpretation of anxiety have for practice?

Answer 19

Using relaxation skills may not always be appropriate

Beneficial to learn skills to help interpret anxiety as facilitative

Help athletes view increased arousal and anxiety as conditions of excitement rather than fear

Help athletes develop perceptions of control through enhancing confidence and psychological skills training

Question 20

What is a criticism of the work of Jones (1995) and the model of directional interpretation of anxiety?

Answer 20

It may be excitement rather than positive interpretation of anxiety that enhances performance. Future studies should examine the impact of other positive and negative emotions.

Question 21

What are the most important factors predicting/determining the directional response to anxiety?

Answer 21

Trait anxiety (personal) (Wolf et al. 2015)

Skill level (situational) (Hanton et al. 2011 - elite athletes interpret anxiety symptoms as more facilitative and have higher level of self-confidence vs non-elite)

Question 22

What are the axes on the catastrophe theory model?

Answer 22

Physiological arousal

Cognitive anxiety

Question 23

What mechanisms are suggested to explain the detrimental effect of anxiety on performance?

Answer 23

1. Increased muscle tension
2. Some form of cognitive impairment

Question 24

What are 4 aspects of cognitive impairment suggested to arise as a result of anxiety?

Answer 24

1. Deterioration in ability to concentrate/organise thoughts
2. Attention dominated by thoughts of failure, rather than task relevant thoughts
3. Resort to dominant behaviour patterns (Drive Theory)
4. Greater stressor results in loss of ability to perceive alternative solutions and respond flexibly - therefore adopt a single behaviour/approach

Question 25

Explain Easterbrook's (1959) theory of attentional selectivity What arousal/performance model was this seeking to explain?

Answer 25

As arousal increases, focus of attention narrows Initially, this excludes task irrelevant cue, improving performance As arousal continues to increase task relevant cues are excluded, resulting in a deterioration in performance Seeking to explain inverted U theory

Question 26

What is a key criticism of Easterbrook's (1959) theory of attentional selectivity?

Answer 26

The theory considers performance as determined by a single component (attention) whereas it is made up of a number of different factors (perception, decision making etc)

Question 27

Who developed processing efficiency theory?

Answer 27

Eysenck and Calvo 1992

Question 28

What are the 2 impacts of cognitive anxiety per processing efficiency theory

Answer 28

1. Reduces processing and storage capacity of working memory (reduces resources available for task at hand) 2. Stimulates increases in task effort - partially or totally offsets reduced performance effectiveness

Question 29

What is processing efficiency

Answer 29

The relationship between performance and effort or resources invested

Question 29

What is (one of) the central predictions of processing efficiency theory?

Answer 29

The adverse effects of anxiety on performance effectiveness are often less than the effect on processing efficiency Therefore, even if performance can be maintained, this is at the cost of reduced efficiency i.e. the need to work harder to do so

Question 30

What was processing efficiency theory developed into, by who and when?

Answer 30

Attentional control theory Eysenck et al. (2007)

Question 31

What does attentional control theory suggest?

Answer 31

Anxiety impairs two types of attentional control: 1. Negative attentional control (attention to task irrelevant stimuli is inhibited) 2. Positive attentional control (switch attention between tasks to maximise performance)

Question 32

What is the extension of ACT to make it more specific to sport? Who developed this?

Answer 32

ACT: Sport (ACTS)

Question 33

What does Sport ACTS suggest? What does this enhance the understanding of

Answer 33

Certain cognitive biases determine our anxiety levels: 1. Attentional bias (prioritising of threatening stimuli) 2. Perpetual process (interpretation of ambiguous stimuli as threatening 3. Memorial processes (information retrieval biased towards threatening memories) Helps withunderstanding individual differences in anxiety in sport and impact on performance

Question 34

Who developed conscious processing theory? What was this developed to explain?

Answer 34

Masters (1992) Developed specifically to explain choking

Question 35

Explain conscious processing theory

Answer 35

Anxiety Performers try to control automated skilled behaviour Disrupts fluency associated with expert performance Regression to form of control applicable to earlier stages of learning

Question 36

Conscious processing theory - what is reinvestment of controlled processing? What is the impact on movement control?

Answer 36

Introduction of conscious control of a movement by isolating and focussing on a specific component of it Attempt to control movement using explicit rules rather than automatic implicit habits Skill failure results (control is time consuming and ineffective)

Question 37

What is an example of reinvestment of controlled processing?

Answer 37

Tennis player serving (at match point) becomes preoccupied with technical coaching instructions

Question 38

What is the colloquial term for reinvestment of controlled processing?

Answer 38

Paralysis by analysis

Question 39

What is reinvestment of controlled processing determined by?

Answer 39

1. How the skill is learnt (extent of explicit 'verbal knowledge') 2. Where the individual sits on the reinvestment scale (self consciousness in everyday situations)

Question 40

What research has been carried out on impact of verbal vs non-verbal knowledge learning on reinvestment of controlled processing?

Answer 40

Golf putting learned by performing (together with a secondary task to prevent introspection on 'rules of the skill') vs by reading coachng manual. Stress applied by expert judging and financial reward

Question 41

What scale was developed by Master, Polmanand and Hammond (1993) to measure the extent of (trait) reinvestment of controlled processing?

Answer 41

20-item reinvestment scale

Question 42

What is a research example of attentional control theory

Answer 42

Penalty taking - anxious penalty takers show an attentional bias in kicking towards the goalie (threat related stimulus)