individual differences

personality

the patterns of thoughts and feelings and the way in which we interact with other people and our environment that makes us a unique person

personality traits

generalisable behaviour that can be predicted in various situations

type A personality

• impatience

• intolerance

• high levels of stress

type B personality

• relaxed

• tolereant

• lower personal stress

stable personality traits

unchangeable and remain constant and predicatble, behaviour is constant

unstable personality trait

changeable, unpredictable and highly anxious, neurotic behavior

extroversion

a personality, characteristic or trait of a person that seeks social situations and likes excitement but lacks concentration

introversion

a personality, characteristic or trait of a person who does not seek social situations, likes peace and quiet and is good at concentrating

social learning approach

thinking that a persons personality changes with the situation and environment

interactionist approach

both the trait and social learning approach, we are born with personality characteristics that can be modified by interacting with the environment

what does the interactionist approach explain

how personalities seemingly change, being shy off court but loud in game

what does the social learning approach explain

why we like the people who are of significance to us and we adopt the personality of role models

Attitude definition

a predisposition to act in a particular way towards something or someone in a person’s environment

Factors affecting attitude formation

• Media

• Past experiences

• Coaches

• Teachers

• Family/friends

• Peers

Cognitive (beliefs) element of attitudes

• Formed through past experiences and what we learn through others

• Reflects beliefs and knowledge

Affective (emotion) element of attitudes

• positive or negative emotional reactions to an attitude object depend on past experiences

Behavioural element of attitudes

• Not always consistent with attitude

• More likely to behave in a way that reveals attitude

Components of the tradicional model

• Beliefs - cognitive

• Emotions - affective

• Behaviour - behavioural

Persuasive communication

Method In persuading an individual to change attitudes or an element of an attitude

Persuasive communication affectors

• The persuader - significant other

• The message - relevant, accessible and accurate

• The recipient - open to message

• The situation - in private or public

Cognitive dissonance

• If a person hold two conflicting ideas an element of discomfort or dissonance occurs

What is dissonance

Emotional conflict

Prejudice

A preconceived opinion based on a faulty and inflexible generalisation

“Women can’t play football”

What is cognitive dissonance reduced by

• Provide new information

  • Cognitive

• Affective change by giving a different, more positive experience

  • Affective

• Simplified skills to increase chances of success and reinforcement

  • Behavioural

Stereotypes

a belief held by a collection of people about traits shared by a certain category of person

“Only Black people can sprint”

Positive attitudes in PE and sport

• Believe in value of excercise

• Enjoy competition

• Good at the activity

• Enjoy personal expressions

• Experience relaxation

• See participation as a social norm

Negative attitudes in PE and sport

• Believe it’s harmful

• Dislike experiences involved

• Lack physical and perceptual skills

• Experience anxiety when they participate

• See not participating as the social norm

Aggression definition

• Any form of behaviour directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment

Assertion

Aggression within the rules of the game with no attempt to harm

• There is a gray area

Instinct (trait perspective) of aggression

Suggests aggression is genetically inherited, innate and violence lies within everyone due to basic instinct to dominate

Negative Evaluation of instinct (trait perspective)

• Too simple

  • Doesn’t consider environment

• Aggression can be learned

• Aggression builds up and needs releasing

Positive Evaluation of instinct (trait perspective)

• Easy to understand

• Often reasoning involved

• Aggression is not always spontaneous

Social learning theory of aggression

• Aggression nurtured through environmental factors

• Learned from watching and copying role models

• Becomes an accepted mode of behaviour if it’s reinforced

• Behaviour learned through observation imitation, reinforcement and vicarious reinforcement

• Role models have a high influence

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

• frustration will always lead to aggression because when the goals that an individual is trying to reach are blocked their drive is increased which increases aggression

• Once aggression is initiated frustration will be reduced leading to success and catharsis

Frustration-aggression hypothesis evaluation

• Frustration doesn’t always lead to aggression

• Aggression can occur with no sign of frustration

• Aggression sometimes needs more than just frustration

Aggressive cue hypothesis

• States that frustration leads to an increase In arousal which will lead to aggression in some situations that have the presence of aggressive cues (Bats and sticks, the nature of the game)

• It is thought that top players have the ability to control frustration and arousal

How to eliminate aggressive tendencies

• Control arousal levels

• Avoid situations that initiate aggressive responses

• Remove player from the situation

• Reinforce non aggressive acts

• Punish aggressive acts

Motivation

Personal Inner drive to achieve a set goal

About motivation

• depends on external rewards or pressures

• Responsible for the preference, persistence and effort of an activity

Arousal

The levels of inner drives

About arousal

• Needs to be under control

• Effects can be positive or negative

• Can cause anxiety

• Raising it increases readiness to perform

Intrinsic motivation

• Internal drives that direct out behaviour

About intrinsic motivation

• Satisfaction and enjoyment of performance

• Pride and feeling of well-being

Extrinsic motivation

• Feelings from externally driven rewards

Types of extrinsic motivation

• Tangible rewards

  • Trophy

  • Badge

• Intangible rewards

  • Praise and recognition from others

Drive theory (Hull)

• The higher the arousal level the higher the performance level and the more likely that a dominant response will be produced

About drive theory (Hull)

• Poorly learned skills give a performance full of mistakes

• Well learned skills give skilled performance

Theories of aggression

• Social learning

• Frustration-aggression

• Aggressive cue

Drive reduction theory

• The need to learn inspires motivation

About drive reduction theory

• Explains why you need to vary practice to renew the need to learn so the performer achieves the desired outcome

• in turn leads to a reduction in drive since it has already been achieved

• Therefore and change in the desired outcome and need to learn necessary to inspire new motivation

Inverted U theory

• There is an optimum arousal level, if aroused more than this performance can decline

About the inverted U theory

• Position of optimal arousal depends on:

  • Activity type (gross/fine)

  • Skill level

  • Personality (intro/extroverts)

Peak flow experience (ZOF)

area where the performer feels like movements are effortless and they make the right decisions quickly

Controlled by the RAS

how to achieve ZOF

• Be relaxed and confident

• Completely focussed

• Be in control

• Have fun

Catastrophe theory

• A performance increases as arousal increases but if arousal gets too high a complete loss of performance occurs

About catastrophe theory

• A gymnast falls off vault

• Anxiety affects arousal

• Involves the performer regathering after catastrophe

Theories of arousal

• Drive theory

• Drive reduction theory

• Inverted U theory

• Catastrophe theory

Anxiety definition

negative aspect of experiencing stress and can be caused by worry or apprehension

May be because of fear of failure in a competitive situation or crowd

Competitive anxiety definition

The worry or apprehension experienced about or during competitive experiences

Trait anxiety

General disposition of a performer to perceive situations as threatening, naturally anxious individuals will feel apprehensive often

State anxiety

Form of anxiety that occurs in particular situations, linked to performers mood and varies from moment to moment

SCAT test

• Sport competition anxiety test

• Used to measure competitive anxiety

SCAT tests positives

Valid was of measuring individuals responses to stressful situations

Closely linked to personality

Somatic anxiety

Physiological responses

• Increased HR, sweating

Start about an hour before and reduce once the event has started because of concentration.

Cognitive anxiety

• Thoughts of worry and concern over perceived lack of ability to complete the task

• Start about a week or more before the event and decrease once it has started because of concentration

Cue utilisation

• Focusing on relevant cues and not being distracted

About cue utilisation

• Linked to arousal levels

• Over or under arousal lead to focussing on irrelevant cues

• Or ignorance of important cues

• Both lead to a decrease in performance

Social facilitation

positive influence of others who may be watching or competing on sports performance

Social inhibition

The negative influence of others who may be watching or competing which leads to a decrease in sport’s performance

Zajoncs factors that affect performance

• Presence of an audience or cofactors increases arousal

• Simple or complex skills

• Autonomous or cognitive performer

All affect likelihood of dominant response occurring and performance

Factors affecting social facilitation

• Size of audience

• Proximity of audience

• Status of observer

• Knowledge of the crowd

• Personality of performer

Home/away effects

• Home team advantage due to:

  • Large number of home supporters

  • Familiarity of surroundings so more comfortable

  • No travelling needed prior to game

Personality factors affecting social facilitation

• Am extrovert of type B personality will feel the affect of audience less than type A

• Extroverts seek a challenging task and don’t mind performing in front of a crowd

Levels of experience affecting social facilitation

Novices with limited experience will be affected by a crowd more than experts who are in the situation regularly and have well learned motor programmes

Types of skill affecting social facilitation

• Gross and simple skills require higher arousal and the presence of an audience benefits performance

• Fine and complex skills require high concentration and negativity affected by audience noise

Evaluation apprehension (cottell)

• Audience perceived as evaluating causing anxiety or arousal

• More likely to occur when observer is more expert and influential

• Can have a positive or negative effect depending on players confidence

How to minimise social inhibition and evaluation apprehension

• Stress management techniques

• Selective attention away from evaluators

• Lowering importance of the situation

• Simulating crowd noises

• Raise awareness of ZOF

• Ensure skills are over learned

What is the danger with overlearned skills

• Drive reduction

• Boredom

• Lack of motivation