PSY 139H Midterm Study Guide: Sport Psychology Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 14

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, theories, and concepts across Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 14 for the PSY 139H Midterm Exam.

Probability of Success

A primary situational consideration in need achievement theory that depends on whom you compete against and the difficulty of the task, measuring how likely an individual is to succeed.

Incentive of Success

A primary situational consideration in need achievement theory referring to the value or satisfaction placed on succeeding, which is greater when the accomplishment is more challenging.

Direction of Effort

A dimension of motivation that refers to whether an individual seeks out, approaches, or is attracted to certain situations, reflecting what motivates them and what they intend to do.

Intensity of Effort

A dimension of motivation that refers to how much effort a person puts forth in a particular situation, or how hard they are willing to work to achieve their goals.

Interactional View of Motivation

A view (also known as the participant-by-situation view) suggesting that an athlete's motivation level is determined by the interaction between their personality and the particular situation they confront.

Task Goal Orientation

An orientation (also called mastery- or process-oriented) focused on personal improvement and comparing performance with personal standards rather than comparing oneself to other athletes.

Attribution Theory

A theory focusing on how athletes explain their successes and failures, where attributing outcomes to internal causes increases pride or shame, while external causes decrease pride or shame.

Trait-Centered View

A view (also called the participant-centered view) stating that an athlete's personality, needs, interests, and goals are the most important determinants of motivated behavior, making behavior primarily a function of individual characteristics.

Achievement Goal Theory Factors

The three components that determine an athlete's level of motivation: achievement goals, perceived ability, and achievement behavior.

Competence Motivation Theory

A theory that influences an athlete's feelings of personal competence, self-worth (self-esteem), and control.

Ego-Oriented Athlete

A competitive goal-oriented athlete who focuses on external criteria and normatively compares themselves with others to defeat them, making them more prone to undesirable motivational behavior under difficulty.

Need Achievement Theory Motives

The two achievement motives that influence behavior through the balance of striving for success, persisting through failure, and experiencing pride in accomplishments.

Somatic State Anxiety

Moment-to-moment changes in an athlete's perceived physiological activation or arousal, including increased respiration, elevated heart rate, and muscular tension.

Trait Anxiety

An acquired behavioral tendency or disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive objectively non-dangerous situations as threatening and respond with disproportionate state anxiety.

Four Stages of Stress

The sequential interrelated stages of stress consisting of: 1. Environmental Demand, 2. Perception of Demand, 3. Stress Response, and 4. Behavioral Consequences.

Inverted-U Hypothesis

A hypothesis showing that performance increases as arousal increases up to an optimal point, beyond which further increases in arousal decrease performance.

Arousal

A blend of physiological and psychological activity that refers to the intensity dimension of motivation at any given moment.

Stress

A substantial imbalance between physical or psychological demands and response capability, occurring when failing to meet those demands carries important consequences.

Context-Related Sources of Stress

Situational sources of stress that include the importance of the competitive event and the uncertainty of the outcome, both of which increase stress levels as they rise.

Subjective Competitive Situation

The way an individual perceives, accepts, and evaluates an objective competitive situation, explaining why one athlete may look forward to competition while another dreads it.

Motivational Feedback

A form of feedback that facilitates performance by enhancing confidence, inspiring greater effort and energy expenditure, and fostering a positive mood.

Harmonious Passion

A fully controllable, autonomous desire to engage in an activity freely as it becomes part of one's identity because the athlete enjoys it and feels good participating.

Flow

A psychological state defined by Csikszentmihalyi as the balance between an athlete's perceived skill and the challenge of the task.

Multimodal Anxiety Reduction Programs

Programs that combine cognitive and somatic state anxiety reduction techniques to decrease competitive state anxiety and help athletes develop better coping skills.

Progressive Relaxation Technique

An anxiety reduction technique that involves tensing and relaxing specific muscles, progressing from one major muscle group to the next until all muscle groups are completely relaxed.

Relaxation Response

A mind-quieting response that teaches an athlete to concentrate, reduce physical muscle tension, and improve mental relaxation.

Problem-Focused Coping

Cognitive-behavioral efforts aimed at altering the problem causing distress, including goal setting, time management, gathering information, and problem solving.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Coping skills aimed at regulating distressing emotions and changing negative emotional reactions to a stressor through techniques such as relaxation, meditation, and cognitive appraisal change.

Cognitive Restructuring

The process of identifying irrational or stress-inducing thoughts (often related to fear of failure or disapproval) and changing them into positive self-statements.

Cognitive-Affective Stress Management Training

A program that combines relaxation techniques for physical tension and cognitive techniques for stressful thoughts to teach athletes an integrated coping response to control emotional arousal.

Psychoneuromuscular Theory

An imagery theory proposing that vividly imagined events produce subliminal neuromuscular patterns identical to those produced during physical movement, without requiring overt physical action.

Symbolic Learning Theory

An imagery theory suggesting that athletic movements are encoded into the central nervous system to create a mental blueprint of movement sequences, goals, and solutions without subliminal muscle activity.

Motivational-Specific Imagery

A form of imagery where an athlete imagines themselves in a specific setting that is personally motivating, such as receiving a championship medal.

Bioinformational Theory

Lang's theory stating that an image is a functionally organized set of propositions stored in the brain's long-term memory, consisting of stimulus propositions, response propositions, and meaning propositions.

Stimulus Propositions

A component of bioinformational theory describing the content and specific characteristics of the imagined scenario.

Response Propositions

A component of bioinformational theory describing an athlete's physiological and emotional responses to the imagined stimuli.

Kinesthetic Sense

The sensory feeling of body movement that is emphasized and experienced more easily through first-person internal imagery.

Controllability in Imagery

The ability to manipulate mental images so they reflect what the athlete desires to accomplish rather than visualizing errors, allowing athletes to mentally rehearse performing skills calmly under pressure.