Week 7: Psychological skills 1

What is the ultimate goal of Psychological Skills Training (PST)?

Self-regulation

What is Psychological skills training (PST)?

Consistent practice of mental or psychological skills to enhance performance, increase enjoyment, or achieve greater sport and physical activity self-satisfaction

Which country was the first to systematically engage in mental skills training in the 1950s?

The Soviet Union

Name basic skills that must be achieved before advanced skills in PST.

Relaxation, goal setting, imagery, self-talk

What are some advanced skills in PST?

Controlling anxiety, self-confidence, motivation, attention

According to coaches, what percentage of sport is considered mental?

50%, with some sports being 80%-90% mental

What are the two sources of evidence we use to inform our use of PST?

1. Research on elite athletes

2. Experiences from coaches and athletes

What characteristics did Krane and Williams (2021) find in more successful athletes?

Higher confidence, self-regulation, concentration, positive thoughts, imagery, determination

What did Greenleaf et al (2001) and Hodge (20130 find about Olympic athletes?

Plans for competition, performance evaluation, and dealing with disruptions

What did Brown and Fletcher (2017) conclude about the effectiveness of PST?

1. Psychological and psychosocial improved performance

2. Performance effects lasted about a month after the completion of the intervention

3. Interventions are better when coaches deliver

4. Somewhat greater effects for men vs. women

Outline the 3 phases of PST

1. Education phase - increase athlete awareness of the role that mental skills play in performance

2. Acquisition phase - focus on strategies and techniques for learning the various psychological skills

3. Practice phase: actually putting the skills into practice - 3 primary objectives:

1. automate skills through overlearning

2. teach people to integrate psychological skills into their performance

3. simulate skills people will want to apply in actual connection

What is self-regulation in the context of PST? Why is it important?

The ability to work toward one's goals by monitoring and managing thoughts, feelings, and behaviours

• athlete should be able to self-regulate their internal functioning in the desired manner and successfully adapt to changes after PST

Outline Kirschenbaum’s 5-stage model of self-regulation

Stage 1: Problem identification

Stage 2: Commitment

Stage 3: Execution

Stage 4: Environmental management

Stage 5: Generalisation

When should PST be implemented? By who?

PST implemented by?

• Sport psychologist or consultant

• Coaches

 

When to implement?

• Off-season/pre-season

Outline the three types of anxiety in athletes

• Cognitive - Worry and negative thoughts

• Somatic - Nervousness and tension, increased perspiration, pounding heart

• Behavioural (less research) - Tense facial expressions and changes in communication

What is problem-focused coping? Provide some examples

Efforts to alter or manage the issue causing stress - more situation-specific

E.g. information gathering, goal-setting, self-talk, time-management

What is emotion-focused coping? Provide some examples

Regulating emotional responses to the problem causing anxiety/stress

E.g. meditation, relaxation, mental and behavioural withdrawal

Name some somatic anxiety reduction techniques

• progressive relaxation

• breath control

• biofeedback

Name some cognitive anxiety reduction techniques

• relaxation response

• autogenic training

Name some multimodal anxiety reduction techniques

• stress inoculation training

• cognitive-affective stress management training

What does the Matching Hypothesis state about anxiety management techniques?

Anxiety management techniques should match the type of anxiety problem

• Cognitive anxiety = mental relaxation

• Somatic anxiety = physical relaxation

What is Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)? (Jacobsen, 1938)

Tensing specific muscle groups and then relaxing them to reduce anxiety

→ Tension and relaxation are mutually exclusive - not possible to be tensed and relaxed at the same time

How does breathing relate to anxiety levels?

Breathing patterns change with anxiety; calm breathing is smooth and deep, while anxious breathing is short and shallow

• When you’re calm, confident, and in control, your breathing is likely to be smooth, deep, and rhythmic

• When you’re under pressure and tense, your breathing is more likely to be short, shallow, and irregular

Breathing in and holding increases muscle tension

Breathing out decreases muscle tension

What did Conlon et al. (2022) discover about diaphragmatic breathing?

Conlon et al. (2022) found 5-minute diaphragmatic breathing decreased cognitive anxiety in pistol shooters, but not in performance

When should breath control be performed during sports?

• Breaks in play, e.g. before tennis serve

• To enhance skill execution, e.g. powerlifting

What is pressure training?

Strategies used to expose athletes to pressure in practice to improve performance in competition

Conlon et al. (2022) found 5-minute diaphragmatic breathing decreased cognitive anxiety in pistol shooters, but not in performance

How can a pressure training environment be created?

1. Demands of training

• Task stressor

• Performer stressor, e.g. sabotaging warm-up - removing cones etc

• Environment stressor, e.g. coach making training very loud with a speaker

2. Consequences of training

• Positive or negative based on performance, e.g. if you lose you run laps

3. Education

• Teach athletes how to cope, build awareness, and tell them why you’re doing pressure training

What is the role of self-talk in sports psychology?

It can enhance self-confidence and concentration or act as a negative internal distractor

What did Hatzigeorgiadis et al (2011) discover about self-talk?

Results of a meta-analytic review of 32 studies on self-talk revealed that self-talk was consistently positively related to performance improvements

Name 2 cognitive therapies often used in sport

• Rational Emotional Behaviour Therapy (REBT; Ellis, 1957)

  • REBT focuses on challenging the client's belief systems

• Cognitive Therapy (later developed in CBT; Beck, 1975)

What are the 3 different types of self-talk?

1. Positive, e.g. ‘I can do it’

2. Instructional, e.g. ‘keep your eyes on the ball’

3. Negative, e.g. ‘that was a bad shot’

Outline 2 components of organic self-talk

Spontaneous self-talk: unintended statements that come to mind in the moment

Goal-directed self-talk: rational response to spontaneous processes, e.g. emotions, thoughts and self-talk

→ directed at self-regulation and performance enhancement

What is strategic self-talk?

Predetermined self-talk plans that trigger responses serving instructional and motivational functions

What are some techniques for effective self-talk?

Mastery and coping skills, cognitive restructuring, thought-stopping, reframing, self-affirmations, countering

What is thought-stopping?

The process of consciously stopping negative self-talk using a trigger word or cue

What are some limitations of thought stopping?

• Can exacerbate the negative thoughts

• Draws attention to negative thoughts

Should not be used as a long-term coping  mechanism and needs to be used in conjunction with other techniques (Hardy et al., 2008)

What are Mikes' six rules for creating effective self-talk?

• Keep your phrases short and specific.

• Use the first person and present tense.

• Construct positive phrases.

• Say your phrases with meaning and attention.

• Speak kindly to yourself.

• Repeat phrases often

What do the 2 of the most successful self-talk involve?

Two of the most successful involve thought stopping and changing negative self-talk to positive self-talk