Sports Psychology: Motivation, Anxiety, Aggression, and Team Dynamics

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering foundational sports psychology topics including motivation, achievement theories, stress and arousal, anxiety, aggression, confidence, resilience, perfectionism, and team dynamics.

Motivation

The direction and intensity of one's effort, determined by both internal and external factors.

Intrinsic Motivation

Motivation that comes from internal factors such as feeling good, enjoyment, pride, ambition, and personal satisfaction.

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation driven by external rewards such as money, trophies, fame, and sponsorships.

Amotivation

The absence or lack of intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation, characterized by having no determination or losing the 'buzz' for an activity.

Need Achievement Theory

A motivational theory explaining why some people are more motivated than others, founded on two psychological principles: the motive to achieve success ($\text{NACH}$) and the motive to avoid failure ($\text{NAF}$).

NACH (Need to Achieve)

A personality trait characterized by striving for success, resilience, willingness to take risks, absence of fear of failure, and experiencing pride upon achievement.

NAF (Need to Avoid Failure)

A personality trait characterized by avoiding challenges, giving up easily, and fearing failure.

Achievement Goal Theory

A theory suggesting that motivation is determined by two outcome orientations: task (mastery) orientation and ego (performance/competition) orientation.

Task Orientated Outcome

An orientation focused on improving personal skills and abilities through mastery rather than comparing oneself to others.

Ego Orientated Outcome

An orientation focused on winning, boosting ego, comparing performance against others, and seeking low challenges.

Self-Determination Theory

A motivational theory proposing that people are driven by three fundamental psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Competence

The psychological need to feel capable and effective in what you do.

Autonomy

The psychological need to feel in control of your own choices and actions.

Relatedness

The psychological need to feel connected, supported, and valued by others.

Weiner's Attribution Theory

A theory explaining why athletes succeed or fail based on three causal categories: stability (stable vs. unstable), causality (internal vs. external), and control (controllable vs. uncontrollable).

Mastery Climate

A training environment focused on task performance structures that support effort and learning; it increases intrinsic motivation, focus, consistency, and wellbeing while decreasing stress, and is highly effective with children.

Competitive Environment

A performance climate focused on competition outcomes, external rewards, pep talks, crowds, and equipment, which increases arousal, confidence, and extrinsic motivation.

TARGET Framework

A model for developing a motivational mastery climate using six environmental structures: Task, Authority, Reward, Grouping, Evaluation, and Timing.

Type A Personality

An extroverted personality type characterized by high energy, outgoingness, confidence, a strong urge for competition, and high levels of anxiety.

Type B Personality

An introverted personality type characterized by shyness, reservation, patience, higher tolerance toward others, high imagination, and thinking before speaking.

Social Learning Theory

A psychological theory suggesting that individuals learn behaviours by observing, imitating, and modeling the actions of others.

Stages of Observational Learning

The four distinct phases of learning behaviours from a model: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivational response.

Over Motivation

A state of having excessive motivation, which can lead to overtraining, training addiction, and social withdrawal.

Overtraining

A condition occurring when an athlete performs more training than they can recover from, to the point where athletic performance declines.

Training Addiction

A compulsive need to exercise excessively despite negative physical, psychological, or social consequences.

Social Withdrawal

A sign of over motivation where an athlete avoids people and activities they usually enjoy, resulting in social isolation.

Burnout

A state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion resulting from over motivation and stress, typically requiring $4\text{--}12\,\text{weeks}$ of complete rest to recover.

Arousal

A state of anticipation and alertness that prepares the body for action, involving physiological responses (increased heart rate, sweating) and psychological responses (increased attention, excitement).

Stress

A mental or emotional response of the body to any demand placed upon it.

Eustress

A positive form of stress ('good stress') that gives athletes a sense of fulfillment, increases motivation and energy, and enhances performance.

Distress

A negative form of stress ('bad stress') characterized by extreme anxiety and nervousness caused by an inability to meet demands, leading to reduced performance.

Four Stages of Stress

The stress process sequence: Stage 1 Demand (stressor), Stage 2 Perception of demand (threat or challenge), Stage 3 Arousal level change (distress or eustress), and Stage 4 Outcome (reduced or increased performance).

Fight or Flight Response

A high-arousal bodily response triggered by a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival, accompanied by the release of cortisol and adrenaline.

Cortisol

A hormone released alongside adrenaline during stressful situations.

State Anxiety

A temporary, short-term emotional mood state characterized by worry and tension that varies and changes frequently in response to specific threatening situations.

Trait Anxiety

A permanent part of an athlete's personality that determines their tendency to perceive situations as threatening and feel anxious.

Cognitive Anxiety

The mental component of anxiety manifested through thought processes, including overthinking, negative thoughts, negative self-talk, fear, indecision, and fast talking.

Somatic Anxiety

The physical response to anxiety, characterized by increased breathing rate, adrenaline rushes, sweating, elevated body temperature, and vomiting.

Multidimensional Anxiety Theory

A theory proposing that cognitive anxiety consistently decreases performance, whereas somatic anxiety physical responses can increase or be beneficial for performance.

Competitive Anxiety

Anxiety and feelings of tension that occur in response to a competitive sporting situation, often triggered by fear or last-minute changes to a routine.

Reversal Theory

A psychological theory stating that an athlete's individual perception of anxiety and arousal determines whether their performance will be enhanced or reduced.

Aggression

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

Assertive Behaviour

Goal-directed action that is played strictly within the rules of the sport with no intent to harm or injure and without emotional involvement.

Instrumental Aggression

Aggression used within the rules to achieve a non-aggressive sporting goal, operating without emotional involvement.

Hostile Aggression

Reactive aggression motivated by anger, where actions are solely and intentionally performed to inflict physical or psychological harm.

Relational Aggression

A non-physical form of aggression deployed to inflict emotional and psychological harm upon another person.

Instinct Theory of Aggression

A theory suggesting aggression naturally builds up within an individual until it reaches a threshold and must be released.

Frustration-Aggression Theory

A theory proposing that frustration always and inevitably leads to aggression.

Adapted Frustration-Aggression Theory

A revised framework combining frustration-aggression theory with social learning theory ($\text{FA} + \text{SLT} = \text{AFA}$).

Self-Confidence

A general belief in one's ability to successfully execute a desired behaviour, heavily influenced by past experiences.

Self-Efficacy

A situation-specific belief in one's capability to succeed in a particular task or situation (e.g., executing one specific minute of a game rather than the entire 90 minutes).

Sources of Self-Efficacy

Bandura's four antecedents that determine self-efficacy: performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal.

Self-Esteem

An overall evaluative judgment of how much an individual values themselves.

Fixed Mindset

The belief that personal talent and ability are static ('set in stone'), leading athletes to avoid challenges, give up easily, hide weaknesses, and feel threatened by others.

Growth Mindset

The belief that abilities can be developed through effort, characterized by rising to challenges, showing resilience, embracing feedback, and admiring the success of others.

Learned Helplessness

A psychological state in which an athlete believes events are completely outside of their control, resulting in giving up easily because they believe nothing can improve the situation.

Resilience

The psychological ability to deal with or recover quickly from difficult situations and adversity ('bouncing back').

BICS Acronym

An acronym representing four key athletic challenges where resilience is critical: Burnout, Injury, Career transitions, and Slump in form.

Adaptive Perfectionism

A positive, functional form of perfectionism where an athlete strives to be perfect without unhealthy pressure, building self-confidence and enjoying skill development.

Dysfunctional Perfectionism

A negative form of perfectionism marked by obsessive-compulsive tendencies, unrealistic expectations, fear of making mistakes, and heightened risk of mental health issues.

Tuckman's Stages of Group Development

A four-stage model describing how newly formed teams evolve: Forming (getting to know each other), Storming (conflict and clashes), Norming (cooperation and cohesion), and Performing (effective teamwork without conflict).

Ringelmann Effect

The psychological phenomenon where individual effort decreases as the size of the team or group increases, often due to hiding behind others.

Social Loafing

The tendency of individuals to put in less effort when working within a group due to low confidence, low arousal, fear of failure, or feeling their contribution is useless.

Interactive Team

A team structure in which all members directly interact and coordinate with one another during athletic performance (e.g., football, hockey).

Coactive Team

A team structure in which athletes perform their tasks individually without direct in-game interaction with teammates (e.g., gymnastics, dance).

Cohesion

The dynamic willingness of a team to stick together and work collectively in performance to achieve success.

Task Cohesion

The degree to which members of a team work together toward common goals, tactics, and skills, which strongly correlates with higher team performance.

Social Cohesion

The degree to which members of a team like each other, provide interpersonal support, and enjoy each other's company.

Carron's Model of Cohesion

A conceptual framework outlining four main factors that determine team cohesion: Environmental factors, Personal factors, Leadership factors, and Team factors.

Performance-Cohesion Relationship

A reciprocal, bidirectional dynamic in sports where high team cohesion leads to improved performance, and successful performance further strengthens team cohesion.