Sports Psych Exam 3

what is flow

(arousal + skill + challenge + motivation)

how do you get to flow

• Motivation to Perform (and perform well)

• Achieving optimal arousal level before performing

• Maintaining focus

• Precompetitive and competitive plans and preparation

are complete

• Optimal physical readiness

• Optimal environmental conditions

• Confidence and mental attitude – you can meet the

challenge

• Positive team play/interaction (no conflicts)

• Feeling good about performance

• Mindfulness

intrinsic/unconscious nature of flow

• Balance (challenge and skill in sync)

• Clear goals = “intention” flows

• Complete absorption in activity/ Mindfulness

• Merging of action and awareness

• Total concentration and Loss of self-consciousness

• Sense of total control

• Zero goals related to external regulation

• Transformation of time

• Effortless movement

• Hearing and vision are enhanced

what prevents flow

• Not ready physically (injury, illness, fatigue)

• Poor competitive prep (distracted before game or interrupted pregame)

• Lack of motivation to perform (no goals, no challenge)

• Nonoptimal arousal (not being relaxed or being too relaxed)

• Team not performing

• Performing poorly

• Nonoptimal situations (external stressors, uncontrollable influences)

• Lack of confidence (negative thinking, self-doubt, mentally out of control

• Focus problems (thinking too much, worrying about others, frustrated)

• Self-doubt or performance pressure

what disrupts flow once it has started

• Stopping play

• Sudden changes in performance (good or bad)

• Negative ump/ref decisions

• Negative feedback for goal outcomes

what are psychological skills

• Behavioral modification

• Cognitive therapy

• Rational emotive therapy

• Goal setting

• Attentional control

• Progressive muscle relaxation

• Systematic desensitization

Cognitive Skill Learning (Motor with links to Mental)

• athletes focus on gaining an understanding of how the skill is to be performed.

• begin the development of the motor program (an abstract, internal representation of the skill)

• High demand for conscious attention, directed to the details of the movement and NO attention to external events (e.g., position of teammates and defenders, pitch, etc).

Associative Skill Learning (Motor with links to Mental)

• Through practice, the athlete moves from the general idea of how to execute the movement to being able to perform accurately/consistently

• Visual control of movement is gradually replaced by proprioceptive control (ie, “feel”)

• athletes’ attention is directed on the planned effects of their movements rather than internally on the movements themselves.

Autonomous Skill Learning (Motor with links to Mental)

• the athlete seems to require very little conscious thought or attention to the details of movement.

• Free from having to concentrate on execution, they can concentrate on other things besides technique.

• Asking highly skilled performers to consciously focus on movements disrupts performance (especially quick speed activities)

Stages of Psychological Skills

• Education – learn the importance of a skill and the role it plays

• Acquisition – development of strategies and techniques to learn

• Practice – overlearning leads to automated skills

• Integrate skills to situations

Self-Regulation

Working on short-term and long-term goals by managing one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

five stage model of Self-Regulation

1. Problem Identification (ID the problem, determine change is possible

and desirable and take responsibility for it)

2. Commitment to change and deal with obstacles

3. Execution self-evaluate, self-monitor, develop expectancies and self- reinforce

4. Manage the environment – develop a plan and strategies for managing social and physical environment (coaches/teammates)

5. Generalization – Sustain effort over time and extend to novel settings

myths of PST

• Only for the athletes with “problems”

• Only for the elite training

• Lead to quick fixes

Goal Setting: Operational Definition

• Objective: A goal is an “objective or aim of action” defined as attaining

“a specific standard of proficiency on a task, usually within a specified time limit”

Goal Setting *Standard often leads to performance but there are 3 types:

1. Performance = improvement in personal skill

2. Outcome = results (winning)

3. Process = specific to procedures that the athlete will engage (during performance)

• Subjective: target goals that are not (easily) measured

• Learning

• Qualitative intent (e.g., do well, have fun)

Mechanistic Theory of Goal Setting

1. Goals direct the performer’s attention and action to important aspects of the task.

• a basketball player with the goal will focus attention and subsequent action on improving specific skills, such as boxing-out under the boards or decreasing turnovers, as opposed to becoming a better ball player in general

2. Goals help the performer mobilize effort.

• swimmers exhibit greater practice effort in attempting to achieve these objectives.

3. Goals not only increase immediate effort but also help prolong effort or increase persistence.

• Persistence over the long season is increased when a wrestler sets short-term goals throughout the year.

4. Performers often develop and employ new learning strategies through the process of setting goals.

• Golfers, for instance, may learn new methods of putting in an effort to achieve putting goals

Cognitive Theory of Goal Setting

• Outcome vs Performance Goals interact with motivation, confidence and anxiety/stress

• an athlete’s goal motivational orientation interacts with perceived ability to produce one of three goal styles:

• a performance orientation, where the athlete defines success based on learning and self-improvement and has high perceived ability (although the perceived ability is not judged to be critical to this one orientation);

• a success orientation, where the athlete defines success on social comparison and winning and has high perceived ability;

• a failure orientation, where the athlete defines success on social comparison and winning but has low perceived ability.

• They predict that goal-setting should

• best increase performance for the performance-oriented athlete,

• moderately increase performance for the success-oriented athlete,

• slightly decrease performance for the failure-oriented athlete.

principles of goal setting

• Specific

• Moderately difficult but realistic

• Long-term and short-term (stairs)

• Performance, process, and outcome goals

• Mastery-approach over performance/avoidance

• Set practice AND competition goals

• Record goals (don’t just think them)

• Develop strategies for how to achieve them

• Consider personality, motivation and learning stages

• Evaluate and feedback

neuropsychology of emotion

Bodies are naturally predicting and priming certain emotions based on a context

Anticipatory anxiety

misattribution of arousal theory

Social psych attribution theory, we don’t do an immediate job of recognizing symptoms of arousal instead we think the cognitive bit

So misattribution of arousal-aroused state connect it with a different kind of context

When source of arousal is ambiguous, we tend to try and figure out the situation that is making us aroused

You feel because of arousal, but make sense of it based on what is going around you

Need to increase awareness of state, understand the anxiety, how do individuals cope with anxiety (more imp than quantity of anxiety)

increasing awareness of arousal

What Does arousal “feel” like?

The link between the two factors (Arousal + Contextual label)

Are we so quick to label that we don’t recognize the arousal?

Misattribution of Arousal: when the true source of the arousal is ambiguous (unclear or in the presence of multiple context cues).

The “fear” of a shaky bridge can be mistaken for “romantic attraction” for someone with you.

We must increase awareness of the psychological state to adequately control thoughts and feelings. * “How individuals cope with anxiety is more important than how much anxiety they have” (W&G)

recognize fight flight or freeze for arousal

Trigger: The amygdala detect threats—before the conscious mind, activating the autonomic nervous system.

Fight Response: Confront the threat -anger, aggression, protect.

Flight Response: Escape danger -nervous energy, restlessness, or avoidance

Freeze Response: “Stuck" state -immobility, hiding, shutting down, numb

Symptoms: Rapid, shallow breathing (or holding breath), quickened heart rate, tense muscles, tunnel vision, sweating, cold hands, and reduced pain perception.

Somatic Arousal/Anxiety Reduction Techniques

Progressive Relaxation

Breath Control: 4-7-8, box, bearing down, physiological sigh,

Body Scan / Biofeedback: detecting heart beat/rate

Cognitive Arousal/Anxiety Reduction Techniques

Arousal triggers Cognitive Distortions related to worry or negativity

Patterns of thinking to “make sense of the arousal”

“Negative Heuristics” like Confirmation Bias

Relaxation Response – meditation;

cued word that can replace stimulated thoughts with a singular mindset e.g., “relax”, “calm”

Use of mechanical routines to replace “too much thinking”

Systematic Desensitization

Theory = anxiety is a conditioned autonomic nervous system response (heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, etc) to a stimuli. The goal is to replace the nervous activity with a competing behavior (relaxation) that diffuses the anxiety in the presence of the stimuli (while systematically increasing the stimuli strength).

Gives exposure hierarchy

Teach to relax to point where take away strength of conditioned response, replace with new one

(Theoretical) “Limbic Shift”

recognizing the heightened arousal is connecting with worried thoughts. Then trying to introduce a preferred activity more typically associated with arousal state, replacing worry attribution with a passion attribution.

Multimodal (Somatic + Cognitive)

Cognitive-Affect Stress Management Training (SMT)

Using a combination of relaxation + appraisal (reframing) + behavior

Stress Inoculation Training (sniper / ER training)

Enhancing performance in the face of stress situations

1. prepare for the stressor (plan of action in the upcoming storm)

2. strategy for controlling and handling the stress (mental rehearsal)

3. coping with the feelings of being overwhelmed in the moment (relaxation/thought control/breathing/biofeedback)

4. Evaluating the coping effort

matching hypothesis arousal

Cognitive anxiety should be matched with positive thought control and mental relaxation

and

Somatic = progressive muscle relaxation

Coping with Adversity

“Cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands or conflicts appraised as taxing or exceeding one’s resources”

Stress results from an imbalance between demands and resources

Coping with Adversity: problems and emotions

Problem focused: involves efforts to manage the problem at hand (gather info, competition plan, goal setting, effort, self-talk, etc)

Emotion focused: regulating emotional responses that cause stress (meditation, relaxation, reframing, thought challenges, appraisal of the situation)

The “list” now or later. Can you solve the problem right now? Then do it.

If not, then right it down on a piece of paper (phone) and take it out this afternoon at 4pm to handle it. Engage in emotional coping.

coping in sports for arousal regulation

Thought control – catch the cognitive distortions

Rational thinking and self talk

Narrow task focus (immediate goal / intent) – Aaron Judge’s plan at bat

Positive focus on abilities and preparation

Social supports (teammates and family)

Pre-competition prep and anxiety management

Know your mechanics “automatically”

Recognizing when is it “thought time” and when is it focus time

tips from sports psych for arousal regulation

Smile at the face of tension (facial feedback hypothesis)

Have FUN! Enjoy what you can of the situation

Engage in stressful situations to practice cognitive-somatic

Slow down and take time

Focus in the controllable present

Overlearning game plan mechanics

Practice Psychological Skills the ways you practice motor skills

Game/Play plan for cognitive and somatic coping – PRIMING

The Body can’t go where the Mind hasn’t been

Don’t think of the purple elephant

Don’t want to stop thinking about your thought, but instead think of something else

Direct their thinking

Meditation has cued word that pair with mantra to take the place of thoughts

Come up with singular mindset, relax, relax, relax, etc

Replace opportunity of thoughts with things that will keep mind going, just not in that way

William James attention quote

Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought...It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others

What is attention

• Alertness and arousal

• Vigilance/sustained

• Selective

• Shifting

• “attentional resources” (i.e., capacity)

Defining concentration/attention

• 1. focus SELECTIVELY on the relevant cues

• 2. SUSTAIN focus over time

• 3. DIVIDED attention between situation and performance

• 4. SHIFTING attention between stimuliA

Types of Attentional Focus

• BROAD focus

• NARROW focus

• EXTERNAL focus

• INTERNAL focus

Improving Concentration

• Plan for competitors

• Situational Practice

• Cue words (follow through; short to the ball, breathe)

• Nonjudgemental thinking

• Routines

• Overlearn skills

• Thinking out Loud

Practicing attention

• Shift (focus, DISENGAGE, shift, RE-ENGAGE)

• Sustain (HOW LONG CAN YOU GO?)

• Selective (LOOK FOR SOMETHING SPECIFIC – Where’s Waldo?)

Mindfulness

• Extend focus of the 5-4-3-2-1 topics. Using one of the topics from the earlier exercise, focus longer, study it, Let other thoughts come in recognize the other thoughts and then bring yourself back to the target that you were studying.

• Hershey’s kiss. Pop a Hershey’s kiss in your mouth and savor it, noticing the flavor, smell, texture.

• Setting Intentions – just before you do something (tying shoe, begin studying, talking to a person), set your intention for what you want to do, what you

• “Mindfulness” is “Stillness” – this can be anything from sitting watching a candle/campfire to watching fish in a tank to watching an inflatable dancing figure at the car wash parking lot. Being still allows the energy to go to the mind, let thoughts come and go. Name the emotions that you feel.

attentional alertness brain area

RAS in the Brain

attentional selectivity brain area

Prefrontal Lobe and anterior cingulate

attentional capacity brain area

Load of cortex

5 characteristics of imagery

Modality (which sense was used)

Perspective (internal vs external)

Angle (angle “view)

Agency (who is doing the imagery)

Deliberation (is it deliberate and conscious or spontaneous)

purpose/benefit of imagery

Improves concentration

Enhance motivation (more practice to reach imagined goals)

Build confidence (feel successful)

Control emotions (when I see her I will feel…)

acquire/practice/correct skills-mental practice makes perfect

acquire/practice strategy (imagine opponent)

Cope with injury (improve stroke patient)

neuro explanations for imagery

Psychoneuromuscular and ideomotor theory

• Our mind activates neural networks associated with the movement

Functional equivalence theory–imagery and physical tap the same network

Mirror neurons

cognitive explanations for imagery

Symbolic learning (like watching film, knowing patterns helps us plan, improves future decisions and efficiency)

Bioinformational theory

Triple code model (ISM)

“Exposure technique?”

Bioinformational theory

Stimulus proposition (prepare for what will be present)

Response proposition (prepare for physical/cognitive stimulation)

Meaning proposition (perception - how to interpret environment)

Triple code model (ISM)

Image itself is a mental representation of image can offer interaction

Somatic response is felt with the interaction/stimulus

Meaning is generated

Important factors of imagery

Vivid

Controllable

Relaxed concentration

Before AND after practice/competitions

Specific or varied scenarios

exercise changes in mood states

• Decrease fatigue

• Decrease anger

• Increase alertness, vigor

exercise reducing anxiety

Direct benefit (positive reinforcement)

Distraction/avoidance (negative reinforcement)

Try and calm somatic down or manage worries and do thought stopping routine

Anxious state can make use of arousal, feel keyed up and on edge, go do a workout, put energy to use in some way

exercise reducing (state) anxiety

• Aerobic (oxygen-dependent physical activity that increases heart rate (running, swimming, cycling)

• 40-70% maximal heart rate for at least 30m, 3-5 days per we

• Anaerobic (weight training – 8-12 reps for major muscle groups)

• 30-50% of maximal heart rate 3-5xs per week

• Calculate Max Heart Rate: 220 – Age

• Low end = .40 x MHR

• High End = .70 x MHR

• eg, 20-yr-old = 80-140 (for 30m 3-5x wk) =

• Drops state anxiety between 4-24 hrs

exercise reducing depression

Blumenthal, et al (1999) - 16 week

• Exercise alone vs Zoloft alone vs E+Z

• Exercise alone was as effective as the others

• Self-efficacy?

• Legrand and Heuze (2007)

• Exercise 3-5x’s week produced significant decrease

• Adding group intervention did not improve beyond that

• Increased sensitivity of serotonin receptors

• Increased endorphins

• Increase in GABA

• Enhances synaptogenesis and prevents neurodegeneration

• Indirectly increases dopamine

runner’s high

• FLOW? – positive mood with euphoria, well-being, relaxed, effortless

• Unpredictable/uncontrollable

• Facilitated by few distractions

• Long distance dependent (6+ miles) / 30-minutes

• Comfortable pace (no concern with pace/time

• Endorphins connected with Limbic and Prefrontal

exercising impacting cognitive functioning

• Executive Functioning

• Attention, Working Memory, Cognitive flexibility, planning,

• Preventing cognitive decline

aggression

frustration, frustration tolerance, this gives you open path on how to handle it and work with the person

feel arousal, thoughts, same viewpoint as anxiety (arousal plus cognitive piece)

when you talk to someone who has a tendency towards aggression, its always arousal and thoughts, starts with frustration (obstacle between person and goal), object in between person and goal becomes really important figure, bring it back to frustration, gives athlete context for aggression, maybe target thoughts

narrow culture definition

most common perception of culture: Race and Ethnicity

broad culture definition

any and all potentially salient ethnographic, demographic, status, or affiliation identities

any group that shares a theme of issue

cultural awareness

• Values, assumptions and biases that one develops from cultural influence

• Leads to less egocentrism in therapist and more appreciation of cultural influence

• Therapist recognize that different is NOT deficient

• Can be unpleasant road when it leads to admitting flaws and “isms” that are part

of cultural background

cultural competence: Knowledge of Diverse Cultures

• Learn/know as much as possible about clients’ culture(s)

• Effort to learn continually through reading and direct experiences

• How do we know their culture?

• (ask – not always directly but about cultural features)

• Acknowledge that you are learning and trying to understand as much as you can

• Rapport can (but may not) build from that if there is trust

cultural competence: Knowledge of History

• History of the culture (major social/political) and how that might affect therapy

• (e,g, black history with slavery and trust in r’shp)

cultural competence: Knowledge of Heterogeneity within culture (variation in group)

• Ingroup/outgroup biases

• The role of Muslim women (is the veil a symbol of segregation and autonomy)

• The perception of women in the Catholic church (no priests but nuns)

• Spiritual vs political (e.g., the role of Mary in both Islam and Catholicism)

cultural competence: Knowledge of acculturation

• Assimilation = adopt the new culture and abandon the old

• Separation = reject the new and retain the old

• Marginalization = reject both new and old cultures

• Integration = adopt much of the new and retains much of the old

Culturally Appropriate Skills

• Techniques mirror awareness and knowledge (eg, talk therapy? Behavioral?)

• Microaggressions (comments or actions that convey prejudice and negative stereotype beliefs

• Often “the little things”

• Interview –

  • “Do you have a girlfriend?” assumes many things eg, attraction to girls

  • “what did you get for Christmas?”

why do so many children participate in sports

• Peak at 12-13 yrs of age --- what happens next in Development?

• Erikson: Adolescent = Identity vs Role Confusion

• Influence of Family shifting to Peers/acceptance

• Parent “hopes”: Developing personal and social values

• Fear = too much emphasis on winning

Kids want to be with their friends –why are the so influenced by parents?

• Developmentally the feedback from parents has highest value early before it shifts to peers as they develop a sense of self

• Early Subsystem = Family (Parents – Siblings)

• Later Team (Peers-Coaches)

kids perceived competence of sports

Goal oriented, Self-Determined (intrinsic), stress

why do kids participate in sports

• Having fun, learn new skills, doing something I’m good at, friends, being fit, exercise, having success

• INTRINSICw

why do kids drop out of sports

• “It’s not fun” is often tied to lacking the intrinsic connection

• Not connected to their need for worth and competence

• If they don’t feel confident about performance they quit

self determination theory for kids sports

• The gold standard for keeping kids from burning out

• AUTONOMY: giving kids a voice. (e.g., Let the players design practice)

• COMPETENCE: the #1 predictor of continuing the sport. The focus on mastery not winning, competence is not defined by the results of performance such as the score because they cannot always control. Instead target personal bests and specific goals so the child will build perceived competence.

• RELATEDNESS: the friendship factor. For most, friends is the primary reason they play. Win win win goes against this

• If the environment stops meeting their core needs, they will (want to) quit

parent trap for self determination theory

• One of the biggest obstacles for SDT is extrinsic motivation provided by adults.

• “I will take you for ice cream if you score.”

• Although they like the reward (which is why the parents offer it) it shifts the focus

from the joy of the game.

• If they don’t score, they feel they failed.

• (if you give attention to something they didn’t(can’t?) do, you bring attention to something they didn’t(can’t) do.)

• To fix it = need to praise the process rather than the outcome.

• “I love how you get ran back on defense.”

• Keep the motivation internal, intrinsic and controllable

Meet the Need for SKILL DEVELOPMENT

• Positive, Productive Instruction (how are they doing well improving)

• Know the technical /strategic aspects of the sport

Meet the Need for FUN

Be free and positive with comments. Joke with kids at the right time

Meet the Need for RELATEDNESS/AFFILIATION

Provide time for friendships, Schedule social events

Meet the Need for EXCITEMENT

Be short and crisp in practice – don’t just talk (and talk and talk)

Meet the Need for FITNESS

Organize planned fitness activities (and goals for growth)

Meet the Need for SUCCESS

Competition is good, success is good – doesn’t have to be against each other – compete with own standards

friendship

• What does it mean to be friends

• Spending time

• Enjoy time together

• Makes me feels good (self-esteem)

• Helps me (assist in learning)

• Nice (prosocial)

• Intimacy (can tell them things)

• Loyalty (committed)

• Things in common

• Good (personality or physical skill)

• Emotional support (there for me)

• Absence of conflict (we don’t fight)

Sport Friendship Quality Scale

1. self-esteem/supportive

2. loyalty/intimacy

3. Things in common

4. Companionship/Good time

5. Conflict resolution

6. Conflict (low levels of this)

Sports as a context for friendships?

• Motor competence (perceived and actual) = peer acceptance, especially in boys

• More positive relationships with peers in physical activity = more positive feelings, motivation and self worth associated with physical activity

• Positive peer relationships = low stress, higher motivation and continued participation

• Interactions with peers in sports helps athletes form their psychological, social and physical self-identities

• Best friends in sports were perceived as being more encouraging and supportive compared to Best friends in music

stress in youth sports

• State Anxiety stress

• Many studies show that those youths in sports often show less state levels of anxiety

• BUT --- is this a self-selection bias (do anxious kids avoid sports?)

• Within this context, strongest stressors include:

• Defeat

• Importance of the contest (“It doesn’t matter”)

• Type of sport (Individual > Team) – WHY?

Who Gets Anxious in youth sports? Those with…

• High Trait anxiety

• Low self-esteem

• Perfectionism

• Low performance expectations

• Less satisfaction of with performance (regardless of winning/losing)

• Frequent worries of failure

• Worries of adult expectations and social evaluation

• Perceiving that their involvement and success is important to parents

• Outcome goal orientation vs Low perceived ability

• Less perceived fun

How to work with Stressed Children

• Use concrete/physical strategies (flush the problems down the toilet, put worries in a bag, turn the channel to change focus)

• Fun muscle tension relief strategies

• Connect to THEIR interests

• Remain positive, optimistic and goal oriented

• Use role models and pro-athletes

• Aaron Judge = Visualization, Peyton Manning = Positive self-talk

mindfulness for youth sports

• Is it possible for children? Yes and No.

• Not like adults. Children are naturally simple, present minded and don’t ruminate like adults (past or future).

• Mindfulness activities for children are more like “Notice what is happening right now”

• “What was going through your head?”….. “Throw it really hard.”

Parents – Good or Bad?- both

• Before the age of 10-12 Parental influence is strong, after that is weakens in favor of peers.

• Optimal Arousal? Meet “Optimal Parental Arousal”

• Some is good, more is better, even more is bad

• What does Optimal look like?

• Discussing GOALS (intrinsic and controllable)

• Develop a climate of Emotional Understanding

• Learn to “see” them emotionally

• Less judgement

• Focus on (intrinsic) benefits of the sport

• Good parenting (applied to sports)

• Foster independence, holding accountable, facilitate communication of needs