year 1 psych test

How does Hollander (1971) define personality

The sum total of an individual’s characteristics that make them unique.

what are three approaches to sport psychology

psychophysiological, social psychological, cognitive behavioural

name two sport psychology organisations

The British psychological society and British association of sport and exercise sciences

what is the trait approach to personality

Personality is made up of traits—stable characteristics that influence behavior, can be measured, and evolve over time.

What did Cattell’s Trait Theory (1945) propose?

There are 16 basic (source) traits that underlie surface traits; derived using factor analysis.

What are some of the traits in Cattell’s 16 Personality Factors?

Warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, etc.

What is Eysenck’s Trait Theory?

A biologically based personality theory proposing that personality is made up of three major traits: Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism.

What are the 3 dimensions in Eysenck’s theory?

• Extraversion – sociable, outgoing

• Neuroticism – anxious, moody

• Psychoticism – aggressive, egocentric

what did Eysenck hypothesis

that those high in neuroticism had greater activity in the visceral brain

what is the visceral brain

parts of the brain involved in emotional regulation and autonomic functions, especially the limbic system.

What is the 16PF test?

A 105-item test measuring 16 personality traits (Cattell, 1969).

What is the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)?

A 57-question test measuring extraversion, neuroticism, and includes a lie scale.

What is the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality? (OCEAN)

A trait theory that identifies five broad dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

who created the five factor model

Norman (1963)

What is Morgan’s Iceberg Profile of Mood? (1980)

A visual model showing the mood states of successful athletes, based on the Profile of Mood States test where vigour is high and all other negative moods are low, forming an "iceberg" shape.

what mood traits are measured in the iceberg profile of mood

tension depression anger vigorous fatigue confusion

What is the significance of the Iceberg Profile?

Elite athletes tend to display this profile, suggesting positive mental health and readiness to perform. Deviation from this pattern may indicate poor psychological readiness or overtraining.

What is the Everest Profile of Mood? (Terry 1985)

A more extreme version of the Iceberg Profile identified in peak performers or athletes at their psychological best.

When is the Everest Profile usually observed?

Before major competition, or during periods of peak performance or “flow” states in elite athletes.

what are the main trait approaches

Cattell’s Trait Theory (1945)

Eysenck’s Trait Theory (1944)

Five-Factor Model

what are the main mood profiles

Morgan (1980) iceberg profile of mood

Terry (1985) Everest profile of mood

What are the strengths of the trait approach?

Scientifically grounded, heredity influences supported by twin studies, useful with other info in athlete profiling.

What are criticisms of the trait approach?

Descriptive not explanatory, doesn’t account for change or situation-based behavior, misuse of tests like AMI.

What are perceptual-cognitive skills in sport?

the abilities that help athletes interpret environmental cues, integrate them with existing knowledge, and make effective decisions through the interaction of perception and action

define cognition

cognition refers to the activity or process of knowing or seeking knowledge and includes processes like imagery, perception, memory and language

what is cognitive psychology

scientific study of mental processes

what is grounded cognition

suggests that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in the body’s interactions in the world

what is Tulving’s definition of memory

The capacity that permits organisms to benefit from their past experiences

what are the four key memory processes

encoding storage rehearsal retrieval

define encoding

transforming information for storage

define storage

placing information in long term memory

define rehearsal

transferring information from working to long term memory

define retrieval

searching LTM for needed information during tasks

What is Tulving's theory of memory

memory has different systems, including episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory

define episodic memory

personal experiences

define semantic memory

facts and knowledge

define procedural memory

skills

what is the working memory model (baddeley, 2007)

working memory has multiple components the central executive, the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer

What is working memory capacity

the ability to maintain and manipulate goal-relevant info without being distracted, over short intervals.

what are the four components of baddeley and hitch’s model of working memory

• central executive = coordinates and allocates data

• phonological loop = manages verbal information

• visuospatial sketchpad = manages visual information

• episodic buffer = integrates visual, verbal and long-term memory

What is the capacity of STM?

STM can hold 7 ± 2 items. (Miller)

What experiment did Miller do to find STM capacity?

Miller found people could recall about 7 chunks of information, suggesting limited capacity.

What is the duration of STM

STM lasts about 18–30 seconds without rehearsal. (Peterson & Peterson)

What experiment did Peterson & Peterson do to find STM duration

Participants were asked to remember trigrams and count backwards in 3s to prevent rehearsal. Recall dropped sharply after 18–30 seconds.

How is information typically stored in STM?

STM stores information acoustically (Baddeley)

what did baddeleys find

found that participants struggled to recall acoustically similar words like cat and mat suggesting STM codes information acoustically.

what is the capacity of LTM

unlimited

What experiment did Bahrick et al. do to find LTM duration

tested recall of high school classmates' names and faces years later. Even after 48 years, people could still recall names with 70–80% accuracy. showing duration is unlimited

How is information stored in LTM

LTM stores information semantically, shown by more confusion with similar-meaning words (Baddeley)

define internal and external focus

• internal = attention on performers own body movements (wrist flexion)

• external = attention on the effect of the body movements (basket)

What is Nideffer’s Model of Attentional Focus

• Broad Internal: Thoughts/planning.

• Broad External: Scanning environment.

• Narrow Internal: Mental rehearsal.

• Narrow External: Focusing on a specific cue.

What is Attentional Control Theory (Eysenck et al., 2007)

Anxiety impairs attention by increasing stimulus-driven processing and reducing goal-directed attention.

define skilled anticipation

The ability to anticipate what will happen next through visual cues, knowledge of the situation and pattern recognition

What are the four measures used in perceptual-cognitive expertise meta-analyses

• Response accuracy

• Response time

• Number of fixations

• Duration of fixations

What is the central capacity theory of attention

suggests we have limited attention that can be divided across tasks. Performance suffers when the combined demands of tasks exceed this capacity.

What are the two types of dual-task techniques

• Continuous Secondary Task: Focus on the secondary task

• Probe-Reaction Time Task: Primary task is key, measure how secondary task is affected.

What is a motor skill

A voluntary action performed to achieve a specific goal; observable and purposeful movement.

What is motor learning

Internal processes resulting in a relatively permanent change in the capability to execute motor skills through practice and experience.

difference between positive and negative learning

positive = when practice improves performance in a related task

negative = when practice hinders performance in a related task

Difference between near and far transfer

• Near: similar tasks

• Far: different general tasks

What is Transfer-Appropriate Processing (Lee, 1988)

Best learning happens when practice closely matches the mental processing required in the real task.

what are the three stages of learning

• Cognitive stage – The learner is new to the motor skill, makes frequent mistakes, and relies on guidance and feedback to understand what to do.

• Associative stage – The learner has a better grasp of the skill, makes fewer errors, and begins refining movements through practice.

• Autonomous stage – The motor skill is performed automatically with accuracy, fluidity, and little conscious effort.

What is Adams’ Closed Loop Theory

Movement accuracy is based on stored ‘perceptual traces’ and ongoing feedback is used to correct errors.

What is Schmidt’s Schema Theory (1975)

The brain stores rules based on previous experiences, rather than exact movements.

• Initial conditions

• Response specifications

• Sensory consequences

• Response outcome

define two types of schema

• Recall schema: Selecting movement based on prior outcomes.

• Recognition schema: Evaluating feedback to adjust performance.

What is the OPTIMAL Theory (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016)?

Motor learning is enhanced by:

• Autonomy (choice)

• Enhanced expectancies

External focus of attention

What is nominal vs. functional task difficulty?

difficulty of the task, regardless of performer vs Difficulty relative to the performer’s skill and conditions.

How can coaches manipulate functional difficulty?

By adjusting practice structure:

• Blocked vs. Random

• Constant vs. Variable

What’s the difference between explicit and implicit learning?

Coach-led, rule-based, conscious (overloads working memory) vs Discovery-based, unconscious (uses analogies or errorless learning).

What is analogy learning

Teaching movement by comparing it to something familiar (e.g., “shake hands” for table tennis topspin).

What is intrinsic vs. extrinsic feedback

From within vs From external sources

What’s the difference between KR and KP?

Outcome-focused (e.g., shot went in) vs Technique-focused (e.g., shoulder rotation).

What are the four functions of extrinsic feedback?

• Motivation

• Reinforcement

• Information

• Dependency

What is bandwidth feedback?

Only given when performance falls outside acceptable limits—encourages self-correction

What is faded feedback?

Frequent at first, then gradually reduced as learner improves.

What is summary feedback?

Given after several trials, summarizing performance—helps long-term learning.

What is learner-regulated feedback?

Given only when the learner asks for it—improves motivation and learning

What is psychological stress in sport?

A relationship between a person and their environment, appraised as taxing or exceeding resources, and endangering well-being.
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984)

How does McGrath (1970) define stress?

A substantial imbalance between physical/psychological demands and a person’s perceived response capability, especially when failure has important consequences.

What is the Cognitive-Motivational-Relational Theory (CMRT)?

Stress is a transaction between individual and environment, involving:

1. Primary Appraisal (Is it harmful, threatening, or challenging?)

2. Secondary Appraisal (Can I cope? What are my options?)
   

What are examples of primary appraisal outcomes?

• Challenge – Opportunity for gain

• Threat – Potential future harm

• Harm/Loss – Damage already occurred

• Benefit – Gains already achieved

What is secondary appraisal in sport stress?

An evaluation of coping options:

• Controllable by self

• Controllable by others

• Uncontrollable by anyone

what are the three main types of stressors in sport

• Personal – Self-esteem, confidence, trait anxiety

• Situational – Event importance, uncertainty

• Environmental – Media, injuries, performance pressures
  

what are stressors for athletes coaches and parents

• Athletes: Injury, performance failure, expectations

• Coaches: Leadership, media, working hours

• Parents: Time, finances, child’s performance
  

what is arousal

A blend of physiological and psychological activity, varying from deep sleep to frenzy.

define anxiety in sport

A negative emotional state involving nervousness, worry, and arousal, in response to performance pressure.

two types of anxiety

• Trait Anxiety: A personality trait — tendency to view situations as threatening

• State Anxiety: Temporary, situation-based anxiety

components of state anxiety

• Cognitive Anxiety: Worry, self-doubt

• Somatic Anxiety: Increased heart rate, tension

• Perceived Control: Confidence in handling demands

what is drive theory

Performance increases linearly with arousal. High arousal enhances dominant responses.

criticism of drive theory

Overly simplistic; doesn't explain choking.

what is inverted u theory

Performance improves with arousal to an optimal point, then declines.

criticism of inverted u theory

Optimal point may differ between individuals and sports (e.g. weightlifting vs. archery).

what is the zones of optimal functioning

Each athlete has a personal arousal zone for best performance — not a fixed point.

criticisms of zones of optimal functioning

Still uni-dimensional; doesn’t explain interaction between cognitive & somatic anxiety.

what is multidimensional anxiety theory

• Cognitive anxiety has a negative linear relationship with performance.

• Somatic anxiety has an inverted U relationship.

what is catastrophe theory

if cognitive anxiety is high, increased arousal leads to a sudden drop in performance

what is reversal theory

The impact of arousal depends on how it’s interpreted:

• Facilitative: Exciting, motivating

• Debilitative: Stressful, overwhelming

what is ‘choking’ in sport

A significant decline in performance under pressure, despite ability and motivation.

what 3 conditions define choking

• Athlete has the skills

• Situation demands success

• Performance drops significantly

what is distraction theory

Pressure causes attention to shift away from task to irrelevant or threat-related cues (e.g., crowd).