Sport Psychology Final

Does sport automatically develop “moral character”?

No… It can develop a moral character over time, but it doesn’t happen automatically

Can involvement in contact sport negatively impact moral reasoning?

Yes

What are the 2 perspectives on the development of moral character?

2 ways:

1. The structural-developmental perspective

2. The social learning perspective

What is moral development?

The process in which an individual develops the capacity to reason morally

What is moral behaviour?

The carrying out of an action that is deemed right or wrong

What does the structural-developmental perspective view moral development as?

The structural development-perspective views moral development as the change in reasoning patterns that are related to a person’s cognitive growth and development

What does the social learning perspective say?

That moral behaviour is learned through the processes of reinforcement and modelling

What are the 4 main factors influencing moral behaviour?

1. Sport environment

2. Motivational climate

3. Team Norms

4. Goal orientation

What is sport environment heavily influenced by?

The coach

What are the 2 types of motivational climate?

1. Mastery: learning from mistakes

2. Performance: winning at all costs

What are team norms?

Standards that influence behaviour

What is goal orientation about?

Are the athletes more task or ego-oriented

What is aggression?

Any behaviour intended to physical or psychologically injure another individual

What is assertive behaviour?

Actions that are forceful, vigorous, and legitimate, but with no intent to injure an opponent

What are violent behaviours?

Extreme acts of physical aggression, which bear “no direct relationship to the competitive goals of sport”

How many types of aggression is there? What are they?

2 types:

1. Instrumental

2. Hostile

What is instrumental aggression?

Aggressive acts using premeditated means to achieve a goal such as winning the game

What is instrumental aggression designed to do?

Limit the effectiveness of the opponent

What is hostile aggression?

Impulsive actions with the intent to injure the victim

What is an example of hostile aggression?

The Todd Bertuzzi incident

How can you tell is a behaviour is aggressive or assertive?

In order for it to be an aggressive behaviour it must:

1. Be a behaviour not just an emotion or a feeling or a personality trait (something must happen)

2. It must be verbal or physical

3. It must be intended to physically or psychologically harm

4. It must be directed toward another living organism

If not this then not aggressive behaviour

What happens if a behaviour has not intent to harm?

It is classified as an assertive behaviour

What type of aggression happens when there is only the intent to harm or injure?

Hostile aggression

What type of aggression happens when harm is a means to a goal?

Instrumental aggression

What type of behaviour happens when there is an extreme act of physical, uncontrolled aggression?

Violent behaviour

What is bullying?

An imbalance of power between peers where the 1 who is more powerful repeatedly attacks the less powerful with the intention to harm

What is hazing?

Any potentially humiliating, degrading, abusive, or dangerous activity expected of an individual to belong to a group (regardless of their willingness)

What are the 2 types of factors affecting aggression?

1. Personal factors

2. Situational factors

What are examples personal factors that affect aggression?

Sex, gender, racism, age, physical size, retaliation. motives, annoyances, self-presentation, passion, athletic identity, etc…

What are examples of situational factors that affect aggression?

Frequency of competition, home advantage, point differential, coaching behaviours, etc…

What is self-presentation?

The way individuals present themselves in social situations

Why do people behave aggressively?

To convey or maintain an image of toughness

What happens during individualism?

Aggressive impulses increase when athletes are individually recognizable (e.g., name on jersey)

What happens during deindividuation?

Aggressive impulses are increased when individual feels less identifiable

What are the 4 main group factors affecting aggression?

1. Individual’s role

2. Team norms

3. Collective Efficacy for Aggression

4. Group Cohesion

What is individual’s role?

It isn’t personal… It is a persons role on the team

What is collective efficacy for aggression?

A team’s perception of their ability to use aggressive behaviours as a tactic or strategy

What are consequences of aggressive behaviour?

1. Injury

2. Increased arousal levels such as anger or other emotions associated with aggressive incidents

3. Penalization as an attempt to discourage the behaviour

4. Fan violence

What is fan violence?

Fans like sport violence

It can increase because of team identification (how much someone feels psychologically connected to a team)

It is alterations between fans, players, and/or coaches

What are some ways to reduce aggression?

Bigger punishments

Behaviour modification

Educational interventions

Changes to the sport environment (alcohol)

Changes to the media

What way to reduce aggression would be the most affective? Why?

Changes to the media because as of now it is focusing on and glorifying aggression in feature stories, it is sensationalizing and replaying acts of aggression repeatedly, and it is promoting previous aggressive behaviours between competitors to encourage attendance which all contribute to aggression, and if changes happen it can start to discourage it

What is stress?

An experience that is produced through a person-situation relationship that is perceived as taxing or exceeding the person’s resources… Don’t feel like you have the capacity to meed the needed demands

What is the stress feedback loop also known as?

McGrath’s stress response

How many stages are in the stress feedback loop (McGrath’s Stress Response)?

4 stages

What is stage 1 of McGrath’s stress response?

The environmental demands (physical and psychological)

What is stage 2 of McGrath’s stress response?

The individual’s perception of the environmental demand (amount of psychological or physical “threat” perceived)

What is stage 3 of McGrath’s stress response?

The stress response (physical and psychological)

• Arousal

• State anxiety

• Muscle tention

• Attention changes

What is stage 4 of McGrath’s stress response?

The behavioural consequences (performance or outcome)

What is arousal?

A blend of physiological and psychological activation within a person that ranges from deep sleep to peak activation (can be positive or negative)

What is anxiety?

A negative emotion that is experienced when faced with real or imagine events (has multiple components… worry, frustration, etc…) 

How do we understand anxiety?

1. It is elicited following an evaluation or and event

2. It is observed across all people

3. It has a distinct physiology

4. It is observed through discrete facial expressions

5. It has a unique set of behaviours called action-tendencies

How many types of anxiety are there? What are they?

2 types:

1. Cognitive anxiety

2. Somatic anxiety

What is cognitive anxiety?

Concerns or worries that reduce the ability to focus or concentrate (internal)

What is somatic anxiety?

Physiological and affective elements (physical)

What is an example of an effect of somatic anxiety?

Muscular tentions

Anxiety is what?

Anxiety is cognitive specific

When does social anxiety occur?

During social situations (interviews, speaking in front of others, or not knowing people when going somewhere)

What is competitive trait anxiety?

It is associated with sport or competition (trait= everyday)

When does social physique anxiety occur?

Due to others’ evaluation of physique in social settings (SPA)

What is the order of resins males feel anxious in the weight room?

1. Someone is hovering over them wanting to use the equipment

2. If a spotter had to rush to assist them with the weight

3. If someone commented on their appearance

4. If their form was corrected by a trainer

5. In the presence of an attractive woman

What are the anxieties of males and females based on?

Males are competency based and females are physical based

What are the 3 dimensions of anxiety?

1. The intensity of symptoms

2. The frequency of cognitive intrusions

3. The directional interpretation of symptoms

What is the intensity of symptoms?

The amount or level of symptoms

What is the frequency of cognitive intrusions?

The % of thoughts and feelings about competitions

What can the directional interpretation of symptoms be?

It can be either facilitative (+) to debilitative (-)

What is one of the main ways to manage anxiety?

By using self-regulation strategies

What are the 6 main self-regulation strategies?

1. relaxation skills

2. self-talk

3. cognitive restructuring

4. imagery

5. self-handicapping

6. social attribution

When does self-handicapping occur? Why?

Before a performance in order to excuse any failures that may occur

What can self-handicapping lead to?

Diminished effort during competition

Selecting unattainable goals

Exaggerated pain of an injury

Complaints about the referee/official

When does social attribution occur? Why?

After a performance in order to excuse or explain a failure

What is social attribution used as?

A way to preserve or justify our abilities following a poor or failed performance

What is social attribution?

The way in which we attribute a failure to things that are out of our control (e.g., a bad call)

What is an example of social attribution?

“That ball took a bad bounce” as a way to explain failure

What is an example of self-handicapping?

“I was up all night with a cough” as a way to explain possible failure

What is higher anxiety associated with?

Females

Novices

Higher trait anxiety

Lower self-confidence

Poor self presentational beliefs

Poor self regulatory skills

Self handicapping

What is a way to show anxiety?

Temporal patterning

What happens to cognitive anxiety in temporal patterning?

It stays stable until it drops off when the event starts

What happens to somatic anxiety in temporal patterning?

It is stable then increases around 6hrs before the competition and continues to rise until it gets to its peak as the event starts, and then drops off once it starts

How does the importance and criticality of competition become an additional source of anxiety?

The more important the game, the more critical the situation, the higher the state anxiety

There is higher state anxiety during playoffs than regular season

Critical moments in competition elicit elevated state anxiety

How does type of role become an additional source of anxiety?

Some roles provoke more anxiety than others (goalie)

Unclear team roles elicit higher cognitive and somatic anxiety levels

What does optimal performance need?

Relevant amounts and types of information from the environment and appropriate levels and coordination of muscular activity

What are 3 attentional mechanisms?

1. Selectivity

2. Task irrelevant cues

3. Paralysis by analysis

What happens during selectivity?

State anxiety elevations reduce the ability to attend and process information (tunnel vision)

What is task irrelevant cues?

When anxiety is high, the focus is on task irrelevant stimuli (you miss out on relevant stimuli)

What is paralysis by analysis?

When anxiety is high, there is an increase in the athlete’s self-conscious awareness of the performance

Who came up with the Zones of Optimal Functioning/ or the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning?

Yuri Hanin

When are the nest sport performances most likely to happen?

With optimal levels of state anxiety, which differs between people

What is the key principle of the individual zones of optimal functioning?

It is that an athlete who is within their optimal competitive state anxiety zone will be more likely to have a best athletic performance. If anxiety is outside their optimal zone, their performance is likely to be impaired

When do athletes that have high IZOF (athlete A) perform best?

They are in the zone and will perform best when their state anxiety is high, between 50-60

When do athletes that have moderate IZOF (athlete B) perform best?

They are in the zone and will have their best performance when their state anxiety is moderate, between 40-50

When do athletes that have low IZOF (athlete C) perform best?

They are in the one and will perform best when their state anxiety is low, between 30-40

What is group dynamics?

The field of study that focuses on gaining knowledge about the nature of groups and their development

What is a group?

A collection of 2 or more interacting individuals who share:

• A collective identity

• A sense of shared purpose or objectives

• Structured modes of communication

• Interpersonal attraction

What are teams?

They are considered groups, and include all the same things groups share, but also include:

• Interdependency

• Common goals

Are all teams groups?

All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams

What do team members have to do?

Team members have to depend on and support each other to accomplish shared objectives

What are the 4 main stages of Tuckman’s (1985) model of group development?

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

What is the fifth component of Tuckman’s (1985) model of group development?

Adjourning

When does forming take place?

When the group just formed

What happens during forming?

There are social comparisons between members (trying to assess strengths, weaknesses, fit of the team, and personalities) and members are trying to decide how (or if) and in what role, they belong