ATC306 Exam 1

Chapter 1– Introduction

What is Sport and Exercise Psychology? (2)

Sport and Exercise Psychology is considered the study of human behavior in the context of athletics. Sport and Exercise Psychologists use their knowledge of these behaviors (specifically their feelings, actions, thoughts, and environment) to assist athletes in bettering their sport performance. 

The book refers to two objectives as to why people study sport and exercise psychology. What are the two objectives and give an example study from each. (4)

Firstly, people study sport and exercise psychology to gain a better understanding of the effects that psychological factors play on sport performance (specifically physical performance). Some example studies of this objective include the examination of how anxiety may impact an individual's free throw performance in basketball or how a lack of self-confidence can impact a child’s ability to learn how to swim. Secondly, people study  sport and exercise psychology to better understand how participating in sport and exercise can impact psychological health and development. Some example studies of this objective include how running can reduce anxiety and depression or how participation in college athletics can enhance personality development.

Sports Psychologists pursue varied careers but have three primary roles, what are they? (3)

Throughout their varied careers, sports psychologists are responsible for three primary roles– conducting research, teaching, and consulting.

What is the difference between a clinical sport psychologist and an educational psychologist? (2)

Clinical sport psychologists can diagnose and treat people with emotional disorders while also receiving education within sport sciences. Educational sport psychologists, on the other hand, have an extensive education in sport sciences including that of kinesiology and the psychology of human movement and can act as a “mental coach” to athletes, however they may not treat emotional disorders. So, clinical sport psychologists can treat disorders among athletes whereas educational sport psychologists can help athletes develop the skills necessary to enhance their performance. 

Name 2 Organizations and 2 Journals that the books refers to on page 8-9 (4)

Organizations in this book include the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, European Federation of Sport Psychology, and the American Psychological Association. Journals include Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology, the International Journal of Sport Psychology, and the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology.

Chapter 2– 

Science has evolved some general guidelines for research, what are they? (4)

There are four general guidelines for research including the research being systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical.

What is the difference between a study and an experiment? (2)

In a study, an investigator can observe a certain behavior or process without altering the environment. In an experiment, a researcher changes the environment in some way while also observing the resulting changes, or how the changes impact other variables.

Professional practice refers to knowledge gained through experience. Professional practice knowledge comes from many sources and ways of knowing, including: (6)

The sources in which professional practice knowledge comes from includes the scientific method, systematic observations, a single case study, shared, public experience, introspection, and intuition.

What is the RE-AIM model? (4)

The RE-AIM model defines five different factors that interact with each other to influence knowledge transfer. These five factors include reach (who the audience is), efficacy (all outcomes of a program), adoption (who will use the program), implementation (how the program is actually delivered), and maintenance (how the program is maintained over time).

There are three sport and exercise psychology orientations, what are they and give a brief explanation? (6)

The three sport and exercise psychology orientations include psychophysiological orientation, social-psychological orientation, and cognitive-behavioral orientation. Psychophysiological orientation refers to the examination of psychophysiological processes in the brain that lead to certain behaviors. A prime example of this orientation involves the usage of biofeedback to a trained marksman. Social-psychological orientation refers to behavior being determined by the interaction of a social environment to an athlete’s personal makeup. An example of this orientation involves how a leader’s particular strategies can influence group cohesion. Lastly, cognitive-behavioral orientation refers to behaviors being determined by both cognition and the environment. A prime example of this orientation involves an analysis of differences in confidence and anxiety among athletes who do or do not have burnout.

What are the ethical standards for sport and exercise psychologists? (6)

The ethical standards for sport and exercise psychologists involve competence, integrity, professional and scientific responsibility, respect for people’s rights and dignity, concern for the welfare of others, and social responsibility.

Chapter 3 - Personality 

Personality can be divided into three separate but related levels. What are they and give a brief explanation? (6)

Personality can be divided into psychological core, typical responses, and role-related behavior. Psychological core refers to the basic, deepest values, motives, interests, and self-worth that a person may have. This could include religion. Typical responses refers to the way someone may respond to their environment such as being shy or outgoing. Role-related behavior refers to how someone acts in a certain social situation.

There are six different viewpoints when studying personality. What are they? (6)

The six different viewpoints when studying personality are the psychodynamic approach, trait approach, situation approach, interactional approach, phenomenological approach, and the integrated/biopsychosocial approach.

What are the five dimensions of personality according to the Big 5 Model of Personality Components? (5)

According to the Big 5 Model of Personality Components, the five dimensions of personality are neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.  

What is the difference between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists? (2)

Adaptive perfectionists, or healthy perfectionism, involves a focus on high standards without any worries about mistakes that can happen or how someone may evaluate their performance. Maladaptive perfectionists, or unhealthy perfectionism, refers to a focus on high standards with worries about mistakes being made and how someone may evaluate their performance. Adaptive perfectionism has shown to have better learning and performance and more ‘adaptive’ goal patterns compared to maladaptive perfectionism, which is linked to burnout and poor performance.

How would you measure personality adopting an interactional approach, give an example? (2)

The interactional approach involves behavior being determined by the person themselves, the situational factors, and their interactions. Personality can be measured by changing situational factors and determining how a person behaves among the changing environment. For example, a person may appear ‘violent’ when at a football game with their rowdy friends and something happens (such as a bad call by a referee), but they may not appear ‘violent’ in that same situation if their mother was present.

Tests can help identify an athlete’s psychological strengths and weaknesses and this information can be used to develop appropriate training in psychological skills. T/F True

Type B behavioral patterns apparently can be altered through exercise, and this can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease?  T/F False

Exercise and increased levels of fitness appear to be associated with decreases in self-esteem especially among individuals initially low in self-esteem. T/F False

General psychological research shows that personality both has a genetic base (up to 60%) and that it is influenced by learning. T/F True

What is the ACSI and what does it yield? (2)

The ACSI (Athlete Coping Skills Inventory) is a measure of sport-specific psychological skills that yields a score related to the athlete’s overall psychological skills as well as seven subscales.

What are the seven subscale scores provided by the ACSI? (7)

The seven subscale scores provided by the ACSI are coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, coachability, concentration, confidence and achievement motivation, goal setting and mental preparation, and freedom from worry.

Name the seven mental strategies used by successful athletes?  (7)

Successful athletes learn to regulate arousal and anxiety, they develop competition plans that are highly detailed, they don’t worry about any other competitors and instead focus on the controllable, they use mental rehearsals prior to competition, they concentrate only on the upcoming performance and block other information, they practice skills needed to deal with unforeseen circumstances/distractions in competition, and they practice plans for dealing with adversity during competition to enhance confidence.

What is Athletic profiling? What is the Disc system? (4)

Athletic profiling refers to the assessment of an athlete’s attributes (mental and physical) to determine the athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. This can help determine what the athlete may need to improve upon or it can help determine how an entire team may work together or lack. Training programs can be created to better these weaknesses.

The Disc system is a form of athletic profiling that measures an athletes (or sport professionals) degree of dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientious behavior. The four quadrant model measures what the athlete is high in, in turn providing a description of that athlete's behavior (such as being guarded and task focused when they have a high degree of dominance and conscientiousness). This can be used among teams to determine how individuals work together, especially as different DISC styles can conflict with each other, in turn bettering team communication and cohesion.

Chapter 4- Motivation

Explain the direction and intensity aspects of motivation? (2)

Motivation is defined as both the direction and intensity of efforts. Direction of effort refers to an individual’s attraction towards something, or whether they seek it out. Intensity of effort refers to an individual’s effort that they put towards something (i.e. how much effort they put forth).

Identify the three general views of motivation. Which should we use to guide practice? (4)

The three general views of motivation include the trait-centered view, the situation-centered view, and the interactional view. In terms of practice, the interactional view is often used as a guide as it acknowledges behaviors resulting from both the participant and the situation.

How does the swimming relay study (by Sorrentino and Sheppard) support the interactional model of motivation? (2)

According to the swimming relay study, particular swimmers who were approval-oriented swam faster in a group (relay) than they did alone whereas the rejection-threatened swimmers were faster when swimming alone. Though the four fastest swimmers may be a mix of these two orientations, they may not necessarily be the fastest relay team as their motivational approach impacts their performance. As such, the interactional model of motivation, which in this case accounted for the swimmer’s motivational orientation and their split time, is the best approach to determine how to compose a well functioning relay team. This model of motivation can be applied across all sports.

What are the five fundamental guidelines of motivation for professional practice? (5)

The five fundamental guidelines of motivation for professional practice include considering both situations and traits in motivating people, understanding people’s multiple motives for involvement, changing the environment to enhance motivation, influencing motivation, and using behavior modifications to change undesirable participant motives.

What is achievement motivation? (1)

Achievement motivation refers to a person’s orientation towards task success, to persist even when faced with failure, and to experience pride during accomplishments. This often includes self-comparison of achievements.

Achievement motivation influences a wide variety of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings, including: (4)

Achievement motivation influences choice of activities, the effort to pursue goals, intensity of effort, and persistence in the face of failure and/or adversity.

There are four theories of achievement motivation, what are they? (4)

The four theories of achievement motivation include the need achievement theory, attribution theory, achievement goal theory, and competence motivation theory.

(2) Write out… 

High achievers are motivated to succeed, will seek out 50/50 win/loss situations

Low achievers are motivated to avoid failure, will seek easy opponents or opponents they cannot beat, will avoid 50/50 win/loss situations

A person who focuses on comparing themselves with and defeating others and wanting to win trophies is said to be ego-goal oriented. (1)

A person who focuses on improving skills relative to her own past performance and her perceived ability is said to be task-goal oriented. (1)

What is attribution theory? (1)

Attribution theory is a focus on how people explain their successes and failures via three basic categories.

What are Weiner’s three basic attribution categories? (3)

Weiner’s three basic attribution categories include stability (stable or unstable), locus of causality (internal or external), and locus of control (in one’s control or out of control). 

The following are attributions for success or failure in sport or exercise settings. Put the appropriate letter next to the attribution (stable (s), unstable (us), internal (i), external (e), in one’s control (c), out of control (oc)). (9)

Talent (s/i/uc)

A bad back (i)

Luck (us/e/oc)

An easy field of competitors (e)

Effort (us/i/c)

The cost of the instructor (oc)

The gym is too far away (e)

Your race plan (c)

Terrible instructor (us)

What are the correct attributional guidelines for providing feedback (do and don’t)? (7)

The 3 “Do’s” include the following;

-In the case of failure, emphasize the need to try harder and to exert more effort. However, link these attributions to individual goals and the person’s capabilities

-In the case of success, attribute success to the person’s ability

-In the case of success, attribute success to the person’s high effort

The 4 “Don’ts” include the following” 

-In the case of failure, don't make low-ability attributions signifying that personal improvement is unlikely

-In the case of success, don't attribute success to the person’s luck

-In the case of success, don't attribute success to the task’s easiness 

-Don't make insincere/false attributions of any kind

Chapter 5- Arousal 

What is trait anxiety? (2)

Trait anxiety refers to a characteristic disposition that one learns that predisposes a person to perceive any non dangerous circumstances as potentially threatening and to respond to these circumstances with disproportionate anxiety levels.

What is state anxiety? (2)

State anxiety refers to an emotional state involving subjective yet consciously perceived feelings of nervousness and tension, joined by arousal of the autonomic nervous system. It involves instantaneous feelings of nervousness/tension that can change consistently. State anxiety can exists as cognitive state anxiety or somatic state anxiety. 

What are the four stages of the stress process? (4)

The four stages of the stress process include environmental demand, perception of demand, stress response, and behavioral consequences.

What is the difference between somatic and cognitive anxiety? (2)

Somatic state anxiety refers to an individual's concerns for moment-to-moment changes during perceived physiological activation whereas cognitive state anxiety refers to the degree to which one worries/has negative thoughts. So, somatic anxiety is involved with physical in-the-moment changes while cognitive anxiety refers to how much a person worries about something.

How can you measure arousal and anxiety? (3)

Arousal and anxiety are measured via changes in physiological features such as measuring heart rate, respirations, skin conductance, hormone production, or biochemistry (physiological changes are more specifically for arousal measurements). Furthermore, they can be assessed by measuring global and multi-dimensional self-report scales. These typically are more associated with anxiety measures and can include things like the CSAI-2, SCAT, or SAS-2.

Explain inverted U theory? (5)

The inverted U theory refers to the relationship between arousal levels and performance measures. Specifically, as an athlete’s arousal levels increase, their performance also tends to increase until it reaches a peak– something referred to as “peak performance”. From there, as the athlete’s arousal levels continue to increase, their performance starts to decrease, in turn creating a graph that appears as an “inverted U”. However, things like cognitive anxiety can impact how quickly or in what ways the athlete’s performance starts to decrease, in turn creating different looking graphs (this is related to Catastrophe Models). 

Draw a diagram that depicts IZOF theory. (5)

Draw a graph of the Catastrophe Model and give an explanation? (4)

Based on the Catastrophe Models, it can be seen that performance depends on an interaction of arousal and cognitive anxiety– specifically that performance represents that of the inverted-U theory, however only when athletes have low cognitive state anxiety. As such, when athletes have low cognitive anxiety levels, they have a model that appears as the typical inverted-U theory. However, when individuals have high cognitive anxiety, they may be able to reach a higher level of peak performance, but then can rapidly decline in performance if arousal increases any more. This can be seen in the second depicted graph, whereas those with low levels of cognitive anxiety can be seen in the first depicted graph. 

What is reversal theory? (2)

Reversal theory refers to the idea that however arousal impacts an individual’s performance is dependent on the individual’s interpretation of their arousal needs. If an individual perceives their arousal as pleasant, then performance is likely to increase compared to when someone perceives their arousal as unpleasant. 

What is attentional narrowing? (3)

Attentional narrowing refers to the idea that an individual’s focus or perception narrows when state anxiety increases (especially during high-stress situations). This causes an individual’s ability to perceive information from the environment to decrease, in turn impacting performance negatively.

What is social facilitation theory? What implications does this theory have for practice? (3)

Social facilitation theory suggests that the presence of others (like in a social setting) can improve performance on well-learned or simple skills but decreases/inhibits performance on unlearned or complex tasks. As such, this theory implies that in practice it would be beneficial to eliminate audiences during learning situations, but audiences could still benefit individuals during simple tasks. For example, youth athletes may learn better at practice without parents present.

Name 5 signs/symptoms of increased anxiety and stress. (5)

Signs/symptoms of increased anxiety and stress can include tachycardia, tachypnea, diaphoresis, tremors, muscle rigidity, gastrointestinal discomfort, vomiting/diarrhea, and more.