Exam Week

• What is personality according to trait theory?

  genetic, stable, enduring, shown in all situations
• What is personality according to social learning theory?

  • learned from our experiences
  • learned by observing and copying significant others
  • changes according to the situation
  • cannot be predicted
  • develops due to socialisation
  • likely to be repeated if praised by a coach
• Who suggested the interactionist perspective?

  Lewi (1935)
• What does the interactionist theory suggest?

  Personality is made up genetic traits and the influence of learning from environmental experiences
• What is Lewin's equation that illustrates the interactionist perspective?

  B = f (P.E)
• According to Hollander how many times can personality be divided?

  3 times
• What is the psychological core?

  It's internal, stable and consistent. It's the real you, not affected by the environment.
• What are the typical responses?

  They can be learned and are the usual responses to environmental situations.
• What are role-related behaviours?

  They are affected by the environment, superficial and highly changeable.
• What does Hollanders Model look like?

  Three rings, core in the middle, typical response and role-related behaviour on the outside

  
• What does the triadic model suggest?

  There are three components to attitude
• What is the cognitive component?

  the beliefs and thoughts
• What is the affective component?


  the emotions and feelings
• What is the behavioural component?

  the actions and responses
• What does social learning involve?


  Imitating the attitudes of significant other eg parents
• When does socialisation occur?


  When someone wishes to fit in with the cultural norms surrounding them
• What is cognitive dissonance?

  Dissonance is caused by generating unease within an individual by changing one or more negative attitudes into positive ones which causes the individual to question their attitude.
• What is persuasive communication?

  when an individual or group of people encourages you to take on board their point of view so you have to change your attitude.
• What should the person trying to persuade have?

  • they should have high status
  • be credible
  • clear messages
• What is arousal?

  The level of somatic and cognitive simulation that gets someone ready to perform.
• What does drive theory suggest?

  As arousal increases so does the quality of performance
• What occurs during drive theory?

  At high arousal the performer will use their dominant response (a well-learned skill used when under pressure), and if they are autonomous it is likely to be the correct response.
• What is a performance a function of?

  Drive (D) X Habit (H)
• What does the inverted U theory suggest? 


  It's how different personality types, performers and skills can be successful. As arousal increases so does performance up until an optimum point then performance decreases.
• What is the catastrophe theory?

  It accounts for the sudden drop in performance once the optimum is exceeded.
• What causes the drop in performance?

  High cognitive anxiety combined with high somatic anxiety, the body and mind are over aroused leading to a drop in performance
• What is the zone of optimal functioning?

  Mental state that performers only experience once or twice in entire sporting career when everything is perfect.
• What are the characteristics of the zone of optimal functioning?


  • feeling completely calm
  • complete control
  • performing on 'autopilot'
  • complete confidence
  • fluent, smooth, efficient performance
• What is anxiety?


  Experiencing worry, nervousness and apprehension which negatively affects performance.
• What is somatic anxiety?


  It is the psychological symptoms eg increased heart rate, sweat levels and muscle tension
• What is cognitive anxiety?

  Mental stress or worry related to performance eg irrational thoughts and learned helplessness
• What is competitive trait anxiety?

  experiencing nervousness in all competitions regardless of the type of event eg sweating and worrying before every match
• What is competitive state anxiety?

  experiencing nervousness in certain competitions/certain aspects of the event eg irrational thoughts when taking a penalty
• What are the three ways of measuring anxiety?


  Observation, questionnaires and physiological tests
• What is observation?

  • real-life method
  • anxiety can be analysed before, during and after match
  • can be used in training
  • subjective
  • need to know how the performer 'usually' acts
  • may require several observers
  • can be time consuming
  • performers act differently when knowing they're being watch
• What are questionnaires?

  • performer answers a series of questions about emotions in different situations
  • quick, cheap and efficient
  • deal with a lot of data
  • large numbers of players can be assessed
  • results are easily compared
  • socially desirable questions may be given
  • performers may not understand the questions
  • the answers given may be affected by mood
• What are physiological tests?

  • generate factual data on responses
  • objective
  • results can easily be compared
  • used in training and fixtures
  • performers wear monitors that may become restrictive
  • performers become more nervous if wearing one
  • cost of equipment can be high
• What is aggression?

  Aggression is behaviour that is intended to cause harm or injury to another individual which is outside the rules.
• What is assertion? 


  Involves behaviour which is hard but fair so within rules and with no intention of harm.
• What is instinct theory?

  • there is a natural trait or predisposition to be aggressive
  • it's genetic
  • with enough provocation we'll react aggressively
  • experience catharsis (release of emotions)