Arousal

• Motivation is the internal mechanisms and external stimuli that arouse and direct behaviour. Concerns intensity of behaviour which is how hard we try, direction of behaviour which is the personal inner drive to achieve and perceived external pressures/rewards that motivate some people.
• Intrinsic motivation


  The internal drive to participate/perform well for its own sake, taking part for fun/enjoyment, self satisfaction and sense of pride
• Intrinsic motivation


  • Longer lasting than extrinsic motivation
  • Some people aren't motivated internally and need the incentive of a reward to participate/push themselves
• Extrinsic motivation

  The external factors that influence our drive to participate, taking part for reward/recognition
• Extrinsic motivation


  • Tangible (physical) - medal/money
  • Intangible (emotional) - praise
• Motivational strategies


  • Varied/fun activities - add interest/encourage participation, different ideas of fun and some may want to take training seriously
  • Positive reinforcement - by giving praise for participation but too much praise can lose its effect
  • Negative reinforcement - by withdrawing negative feedback but there may be confusion as to why feedback is withdrawn
  • Extrinsic rewards/motivation - result in loss of intrinsic motivation if given too frequently
  • Intrinsic values/motivation - to promote self satisfaction but some people aren't self motivated
  • Educate on positive health benefits - information give could be incorrect
  • Attainable goal setting - to allow success but unrealistic goals could be set
  • Peer pressure - may motivate but young people may participate just to retain friends
  • Punishment - for negative behaviour but can lead to a loss of self esteem
  • Role models - can influence/inspire young people but not all role models are appropriate motivators
  • Taster sessions - to encourage participation But may not create a positive opinion
• Arousal


  A state of alertness and anticipation that prepares the body for action, the higher your arousal levels are the more excited/apprehensive you are and the harder you try
• Factors that can increase arousal levels


  • Large crowd
  • Important competition
  • Close rivals
  • Fear of punishment
• Somatic (physiological) arousal


  • Increases heart rate and sweating
• Cognitive (psychological) arousal


  • Increases self efficacy, excitement and determination, but can cause worry, fear of failure, low self confidence and anxiety
• Hull's drive theory


  As arousal increases quality of performance improves, as arousal increases the dominant response is more likely to occur because the more excited/nervous you are and the harder you are trying the more likely you are to do what comes naturally to you.
• Hull's drive theory

  Experts/performers at the autonomous stage dominant response will be correct due to having strong S-R bonds and being skillful therefore experts will perform better at higher arousal levels.

  Beginners/performers at the cognitive stage dominant response will be incorrect due to being unskillful therefore beginners will perform worse with higher arousal levels.
• Hull's drive theory is simple to understand, reliable, some people do perform better with increased arousal (experts/extroverts), some skills are performed better with increased arousal (simple/gross) and it helps teachers understand that experts need increased arousal
• Hull's drive theory can be too simple, linear relationship doesn't happen, performance doesn't always increase as arousal does, some beginners perform well with higher arousal, doesn't explain how experts perform well at low levels of arousal and it ignores over arousal/not true for all.
• Catastrophe theory of arousal


  1. At low levels of arousal performance is poor as SA and CA are both low

  2. As SA increases performance improves

  3. Performance is at its best when CA is low and SA is high

  4. If both SA and CA are high then performance drops dramatically

  5. Performer can recover if CA levels are lowered (positive thinking) and performance starts to increase again

  6. If a performer worries about a drop in their performance their CA increases further causing performance to deteriorate further
• Catastrophe theory of arousal


  • Realistic as it explains why people crumble in high pressure situations
  • Sudden drop is more realistic than a gradual drop
  • Considers effect of SA and CA and shows a performer can recover
  • Not all performers have a drastic drop in performance when over aroused
  • Doesn't take personal factors and type of skill into account
  • Optimal point isn't in the middle for everyone and some people cope well with high CA
• Inverted U theory


  At low levels of arousal performance is poor due to under arousal, as arousal increases so does performance, at moderate levels of arousal performance peaks due to optimal arousal, if arousal increases further performance levels decrease gradually and at high levels of arousal performance is poor due to over arousal
• Inverted U theory


  • True for most performers
  • Shows there is an optimal point of arousal
  • Shows arousal can be too high or too low
  • It is simple to understand
• Social facilitation is the effect that others have on the way we perform.

  Zajonc (1965) Mere presence - the mere presence of others creates arousal increasing the likelihood of the dominant response occuring.

  Cotterell (1968) Evaluative apprehension - the feelings of nervousness caused by the perceived judgement of others.
• Social facilitation


  When people watch us they increase our arousal motivating us and making us try harder so that we impress them, improving our performance
• Social inhibition


  When people watch us they increase our arousal making us feel nervous/apprehensive causing mistakes to be made and deteriorating our performance
• Evaluative apprehension


  Causes social inhibition for simple tasks, complex tasks, introverts and beginners
• Evaluative apprehension


  Causes social facilitation for gross tasks, simple tasks, extroverts and experts
• Factors relating to audience that affect performance


  • Size of crowd
  • Proximity of crowd
  • Who is in the crowd
  • Home crowd
  • Type of crowd
• Size of crowd


  • Larger crowds have a bigger effect on teams, aid performance for extrovert/expert
• Proximity of crowd


  • The closer a crowd is the greater the effect, aid performance for extrovert/expert
• Who is in the crowd


  • An increased 'want to impress' increases arousal if the observer is knowledgeable/significant, aid performance for extrovert/expert (especially if a scout is present)
• Home crowd


  • Can be seen as an advantage to play with a supportive crowd (home field advantage), some extroverts/experts prefer to play away due to high skills
• Type of crowd


  • Interactive crowd has a bigger effect compared to a passive audience, interactive crowd aid extrovert/expert performance
• Strategies that combat the effects of social inhibition:

  Practice with an audience, decrease importance of event, try to shut out the audience, increase support provided by team members, mentally prepare for task by using relaxation techniques and over learn skills so they are grooved/skillful and become the dominant response.
• Anxiety is a negative reaction to stress resulting in over arousal, feelings of worry/apprehension/being threatened, has a negative effect on performance.

  Anxiety and stress are both caused by -

  Competition, importance of winning

  Crowd, social inhibition

  Conflict, rivals

  Climate, change in temperature

  Frustration

  Fear of failure

  Fear of injury
• Trait anxiety (A-trait)


  • Innate, person's inborn level of anxiety
  • Stable, general anxiety level in all situations
  • Enduring, long lasting personality characteristic
• High trait anxiety


  • Tend to be fearful of unfamiliar situations
  • Has the potential to react to situations with apprehension
• State anxiety (A-state)


  • Immediate emotional state, characterised by feeling of nervousness/apprehension in certain situations
  • Temporary
  • Influenced by A-trait
• Somatic response to anxiety

  • Sweating
  • Increased heart rate
  • Ready for action
  • Under performance
  • Unwanted muscle tension
• Cognitive response to anxiety


  • Worry
  • Nerves
  • Fear of failure
  • Under performance
  • Make mistakes
  • Poor concentration
• Competitive anxiety


  • Worry/apprehension during or about competitive experiences
  • Caused by levels of trait anxiety
  • Competitive process/situational factors such as environment/event
  • Individual differences which is how different people perceive the situation
• Hanin's zone of optimal functioning


  Adaption of the Inverted U theory but using state anxiety instead of arousal, optimal level of state anxiety isn't necessarily a moderate level and everyone has a different ideal level of state anxiety depending on person/type of skill
• Individual zone of optimal functioning


  When the performers level of state anxiety is at the optimum level a performer will give their best performance
• Peak flow experience/in the zone


  When a performer experiences a near perfect match between skill level and task difficulty, occurs when arousal is controlled/challenge is right/there is a clear goal/attention and concentration is maximised/self confident belief