Anxiety

• Anxiety


  A state of nervousness and worry, a negative response to a threatening situation
• Anxiety

  • Nervousness, apprehension, worry
  • A Negative emotion
  • Can have a damaging effect on performance
  • Coupled with arousal can tip some over inverted U from psyched up to psyched out
• State Anxiety


  You get nervous and worry in specific situations e.g., penalty shoot out
• Trait Anxiety


  A general, stable and enduring personality trait e.g. always worry before playing any sport
• Competitive Trait Anxiety


  Player generally feels nervous before most games regardless of the situation
• Competitive State Anxiety


  Is more temporary and situation specific e.g., before a cup final, a penalty shootout or holding a putt to win on the last hole
• If a player has high trait anxiety


  They are more likely to suffer with high levels of state anxiety
• Cognitive Anxiety


  Is psychological / mental eg irrational thinking / negative thoughts
• Somatic Anxiety


  Is physiological / physical eg Increased HR / BP /sweating / feeling sick
• Moderate Somatic and Low cognitive can help performance. High Somatic and High Cognitive is detrimental to performance
• Self-Report Questionnaires


  • Cheap and efficient
  • Lots of info / responses can be gathered
  • Open to bias, performers may not be truthful
  • Questions may be misinterpreted
  • Can be affected by the environment eg time of day
• Observation


  • Real life method, behaviour monitored before, during and after performance
  • Subjective, open to opinion, each observer may see the situation differently
  • Time consuming
  • Need to be aware of performers normal anxiety levels to see changes
  • Performer may change as they are aware of being observed
• Physiological Methods


  • Generate factual/objective data eg HR BP
  • Can be taken during performance and results can be immediate
  • Performer needs to wear monitors which can restrict movements
  • Equipment is expensive, operated by trained staff
  • Awareness of being monitored, white coat syndrome! Can lead to inaccurate or abnormal results