Sport Science - Sport Psychology Task 3

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Psychology Task 3

In this task I aim to report on stress and anxiety and their direct effects on a sporting performance. I will also look at the different theories surrounding arousal and sport as well as describing and explaining the effects.

Stress

Stress can be defined as the state of physical tension as a result of pressures such as physiological and / or psychological. Stress can be directly related to sport as the nature of the sport itself usually implies environmental factors that affect the performer’s mental state. It can be argued that stress is both positive and negative in sport, depending on the sports variables, stress can aid a performance or hinder it.

The two types of stress I am going to look at are eustress and distress:

Eustress

Eustress is sometime known as “good stress” and is gained from certain situations that can apply stress to a performance. This stress leads to positive experience for the player such as self satisfaction and enhanced intrinsic motivation. For example a basketball player taking a penalty shot has the pressures of a time limit and every player on the court watching him. This stress can reinforce the player’s concentration and if they make the basket, they are rewarded with accolade from their team members and the self satisfaction of individually scoring point in an otherwise team game.

Distress

Distress is the negative stress that performers often try to avoid. In many sports distress is bound to be caused by the opponent due to the competitive nature of the sport. It can therefore be said that poor performance can be the direct result of distress. The sporting environment can cause distress to a player which can lead to unintentional failure. A good example of this is baseball; the pitcher will pitch the ball in way that will cause the batter distress, as it is his prerogative to do so. This distress can lead to a foul swing and a negative performance. However a windy or rainy day will also place an unavoidable environmental distress for the player as this can affect the balls speed and visibility. It can therefore be said that a good performance is not necessarily due to utilising eustress but combating distress.

Causes of stress

Sport is a good example of how variables in the game will cause stress. These variables are something that a player must overcome to give a good performance such as:

  • Internal – this is the stress that is caused by internal thoughts that affect your mood and therefore performance. For example if a player has low self belief they imply a stress on themselves that can be considered unnecessary. E.g. a golfer may look at a hole and believe that they won’t be able to navigate it successfully under par. This is a distress that develops from there own mind and can have a negative effect on there performance.

*It would be appropriate to mention however a player’s process of self talk. Basically self talk is the coaching a player gives himself before a performance; this is a very private internal affair that is usually the reflection of the performer’s personality. Positive self talk uses eustress and an “I can do this” attitude – usually resulting in the desired performance. However negative self talk can cause distress on a performer and subsequently negative effects. There is also a “nothing to lose” attitude that stems from negative self talk but loses the distress caused by having positive outcome win or lose of the situation.

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  • External – is the stress that is caused by the opponent or the force that a performer is competing against. A good opponent will try and cause as much external distress to have a negative effect on the player’s performance. A good example of this would be in a squash game, rather than just batting the ball against the wall as hard as they can, the two players will place shots and creating awkward scenarios for the return shot. This is what a sports performer will try to combat in training. This anticipation and experience of external factors ...

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