Stress & Anxiety - Week 4 Lecture Notes PDF

Stress & Anxiety Dr. Val Dennehy Aims • Terminology • Different theoretical perspectives • Anxiety and sports performances • Arousal • Anxiety Used Interchangeably • Stress Psychologist use precise definitions Arousal • ‘a general physiological and psychological activation varying on a cont...

Stress & Anxiety Dr. Val Dennehy Aims • Terminology • Different theoretical perspectives • Anxiety and sports performances • Arousal • Anxiety Used Interchangeably • Stress Psychologist use precise definitions Arousal • ‘a general physiological and psychological activation varying on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement’ (Gould et al., 2002). • Determined by physiological processes such as emotions which in turn depend on higher cognitive functions like thoughts Arousal • An increase level of mental excitement and alertness • State of being • Excited • Keen mentally and physically ready The Drive Theory Hull, 1943 • Proportional linear relationship • More psyched up – better the performance • Increased drive (arousal) will increase the likelihood of dominant response/most usual behaviour • Performance will be worse for poorer learnt or complex skills The Drive Theory Hull, 1943 • Limited empirical support in sport? • Increasing drive (arousal) – performers resort to previously learned skills because they are dominant – but may incorrect (novices, intermediates) • Even highly skilled players ‘choke’ in highly charged situations e.g. penalty shoot out Under Arousal • Athletes under perform • Lack drive and determination • May not be excited or focused enough to perform Over Arousal • Feel stressed, anxious/nervous • Could become psyched out by opposition • Physical symptoms – increased heart rate, sweating, nausea • Mistakes are made and performance declines The Inverted-U Hypothesis Yerkes & Dodson, 1908 • Predicts performance effectiveness will increase as arousal increases – up to some optimal point – further increases in arousal will produce a decrease in performance. • Theory suggests behaviour is aroused and directed toward balanced or optimal state. • Under arousal has a negative effect on performance • As arousal increases performance will improve Optimal level of arousal where perform at best “In the Zone” Arousal continue increase, performance decline Athletes experience over-arousal The Inverted U hypothesis • General notion accepted • Experience under arousal, optimal arousal, over arousal • Recent evidence support predications on simple tasks (Landers & Arent, 2010) • Criticism (Gould & Udry, 1994; Hardy, 1990) • Optimal arousal at midpoint? • Nature of arousal itself? • Taken as far as can- explore other views The Inverted U Hypothesis • “ a catastrophe for sport psychology” (Hardy & Fazey, 1987) • “If… the inverted-U hypothesis reveals only that the motivated outperform the apathetic and the terrified, it should be consigned to the true-but-trivial category” (Neiss, 1988) • Arousal can cause a number of physiological and psychological responses • Negative reaction to these responses can result in anxiety Anxiety In general: ‘a negative emotional state with feelings of nervousness, worry and apprehension associated with activation or arousal of the body’ (Weinberg & Gould, 2011). Anxiety In sport: “an unpleasant psychological state in reaction to perceived stress concerning the performance of a task under pressure” (Cheng et al., 2009, p.271) Trait & State Anxiety • Trait Anxiety: aspect of personality – an individual with trait anxiety will experience anxiety regardless of the situation (how you usually feel) • State Anxiety: How you feel right now (Weinberg & Gould, 2011) Trait and State Anxiety Relationship • Individuals with high trait anxiety usually have high levels of state anxiety in highly competitive, evaluative situations. • High trait anxious individuals can learn coping skills to reduce state anxiety. • Knowing a person's level of trait anxiety • useful in predicting how they will react to competition, evaluation and threatening situations. (Weinberg & Gould, 2011) Trait & State Anxiety • Trait Anxiety: aspect of personality – an individual with trait anxiety will experience anxiety regardless of the situation (how you usually feel) • State Anxiety: How you feel right now (Multidimensional) Cognitive Anxiety (Worry / concentration disruption) Somatic Anxiety (Perceptions of physiological changes) Weinberg & Gould, 2011 Cognitive Anxiety Concerned with extent to which one worries or has negative thoughts • Lack a sense of self confidence • Disrupted attentions • Sense of worry, fear, doubt, etc. • Worrisome expectation of failure • Negative concerns about performance • Impaired ability to concentrate These are PSYCHOLOGICAL responses “I don’t know how many times I’ve gone off to be by myself at World Championships or an Olympic Games with the minutes ticking down ever so slowly, with thousands of thoughts in my mind. ‘What the f*** an I doing here? Why am I doing it? I don’t want to be here. It’s absolutely horrible.’ At Atlanta, I was just walking around saying to myself; ‘The pressure’s too much. I just can’t do this at all.’ If somebody had given me any sort of excuse to pull out, I’d happy done so.” Sir Steve Redgrave (Gold medallist at 5 consecutive Olympic Games) Somatic Anxiety Concerned with the moment-to-moment changes in one’s perception of physiological activation • Unusual feelings of nausea • Increased respiration rates • Increased blood pressure • Increased muscle tension • Increased perspiration These are PHYSIOLOGICAL responses “Walking from the locker-room to the ring is the scariest feeling I ever had in my life… it’s like I have butterflies, my heart is beating, I’m already sweating, my hands are wet, it’s just a real scary feeling” Gerald McClellan (Former WBC and WBO super-middle weight champion) Causes of Anxiety • Pressure – greater fear of failure in high-pressure / important situation • Uncertainty – not knowing whether you will succeed or not • Effect on self-esteem – concern about what others might think if you perform poorly • Fear of harm – fear of injury or pain in dangerous activities • Frustration – worrying that you may not achieve targets Anxiety & Performance in Sport (Woodman & Hardy, 2003) • Meta-analysis of 48 studies investigating Cognitive Anxiety & Selfconfidence subscales Effect Size Small: 0.2 Medium: 0.5 Large 0.8 quantitative measure of the magnitude of the experimental effect. The larger the effect size the stronger the relationship between two variables. Anxiety & Performance in Sport (Woodman & Hardy, 2003) Effect Size Overall Low Standard High Standard Cognitive Anxiety -0.10 -0.06 -0.27 Self-Confidence 0.24 0.16 0.33 Anxiety & Performance in Sport • Anxiety often impairs performance on ‘difficult’ tasks (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992) • But findings are complex and inconsistent….why? • • • • • • Anxiety is complex Pre-event assessment Blunt performance measures In-event coping Task characteristics Self-report measures “It is probably not very realistic for pre-performance measures of anxiety to predict actual performance to any great extent” (Jones et al., 1993) Stress Stress: ‘a substantial imbalance between demand [physical and/or psychological] and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet that demand has important consequences’ (McGrath, 1970) What happens when you experience Stress • “fight or flight response” • • • • • • • Increases HR Inhibits peristalsis Shivering / goose bumps Pupils dilate Increase perspiration Glycogen to glucose (Nor)adrenaline The Stress Process (McGrath, 1970) Sources of Stress & Anxiety • Thousands specific sources • Athletes: • Performance issues such as worrying about performing up to capabilities, self-doubts about talent, team selection • environmental issues e.g. financial costs, travel, time needed for training • organizational issues - coaching leadership, communication • Physical danger; negative personal rapport behaviours of coaches; and relationships or traumatic experiences outside of sport (Noblet & Gifford, 2002; Woodman & Hardy 2001) • McKay et al., (2008) athletes experience a core group of stress/strain sources that include competitive concerns, pressure to perform, lifestyle demands, and negative aspects of personal relationships. • Gould et al., (1997) found that injured elite athletes had psychological (e.g., fear, shattered hopes and dreams), physical, medical- or rehab-related, financial, and career stress sources along with missed opportunities outside the sport (e.g., inability to visit another country with the team) Parental Pressure (especially with young athletes) • Traditional source • Climate pressure perceived can alter its effects (O’Rourke et al., 2011) • High pressure in high ego motivational climate  increased perceptions of anxiety • High pressure in high mastery motivational climate  decreased perceptions of anxiety Connecting anxiety & arousal to performance Theories • The Drive Theory • The Inverted U Hypothesis • The IZOF Model • Multidimensional Anxiety Theory • Catastrophe Theory Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (Hanin, 1997, 2000) Optimal arousal varies depending on an individuals skill level, personality characteristics and nature of task being performed Ruiz et al., (2017) 1) Optimal level of state anxiety does not always occur at midpoint of continuum but varies from individual to individual – some athletes at lower end of continuum, some midrange, some higher end 2) Optimal level of state anxiety if not a single point but a bandwidth. Fine Skills -Precision, accuracy and control -Athletes operate better at a lower level of arousal E.g. Archery, Snooker Gross Skills -Large, powerful, movements -Athletes need be determined, focused and physically and mentally excited E.g. Rugby tackle, Boxing • Support exists for IZOF model • Criticism – lacks explanation why individual levels of anxiety may be beneficial or detrimental for performance Multidimensional Anxiety Theory • Predicts different relationships between different components of anxiety & performance • Studies shown these two anxiety components differentially predict performance - precise predictions of multidimensional anxiety theory have not been consistently supported (Mellalieu, et al., 2006) “[Multidimensional anxiety theory] only makes predictions about the separate relationships between cognitive anxiety and performance, and somatic anxiety and performance, when what is really required is an explanation of how cognitive and somatic anxiety interact to influence performance” (Hardy & Parfitt, 1991, p.165) Catastrophe Theory • Focuses on the interactive effects of arousal, cognitive anxiety and performance (Hardy & Parfitt, 1991) Catastrophe Theory Fazey & Hardy, 1991 Performance High Low Low Arousal High Under conditions of low cognitive anxiety Catastrophe Theory Fazey & Hardy, 1991 Catastrophe Performance High Low Low High Arousal Under conditions of high cognitive anxiety Catastrophe Theory Implications for athletes • • After a catastrophic decline in performance, the athlete must: a. Completely relax physically b. Cognitively restructure or eliminate worries and regain confidence and control, and c. Reactivate him/ herself in a controlled manner to again reach an optimal level of functioning “You never know how the psychology of drivers works. Some need the pressure some don’t. Too much pressure is not good, it makes a pipe burst but pressure also makes a diamond. You’ve got to calibrate that right.” Toto Wolff - Team Principal Mercedes F1 Team Directional Anxiety • Limitation of measuring just anxiety intensity • Interpretation of symptoms important? Control pressurised situation: Challenge – resources and coping skills to meet demands Threat – don’t have resources and coping skills to meet demands placed on them (Jones, 1995) • Elite v Non-elite rugby players • Anxiety Scores (Neil, et al., 2006) More Facilitative interpretation of somatic responses Less Debilitative interpretation of symptoms of worry • Elite swimmers reported cognitive and somatic anxiety as more facilitative and less debilitative than have nonelite swimmers (Jones & Swain, 1992). • Research found elite swimmers able consistently maintain facilitative interpretation of anxiety, • especially through using psychological skills (goal setting, imagery, and self-talk) • Performers trained effectively use their anxiety symptoms in productive way and develop a rational appraisal process in relation to their experiences during competition (Hanton, Thomas, & Mellalieu, 2009) Recognising Arousal & State Anxiety Signs • • • • • • • Cold, clammy hands Need to urinate frequently Profuse sweating Negative self-talk Dazed look in the eyes Increased muscle tension Butterflies in stomach • Feeling ill • Headache • Cotton (dry) mouth • Being constantly sick • Difficulty sleeping • Inability to concentrate • Consistently performing better in noncompetitive situations Summary • Remember differentiate between Stress, arousal, and anxiety (each have distinct meanings). • Stress is a process that occurs when people perceive an imbalance between the physical and psychological demands on them and their ability to respond. • Arousal is the blend of physiological and psychological activity in a person that varies on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement. • Anxiety is a negative emotional state characterized by feelings of nervousness, worry, and apprehension associated with activation or arousal of the body. It has cognitive, somatic, trait, and state components. Reading • Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (2015). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology (6th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics • Chapter 4: Arousal, Stress & Anxiety