Anxiety
A level of nerves and irrational thinking
Competitive trait anxiety
A disposition to suffer from nervousness in most sporting situations
Competitive state anxiety
A nervous response to specific sporting situations
Somatic anxiety
A physiological response to a threat, such as increased heart rate
Cognitive anxiety
A psychological response such as worrying about losing
Ways to measure anxiety (3)
- Questionnaire
- Observation
- Physiological measures
Questionnaire
A set of questions to measure or assess something, in this case anxiety
Sports Competition Anxiety test (SCAT)
A questionnaire used by sports psychologists to measure anxiety
Competitive sports/state anxiety test (CSAI)
A questionnaire used by sport psychologists to measure anxiety
Advantages of questionnaires
+ Quick
+ Cheap
+ Easy/efficient
+ Compared easy
+ Large numbers of players assessed quickly
Disadvantages of questionnaires
- May not understand questions
- Socially desirable response
- Depend on mood
- Inappropriate questions
Observation
Gaining a measure of (in this case) anxiety by simply watching a performer
Advantages of observations
+ Realistic
+ Results are true to life
Disadvantages of observations
- Based on observer opinions- vary
- Highly subjective
- Change behaviour if realise they’re being watched
- If taken away from usual environment
- Change results
Physiological measures
Anxiety can be measured by a physical response
eg. Increase HR, Increase Sweating, Increase respiration and Increase hormone secretion
Advantages of Physiological measures
+ Factual/objective data
+ Response could be measured in training or real game
+ Advances in tech-monitors in clothing which can be relayed to coaches
Disadvantages of Physiological measures
- Training for coaches on how to use tech
- Cost
- Wearing device may restrict moves
- If aware may increase stress = false response
