SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 2

THE EFFECT OF ANXIETY, AROUSAL,

STRESS, ASSERTION AND AGGRESSION
Anxiety
 Anxiety is a natural human reaction that involves mind and
body. It is an alarm system that is activated whenever a person
perceives danger or threat.
 When the body and mind react to danger or threat, a person
feels physical sensations of anxiety.
 Anxiety, as a negative emotional, affect perceptions in sport
competitions, where a large majority of athletes consider anxiety
to be weakness towards performance, which may result in
decreases in performance.
 Anxiety plays a paramount role in sport. It is the challenge to
sports participation which produces anxiety. How an athlete
handles anxiety determines how successful they would be.
 The degree of anxiety also varies with a number of different
conditions.
 Anxiety is likely to be greater in higher competitive sports than
in relatively non-competitive sports, because in the competitive
sports, participants are expected to win and great demands are
made upon them to succeed.
 Nobody is without anxiety in the field of games and sports. It is
this important factor which affects the performance of sports
persons in their understandings and challenges at sports.
 Sports psychologist have long believed that high levels of
anxiety during competition are harmful, worsening
performance and even leading to dropout.
 Anxiety may be reduced or it may be increased with
circumstances. Athletes can manage anxiety using techniques
such as relaxation, hypnotherapy, cognitive behavior therapy
and positive thinking.
Effects of anxiety

1.Psychological effects: Concentration towards any external

threat takes place in human body immediately and
automatically

2. Effect on central nervous system (CNS): Anxiety effect

directly on sympathetic nervous system and the link between
body parts and CNS is affected and in this regard a person
became unable to perform the mental function effectively and
efficiently which effect directly sports performance of athletes.
Person becomes forgetful and irritable can experience lack of
concentration, feeling of fear and decreased sleep or disturbed
sleep pattern. Following are some of the general mental effects
of anxiety:
a. Difficulty concentrating, racing thoughts
b.Trouble learning new information
c. Forgetfulness, disorganization, confusion
d.Difficulty in making decisions
3. Physiological effects: Physiological effects refer to the changes
which take place in the movements of different organ of the body.
Anxiety affects directly or indirectly different functions of the
body in various ways which include muscles shake, fast heartbeat,
sweating fast breathing

4. Muscular effects: Anxiety can also have an effect on

individual’s muscles. For example, the anxious player may have
tremors, where he has a shaking movement that he cannot control.
5. Breathing effects and glandular effects: Rapid breathing is
known as hyperventilating. Hyperventilation can be a normal
response when you are anxious. A common symptom of anxiety is
sweating; during a bout of anxiety, the sweat glands produce more
sweat than normal. The player can also experience changes in
breathing, they may have shortness of breath or rapid breathing.

6. Effect on cardiovascular system: Anxiety can lead to increased

heart rate, palpitations, increased blood pressure. All these changes
take place in the body by more production of stress hormones like
adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol.
7. Behavioural effects: Anxiety effects also on the behaviour of an
individual because Anger, displeasure, problems in communication
and unfriendliness are the common effects of anxiety.

8. Personality changes: The term personality is used to describe

the consistent individual patterns of thoughts, emotion, and
behaviour that characterize each person across time and situations.
Each individual’s personality is thought to be influenced by both
an inherited “genetic” component (usually called temperament)
and by their interactions with the environment. Some people
experience personality changes in response to stress hormones,
which are part of their internal environment.
8. The following changes in personality are not uncommon to
observe in people who are anxious:
a. Displeasure
b. Unfriendliness
c. Frustration
d. Anger
e. Aggressive feelings and behaviour
f. Decreased interest in appearance
g. Decreased concern with punctuality
h. Obsessive/compulsive behaviour (trying to cope with unwanted
repeated thoughts or obsessions, by engaging in compulsive
behaviour rituals such as counting, checking, washing
Arousal
 Arousal is a blend of physiological and psychological activity in
a person and it refers to the level of motivation, alertness and
excitement at a particular moment. Athletes need to maintain
optimal levels of arousal.
 Arousal is the key issue in sport psychology. Specifically,
physical and technical performance depends on the level of
performer’s arousal.
 However, arousal is determined by psychological processes such
as emotions, which, in turn, depend on higher cognitive
functions like thoughts.
Arousal reflects general physical and psychological activity. For
example, coma is a pathologically low state of arousal whereas
agitation is an extremely high arousal. Usually, people are
somewhere in between of those two extremes. In sport setting,
arousal is often linked to anxiety.
Anxiety is a negative emotional state with feelings of worry,
nervousness and apprehension that is associated with the arousal
and activation of the nervous system.
In general, arousal has two kinds of effects on performance.
First, it increases muscle tension and affects co-ordination.
 Too much tension is detrimental to performance. Second,
arousal affects attention. Therefore, attention can become
either too narrow with too much arousal, or too broad with too
little arousal which makes person to pay too much attention to
his/her environment.
Stress
Stress is your mind and body’s response or reaction to a real or
imagined threat, event or change. The threat, event or change are
commonly called stressors. Stressors can be internal (thoughts,
beliefs, attitudes or external (loss, tragedy, change).
Recognizing Symptoms of Stress
General irritability
Elevated Heart Rate
Trembling
Insomnia
Headaches
Indigestion
Changes in Appetite or Sleep Pattern
Level of Stress
Stress is a process that builds.
It is more effective to intervene early in the process of trying to
manage this stress, rather than waiting until later.
Making yourself aware
Try to become aware of the signs (irritability, headaches,
anxiety, etc.) that suggest that the process of becoming stressed
out has begun.
Analyzing when Stressful Events Occur Most Frequently
1.Things to consider during this process:
2.What was the actual event?
3.When and where did it occur?
4.How stressful did you feel the event really was?
5.What did you do to handle this stress?
Managing Stress
While a limited amount of stress may benefit an employee’s
performance, don’t expect employees to see it that way.
What management may consider as “a positive stimulus that
keeps the adrenalin running” is very likely to be seen as
“excessive pressure” by the employee.
Stages of Stress
Alarm Stage
As you begin to experience a stressful event or perceive
something to be stressful psychological changes occur in your
body.
This experience or perception disrupts your body’s normal
balance and immediately your body begins to respond to the
stressor(s) as effectively as possible.
Examples
Cardiac – increased heart rate
Respiratory – increased respiration
Skin – decreased temperature
Hormonal – increased stimulation of adrenal genes which
produce an adrenal rush.
Resistance Stage
During this stage your body tries to cope or adapt to the
stressors by beginning a process of repairing any damage the
stressor has caused.
Your friends, family or co-workers may notice changes in you
before you do so it is important to examine their feedback to
make sure you do not reach overload.
Examples
 Emotional indicators include:
 Tearfulness
 Fear
 Anxiety
 Panic
 Guilt
 Agitation
 Depression
 Overwhelmed

Exhaustion Stage
During this stage the stressor is not being managed effectively
and the body and mind are not able to repair the damage.
Examples
 Digestive disorders
 Withdrawal
 Headaches
 Tension
 Insomnia
 Loss of temper
How to manage stress?
Identify the source
Make choices that control stress
Coping and relaxing to prevent stress buildup
Practice good health habits
Time Management problems
Always rushing
Constantly miss deadlines
Have trouble finding things
Are overwhelmed by demands and details
Try to do several tasks at once
Can’t decide what to do next
The Secrets of Stress Management
Planning
Laughing
Re-channelling your energy break
Relaxing exercise in peaceful surroundings
People support-friends, family, church, teachers, employees etc.

Stress Management Strategies

 Avoid caffeine
 Reduce alcohol and drugs
 Get at least seven hours of sleep
 Get at least 20 minutes of exercise per day
Continued Strategies
Eat well balanced meals
Spend time each day doing at least one relaxation technique
Take a warm bath or shower
Physical contact is a great way to relieve stress.

Types of Relaxation Techniques

Daydreaming
Imagery
Yoga
Prayer
Meditation
Self-hypnosis
Assertion
 Assertion is the ability to being confident in standing up for
yourself and your beliefs while maintaining respect for others.
If people are unable to communicate effectively it may result in
them either being too passive or being overly aggressive.
 In order to be assertive – be clear about what you want and
how you feel. Communicate your needs in a calm, unemotional
way. Be clear, specific and direct. What are the facts relating to
the situation and how do you feel about it. Be clear about your
boundaries
 What is it that you want and be clear about what you will and
won’t tolerate? State clearly what you need and why. Be aware
of your body language, tone and the words that you use when
being assertive.
 Don’t use confrontational words or tone even if it’s likely to
be a tough conversation. Be direct, open and honest.
 Consider their frame of reference – it may be different from
yours, which will affect the message that they receive. What
are their values, attitudes and experiences? Always respect the
other person’s rights and point of view.
 Above all keep calm and don’t rise to the bait if the other
person becomes aggressive. Stand your ground firmly but
politely. Be prepared to walk away. Anger and conflict will
achieve nothing.
Aggression
 Aggression is any interpersonal behavior intended to cause
physical harm or mental distress to a person or persons. In the
sports context, aggression can be defined as an unprovoked
physical or verbal assault, and aggressiveness as the intent to
commit such an assault.
 Aggression has also been defined as ‘an overt verbal or
physical act that can psychologically or physically injure
another person or oneself’. Aggression today is part and parcel
of any contemporary sport.
 Over the past twenty years, most sports have been undergoing
drastic changes, and several problem areas have been located
and addressed that form the core of sports research. Some of
them are:
 Drug influence and the problems it poses
 The increase of professionalism
 Increased media attention and glorification
 Commercialization of sports worldwide
 Introduction of judicial norms and civil/criminal law in
professional sports
 Reduced tolerance levels in modern day athletes
A distinct line between Assertiveness and Aggression
 Assertiveness, for a comparison, involves the use of legitimate
physical or verbal force to achieve one's purpose.
 Here, as opposed to aggression, there is no intent to harm the
opponent. Even if the opponent is harmed as a result of a tackle in
Soccer, it is not necessarily aggression. It is merely assertive play,
as long as it is within the spirit of the rules and the intent to harm
is not present.
 Assertiveness requires the use of unusual effort and energy. If
there is no intent to harm, then any resultant harm is only
incidental to the game. The sporting community draws distinct
lines between assertiveness and aggression.
Aggression in sports
 Aggression in sport can be defined as: ‘harm-inducing behavior
bearing no direct relationship to the competitive goals of sport,
and relates, therefore, to incidents of uncontrolled aggression
outside the rules of sport, rather than highly competitive
behavior within the rule boundaries.
 Aggressive and violent actions which might be illegal outside
sport, or in supposedly non-contact sports like Basketball,
Football, Cricket, etc. are legal and allowed in the context of
combat sports like Judo, Karate and Wrestling, or team contact
sports like Rugby, American football and Ice hockey
All these sports are characterised by high levels of aggression
and often violent physical contact which may be within the rules
of the game and not intended to injure.
The same sort of behaviour outside the sports context may
however be defined as criminal. Participants in these sports have
also accepted the inevitability of rough contact and possible
injury in these sports.
Aggression is sometimes natural for the game and the same
time, aggression is unwarranted. A high degree of aggression that
is not in line with competitive spirit is illegitimate and sometimes
even illegal.
In some sports, however, there appears to be a gray zone where
aggression is accepted by ‘victims’ as a legitimate part of the
game.
The most likely targets for aggression are officials, women,
young entrants, and athletes who are victims of racial bias.
Changes in the concentration of hormones can have profound
effects on mood and behaviour in humans. Sex differences have
also been considered as contributing factors to aggression.
Environmental factors are also believed to have an influence on
the state of mood. For example temperature, noise, drugs,
alcohol, steroids, presence of weapons, have all shown to increase
aggression.
Types of Aggression
Aggression can be of the following types
1.Direct: where the athlete can abuse face to face directly or hurt
somebody by words or actions.
2.Indirect: hurting others by gossips, rumours and internal
murmurings
3.Instrumental: also known as predatory aggression. This is
cognitive, where the aggression is intentional and planned but not
to directly hurt someone, rather for gaining something like a
reward, fame and scoring a goal.
4.Emotional: also called impulsive or hostile aggression refers to
aggression that occurs with only a small amount of forethought or
intent.