MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
DECLARATION
Name : Tiffany Kaylene Nadine Makier
Student number : 64014010
Module : PYC 4812
Assignment number : 01
Unique assignment number : 605848
Date : 19 Apr. 2018
I declare that this assignment is my own original work. Where secondary material has been
used (either from printed sources or from the internet), this has been carefully acknowledge
and referenced in accordance with departmental requirements as explained in Tutorial letter
101/0/2018. I understand what plagiarism is and I am aware of the department’s policy in
this regard. I have not allowed anyone else to copy my work.
Sign: T.K.N Makier
Date: 19 April 2018
Best services for writing your paper according to Trustpilot
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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SECTION A
Definition of applied sport psychology
Sports psychology is the study of how psychology influence sports, athletic performances
exercise and physical activity. Psychological skills can play a critical role in learning and in
athlete’s performance. Some sports psychologist work with professional athletes and
coaches to improve performance and increase motivation. Other professionals utilize
exercise and sports to enhance people’s lives. Professional sport psychologist often help
athletes cope with intense pressure that come from competition and overcome problems
with focus and motivation. They can also teach skills to help athletes enhance their learning
process and motor skills, cope with competitive environments which the athletes are
constantly expose to.
Psychological training should be an integral part of an athlete’s holistic training process,
carried out in conjunction with other training elements. This is best accomplished by a
collaborative effort among the coach, the sport psychologist and the athlete; however a
knowledge and interested coach can learn basic psychological skills and impart them to the
athlete during actual practice. Sport psychologist also work with athletes to improve
performance and recover from injuries. However sports psychologist do not only work with
professional athletes but also help regular people learn how to enjoy sports and learn to stick
to an exercise program
Uses of applied sport psychology
Anxiety or Energy Management
Skill most commonly used to help individuals who experience arousal at a level that is not
effective (i.e., too high or too low) for optimal performance. These techniques can be used
for anxiety, stress, and anger management. Common treatments include: (a) breathing
exercises (e.g., diaphragmatic breathing, rhythmic breathing), (b) progressive relaxation, (c)
meditation, (d) imagery or visualization, and (d) cognitive techniques (e.g., thought stopping
and cognitive restructuring).
Attention and Concentration Control (focusing)
Being able to focus one’s awareness on relevant cues so they can deal effectively with their
current situation. These skills help them maintain their mental intensity within a situation.
Common techniques include: (a) attention control training (to avoid distractions) and (b)
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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techniques to expand awareness (e.g., attending to performance cues and bodily
sensations).
Communication
Skill used to help improve group cohesion and individual interactions in a sport setting (e.g.,
athlete–athlete, athlete–coach, coach–parent). Techniques used with this skill include: (a)
teaching active listening and communicating skills (reflecting, clarifying, encouraging,
paraphrasing), (b) helping individuals create a free and open environment, and (c)
assertiveness training.
Goal Setting
Skill commonly used for enhancing motivation, focusing attention on the aspects of
performance that are most in need of improvement, or facilitating rehabilitation from injury.
The establishment of a goal-setting program often includes several common components,
including: emphasis on skill development (not the outcome, such as winning), identifying
target dates for attaining goals, identifying goal achievement strategies, and providing
regular goal evaluation.
Imagery, Visualization, Mental Practice
Skill using all of the mind’s senses (e.g., sight, sound, taste, touch, hearing,
kinaesthetic/muscular feel) to re-create or create an experience in the mind. Uses include:
(a) mental preparation, (b) anxiety control, (c) attention, (d) building self-confidence, (e)
learning new skills, and (f) injury recovery. Common components include the evaluation of
imagery ability, the establishment of the proper physical and mental setting (i.e., relaxed and
quiet), and practice creating vivid and controllable images.
Self-talk
This is what you say or think to yourself. Self-talk patterns are related to how people feel and
act. Changing self-talk is commonly used for (a) prompting a specific behavior, (b) improving
self–confidence, (c) attention control, (d) motivation, and (e) arousal control. Common
components include the identification of negative or irrelevant thoughts, challenging these
thoughts, the creation of positive thoughts, and the substitution of positive thoughts for the
negative thoughts.
Team Building
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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This is the process of helping the members of a group enhance their ability to work
cohesively through the improvement of communication, group objectives, trust, and respect.
Team building strategies are often used at the beginning of a season to help group members
become more familiar and trusting of each other. Common techniques include group
introductions of each other, ropes courses, and individual and team goal setting.
Time Management/Organization
This is the ability to plan and maintain one’s regular schedule in a way that avoids confusion,
conflict and undue stress. Common time management techniques include: (a) teaching how
to use a planner, (b) learning about the demands of a task, (c) setting legitimate goals for
tasks, (d) understanding the demands of one’s life (managing role conflict), and (e)
developing pre–performance routines.
SECTION B
Choking under pressure
Schücker, L., Hagemann, N., & Strauss, B. (2013). Attentional Processes and Choking
under Pressure. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 116, 671-689
The self-focus theory of choking under pressure explains decreases in performance of well-
learned motor tasks with an increase in skill-focused attention. This shift in attentional focus
has been demonstrated; however, specific propositions about the processes in pressure-
induced attentional shift are yet to be developed. This study assesses whether specific
aspects of movement execution attract more attention than others when movements are
executed under pressure. Such elements are important in conscious movement control
before execution becomes automated through practice; under pressure, attention may be
redirected to these elements. Basketball free throws were executed by 22 junior national
team members in a low and high pressure situation. Two dual task/focus conditions (related
to different aspects of the movement) were implemented in each pressure condition. This
dual task paradigm was used as a direct and detailed measure of skill focused attention,
suitable to show specific pressure induced shifts of attention that lead to performance
decrements. Pressure was induced by telling players that their performance would be
evaluated by coaches. Players were defined as chokers if their performance decreased
under this pressure. Chokers showed differences with regard to their attentional focus on
movement execution in the pressure conditions compared to the players defined as non-
chokers. The findings suggest that attentional shifts during choking can be related to specific
aspects of movement execution.
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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DeCaro, M., Thomas, R.,.Albert, N, & Beilock, S.(2011). Choking under pressure: Multiple
routes to skill failure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140, 390-406
Poor performance in pressure-filled situations, or “choking under pressure,” has largely been
explained by two different classes of theories. Distraction theories propose that choking
occurs because attention needed to perform the task at hand is coopted by task-irrelevant
thoughts and worries. Explicit monitoring theories claim essentially the opposite—that
pressure prompts individuals to attend closely to skill processes in a manner that disrupts
execution. Although both mechanisms have been shown to occur in certain contexts, it is
unclear when distraction and/or explicit monitoring will ultimately impact performance. The
authors propose that aspects of the pressure situation itself can lead to distraction and/or
explicit monitoring, differentially harming skills that rely more or less on working memory and
attentional control. In Experiments 1–2, it is shown that pressure that induces distraction
(involving performance-contingent outcomes) hurts rule-based category learning heavily
dependent on attentional control. In contrast, pressure that induces explicit monitoring of
performance (monitoring by others) hurts information-integration category learning thought to
run best without heavy demands on working memory and attentional control. In Experiment
3, the authors leverage knowledge about how specific types of pressure impact performance
to design interventions to eliminate choking. Finally, in Experiment 4, the selective effects of
monitoring-pressure are replicated in a different procedural-based task: the serial reaction
time task. Skill failure (and success) depends in part on how the performance environment
influences attention and the extent to which skill execution depends on explicit attentional
control.
Mesagno, C., Harvey, J, & Janelle, C. (2012|). Choking under pressure: The role of fear of
negative evaluation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13, 60-68
Objective: Conceptual models and predictors of choking under pressure (i.e., choking) have
been proposed, but the role of fear of negative evaluation remains largely unknown. The
purpose of the current study was to determine the degree to which fear of negative
evaluation (FNE) may predispose athletes to choking. Design and method: 138 experienced
basketball players participated in a pre-selection stage, which involved completing a set of
questionnaires that included the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation-II (BFNE-II) questionnaire.
Based on the scores from the BFNE-II, 34 athletes, categorized as either low- or high-FNE,
were selected to perform basketball shots from five different areas of the court under low-
and high-pressure phases. Shooting performance was evaluated based on the total number
of successful shots out of 50 attempts. Results: Results indicated that the high-FNE athletes
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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displayed a significant increase in anxiety and a significant decrease in performance from
low- to high-pressure phases. The low-FNE group exhibited only minimal changes in anxiety
throughout the study and was able to maintain performance under pressure. Further
mediation analysis investigating significant difference in performance between FNE groups
within the high-pressure phase indicated that that cognitive anxiety was a partial mediator
between FNE group and performance, but somatic anxiety was not. Conclusions: Findings
extend the existing choking literature by providing empirical support for the role of FNE in the
context of the self-presentation model of choking.
SECTION C AND D
Article 1
Purpose
This study assesses whether specific aspects of movement execution attract more attention
than others when movements are executed under pressure.
Research questions/ hypotheses
Hypotheses were based on focus theory of choking under pressure explains decreases in
performance of well-learned motor tasks with an increase in skill-focused attention.
Research design
Two dual task/focus conditions (related to different aspects of the movement) were
implemented in each pressure condition. This dual task paradigm was used as a direct and
detailed measure of skill focused attention, suitable to show specific pressure induced shifts
of attention that lead to performance decrements.
Sampling
Basketball free throws were executed by 22 junior national team members in a low and high
pressure situation.
Limitations
Pressure was induced by telling players that their performance would be evaluated by
coaches.
Results & Implications
Players were defined as chokers if their performance decreased under this pressure.
Chokers showed differences with regard to their attentional focus on movement execution in
the pressure conditions compared to the players defined as non-chokers.
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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Article 2
Purpose
The authors propose that aspects of the pressure situation itself can lead to distraction
and/or explicit monitoring, differentially harming skills that rely more or less on working
memory and attentional control.
Research questions/ hypotheses
The authors are basing the hypotheses on the fact that choking under pressure consist out
of more than the distraction theories proposing that choking occurs because attention
needed to perform the task at hand is coopted by task-irrelevant thoughts and worries.
Research design
The research design consisted out of 4 experiments. 1-2 Experiment
Sampling
The athletes where chosen and the experiments were conducted on them in order to prove
their hypotheses.
Limitations
The monitoring of athletes by others and also the additional pressure that were included in
the experiments let to some of the members choking under pressure.
Results & Implications
The selective effects of monitoring-pressure are replicated in a different procedural-based
task: the serial reaction time task. Skill failure (and success) depends in part on how the
performance environment influences attention and the extent to which skill execution
depends on explicit attentional control.
Article 3
Purpose
The purpose of the current study was to determine the degree to which fear of negative
evaluation (FNE) may predispose athletes to choking
Research questions/ hypotheses
Conceptual models and predictors of choking under pressure (i.e., choking) have been
proposed, but the role of fear of negative evaluation remains largely unknown.
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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Research design
Questionnaires based on the scores from the BFNE-II, 34 athletes, categorized as either
low- or high-FNE, were selected to perform basketball shots from five different areas of the
court under low- and high-pressure phases
Sampling
138 experienced basketball players participated in a pre-selection stage.
Limitations & implications
Based on the scores from the BFNE-II, 34 athletes, categorized as either low- or high-FNE,
were selected to perform basketball shots from five different areas of the court under low-
and high-pressure phases. Shooting performance was evaluated based on the total number
of successful shots out of 50 attempts
Results
Results indicated that the high-FNE athletes displayed a significant increase in anxiety and a
significant decrease in performance from low- to high-pressure phases. The low-FNE group
exhibited only minimal changes in anxiety throughout the study and was able to maintain
performance under pressure. Further mediation analysis investigating significant difference
in performance between FNE groups within the high-pressure phase indicated that that
cognitive anxiety was a partial mediator between FNE group and performance, but somatic
anxiety was not.
Report on articles
The findings in all three articles were that when pressure is being added there became a
decrease in the performance. It suggests that attentional shifts during choking can be related
to specific aspects of movement execution, the pressure situation itself can lead to
distraction and/or explicit monitoring, differentially harming skills that rely more or less on
working memory and attentional control. A significant increase in anxiety and a significant
decrease in performance from low- to high-pressure phases.
MAKIER T.K.N. 64014010, PYC 4812, ASSIGNMENT 01- UNIQUE # 605848
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schücker, L., Hagemann, N., & Strauss, B. (2013). Attentional Processes and Choking
under Pressure. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 116, 671-689
Mesagno, C., Harvey, J, & Janelle, C. (2012|). Choking under pressure: The role of fear of
negative evaluation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13, 60-68
DeCaro, M., Thomas, R.,.Albert, N, & Beilock, S.(2011). Choking under pressure: Multiple
routes to skill failure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140, 390-406
Gulam, A.,(2016). Role of Psychological factors in games and sports. International Journal of
Advance Education and Research, 1, 37-40
http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/about/about-applied-sport-and-exercise-psychology/
(accessed 17 April 2018)
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-sports-psychology-2794906 /
(accessed 17 April 2018)
