Module 5: Effects of Psychological Factors

Fitness testing and training

1. Psychological Factors
2. Motivation
   1. Types of motivation
3. Motivation Activity
4. Arousal and Anxiety
   1. Effects on sports performance
5. Personality
   1. Type A and Type B personality types
6. Concentration
7. Summary of Psychological Factors Effects on Exercise
   1. Short-term effects
   2. Long-term effects

Arousal and Anxiety

Arousal and anxiety are terms related to stress. Arousal is seen as being a positive aspect of stress and shows how motivated we are by a situation. The more arouse we become, the more interested in and excited we are by a situation.

We can see this when we watch a football match involving a team we are supporting: we are so aroused that we are engrossed in the action to the point where we do not hear noises around us and time seems to go very quickly. During a match that does not arouse us to the same extent; we find that our attention drifts in and out as we are distracted by things happening around us.

We can look at levels of arousal on a continuum that shows the varying degrees of arousal:

[D]

As arousal levels increase, they can affect a performer's attention span. It a performer has a broad attention span they are able to pick up information from a wide field of vision. The more narrow the attention span becomes, then the less information the performer will pick up and more they will miss. The attention span can also be too broad and the performer may try to pick up too much information.

Anxiety

Athletes' can all feel anxious at some point due to their desire to win and perform to their best. Anxiety can be seen as a negative aspect of stress; it may accompany high levels of arousal. It is not pleasant to be anxious and anxiety is characterised by feelings of nervousness and worry. Again, the stress and anxiety responses are unique to each individual.

Trait and State Anxiety

Trait anxiety means that a person generally experiences high levels of anxiety as part of their personality; they tend to worry and feel nervous in a range of situations and find them threatening.

State anxiety is anxiety felt in response to a specific situation; it is anxiety related to a specific mood state. Usually a person who has high trait anxiety will also experience higher levels of state anxiety. This is important for athletes because levels of trait anxiety will determine their state anxiety in competition and as a result their performance.