Lesson 18 Stress, Arousal, and Anxiety, Part 3

INVERTED U THEORY

States there is an optimal level of arousal for every behavior

Arousal levels above or below a certain point will lead to diminished performance

Different tasks have different optimal arousal levels

High arousal sports

*Football- blocking

*Weight lifting

*Sprinting

Lower arousal sports

*Golf

*Archery

*Divers

Individual differences- Optimal arousal is different from person to person

Optimum arousal level and complexity scores for a variety of typical sports skills

Level of arousal                              Complexity of score range                     Sports skills

5- Extremely excited                                    0-10                                 Football blocking

   Running 200 to  400        

meters                                                                                                     

4- Psyched up                                               11-16                                   Short sprints

                                                                                                                                Long Jump

3- Medium arousal                                         17-21                                   Basketball 

                                                                                                                       Boxing, Judo

2- Some arousal                                                22-31                                   Baseball, Fencing      

                                                                                                                           Tennis

1- Slight arousal                                           32+                                      Archery, Golf

                                                                                                                           Field goal kicking

Source:  Based on Oxendine, 1984 and Billings, 1980

MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANXIETY THEORY

Cognitive State Anxiety is always negatively related to performance

Somatic State Anxiety is related to performance in an inverted U relationship

* Dissipates as competition begins

REVERSAL THEORY

How arousal affects performance depends on the person’s interpretation of his or her arousal level

Predicts best performance comes from pleasant excitement rather than unpleasant anxiety

Interpretation of arousal can shift from moment to moment

REFERENCES

Billing, J. (1980) An overview of task complexity. Motor Skills: Theory Into Practice, 4 18-23.

Oxendine, J. B. (1984)  Psychology of motor learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Weinberg, R. and Gould, D. (1995). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 2ND ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Landers, D. & Arent, S. (2001). Arousal-Performance relationships. In: J. Williams (Ed.), Applied Sports Psychology. 4th ed. ( pp. 206-228). Mountain, View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.