Mrs Donald-

Arousal In sport.
 Introduction.

An example of how physiological elements can effect how well you perform, is
arousal in sport can be seen as‘’ the intensity of the drive that is experienced by an
athlete when trying to achieve a goal.’’ Sport- John Honeybourne 2003.
Arousal can affect a sporting performance in many different ways as it can be seen
as‘’ the state of mental and physical preparedness for action.’’ Playing a major role in
how we think and act before and during performance. It regulates consciousness,
attention, and helps with information processing, and so is crucial for motivating
certain behaviors, such as mobility, the pursuit of nutrition and the fight-or-
flight response. (Known as an athletes emotion, determining response to a stressor) It
is also very important in emotion, determining how we think and then act…our
emotions are a deep understanding of our sate of thoughts, varying from either
positive or negative, confident, relaxed or bringing about a state or worry and/or fear.
Each emotion effects how we perform as it determines our mind frame and readies us
towards our performance.

There are 3 main theories associated with Arousal through a sporting performance;
these theories refer to the explanation of behavior that has been tested and studied to
come to a conclusion and method/guide that we can use to help explain performance.

1.Inverted 'U' Hypothesis

This theory was established by Yerkes and Dodson (1908)

At low levels of arousal, performance will be below par as the athlete is not psyched
up. As arousal increases so does performance, up to an optimal point. After this point,
further increases in arousal lead to declines in performance. Optimal arousal is higher
for more simple tasks and lower for more complex taskIf the task is complex,
requiring fine motor skill, the optimal level of arousal is low. If the task is relatively
simple, requiring gross motor skill, the optimal level of arousal will be high.
There are a number of different factors which can affect the optimal level of
performance with different sporting activities, personalities and environments. Below
is an exploration of these;

Types of activities
If the activity to be performed involves many fine controlled movements then arousal
of the performer needs to be fairly low for optimum performance. Pistol shouters and
archers for example need to control their emotional arousal levels. If the activity is
much intense such as weightlifting arousal levels needs to be fairly high.

Skill levels
If a performer is highly skilled, their actions tend to need a lot less conscious attention
and though, meaning they can cope with higher levels of arousal.
A performer who is low in skill levels will need to attend and focus on more details
and movements, constantly needing to process information meaning distractions are
more likely to disturb them, even moderate levels of arousal throw them off balance
and so for them a low level of arousal will produce an optimal performance.

Personality
Personalities who hold the characteristics of extroverted behaviour (enjoy pressure
and high levels of excitements) generally tend to cope in a high-arousal situation.
People who are more reserved and introverted are more likely to perform better under
low levels of arousal.

Strengths

• The theory allows athletes to understand where their peak in performance

should be, and helps to set goals to achieve it.

Weaknesses

This theory is among the most popular with sports psychologists, however its
simplicity does lead to its drawbacks;

• Critics question if optimal arousal always occurs at the mid-point of the curve.
Some athletes could hit there optimal peak state at varying different intervals
and so the theory is not always seen as being 100% reliable. If an athlete
experiences confidence problems and frustration when starting to loose in a
sporting environment, performance can decrease significantly at different
times through out the game.
 • One curve does not explain the different optimal levels of arousal needed for
simple and complex tasks.

2. Drive Theory.(1943) and Spence and Spence (1966).

This demonstrates that the more a sports person was aroused the better their
performance would be, hence creating this smooth linear relationship between arousal
and performance. Hull saw that performance depends on how a dominant learned
response is intensified. Learned behavior, according to hull, is more likely to occur as
the intensity of the competition increases, Spence and Spence (1968) adaptted Hulls
theory and the formula used to explain the theory is

P = f(H x D)

Where P represents performance, F the function H the habit and D the drive. If the
dominant learned response is correct then the performance will be enhanced, the
dominant response for a beginner however may be incorrect action meaning a
possible decrease in performance, Drive can be reduced if the individual looses
motivation.

Weaknesses

• Its validity has often been questioned, as it states a continuous increase in

performance discarding the fact that after a certain point arousal can
negatively affect performance.
• This theory also explains that novices to a sport often do not perform well
under pressure resulting in a skill level decrease.
• Experienced athletes tend to perform better under pressure due to their
superior skills and the use of stress management techniques

3. Catastrophe Theory Hardy & Fazey’s (1988).

Originated by the French mathematician. Rene Thom in the 1960s.
This picture below shows how the theory works when in a sporting point of view.

‘’Sport psychologists have applied the theory to the development of stress in athletes
during competition. Such stress results from a complex interaction between
physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety. When athletes are subjected to a small
increase in stress above a critical level, they may experience a huge and sudden loss
of performance.’’ http://sports./catastrophe-theory.html
This shows that if a sports person goes over a certain point of arousal their
performance will slip therefore having a negative affect, this theory goes against the
Drive theory as it argues too much arousal can decrease levels of performance. An
example of being sometimes over aroused in a sporting environment would be the
New Zealand haka, in past events the team have become so over aroused that its lead
to a result of violence with the opposition, this could then have an extremely negative
game playing defect as both teams aren’t focused on the rugby but instead on violence
leading to foul play. ‘’In 1997, Richard Cockerill was disciplined for responding to
the haka before the start of an England vs. All Blacks game. Cockerill went toe-to-toe
with his opposite number Norm Hewitt while they performed the haka. The referee
became so concerned that Hewitt and Cockerill would begin fighting that he pushed
Cockerill away from Hewitt.’’
(www.wikipedia.org)

Weaknesses
 • They’re work has been regarded by some as questionable methodology, there
were a number of differing conclusions by researchers as to the specific effect
that somatic and cognitive anxiety had upon performance. This lack of
concordance between researchers was considered the greatest shortcoming
within the theory.
• Some doubt has been raised as to the full efficacy of Hardy & Fazey's (1988)
model as a faithful account of the effect high cognitive anxiety has upon
performance. Many Researchers were unable to offer complete support to
Hardy & Fazey's prediction that performance should be high when cognitive
anxiety is high and physiological arousal is low.
• The model also fails to explain how the effects of cognitive anxiety and
physiological arousal on performance occur.
• The majority of the research has been conducted by the same small number of
behavioural scientists, and therefore adds to the questionable validity of the
model and its role in sport and exercise psychology.

Strengths

• Despite its shortcomings, Hardy & Fazey's (1987) approach has been regarded
by many as a plausible 'up to date' alternative to the outmoded
multidimensional theory.

Olivia McCarthy 12PDL