Advanced psychological strategies and competitive anxiety responses in sport
This study examined the use of four advanced psychological strategies (i.e., simulation training, cognitive restructuring, preperformance routines, and overlearning of skills) and subsequent competitive anxiety responses. Semistructured interviews were employed with eight highly elite athletes from a number of team and individual sports. Participants reported using each strategy to enable them to interpret their anxiety-response as facilitative to performance. Only cognitive restructuring and overlearning of skills were perceived by the participants to exert an influence over the intensity of cognitive symptoms experienced. The perceived causal mechanisms responsible for these effects included heightened attentional focus, increased effort and motivation, and perceived control over anxiety-related symptoms. These findings have implications for the practice of sport psychology with athletes debilitated by competitive anxiety in stressful situations.
History
Published in
The Sport PsychologistPublisher
Human KineticsPublication Year
2008Version
- VoR (Version of Record)
Citation
Hanton, S., Wadey, R. and Mellalieu, S.D. (2008) 'Advanced psychological strategies and competitive anxiety responses in sport', The Sport Psychologist, 22 (4), pp. 472-490Print ISSN
0888-4781Cardiff Met Affiliation
- Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences
Cardiff Met Authors
Sheldon Hanton Stephen MellalieuCardiff Met Research Centre/Group
- Mental Health and Wellbeing in Demanding Environments
Copyright Holder
- © The Publisher
Publisher Rights Statement
Publisher's PDF made available in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy [as at May 2013]Language
- en