1. Arousal and Activation ESS2710 SPORT PSYCHOLOGY SEMINAR PRESENTATION 13-03-2013 Jie, Li-Juan Mason, Charlotte Reynolds, Karl

2. Case A footballer, who plays in goal, has not been playing well recently. He often feels he is not very “psyched-up” before matches, and feels that during matches he is slow to make decisions and react to situations.

3. Arousal ‘Arousal is a general physiological and psychological activation, varying on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement’ (Weinberg and Gould, 3rd edition)

4. Arousal • ‘..consists of neutral excitation on continuum ranging from a comatose state to a state of extreme excitement as might be manifested in a panic attack’(Malmo, 1959).

5. Multi-dimensional construct Lacey (1967)addressed a multi-dimensional construct for arousal and included 3 types of arousal to consider: 1)Electrocortical (brain) 2) Autonomic (nervous system) 3) Behavioural

6. What is optimal arousal? Oxedine (1970,1984) defined optimal levels of arousal were dependent upon the type of task and its complexity • Gross motor activities • Fine motor control • Above average arousal level

7. Activation • “… refers to a cognitive and physiological activity geared towards preparing a planned response to an anticipated situation” (Pribram & McGuinness, 1975)

8. Arousal and activation • Arousal and Activation have been differently defined in terms of their origin and their function. The former has been defined as the energetic state at a particular time; the latter, as the change in arousal from a resting state to the task situation.

9. Theories/Models • Drive Theory (Spence & Spence, 1966) • The Inverted-U Hypothesis (Landers and Arent, 2001) • Humphrey and Revelle, 1984 • Model of stress and human performance (Sanders, 1983)

10. Social facilitation theory , Zajonc, 1966 Oxadine, 1970, 1984 Cue utilization theory, Easterbrook, 1959 (Spence & Spence, 1966) (Landers and Arent, 2001)

13. Case A footballer, who plays in goal, has not been playing well recently. He often feels he is not very “psyched-up” before matches, and feels that during matches he is slow to make decisions and react to situations.

14. Interventions • BreathingBy employing breathing techniques you can increase activation by stimulating more adrenaline. • Energizing imageryVisualising past successes.Going through the steps of how to successfully perform a motor task. • Self-talkReinforcing positive cognitions, such as ‘You can do this’, and eliminating negative thoughts, such as ‘You’re rubbish’.(Latinjak, Torregrosa &Renom, 2010). • MusicListening to high tempo music before competition to increase activation levels.

16. Humphrey and Revelle, 1984 • Which aspects does he need to change? • Which intervention(s) would you use to help him? A footballer, who plays in goal, has not been playing well recently. He often feels he is not very “psyched-up” before matches, and feels that during matches he is slow to make decisions and react to situations.