Deck 5: Anxiety in Sport and Exercise

Question 1

Immediate prior to the final game in the Canada West CIS championship series, Coach Win asks his star volleyball player whether he is feeling ready to give a best performance. Assuming that the star player is feeling pre-competitive anxiety, what dimension of pre-competitive anxiety is Coach Win asking about?

A) social physique anxiety
B) intensity of symptoms
C) trait anxiety
D) frequency of cognitive intrusions
E) directional interpretation of symptoms

Answer 1

directional interpretation of symptoms

Question 2

What is the relationship between social physique anxiety and exercise behaviour?

A) There is no relationship between social physique anxiety and exercise behaviour.
B) Individual's high in social physique anxiety exercise more.
C) Individual's high in social physique anxiety exercise less.
D) Individual's high in social physique anxiety exercise more or less depending on self-presentation beliefs.
E) None of the above is true regarding the relationship between social physique anxiety and exercise behaviour.

Answer 2

Individual's high in social physique anxiety exercise more or less depending on self-presentation beliefs.

Question 3

A football player who holds positive beliefs about the group's ability to work together to achieve success would probably report having less precompetitive ________ anxiety compared to those whose beliefs are negative.

A) social physique
B) cognitive
C) somatic
D) state
E) trait

Answer 3

state

Question 4

Athletes who consistently experience high levels of worry and apprehension prior to sport competition also tend to have

A) lowered levels of enjoyment with sport.
B) increased susceptibility to athletic injury.
C) enhanced feelings of burnout.
D) increased dropout rates.
E) all of the above

Question 5

What is a blend of physiological and psychological activation within a person that varies in intensity on a continuum ranging from deep sleep to peak activation known as?

A) arousal
B) anxiety
C) state anxiety
D) cognitive anxiety
E) somatic anxiety

Question 6

Which one of the following statements is true regarding recent studies investigating state anxiety responses?

A) Exercising in the presence of others can increase state anxiety responses in men and women.
B) Exercising with women can increase state anxiety responses in men exercisers.
C) Exercising with others who are non-enthusiastic about exercise can increase state anxiety responses of women exercisers.
D) Exercising with others who interact with others can increase state anxiety responses of male and female exercisers.
E) All of the above statements are true.

Question 7

In sport and exercise research, which of the following gender differences have been reported?

A) Women report higher social physique anxiety than men.
B) Men report higher social physique anxiety than women.
C) Men experience more intense competitive anxiety symptoms than women.
D) Men report state anxiety to be more facilitative than women.
E) All of the above are true statements.

Question 8

A baseball player who was nervous moments earlier when a strike was called, but is now elated because she hit a double, is displaying which of the following?

A) trait anxiety
B) state anxiety
C) cognitive anxiety
D) somatic anxiety
E) social physique anxiety

Question 9

In general, a female collegiate exerciser who holds ________ beliefs in her ability to present oneself as an exerciser has ________ social physique anxiety.

A) weak, low
B) moderate, no
C) weak, high
D) strong, high
E) Self-presentational self-efficacy is not related to social physique anxiety among college women.

Question 10

Mary is a participant in a noon-hour fitness class at her University. She is a 2ⁿᵈ year undergraduate student and is characterized as fit and attractive. In which of the following conditions is Mary likely to experience elevated state anxiety in her exercise class?

A) when her instructor uses a bland teaching style
B) when her class consists of only women
C) when the instructor wears revealing clothing
D) when her class has the mirrors covered up
E) Mary is likely to experience elevated state anxiety in none of these class situations.

Question 11

Taylor plays golf for her high school team. There is a big tournament coming up next week, and she is very nervous about how she will do. She tells her teammates that she has not been feeling well this week, so she hasn't been able to practise as much as she would like to. She also reminded them that the course does not set up well for her game - so they shouldn't expect much from her. Which of the following is Taylor engaging in?

A) excuse-making
B) choking
C) catastrophizing
D) self-handicapping
E) confidence building

Question 12

Athletes use which of the following coping skills to manage anxiety symptoms?

A) relaxation
B) self-talk
C) cognitive restructuring
D) imagery
E) all of the above

Question 13

Which theory suggests that the ideal range of competitive state anxiety required for optimal performance from members of any sport team is likely to differ among the players?

A) Self-presentation theory
B) Multidimensional Anxiety theory
C) Zone of Optimal Functioning theory
D) Catastrophe theory
E) Self-determination theory

Question 14

What could a coach expect about her players' anxiety responses in the hours immediately prior to an important competitive event?

A) no change in the intensity of somatic anxiety symptoms
B) an increase in the frequency of cognitive intrusions
C) an increase in the perception that anxiety symptoms are facilitative for performance
D) a sharp increase in the intensity of cognitive anxiety symptoms
E) All of the above statements are true.

Question 15

Hanna, a university freshman, is about to go to her first exercise class. Hanna is concerned that she isn't wearing the right clothes and that everyone in the class will think that she is unfit and her body is unattractive. What would this phenomenon be described as?

A) social physique anxiety
B) state anxiety
C) somatic anxiety
D) trait anxiety
E) cognitive anxiety

Question 16

Which one of the following statements is true regarding experience and skill level differences in state anxiety responses?

A) More skilled athletes experience lower intensity pre-competitive anxiety symptoms than novice athletes.
B) More skilled athletes experience fewer cognitive intrusions compared to novice athletes.
C) More skilled athletes report anxiety symptoms to be more facilitative than less skilled athletes.
D) Skill level is unrelated to pre-competitive anxiety.
E) All of the above are true statements reported in the anxiety research.

Question 17

Which theory suggests that a hockey player's ideal competitive state anxiety is unique and is dependent upon the player, not the type of sport or sport skills that the athlete is to perform?

A) Self-presentation theory
B) Multidimensional Anxiety theory
C) Zone of Optimal Functioning theory
D) Catastrophe theory
E) Theory of planned behaviour

Question 18

According to the idea that anxiety involves a transaction between the person and the environment, which two factors influence the level of anxiety experienced?

A) demands of the environment and personality characteristics
B) the individual's resources and demands of the environment
C) state anxiety and trait anxiety
D) number of cognitive intrusions and personality characteristics
E) self-confidence and task difficulty

Question 19

Which dimension of anxiety is assessed by a questionnaire item that asks the exercise participant to rate "how much" the person is experiencing an anxiety symptom?

A) state anxiety
B) frequency of cognitive intrusions
C) intensity of symptoms
D) trait anxiety
E) directional interpretation of symptoms

Question 20

According to which theory of arousal does an increase in anxiety lead to improvements in performance, but only up to a point, after which further increases in anxiety will lead to performance decrements?

A) Drive theory
B) Inverted-U hypothesis
C) Zone of Optimal Functioning theory
D) Catastrophe theory
E) none of the above

Question 21

Competitive experience is a more sensitive indicator than age or skill level to determine differences in athletes experience of anxiety.

Question 22

Research evidence has shown that social physique anxiety can be associated with both greater exercise behaviour and less exercise behaviour.

Question 23

Because sport performance is a complex behaviour, the relationship between anxiety and sport performance should be also be complex.

Question 24

Most of the sport and exercise research investigating anxiety has exclusively examined the frequency of the cognitive intrusion dimension of anxiety.

Question 25

When an athlete is experiencing an increase in state anxiety and is consequently unable to attend to and process information, he or she would be categorized as having a problem with ________.

A) hyperdistraction
B) motor performance
C) cognitive information processing
D) attention focus and selectivity
E) identifying task-relevant cues

Question 26

What is the state to describe an athlete's attentional focus that occurs during when she shifts to a conscious, controlled processing system?

A) over-aroused
B) paralysis-by-analysis
C) narrowing of attention
D) identifying task-relevant cues
E) cognitive information processing

Question 27

Catastrophe theory examines the interaction of which three constructs?

A) somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety, and performance
B) somatic anxiety, physiological arousal, and skill level
C) physiological arousal, cognitive anxiety, and performance
D) somatic anxiety, physiological arousal, and cognitive anxiety
E) physiological arousal, cognitive anxiety, and sport type

Question 28

Choking occurs when

A) an athlete is unable to create plans of action.
B) an athlete is unable to engage in accurate decision making processes.
C) an athlete is in unable to execute the plan of action he or she has made.
D) an athlete does not care about the outcome of the event.
E) the athlete does not have an adequate skill level to perform.

Question 29

A common error among figure skaters during high-pressure competition is to mis-time the takeoff of a jump. This error, which is associated with increased arousal, is likely due to

A) the narrowing of attention.
B) difficulties in coordination of a movement.
C) attending to threatening task-irrelevant cues.
D) changes in cognitive information processing.
E) increases in muscular tension.

Question 30

Anxiety is a negative emotion and therefore, negatively impacts performance.

Question 31

Jordan is the quarterback on his football team. The fourth quarter of the game is just starting, and he is experiencing a great deal of anxiety - they are down by 7 points and they have to win this game to secure a place in the play-offs. He gets off to a bad start - he can't seem to find his receivers down the field - instead he is focused on the defensive linemen - they seem extremely large and strong. Which of the following attentional problems seems to be occurring?

A) Jordan has an inability to process adequate information.
B) Jordan is attending to cues based on their threat.
C) Jordan is attending to cues based on their task-relevance.
D) Jordan cannot develop adequate plans for execution.
E) All of the above are true statements.

Question 32

Which of the following factors would increase the risk of an athlete choking?

A) high self-confidence
B) presence of an audience
C) dangerous environmental conditions
D) being female
E) being a novice athlete

Question 33

Physical activity can be a coping strategy to manage social physique anxiety symptoms.

Question 34

Anxiety results when people believe that the task demands are greater than the resources that they have.

Question 35

Physiological mechanisms of the anxiety-sport performance relationship suggest

A) increased muscle tension associated with high anxiety may lead to decrements in fine motor tasks like golf putting.
B) increased anxiety may lead to impaired coordination of movement.
C) increased anxiety may increase power, which can enhance more gross motor movements, such as jumping.
D) high levels of anxiety may increase the likelihood of injury.
E) All of the above are true statements.

Question 36

Anxiety disruptions to performance may be either cognitive or physiological in nature.

Question 37

Joseph, who has the best free-throw percentage on the team, is fouled with 2 seconds to go in regulation time with the score tied in the conference final. Joseph is visibly nervous as he wipes his hands on his jersey walking to the foul line. Joseph misses both shots and the team must continue playing in the overtime period. What can explain Joseph's poor performance?

A) Joseph shifted his attention to a conscious, controlled processing system.
B) Joseph attended to threatening task-irrelevant cues.
C) Joseph experienced increased muscular tension.
D) Joseph experienced difficulties in coordinating his movements.
E) All of the above can explain Joseph's poor performance.

Question 38

The catastrophe theory makes which of the following predictions?

A) When cognitive state anxiety is low, the relationship between physiological arousal and performance is uniform or in an inverted-U shape.
B) When physiological arousal is low, elevations in cognitive state anxiety are associated with enhanced performance relative to baseline.
C) When physiological arousal is high, elevations in cognitive state anxiety are associated with declines in performance.
D) When cognitive state anxiety is high, elevations in cognitive state anxiety can be positive or negative for performance.
E) all of the above

Question 39

Social physique anxiety is more likely to be higher among exercising women than exercising men.

Question 40

Unidimensional theories of arousal and anxiety, such as the Drive Theory and Inverted-U Theory, do a good job of describing how cognitive anxiety affects performance.

Question 41

Identify three common myths about anxiety in sport and physical activity and provide a key fact that disputes each one.

Question 42

Describe two major limitations to drive theory and the inverted-U hypothesis with respect to understanding the anxiety-sport performance relationship.

Question 43

Describe the temporal patterning of the intensity of both cognitive and somatic anxiety in competitive settings.

Question 44

Differentiate between the terms anxiety and arousal, state and trait anxiety, and cognitive and somatic anxiety.

Question 45

Choking may occur due to changes in attention or increases in self-focus.

Question 46

List the five predictions the catastrophe theory makes about the combined influences of cognitive state anxiety and physiological arousal on athletic performance.

Question 47

Explain how social physique anxiety is related to exercise behaviour.

Question 48

Explain how anxiety affects sport performance according to the zone of optimal functioning theory.

Question 49

Increasing one's conscious control of movement should lead to improvements in performance.

Question 50

List and briefly explain three dimensions of an anxiety response.

Question 51

Identify five categories of personal sources of anxiety.

Question 52

List and briefly explain two environmental and two person-based sources of anxiety in exercise settings.