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Sports psychology

Physical Education

Useful for: OSSC RHT — Regular High School Teacher, OSSC Physical Education Instructor, OSSSC Govt Physical Education Teacher (PET), SSB PET

Overview

Sports psychology studies how mental factors affect performance and how athletes can manage motivation, arousal and anxiety.

Key points

  • The Yerkes–Dodson law describes an inverted-U relation between arousal and performance.
  • State anxiety is temporary; trait anxiety is a stable tendency.
  • Goal setting works best with specific, challenging, achievable goals.
  • Imagery (mental rehearsal) improves skill performance.
  • Intrinsic motivation sustains long-term participation.
  • Team cohesion improves cooperation and results.

Explanation

  • Too little or too much arousal harms performance.
  • Self-talk can build confidence.
  • Routines reduce pre-competition anxiety.
  • Feedback should be positive and specific.
  • Burnout follows excessive pressure and training.

Step by step

  1. Identify the concept, method or fact asked.
  2. Recall the definition, thinker, year or rule.
  3. Apply it and eliminate extreme or mismatched options.

Examples

  • A nervous sprinter false-starts → over-arousal.
  • A shooter visualises each shot before competing → imagery.
  • A team plays better after bonding activities → cohesion.

Traps and advanced points

  • Trap: Assuming more arousal is always better.
  • Trap: Mixing state and trait anxiety.
  • Trap: Vague goals.

Quick revision

  • Inverted-U (Yerkes–Dodson).
  • State vs trait anxiety.
  • Goal setting, imagery.

Practice MCQs

  1. The inverted-U hypothesis links arousal with —

    1. height
    2. performance
    3. diet
    4. age

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    Answer: (b) performance. Performance is best at a moderate level of arousal.

  2. In SMART goal setting, "S" stands for —

    1. simple
    2. specific
    3. strong
    4. short

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    Answer: (b) specific. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

  3. The inverted-U relation between arousal and performance is the —

    1. Hooke’s law
    2. Ohm’s law
    3. Yerkes–Dodson law
    4. law of effect

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    Answer: (c) Yerkes–Dodson law. Moderate arousal is best.

  4. Temporary anxiety before a match is —

    1. depression
    2. trait anxiety
    3. state anxiety
    4. phobia

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    Answer: (c) state anxiety. State anxiety is situation-specific.

  5. A stable tendency to feel anxious is —

    1. trait anxiety
    2. arousal
    3. cohesion
    4. state anxiety

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    Answer: (a) trait anxiety. Trait anxiety.

  6. Mental rehearsal of a skill is called —

    1. arousal
    2. burnout
    3. imagery
    4. cohesion

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    Answer: (c) imagery. Imagery improves performance.

  7. Effective sports goals are —

    1. impossible
    2. set by others only
    3. vague
    4. specific, challenging and achievable

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    Answer: (d) specific, challenging and achievable. Good goal setting.

  8. A sprinter false-starting from nervousness shows —

    1. cohesion
    2. imagery
    3. under-arousal
    4. over-arousal

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    Answer: (d) over-arousal. Too much arousal.

  9. Long-term participation is best sustained by —

    1. intrinsic motivation
    2. punishment
    3. fear
    4. only prizes

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    Answer: (a) intrinsic motivation. Enjoyment and interest.

  10. Team bonding activities mainly improve —

    1. fatigue
    2. team cohesion
    3. state anxiety
    4. injuries

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    Answer: (b) team cohesion. Cohesion aids cooperation.

More topics in this chapter

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