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Individual differences - Coggle Diagram
Individual differences
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Attitude
- an attitude is a predisposition to respond positively or negatively towards an idea, object, person or situation
- sporting example:
- liking or disliking an activity like running, gymnastics or team games
Components of attitudes - Triadic model:
- Cognitive (beliefs) - what we know or think about something e.g. 'exercise is healthy'
- Affective (emotions) - how we feel e.g. 'I enjoy playing football'
- Behavioural (actions) - how we act e.g. joining a sports club
- if any of these parts change the attitude as a whole may shift
Motivation in sport
Intrinsic motivation
- motivation from within
- driven by enjoyment, pride, sense of achievement
- more long-lasting and effective for developing lifelong participation
- e.g. a swimmer trains daily because they love the feeling of gliding through water
Extrinsic motivation
- comes from external sources
- includes rewards, praise, money, trophies, approval
- can be useful short-term, but too much can reduce intrinsic motivation
- e.g. a footballer works hard in matches to win player of the season
Relationship between two
- extrinsic rewards can:
- enhance motivation if used sparingly + positivley
- undermine intrinsic motivation if overused
- the internal and external drive to take part in and persist with an activity
Arousal and performance
- Arousal: state of readiness - both physical + mental, it affects concentration, energy, and performance
- low arousal - sleepy, unfocused
- high arousal - energetic, but possibly anxious or panicky
Theories of Arousal
- Drive theory (Hull, 1942)
- as arousal increases, performance increases - but only if the skill is well-learned
- equation: performance = habit x drive
- limitation - too simplistic, doesn't explain drop in performance at high arousal
- Inverted U Theory
- as arousal increases, performance improves up to an optimal point
- beyond this, performance drops due to stress, anxiety, or overexcitement
- factors affecting 'optimal point':
- skill level: experts cope better with higher arousal
- task type: fine motor skills need lower arousal, gross motor can handle more
- personality: extroverts tolerate higher arousal, introverts do better with low arousal
- Catastrophe theory (Hardy, 1987):
- combines physical (somatic) and mental (cognitive) arousal
- if both get too high, performance doesn't just dip - it crashes suddenly
- after a catastrophe, performance may recover, but not to the same level unless arousal is controlled
- e.g. a footballer in cup final starts to panic + feels tense, they might suddenly make major errors + freeze
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