Anxiety and Arousal

Trait and State Anxiety

Trait anxiety is a state where a person feels threatened and anxious prior to and while experiencing specific events and situations.
The disposition often involves sweating of palms and hyperventilation.
Events that trigger trait anxiety differs from person to person.
Performance can be affected if trait anxiety is concurrent and at an elevated level.
State anxiety is the development of temporary and heightened emotions in response to a fearful or dangerous situation.
Decreases performance sometimes. For example, owing to state anxiety, a soccer player can miss a penalty.
Dispositions are both mental and physical.

Sources of Stress

Stress is a state of mind that is triggered when things don’t go as we anticipated.
Adrenaline rush is the most common disposition of stress which are visceral to an individual and not generally perceived by another individual include: high blood pressure, intense breathing, increased sweating and tightening of muscles.
Common stress triggers include:
- Personal Pressure – A self imposed pressure from the desire of victory, proving one’s worth and to achieve lifelong goals.
- Competition Pressure – Pressure experienced in a competitive arena by opponents.
- Social Pressure – Extrinsic pressure triggered by peers including coaches and next of kins.
- Physical Pressure – Experienced during a competition from having to showcase/perform a skill acquired after training and practice.

Optimum Arousal

A kind of anxiety, often physiological rather than psychological which is experienced just before a performance.
Performance is efficient when the arousal is optimum.
Parameters that measure arousal include: heart rate, respiration rate, muscle tension, skin temperature and brain wave activity.
Consists of two hypothesis:
- The Inverted U Hypothesis
  - States that optimum performance is a result of balanced anxiety and arousal.
  - An arousal level too high or too low can lead to poor performance.
- The Drive Theory
  - States that performance is directly proportional to arousal.
  - Focuses on the idea that a higher arousal level triggers maximum performance.