Arousal

Behaviour in Sport

In this course, Dr Irfan Khawaja (Birmingham City University) explores behaviour in sport. In the first lecture, we think about arousal in sport. In the second lecture, we think about aggression, assertion and personality. Next, we think about personality types and how they are reflected in sports performances. In the fourth and final lecture, we think about managing anxiety and stress in sport performance.

Arousal

In this lecture, we think about arousal, focusing in particular on: (i) understanding arousal to mean the physical and mental state of readiness to perform; (ii) Hull’s drive theory of arousal, which states that increased levels of arousal correspond to increased performance; (iii) the inverted U theory, which states that performance increases with arousal to an optimal point, before beginning to drop off; (iv) the zone of optimal functioning, which refers to the point at which that specific level of arousal evokes the peak level of performance; (v) the recognition that the zone of optimal functioning is different for everyone and that one of the talents of a coach is to keep their athletes in that zone; (vi) selective attention in the zone of optimal functioning, which focuses the mind on the specific task(s) at hand; (vii) the use of selective attention when in ‘the zone’ to focus on cues to predict opponent moves or to prepare for performance; (viii) the fact that the zone of optimal functioning can differ by level of skill and experience with the sport; (ix) the cognitive phase of learning, wherein arousal can rise rapidly and the activity is largely unfamiliar; (x) the autonomous phase of learning, wherein movements become fluid and reliable, with some elements becoming automatic; (xi) the autonomous phase of learning, wherein movements become entirely automatic; (xii) the potential impacts of the crowd on athlete concentration.