Sport Psychology

Front 1

1.What is behaviour, generally and technically? Describe three sport examplesthat are not in this chapter.

Back 1

In general behaviour is anything a personsays or does. Technically, behaviour is nay muscular, glandular, or electricalactivity of an organism. Example 1: A sprinter digs deep and sprints to thefinish line as fast as he can. Example 2: A swimmer takes a deep breath beforeputting their head under water to swim a long distance. Example 3: A baseballplayer throws a stick of gum into their mouth as they make their way up to bat.

Front 2

2.What are three synonyms for behaviour?

Back 2

Performance, reaction, response, activity

Front 3

4.How do many people use general terms such as intelligence, attitude andpersonality? Illustrate with an example.

Back 3

Many people use quite general terms fromtraditional psychology, such as intelligence, attitudes, motivation andpersonality as though they refer to causes of behaviour. For example if someonewere to say, “if Tom were more motivated, he would actually be able to achievegreat success.”

Front 4

5. What is a behavioural perspective ofsuch traditional psychological terms as intelligence, attitude, andpersonality? Illustrate a behavioural interpretation of one of the terms withreference to an example.

Back 4

From a behavioural perspective these termsare viewed as summary labels for behaviour, not as some “thing” within us thatcauses behaviour. For example, the concept of attitude. Suppose that Jack’scoach, Ms. Johnson, reports that Jack has a bad attitude at little league.Whether its because he shows up late, or talks during explanations of drills,the term “bad attitude” is at best a summary label for these actions, it is notan explanation for why Jack commits these actions.

Front 5

11. What is behavioural sport psychology?

Back 5

Behavioural sport psychology involves theuse of behaviour analysis principles and techniques to enhance the performanceand satisfaction of athletes and others associated with sports.

Front 6

14. What are three synonyms for stimuluswhen a stimulus precedes and influences behaviour?

Back 6

A cue, signal, or prompt

Front 7

16. According to many psychologists, whatdoes the word “cognition” mean?

Back 7

As used by may psychologists, the wordcognition means “belief,” “thought,” “expectancy,” and “attitude.”

Front 8

18. What assumptions does the author makeconcerning cognitions?

Back 8

Cognitions are assumed to be covertbehaviours, and it is assumed that the behavioural principles and techniquesthat apply to overt behaviours are also applicable to covert behaviours.

Front 9

20. List three reasons that behaviouralsport psychology researchers commonly use single-subject research designs.

Back 9

Hrycaiko & Martin & Virues-Ortega& Martin have summarized several characteristics of single-subject designsthat make them useful for evaluating interventions in sport settings. Thosecharacteristics include (A) they require assessment of individual athleticperformance across several practices and/or competitions, which is very usefulinformation for such athletes and coaches; (B) athletes and coaches commonlyaccept such research designs because few participants and needed, and sooner orlater all participants experience the intervention (i.e. there are no controlgroups); (C) rather than use personality questionnaires, they require assessmentsof athletic behaviours (e.g. the shooting technique used by a basketballplayer), or outcomes of such behaviours (e.g. the free-throw scoring percentageof a basketball player).

Front 10

22. What three questions does socialvalidity address?

Back 10

Social validation in applied sportpsychology requires that the practitioner constantly seek answers to threequestions. These questions are, 1. What do athletes (and perhaps the coach andparents) think about the goals of intervention? 2. What do they think about the procedures suggestedby the consultant? 3. What do they think about the results produced by thoseprocedures?

Front 11

2. Define behavioural assessment.

Back 11

Behavioural assessment is concerned withidentifying and describing a target behaviour, identifying possible causes ofthe behaviour, selecting an appropriate treatment strategy to modify thebehaviour, and evaluating treatment outcome.

Front 12

5. Describe four misconceptions that manypeople have about sport psychology. Explain why each is a misconception.

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1. “To do well in competitions,you have to get yourself really psyched up.” Usually, such a statement impliesthat athletes have to learn to increase their physiological arousal and to showthe sorts of behaviours that are likely to be described as “pumped up.” Whilethis may be true for some individuals, it is certainly not true for all. For example, while a swimmer may need acertain level of arousal, they also need to maintain a certain degree ofrelaxation. Behavioural assessments might demonstrate that some people aresimply too “laid back” in sporting situations and their performance might beimproved by increasing their physiological arousal. Other individuals, however,might show an improvement by learning how to relax before important sportingevents.

2. “Sport psychology alone canmake one a super athlete.” Some athletes believe that if they attend everysport psychology program session that they could then begin to skip practicesbut still progress substantially as a “super athlete”. Athletes need tounderstand that exceptional athletic performance requires preparation in fourmain areas, which are physical, technical, tactical and psychological. To be a“super athlete,” one needs extensive preparation in all four of these areas,not simply one.

3. “Sport psychologists onlyconsult with athletes at competitions.” It is certainly true that, of all ofthe services provided by sport psychologists, helping athletes with theirmental preparation at competitions gets most of the popular press. However,sport psychology interventions can enhance athletic performance in all fourareas of physical, technical, tactical, and psychological preparation. Athletes,coaches, and others associated with sports need to understand thatpsychological strategies can help them to improve performance in all aspects ofpractices and competitions.

4. “To get really good at mentalpreparation, all you have to do is talk to a sport psychologist.” Athletes needto appreciate that mental skills are like physical skills-they are behavioursthat occur in certain settings, and to be good at them they must be learned andpracticed. Athletes need to understand that they cant get good at mentalpreparation just by listening to a sport psychologist, rather, they have topractice the mental skills themselves over and over.

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6. Describe the four main areas of athleticpreparation. For each area, list a relevant item for the Sport PsychologyQuestionnaire for Basketball Players.

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Physical- they must be in excellent physical condition. Staying energized indifficult situations?

Technical- their technical skills must be correct, highly practiced, andsecond nature to them. Working more on skill deficiencies?

Tactical- they must have a game plan for dealing with certain opponents,running certain races, skiing certain courses, etc. Communicating tacticallywith teammates?

Psychological- this refers generally to mental preparation. Managing troublesomeemotions?

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12. What are the four possible causes ofslumps identified by Taylor? Briefly describe a specific sport example of each.

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First, some slumps may have a physicalcause. For example, a soccer player may have unknowingly stretched a ligamentto far, straining it, thus causing the athlete not to be able to run as fast asusual.

Second, slumps may be the result of somesight change in the athlete’s technique. For example, a baseball pitcher maynot have realized that overtime he has begun to squint his left eye beforethrowing a ball, thus causing him to have a distorted aim.

Third, slumps might be caused by slightchanges in equipment used in a particular sport. For example, a hockey playerhas been unable to keep control of the puck as good as they were once able to.It turns out that the hockey player recently got a new stick, and the grip theyare able to get on the new stick is not as strong as the one they had with theold stick.

Fourth, if an athlete in a slump comes toyou for help, and if you can rule out physical, technical, and equipment causesof the slump, then a sport-specific behavioural checklist might be appropriateto determine if a slump is due to inadequate mental preparation. For example,has the athlete recently been thinking self-doubting thoughts before games thusimpairing performance.

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13. List six objective dimensions fordescribing behaviour.

Back 15

When specifically describing behaviour,there are six objective dimensions or characteristics to consider: topography(or form), frequency (or rate), duration, intensity (or force), stimuluscontrol, and latency (reaction time).

Front 16

15. What are two reasons for being specificin the identification of target behaviours?

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By being specific in the identification oftarget behaviours, you: (a) help to ensure the reliability of detectingimprovements in the behaviour (the yardstick by which one judges theeffectiveness of a treatment program_; and (b) increase the likelihood thatyour treatment program will be applied consistently.

Front 17

17. Name and describe the three minimalphases of a behavioural treatment program.

Back 17

A successful behavioural treatment programtypically involves at least three phases during which behaviour is recorded: abaseline phase, a treatment phase, and a follow-up phase.

Front 18

18. What is a baseline? Briefly describebaseline conditions in Coach Keedwell’s program with swimmers.

Back 18

The baseline phase is where the targetbehaviour is initially assessed in order to determine its level prior to theintroduction of the intervention. Clayton and Coach Keedwell obtained abaseline of the number of missed turns and unscheduled stops of the swimmers.Ideally, you and/or the athlete will have the luxury of monitoring the targetbehaviour across several practices and/or competitions.

Front 19

1. Defineunconditioned reflex. Give 2 example of an unconditioned reflex.

Back 19

Unlearned (or unconditioned) reflexesinvolve stimuli and responses. An unconditioned reflex is a stimulus-responsesequence in which a stimulus elicits a response without prior learning orconditioning. For instance you wake up in the morning, open the curtains, andlook out on a bright day- and your pupils constrict. Such a reflex is inborn orunconditioned. Example: food elicits salvation, inhaling pepper elicitssneezing, etc.

Front 20

3. Define conditionedreflex, and describe the example of a conditioned reflex illustrated in thecase of Susan, the figure skater at the beginning of chapter 3.

Back 20

A conditioned reflex is a stimulus-responsesequence in which a stimulus elicits a response because the stimulus was pairedwith a different stimulus that elicited that response. Approaching the blockand falling.

Front 21

4. What are two othernames for respondent conditioning?

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Reflexive learning, classical, Pavlovian,or respondent conditioning.

Front 22

5. State theprocedure and result of respondent conditioning.

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The principle of respondent conditioningincludes the procedure of pairing a neutral stimulus (NS) with an unconditionedstimulus (US) which elicits an unconditioned response (UR), and the result thatthe NS becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS), that elicits and conditionedresponse (CR).

Front 23

7. Describe thedetails of how Susan, the figure skater, was helped to overcome her fear ofattempting the double axel jump in chap 3.

Back 23

This was established through the use ofcounterconditioning. At the next practice, when Susan was getting ready topractice her double axel, the sport psychologist called her over and asked herto practice a deep breathing exercise for several breaths, each time tellingherself to “r-e-l-a-x” while exhaling. Susan was then prompted to skate around andapproach the take off position for the double axel, and just before, to do adeep breath and tell herself to “r-e-l-a-x” on the exhale, but not to attemptthe jump. Susan did that 5 times in succession, which established approachingthe take off position as a CS for the CR of feeling relaxed. Because feelingrelaxed is incompatible with feeling fear, approaching the take off positionfor the double axel lost the ability to elicit the CR of fear. (At least to thedegree that it had done so prior to the counterconditioning procedure).

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9. In respondentconditioning, was does each of the following stand for: NS, US, UR, CS, and CR?

Back 24

NS- Neutral StimulusUS- Unconditioned StimulusUR- Unconditioned ResponseCS- Conditioned StimulusCR- Conditioned Response

Front 25

10. In a sentence eachbriefly state five variables that influence the development of a conditionedreflex.

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First, “the greater the number of pairingsof a CS with a US, the greater the ability of the CS to elicit the CR, untilthe maximum strength of the conditioned reflex has been reached.” For example,a player who has been hit by the pitch of a particular pitcher several times,the amount of fear they feel when facing that pitcher is greater. Second, “stronger conditioning occurs ifthe CS precedes the US by just a second, rather than by a longer time, orrather than by following the US.” Conditioning in the latter case is difficultto attain. Example: if a child sees a clay pigeon propelled into the air, andthen is immediately scared by the loud sound of the shotgun, the sight of theclay pigeon is likely to become a CS for fear as a CR. On the other hand, ifthe child heard the blast of the shotgun, and a few seconds later saw a claypigeon realized into the air, the fear caused by the noise of the gun would beless likely to be transferred to the sight of the clay pigeon. Third, “ a CS acquires greater ability toelicit a CR if the CS is always paired with a given US, than if it is onlyoccasionally paired with the US.” Example: a gymnast who spends 2 minutes eachday practicing a breathing technique (deep center breathing) that elicitsrelaxation. Lets suppose that each time the gymnast exhales while deep centerbreathing, she repeats the word “e-a-s-y” slowly to herself. After severaldays, simply reciting the word “e-a-s-y” will elicit the feelings of relaxationnormally elicited by deep center breathing. On the other hand, if the gymnastif the gymnast had said, “e-a-s-y” on some instances of deep breathing, but noton others, then saying “e-a-s-y” would be a weaker CS for relaxation. Fourth, “when several neutral stimuliprecede a US, the stimulus that is most consistently associated with the US isthe one most likely to become a strong CS.” Suppose that the gymnast in theabove example consistently pairs the word easy with each exhalation during deepcenter breathing. On some occasions, when doing her breathing exercises, shealso clasps her hands together. Reciting the word, “easy” will become astronger CS for relaxation than clasping hands because clasping hands is lessconsistently paired with deep center breathing. Fifth, “respondent conditioning willdevelop more quickly and strongly when the CS or US or both are intense, ratherthan weak.” In the example given previously involving the child at the skeetshooting competition, the child will acquire a stronger fear of the clay pigeonif the clay pigeon is painted bright colors and the shotgun blast isexceptionally loud, than if the clay pigeon was a bland color and the shotgunblast was muffled.

Front 26

13. Describe theprocedure and result of positive reinforcement.

Back 26

A stimulus, the presentation of whichimmediately after a behaviour that causes the behaviour to increase, is acalled a positive reinforcer. The term positive reinforcer is roughlysynonymous with the word reward. Application of a positive reinforcer tostrengthen a behaviour is called positive reinforcement. More specifically, theprinciple of positive reinforcement includes a procedure, the presentation of areinforcer immediately after a behaviour, and an effect or result, thebehaviour is strengthed.

Front 27

15. Defineconditioned reinforcer Describe two sport examples of conditioned reinforcersthat are not in this chapter.

Back 27

A stimulus that was not originallyreinforcing can acquire reinforcing value through appropriate pairings withother reinforcers. Stimuli that acquire reinforcing value are calledconditioned reinforcers (or secondary or learned reinforcers). An example ispraise.

Front 28

16. Distinguishbetween a natural reinforcer and a deliberately-programmed reinforcer.Illustrate each with a sport example this is not in this chapter.

Back 28

Reinforcers that immediately followbehaviour in the normal course of everyday living are called naturalreinforcers, and the settings in which they occur and called the naturalenvironment. When reinforcers are deliberately manipulated in order to change behaviour,then the reinforcers are referred to as arbitrary, contrived, or deliberately-programmed reinforcers.

Front 29

18. What are twodifferences between the effects of continuous versus intermittentreinforcement?

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1) Individuals are likely to workmuch more consistently on certain intermittent schedules of reinforcement thanon continuous reinforcement.

2) A behaviour that has beenreinforced intermittently is likely to take much longer to extinguish than abehaviour that has been reinforced continuously.

Front 30

19. Definefixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement, and give a sport example that is not inthis chapter.

Back 30

One type of intermittent reinforcement iscalled fixed ratio reinforcement: reinforcement occurs after a fixed number ofa certain response is emitted. If a person exercising, for example, does 10pushups before pausing for a refreshing drink, then that person is beingreinforced on a fixed ratio schedule. In general, fixed ratio reinforcementgenerates high rates of responding, and high resistance to extinction.

Front 31

22. Define variableinterval schedule with a limited hold and give a sport example that is not inthis chapter.

Back 31

Another type of schedule requires only oneresponse (rather than a certain number), but that response must occur at anunpredictable period of time. Technically the schedule is referred to as avariable-interval schedule with a limited hold.

Front 32

26. Define avoidanceconditioning and give a sport example that is not in this chapter.

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do

Front 33

28. List three differencesbetween operant behaviour and respondent behaviour (any three of thedifferences listed in Table 3-2).

Back 33

do

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29. Describe theprocedure and result of both operant and respondent extinction.

Back 34

do

Front 35

1. Briefly explainwhat is meant, in behavioural sport psychology, by an ABC analysis.

Back 35

Identifying the antecedents andconsequences of operant behaviour is sometimes referred to as an ABC(antecedents, behaviour, and consequences) assessment.

Front 36

3. Define or describeeach of the following and give a sport example of each that are not in thischapter. A) Good stimulus control, B)Sd, C) Se

Back 36

Good stimulus control (or effectivestimulus control) refers to a strong correlation between the occurrence of aparticular stimulus and the occurrence of a particular response; i.e., when thestimulus occurs, the response is likely to follow. Good stimulus controldevelops as a result of a behaviour having been reinforced in the presence of aparticular stimulus. Example: A rock climber learns that when a particularrock is gutting out of the mountain at an upward angle, that rock is good forgrabbing with ones hand as opposed to using as footing. This has presented tobe the case every time in which the rock climber has encountered a rock of suchkind, and he knows that using that rock for grabbing will get him effectivelyup the mountain. If an event has been correlated with theavailability of a reinforcer for a particular operant behaviour, then thatevent is called a discriminative stimulus (Sd) for that response. Example: a basketball player notices that theyare square to the basket, they know that if they shoot from there, they willmost likely make their shot. If an event has been correlated withextinction trials for a particular operant behaviour, then that event is calledan extinction stimulus (Se) for that response. Thus an (Se) is a signal that aparticular response will not pay off. Example: a basketball game notices thatthe girl guarding her is much taller, and that putting up a shot in thatposition would unlikely result in scoring. Therefore, she does not put up shotsin such a situation.

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5. Define stimulusdiscrimination training and give an example that illustrates the procedure andthe result that are not in this chapter.

Back 37

Stimulus discrimination training refers to:(a) the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of an Sd andextinguishing that response in the presence of an Se; and (b) two resultsincluding: (i) good stimulus control in that the response consistently occursto the Sd; and (ii) a stimulus discrimination in that the response occurs tothe Sd and not to the Se.

Front 38

6. Define stimulusgeneralization, and give an example that illustrates the procedure and theresult that are not in this chapter.

Back 38

Stimulus generalization refers to: (a) theprocedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a stimulus or situation;and (b) the result that the response becomes more probable not only in thatsituation but also in the presence of another stimulus or situation. In otherwords, stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination are opposites inthat with the former, an individual responds in the same way to two differentstimuli, while with the latter, the individual responds differently to twodifferent stimuli.

Front 39

11. Define latency ofbehaviour, and describe an example not in this chapter.

Back 39

A common term for latency is “reactiontime” such as the time between the firing of the starters pistol until therunner leaves the block. Latency of behaviour refers to how quickly anindividual responds to a certain action by exhibiting the correct responseaction. Example: a basketball player doing the jump ball at the start of atime. The time it takes for them to process the sound of the whistle and thenjump into the air to win the ball possession for their team.

Front 40

14. Define prompt,and describe an example.

Back 40

In such a procedure, a prompt is defined asa supplemental antecedent stimulus provided to increase the likelihood that adesired behaviour will occur, but is not the final stimulus that will controlthe behaviour.

Front 41

15. Distinguishbetween fading and shaping.

Back 41

Shaping and fading can be contrasted byconsidering an example of each. First, consider the example describedpreviously of shaping the young defensemen in hockey to take the man on aone-on-one basis. Across trials, the stimulus (an oncoming puck carrier) stayedthe same, while the response gradually changed (the young defensemen made moreand more body contacts). In an example of a golf instructor using physicalguidance to teach the correct putting stroke, across trials, the antecedentstimulus (the amount of guidance given by the instructor) gradually changed(became less and less), while the response (putting correctly) stayed the same.

Front 42

1) Define a rule, and give a sport examplethat is not in this chapter. Does your example illustrate all 3 aspects of acomplete rule?

Back 42

A rule is a statement that a specificbehaviour will pay off in a particular situation. To be a complete rule, the antecedent,behaviour, and consequences need to be implied in the stated rule. Ex: If you forget to bring your warm upjersey to basketball practice, the whole team is running lines after practice. Ex: If you don’t throw the ball atsomeone’s face during this dodge ball game, you will get ice cream after thegame. Ex: If you shout at the referee when hemakes a call you don’t like, you are going to be sitting on the bench for therest of the hockey game.

Front 43

2) What is a partial rule? Describe a sportexample that is not in this chapter. Which of the three aspects of a rule doesyour example specify?

Back 43

Rules that do not identify all threeaspects (antecedent, behaviour, and consequence) of a reinforcement situationare called partial rules. Some partial rules specify only the behaviour (e.g.“Don’t touch the ball with your hands), while the antecedent (when playingsoccer) and the consequence (or the referee will blow the whistle) are implied. Other partial rules identify theantecedent (e.g. “out-of-bounds” area in gold), while the behaviour (hittingthe ball out of bounds) and the consequences (a penalty stroke and the ballmust be hit form the original location) are implied. In other instances,partial rules identify the consequences (e.g. $500,000 1st prize),while the antecedents (at a golf tournament), and the behaviour (play bettergolf than the other competitors) are implied. Because of our various learningexperiences, partial rules also control our behaviour. Ex: Don’t you roll your eyes at the referee.This demonstrates the behaviour.

Front 44

3) Define contingency-learned behaviour,and give a sport example that is not in this chapter.

Back 44

Contingency learned behaviour- behaviourthat has been strengthened (or weakened) in settings by the direct effects ofconsequences in those settings. Ex: A volleyball player who is learning howto get the ball in bounds when serving. Hitting the ball not hard enough endsup hitting the net on their side and results in the other team getting theball. Hitting the ball too hard and it flies out of bounds on the opponent’sside of the net, resulting in no points scored and the other team getting theball.

Front 45

11) What are two reasons that the rule,“I’m going to eat healthier and lose some weight,” is so difficult to followfor so many people?

Back 45

One reason many people fail to follow therule, “I’ll cut back on my food intake and lose some weight”, is that theimmediate, negative effects of a single instances of excessive eating are toosmall to be noticeable. It is the cumulative effects of excessive eating onnumerous occasions that cause excessive weight and other health problems. Rulesthat describe small consequences that are harmful or beneficial only after thathave accumulated are likely to be ineffective unless complimented by additionalself-management strategies such as modeling, self-monitoring, and behaviouralcontracting.-Specific versus vague behaviour-Sizeable versus small consequences-Probable versus improbable consequences-Consequences might act against following arule; for example, suppose that you give yourself the rule, “Im going to stopeating desserts in order to lose some weight.” That rule is difficult to followbecause the opposite behaviour, eating desserts, is immediately reinforced bythe good taste of food. -Deadlines

Front 46

12) What are four characteristics of rulesthat are often effective in controlling behaviour?

Back 46

1) The rules should be understoodby the individual to whom they are given2) Rules should clearly identify:a) the circumstances in which the behaviour should occur, b) the specificbehaviour in which the individual is to engage, c) a deadline for performingthe behaviour, d) the specific consequences for complying or not complying withthe rules3) Rules should describe probableand sizable outcomes, rather than improbable and small outcomes4) Complex rules should be brokeninto easy-to-follow steps5) Rules should be gradually fadedout if you want other stimuli that are present to take control of the behaviour

Front 47

14) What type of goal is an outcome goal?Describe a sport example that is not in this chapter.

Back 47

Outcome goals- are goals for resultsagainst competitors. The achievement ofsuch goals depends on both the performance of the athlete who sets the foal andthe performance of that athlete’s competitors. Example: Winning the Stanley Cup in thefinal playoff game of the season against the other team.

Front 48

15) What type of goal is aperformance-standard goal? Describe a sport example that is not in thischapter.

Back 48

Performance-standard goals- are goals forwhich an athlete tries to meet a performance standard that is not an outcomegoal. Many performance-standard goals involve competing against oneself. Otherperformance standard goals do involve an athlete interacting with otherathletes but the focus is not on winning or losing, Example: A swimmer being able to hold theirbreath under water consistently for 1 minute. Better than she has been able toachieve yet.

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16) What type of goal is an execution orprocess goal? Describe a sport example that is not in this chapter.

Back 49

Execution or process goals are goals forperforming skills in certain ways. Example: A field goal kicker learning touse the correct part of his foot when kicking.

Front 50

17) What is mastery criterion? Give anexample that is not in this chapter.

Back 50

A mastery criterion is a specific guidelinefor performing a skill such that if the guideline is met, the skill is likelyto be mastered. A mastery criterion should identify a particular quantity,level, or standard of performance. Example: An archery enthusiast wants tomaster shooting for 20 feet away. The guideline he sets for himself in order tomaster this skill is to stand exactly 20 feet away, where he has to hit withinthe bulls eye mark 10 times out of 15 tries.

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18) A mastery criterion is typicallyformulated so that what two assumptions are likely to be met?

Back 51

A mastery criterion is typically formulatedto make it likely that two assumptions will be met. First, once the athlete hasachieved the mastery criterion, it is likely that he or she has learned theskill well enough so that, if asked to do it sometime later, the skill would beperformed correctly. Second, if the athlete has met a mastery criterion duringpractice, there is a high probability that the skill will be executed correctlyduring a competition.

Front 52

20) According to Hayes and colleagues, whyis public goal setting likely to be more effective than private goal setting?

Back 52

Public goals are usually more effectivethan private goals. In many areas of behaviour modification, public goals havebeen demonstrated to be more effective than private goals. Public goals for aperson are goals that at least one other person, and usually several or moreother people, are aware of. Hayes and colleagues theorized that setting apublic goal provides a public standard against which performance can beevaluated, and that it implies social consequences for achieving or notachieving the goal(s).

Front 53

21) From a behavioural perspective, what isthe meaning of commitment in the context of goal setting? Give a sport examplethat illustrates all three components of commitment

Back 53

Goals are likely to be effective only ifthere is continuing commitment to them by the individuals involved. From abehavioural perspective, commitment refers to statements or actions by a personsetting a goal that imply that the goal is important, that he or she will worktoward it, and that he or she recognizes the benefits of doing so.

Front 54

Describe the three main components of themotivation package that Connie applied to improve the practice performances ofthe speed skaters.

Back 54

Goal-setting, self-monitoring, andperformance feedback project.

Front 55

In general, what is performance feedback?

Back 55

In general, performance feedback is aconsequence of an operant behaviour that can influence (A) future instances ofthat behaviour; and/or (B) future instances of an alternative behaviour.

Front 56

What is proprioceptive feedback? Describean example that is not in this chapter that illustrates how proprioceptivefeedback could enable an athlete to successfully repeat a previously learnedathletic skill.

Back 56

One type of performance feedback is theinternal stimulation generated from movement, and that is referred to asproprioceptive feedback (also referred to as kinesthetic sensations). These areinternal sensations generated by the position and movement of the body in spaceand by the position and movement of parts of the body with respect to otherparts.

Front 57

What is external informational feedback?Describe a sport example that is not in this chapter.

Back 57

A third type of performance feedback mightbe referred to as external information feedback, which is a judgment providedto an athlete about the quality of performance that the athlete just displayed.This type of feedback is often provided to athletes by coaches or judges ortimers. Information feedback is often provided to an athlete after the athletehas been following a particular practice routine for a period of time, and itlets the athlete know whether or not his/her practice routines are paying off.

Front 58

What are two reasons that public posting ofpractice performance might be more effective as a motivator than the athlete’sprivate monitoring of performance?What is meant by “recruitment of positivefeedback”? Illustrate with a sport example not in this chapter.

Back 58

Public posting of performance can beeffective in stimulating peer interactions to reinforce increased output.Public posting can also serve, as an important reminder to coaches to providepraise for progress.

Front 59

How do many people conceptualizemotivation? Illustrate with a sport example that is not in this chapter.

Back 59

Many people conceptualize motivation assome “thing” within us that causes our actions.

Front 60

4) List two practical limitations toconceptualizing motivation as in internal cause of behaviour.

Back 60

First, the suggestion that the causes ofbehaviour lie within us might influence some coaches to blame athletes forinferior athletic performances (e.g., “they just weren’t motivated), ratherthan examining the principles and procedures for changing behaviour and theenormous amount of data demonstrating that application of those principles caneffectively modify behaviour. Second, it may influence some athletes toblame themselves for inferior athletic performances, rather than examiningpotential self-management strategies for improving their performance.

Front 61

5) What is a general meaning of the verb“to motivate” as used in sports? What is an implication of this approach?

Back 61

The verb form of “to motivate”, generallymeans to influence individuals to behave in various ways. An implication ofthis perspective is that motivational strategies are to be found inenvironmental contingencies concerning behaviour, and those contingencies canbe arranged by the individual to be motivated and/or by others, such ascoaches.

Front 62

6) List seven types of antecedents that canbe used to motivate athletic behaviour.

Back 62

1) Goals; goals commit an athleteto the work, time, pain, and the dedication that is necessary to achievesuccess. 2) Models; encouraging an athleteto imitate a skilled model can be an effective motivational strategy.3) Imagery; for example- whenpracticing putting, one of the young golfers with whom I worked wouldfrequently imagine that he was leading the tournament on the final day of themasters. He would pretend that he needed to putt to maintain the lead. 4) Self-talk5) Picture prompts6) Announcement of friendlycompetitions7) Schedule cross training forvariety8) Train with a partner9) Rules

Front 63

8) Describe an example that is not in thischapter to illustrate how an athlete might use imagery to motivate practiceperformance.

Back 63

do

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10) List seven categories of consequencesthat can motivate participation in sports and improved practice and competitivesport performance.

Back 64

1) Reinforcers for performing well& winning2) Coach’s praise3) Self-improvement4) Stimulation of the senses5) Posted records of progress6) Enjoying Competing7) Peer approval8) Use fun practice activities asreinforcers for improvement9) Escape from peer and/orparental pressure

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15) Is deliberate use of reinforcement bycoach’s bribery? Defend your position.

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No, a coaches’ use of reinforcement is notbribery. Some critics of a behavioural approach to sport psychology havesuggested that encouraging coaches to use reinforcers to deliberately motivateathletes is nothing more than bribery. The definition of bribery however is, “areward or gift offered to induce one to commit an immoral or illegal act.”Suppose that a gambler offered $200,000 to the goalie of one of the soccerteams in the finals of the World Cup if he would let in a few easy goals. Thiscould be considered bribery. However, suppose that a coach for a youth hockeyteam offers the players the opportunity to earn an extra 15 minutes ofscrimmage time at the end of practice if they each make five accurate passesduring a passing drill. This is not bribery. This simply is the use of a ruleabout a reinforcement program to strengthen desirable rule-governed behaviour,not to commit illegal or immoral acts.

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16) What does it mean to suggest thatextrinsic reinforcement undermines intrinsic motivation? Illustrate with anexample.

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Some people suggest that the use ofextrinsic reinforcers to strengthen a behaviour will undermine the intrinsicmotivation to perform that behaviour. What do these authors mean by the termintrinsic behaviour? As described by Deci, intrinsically motivated behavioursare those in which there is no apparent reward except for the activity itself. Insports, athletes who appear to participate in their chosen sport for no otherreason than “the love of the game” might be described as intrinsicallymotivated.

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19) What is a CMO? Illustrate with anexample.

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A conditioned MO (CMO)- an MO that altersthe effectiveness of conditioned reinforcers or punishers because of priorlearning. Consider another example of a CMO. In the example describedpreviously in which a golfer used imagery to create a pressure game byimagining himself competing in the Master, he was administering a CMO tohimself. The pressure game increased the reinforcing value of making a putt asa conditioned reinforcer, and increased the likelihood of focusingappropriately to make the putt. In both of these examples of CMO’s, anantecedent variable altered the reinforcing effectiveness of behaviouralconsequences, and increased behaviour that led to those consequences.

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21) How does a CMO differ from an SD?Illustrate with examples that are not in this chapter.

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Students of behaviour analysis sometimesconfuse the concept of discriminative stimulus or SD and the concept of CMO. Ineveryday language, an SD is a cue that tells you what to do to get what youalready want. Suppose, for example, that a football team has been practicingfor half an hour in the hot sun without water. The statement by the coach toone of the players, “Here are the keys to my car, bring the jug of ice waterfrom the trunk,” would be an SD for the behaviour of the player to go and getthe ice water. The statement told the player how to get what he already wanted.In everyday language, a CMO temporarily changes what you want, and tells youhow to get it. Thus, Coach Dawson’s explanation of the points program was aCMO- it increased the likelihood that the players would want to earn points,and it told them how to do so.

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22) Summarize, from a behaviouralperspective, four steps that a coach might follow to motivate athletes.

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In summary, this chapter has outlined abehavioural approach to the topic of motivation and athletic performance. Inorder to motivate athletic performance, coaches and athletes are encouraged to:(a) arrange antecedents to prompt motivated behaviour; (b) manipulate MOs tomaximize the effectiveness of reinforcers for motivated behaviour; (c) describethe environmental arrangements in appropriately stated rules prior to practicesand competitions, and (d) and provide reinforcers following motivatedbehaviour.

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1) How might stimulus generalization havebeen involved in the application with basketball players described at thebeginning of this chapter?

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The basketball players used the procedureof reinforcing a response in the presence of stimulus or situation, (theimagined themselves in a situation where they are going against an opponent andcutting off the baseline) and they came to the result that the response becamemore probable not only in that situation but also in the presence of anotherstimulus or situation, (they were able to evoke that response in actual realworld game play successfully).

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5) In a sentence or two, describe what ismeant by “mental rehearsal”.

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Before athletes can use imagery to improve athleticperformance, they must become skillful at mental rehearsal. Mental rehearsal ormental practice refers to the process of imagining and feeling oneselfperforming an activity. Likely to include several types of conditioned sensing.Mental rehearsal can involve all of the senses that are typically used whileactually performing the skill that is being mentally rehearsed.

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6) Distinguish between internal vs.external imagery.

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Encouraging athletes to feel themselvesperforming is often referred to as internal imagery, while encouraging athletesto imagine that they are watching themselves performing is often referred to asexternal imagery.

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7) List five ways that athletes might usemental imagery to enhance practice performance.

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1) Imagery to energize beforepractices2) Instant mental replays to learnthe feelings of correctly-performed skills3) Imagery practice sessions awayfrom the sport environment4) Imagery at practices beforeperforming previously-learned skills to increase the likelihood of performingsuccessfully5) Visualization to simulate thecompetitive environment (to promote generalization to competitions)

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10) Describe an example (that is not inthis chapter) to illustrate how an athlete might use visualization at practicesto promote generalization of a skill to competitions.

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The more similar that the practiceenvironment is to the competitive environment, the more likely it is thatskilled athletic performances will generalize from practices to competitions. A basketball player is practicing shootingfrom the three-point line at practice. The know that during real game playthere is going to be a defender on them, getting their hands up in her face.While practicing she moves quickly, imaging putting up a shot before thedefender gets up in her face. She also imagines the player already up her inface and practices having to shoot over her in order to make the shot.

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11) List four ways that athletes might usemental imagery and/or visualization to enhance competitive performance.

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1) Imagery for emotional control2) Imagery for mental toughness3) Mental rehearsal of a skill(s)just before performing4) Imagery to help tune outdistractors

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14) What is meant by the term “key word?”Describe a sport example that is not in this chapter.

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Key words serve as an SD’s to promptparticular body positions or focus of attention (such as a golfer thinkingshoulder turn to prompt a shoulder turn).

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19) Describe an example that is not in thischapter, to illustrate how an athlete might use key words to transfer a skillfrom practices to a competition.

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Ice skaters before a performance focused ontheir key words for dance: relax, calm, knees. One strategy for transferring skilledathletic performance from practices to competitions is to bring the desiredathletic behaviour under the control of specific stimuli in practices and thenreproduce those stimuli at competitions.

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20) What is meant by the term “desired moodwords”? Illustrate with a sport example that is not in this chapter.

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Words that elicit emotional feelings whichhave been associated with past successful performance are referred to asdesired mood words.

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22) Briefly describe each of Nideffer’sfour major categories of stimulus control of athletic performance, andillustrate each with a sport example that is not in this chapter.

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24) List the three components of a strategyused with professional hockey players to help them to “stay in the game” whensitting on a bench in between shifts on the ice. Describe examples of self-talkfor the last two components.

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26) List five ways that athletes might useself-talk to enhance their performance in competitions.

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1) In a sentence each, summarizethree important characteristics of our emotions, and name the type ofconditioning involved in each.

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Martin & Osbourne analyzed thisimportant topic in three components: 1) the reaction that one feels insideduring the experiencing of an emotion (such as the “butterflies” that anathlete feels just before the start of a competition), which is influenced byrespondent conditioning; b) the way that one learns to outwardly express anemotion (such as talking fast in an animated fashion when nervous), which isinfluenced by operant conditioning; and c) how one becomes aware of anddescribes one’s emotions (e.g., “I’m a little nervous,” as opposed to “I’mreally mad.”), which is also influenced by operant conditioning. To summarize, emotions have three importantcharacteristics: a) the physiological reaction that you feel inside during theexperiencing of an emotion (and which typically accompanied by visible signssuch as frowns or smiles), which is influenced by respondent conditioning; b)the way that you leant to overtly express an emotion (such as shouting, jumpingup & down, etc.), which is influenced by operant conditioning; and c) theway that you become aware of and describe your emotions, which is alsoinfluenced by operant conditioning.

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3) Describe unconditioned reflexes (i.e.the USs and the URs) that appear to characterize the emotions of fear, anger,and joy.

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In studies of unconditioned emotionalreflexes in newborn infants, Watson observed that the USs of a sudden loss ofsupport, loud sounds, and a sudden push elicited the URs of a sudden catchingof breath, a clutching or grasping response, and crying that he labeled asfear; the US of hampering an infant’s movements elicited the URs of crying,screaming, and body stiffening, that he labeled as anger; an the USs oftickling, gentle rocking, and patting elicited the URs of smiling, gurgling,and cooing, that he labeled joy.

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4) In the experiment with little Albert,what was the US? The UR? The CS? The CR?

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The classic experiment by Watson &Rayner. In order to demonstrate that fears could be learned through Pavlovianconditioning, they conducted an experiment with little Albert, and 11-month oldinfant. Albert was placed on rug on the floor with several toys. A white ratwas then placed in front of Albert. While Albert was watching the rat, Watsonsnuck up behind him and banged a steel bar with a hammer. The loud noisestartled little Albert, causing him to cry. In two separate sessions approx. 1week apart, Albert experienced a total of seven pairings of the loud noise withthe sight of the rat. Then, at the end of the second session when the white ratwas reintroduced, Albert cried, trembled and showed the facial expressioncharacteristic of fear. Albert’s fear also generalized to several other items,including a rabbit, a dog, a coat, and a piece of cotton. US- the sound of the loud bangUR- feelings of fearCS- the sight of the ratUS- feels of fear at the sight of the rat

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6) For each of the following emotions,identify a general cause, and illustrate each cause with an example from yourown experience: Happiness, Anger, Anxiety, Relief* may need to do soccerexamples instead.

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-Scoring a point in basketball & thecoach, teammates & crowd cheer- happiness-Being fouled when you have a straight laneto the basketball to make your layup that you know you wouldn’t have missed-anger-Having to shoot a foul shot and staring upat the basket wondering if you will make it- anxiety-Seeing the ball swish through the net whenshooting a foul shot- relief Presentation and withdrawal of reinforcers& presentation and withdrawal of punishers are four major causes of emotions.Presentation of reinforcers causes the emotion happiness. Withholding or withdrawal of reinforcerscauses the emotion anger. Anxiety or fear is the label given to theemotional experience when we encounter aversive stimuli. Finally, withdrawal of aversive orpunishing events causes an emotion that is called relief.

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7) Describe four effects of excessivenervousness and tension, and briefly explain why each effect might interferewith athletic performance at competitions.

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Reference to excessive nervousness (oranxiety or fear) is often made by coaches and athletes to account for poorathletic performance. Anxiety or nervousness is caused by the presentation ofaversive stimuli. Why does excessive nervousness or fearinterfere with athletic performance?There are four main reasons. First, as indicated, we have evolved suchthat exposure to threat causes physiological changes within us to prepare us todeal with that threat. One of those changes is a narrowing of attention, butbecause of this narrowing of attention, a nervous or fearful athlete is likelyto attend to important external cues. Ex; a skater may skate too close to theend boards. A second effect of excessive nervousness isthat it consumes energy in the process of all those physiological changes.Although a burst of energy can enhance performance in the short-term athleticactivities, such as a 50-meter sprint in swimming, the extra energy consumptioncan be problematic in endurance activities. Ex; a nervous cross-country skier“wont have the legs” to accelerate during the home stretch. Athird effect of excessive nervousness is that is causes the adrenal gland tosecrete adrenalin, which will cause the athlete to rush a skilled routine, sothat timing is thrown off. The fourth effect of excessive nervousnessor fear is that it adds additional stimuli to the competitive environment thatwere not likely present in the practice environment, which interferes withstimulus generalization of a skill from practice to competition.

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12) Define or describe each of thefollowing: 1) Deep centre breathing, 2) Progressive muscle relaxation

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1) An effective way of combating mildlevels of anxiety is to practice deepcenter breathing- a martial arts procedure that emphasizes thought control,a particular way of breathing and muscle relaxation. Athlete should firstconsciously relax the neck and shoulders. Next the athlete should breathe lowdown in their stomach instead of high up in their chest. Instead of the chestrising and falling when breathing the stomach should bulge out when inhalingand collapse while exhaling. Also should whisper to themselves “relax” or“easy.” Breathing this way can help an individual to relax. Also it takes someconcentration to do correctly, also a thought-stopping procedure. Whilefocusing on the procedure of centering, an athlete is less likely to bethinking anxiety-eliciting thoughts. 2) Progressive muscle relaxation- astrategy used for achieving a state of deep relaxation, which involvesalternatively tensing and relaxing various muscle groups while attendingclosely to the sensations that are felt when the muscles are tensed versus whenthey are relaxed. One can learn to become sensitive to the relaxed state ofones muscles in contrast to the state of tension. Could use a CD program toinitiate the learning. CHECK TEXT

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13) Define “choking” as the term is used insports. Describe an example that was not in this chapter.

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There are many examples of highly skilled,highly trained athletes who were expected to perform well in particularathletic contests, but who “blew it” under the pressure of the big game orevent. These athletes are often described as “choking” in these situations.While there is no widely accepted definition of that term, a definition that isconsistent with a behavioural approach is one that defined choking as “acritical deterioration in the execution of habitual processes as a result of anelevation of anxiety levels under perceived pressure, leading to substandardperformance.

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14) Describe several strategies that mightbe used to minimize the likelihood of the occurrence of “choking” in sports.

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Strategies to prevent choking can includethe five guidelines for eliminating negative thoughts listed on pg. 131, or anyof the strategies for relaxing described earlier in this chapter. Specificpre-performance routines that athletes can learn to follow just before an importantcompetition can also decrease the likelihood of choking.

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15) List the four steps that havecharacterized successful anger management programs used with athletes.

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Step 1: Identify anger-causing situationsStep 2: Teach substitute behaviours to competewith the anger Step 3: Practice the substitute behavioursusing imagery and/or simulations and/or role-playingStep 4: Use the coping skills incompetitive situations, with monitoring and/or supportive contingencies

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5) Define task analysis.

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Task analysis refers to breaking a skillinto its component parts so that it can be taught effectively, and improvementscan be accurately monitored. This may require the identification of both theindividual behaviours in sequence and the stimuli that should control each ofthose behaviours. An example of a task analysis of a tennis serve was shown atthe beginning on the chapter. For most sports, books and coaching articles thathave already task analyzed basic skills in considerable detail are readilyavailable.

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8) Briefly describe two strategies forensuring that young athletes understand what it is that the coach wants them todo.

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1) Ask Question to Test forUnderstanding; A common mistake made by many coaches is to assume that theathletes understand instructions that have been presented just once. What theyshould do instead is, after explaining a drill to be performed; the coachshould then check the athlete’s knowledge by asking specific questions. Ifwrong answers to such questions are obtained, then the modeling and instructionphase should be repeated. Further, when a coach asks these kinds of specificskill related questions and are met with silence from the athletes, thattypically should be assumed to be “I don’t know.”

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10) Describe two types of naturalreinforcers. Give an example of each.

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In sports there are two common types ofnatural reinforcers. One is the sensory feedback that is inherent in theperformance of a task. This type of reward involves the visual, tactile, andauditory sensations that come from performing the task well. The “feel” of thesolid contact when a golfer hits a good shot, the sight of a baseball archingto the outfield after a solid hit, the personal satisfaction from swimming thelength of a pool the first time, the sight of a basketball dropping through thehoop and the sound of the swish of the net- all of these are naturallyreinforcing consequences in that they are not deliberately programmed by thecoach or teacher. Another type of natural reinforcer is the “natural” (asopposed to deliberately-planned) reaction of others. A cheer from teammates fora good play, the roar of the crowd when a touchdown is scored, another playergiving a batter a “high-5” after a home run- these are examples of naturalreinforcers.

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11) What are two reasons for encouragingcoaches to capitalize on natural reinforcers?

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As much as possible, coaches should try tostructure early training experiences so that beginning athletes experiencenatural reinforcing consequences. For example, as described previously im theirbehavioural approach to teaching golf, Simek & O’Brien began by teachingbeginners to make 10-inch putts. Why? Because a powerful natural reinforcer fora golfer is hitting the ball into the hole. So they started with a task thatwas immediately reinforced by a natural reinforcer- making 10-inch putts.Gradually, the golfers were taught to make longer putts, then chip shots, thenpitch shots, the middle iron shots, and eventually to hitting fairway woods anda driver. Their approach was very successful. When teaching basketball toyoungsters, lowering the basket and giving them a smaller ball makes it easierfor them to make shots- a natural reinforcer. When teaching baseball toyoungsters, starting out with T-ball in which a ball is placed on a stationaryT makes it easier for the batter to hit the ball- a natural reinforcer. In mostsports, it is usually possible to structure initial learning experiences inorder to capitalize on natural reinforcers. Coaches should be encouraged to structureearly training environments to capitalize on available natural reinforcers fortwo reasons: (a) the more that beginners experience the natural reinforcers ofperforming a skill, the greater is the likelihood that they will practice thatskill on their own (because the natural reinforcers would continue to occur);(b) as discussed in chapter 14, capitalizing on natural reinforcers in thenatural environment is an important tactic for programming generalization of askill from practices to competitions, and for maintaining it in the long run.However, if available natural reinforcers do not appear to be sufficient forincreasing and maintaining desirable behaviours, then a coach should usedeliberately-programmed reinforcers in training programs.

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14) Distinguish between prescriptive praiseand regular nonprescriptive praise. Give a sport example of each that are notin this chapter.

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Praise from a coach is a powerfulreinforcer for a young athlete. If an athlete performs well, a simple positivecomment from the coach can have a strong effect: “good!” “Well done!” However,another type of praise can be especially effective when the coach is trying toget a particular behaviour to occur more often. It is called prescriptivepraise. When using prescriptive, the coach identifies the aspect of theathletes performance that was desirable or that indicated improvement. Abasketball coach, for example, might say something like, “nice follow-throughon your foul shot!” Prescriptive praise can be especially useful when a coachwants to encourage an athlete to concentrate on a particular component of theskill. Use of prescriptive praise capitalizes on rule-governed control overbehaviour. In the above example, the basketball coach has given the player arule, “if I follow through on my foul shots and point my index finger at thebasket, im more likely to make the shot” and rehearsal of an abbreviated formof this rule might exert stimulus control over the desirable form on futureinstances of foul shooting for that player.

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16) Define ‘shaping’ (see chapter 4) anddescribe a sport example that is not in this chapter.

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17) Define stimulus control (see chapter4), and describe a sport example from this chapter.

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18) State three reasons why a coach shouldcontinue to dispense deliberately programmed reinforcers to young athletes,even after their athletic skills appear to have come under the control ofnatural reinforcers.

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There are several reasons for this. First,although natural reinforcers might maintain skills in competitive environments,reinforcers for the coach can help to sustain effort and performance duringrepetitive (and sometimes boring) practices. Second, competitive situationscontain punishers as well as natural rewards. For example, over exuberantparents might yell at their child following a losing game. This may make itdifficult for that athlete to focus on improvements in his/her personal skill(as a reinforcer). In such situations, positive feedback from the coachcontingent upon skilled play can help maintain those skills. Third, an athleterarely reaches the point where there is nothing left to learn. The coach shouldtherefore continue to provide reinforcers for slight improvements to encourageindividual players to continually improve and refine their skills to a higherlevel.

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19) List the six characteristics ofeffective behavioural coaching.

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First,this approach emphasizes specific measurement of athletic performance, and theuse of such measures as the primary means for evaluating the effectiveness ofteaching strategies. Second, it recognizes a clear distinction betweendeveloping and maintaining behaviour, and positive behavioural procedures areavailable for accomplishing both. Third, it encourages coaches to help athletesimprove as measured against their own previous performance, as opposed to beingcompared to other athletes. Forth, it emphasizes that coaches use behaviourmodification procedures that have been experimentally demonstrated to beeffective. The fifth characteristic suggests that behaviour modificationtechniques can also be applied to help the coach change his/her behaviour. Thefinal characteristic of effective behavioural coaching is that coaches areencouraged to use social validity assessments to ensure that the athletes,parents, and others involved in the program are satisfied with the targetbehaviours that were identified, the coaching procedures that were used, andthe results that were obtained.

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1) If a young athlete is makingerrors at a practice because of a lack of natural reinforcers for correctperformances, what error correction strategy might be applied?

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A possible strategy for a coach in such asituation is to make available reinforcers contingent upon improvedperformance. Further, in such cases, the coach should assess whether or notavailable reinforcers are being used effectively- i.e., that reinforcers arecontingent upon desirable performance (rather than occurring noncontingently).If the use of contingent reinforcers for performing without errors leads toimproved performance across several practices, then the athletes could begradually weaned from the extra reinforcers in the hope that naturalreinforcers for improved performance may being to take over.

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1) When might it be necessary touse a multiple-component error correction program (such as that researched byKoop & Martin with swimmers) to decrease errors?

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Beginners sometimes experience a great dealof success in a sport despite the fact that they are making one or twofundamental errors in performing their skills. Some young athletes learn tocompensate for the errors and, initially, manage to do quite well in spite ofthem. Example: middle school high jumper.

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1) From the material in thischapter, describe three reasons why beginners might make errors or mistakeswhen executing a previously learned skill.

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1) Define mastery criterion (chapter 5) anddescribe an example from this chapter.

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1) The behavioural treatmentinvolving the freeze technique appears to involve several behaviouralprinciples including punishment, modeling, rule-governed control over behaviour,and positive reinforcement. Speculate about how each of these principles mayhave been involved.

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Instruction and freeze techniques proceededas follows: the coach took a group of players and had them run a series ofplays. During each play, one player was instructed to block. If the block wasthrown correctly, the coach let the players complete the play. On completion,the coach blew the whistle and praised the player who blocked correctly.However, if the coach noticed that some part of the block was incorrect, heimmediately blew his whistle and yelled, “Freeze!” The player who had blockedincorrectly would freeze, that is, stop moving and hold his physical positioncorrectly. The coach would first describe, in detail, the incorrect aspects ofthe player’s physical position. Then the coach would describe, in detail, thecorrect position. Finally, the coach would model the correct position. Theplayer would then move from the “frozen” position and imitate the correctphysical position. During the imitation, the coach would encourage the playerto notice various aspects of his body position. For example the coach mightsay, “OK, now, see how your legs are bent? Notice your arm position.” The coachwould encourage the player to “feel” the difference between the correct and theincorrect body positions. To help the player feel the difference moreprecisely, the coach would also encourage the player to notice how his musclesfelt: “can you feel how tense your calf muscle is now? When you’re doing itcorrectly, the muscle should be tensed, ready to drive forward. See how itfeels? Good!” The players were then allowed to complete the play. Overall, oneapplication of the instruction, freeze technique, and behaviour rehearsal tookabout a minute to complete.

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1) What may be a limitation of thefreeze technique? Discuss with reference to an example.

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In some situations however, the freezetechnique may be inappropriate because an athlete’s momentum makes itimpossible to freeze (such as downhill skiing), or when freezing and listeningare simply not possible (such as in teaching swimming).

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16) List the five behavioural componentsthat appear to be included in the old-way/new-way error-correction technique.

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1) Instruction regarding correctand incorrect techniques2) Awareness training todiscriminate correct and incorrect techniques3) Key words to prompt correcttechnique4) Practicing correct techniquewith an approximation of a mastery criterion5) Receiving immediate videotapedfeedback on each practice attempt

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1) In a sentence of two each,describe the several possible causes of problem behaviours shown by youngathletes at practices.

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Some consideration of potential causes ofproblem behaviours may help a coach prevent them before occurring.Alternatively, if problems are already ongoing, some considerations of theircauses will likely help to select the best treatment strategy. Some problem behaviours stem from a lack ofunderstanding by young athletes as to what is expected of them at practices.Some athletes may have worked with different coaches in the past who allowedthem to do things that the current coach finds annoying. Some problem behaviours may occur atpractices because they are immediately followed by natural reinforcers(including peer interaction), while the desirable alternative behaviours do notlead to immediate reinforcers. In some cases, athletes may show problembehaviours because they don’t have the skills to earn rewards for skilledathletic performance. In such cases, it’s not that reinforcers are unavailablefor desirable behaviour; rather, there are no skills in the individual’srepertoire that enable him or her to earn those reinforcers. Still other problem behaviours may stemfrom the process of operant extinction. As described in chap 3, when the usualreinforcers are withheld following a previously reinforced behaviour, thatbehaviour is likely to decrease in frequency. In a simplified sense, if aparticular behaviour is ignored, it will eventually go away. However, that’sthe long-term effect. In the short-term, withholding reinforcers following previouslyreinforced behaviours may cause emotional behaviour as a side effect. Still other problem behaviours may stemfrom the dynamics of interpersonal interactions of the athletes away from theathletic environment. All kinds of interpersonal interactions away from theathletic environment can cause problem behaviours for athletes that spill overinto practices and games. Moreover, extreme anxiety, phobias, inadequate socialskills, absence of problem-solving skills, sexual hang ups, drug and alcohol dependencies,and other problems faced by many individuals may also be present in athletes.

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5) For a sport with which you are familiar(other than figure skating), list at least five desirable behaviours and fiveundesirable behaviours for young athletes at a typical practice.

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Desirable

1) Complimenting teammates2) Listening to the coach when heblows the whistle3) Showing up to practice on time4) Asking for help when needed5) Giving advice to teammates whenthey need it

Undesirable

1) Ignoring the coach by spacingout or talking to other teammates when instructions are being given2) Rolling eyes at the refereewhenever they make a call against you3) Yelling at teammates when theydon’t pass you the ball even though you called for it4) Being constantly late to practice5) Leaving in the middle of adrill to get a drink of water even though the coach never said you could

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1) Briefly describe four stepsthat a coach might take at the beginning of a season to minimize chances ofproblem behaviours occurring in the first place.

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At the beginning of a season, if a coach:(a) identifies reasonable rules concerning desirable and undesirable behavioursof athletes; (b) identifies consequences for rule violations; (c) obtains acommitment from the athletes to follow the rules; and (d) monitors desirableand undesirable behaviour during the season, and provides feedback, then thecoach will have taken giant steps to minimize the chances of problem behavioursoccurring.

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1) In several sentences, describethe three steps of the strategy followed by Coach Hume to decrease off-taskpractice behaviours of the figure skaters.

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When a problem behaviour exists, onestrategy is to increase a desirable alternative behaviour. Let’s look in on apractice of the St. Anne’s Figure Skating Club. Michelle Hume, a professionalinstructor and coach of the club, is in the middle of a half-hour lesson withSally. Heather, Claudia, and Cathy are supposed to be practicing their routinesand spending extra time on the difficult jumps and spins. For the last threeminutes, however, Heather and Claudia have been standing along the boards,talking excitedly about the upcoming school dance. Cathy had just completed herfifth loop in a row. Coach Hume hollers a Heather and Claudia, “You’re supposedto be practicing your routines, not standing around talking. Let’s get at it.Cathy, you’ve done five loops in a row. What you really have trouble with isthe double hoop and the double axel. Why aren’t you practicing those?” Off taskbehaviour, excessive socializing, and failure to practice the really difficultroutines are not uncommon problems facing coaches of various sports. CoachHume, decided to tackle the problem head on. Rather than continuing to nagabout the off task behaviour, she set out to investigate a self-monitoringfeedback system for improving desirable alternative behaviours of the skaters. Coach Hume’s first step was to identifyspecific desirable practice behaviours. These were itemized in a checklist ofthe jumps and spins that Heather, Claudia and Cathy were expected to practicefor 45 minutes per day while she gave lessons to the other skaters. In additionto listing them all individually, she also listed the specific combination ofjumps and spins that constituted each skater’s individual program. Coach Hume’s second step was to devise astrategy for the skaters to self-monitor the occurrence of the desirablepractice behaviours. A big chart was prepared for each skater containing thechecklist of jumps and spins, the elements in the skater’s program, two graphs,and appropriate instructions. Coach Hume explained the charts to the skaters,“each practice session, I want you to do the first three elements and come andrecord them. Continue in this way until you’ve practiced all the elements,which should take approx. 15 minutes. Then go through the whole routine again.After all of the elements have been checked twice, do your program and recordthe results. Thereafter, continue practicing those elements that you rated aspoor when you were doing your program.” After some discussion and an initialpractice session, the skaters began using the charts. The third step in Coach Hume’s strategy wasto provide feedback to the skaters for improvement. At the end of eachpractice, summary bars were added to charts of off-task behaviour and elementsattempted so that the skaters could clearly see their progress. Progress waspraised by Coach Hume.

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1) Define stimulus control (seeChapter 3). How was stimulus control involved in the program with figureskaters developed by Coach Hume?

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We use the term stimulus control to referto the degree of correlation between a stimulus and a behavioural. Goodstimulus control (or effective stimulus control) refers to a strong correlationbetween the occurrence of a particular stimulus and the occurrence of aparticular response; i.e. when the stimulus occurs, the response is likely tofollow.

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1) Define positive reinforcement(see Chapter 3). How was positive reinforcement used by Coach Hume in theprogram with figure skaters?

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A stimulus, the presentation of whichimmediately after a behaviour that causes the behaviour to increase, is calleda positive reinforcer. The term positive reinforcer is roughly synonymous withthe term reward. Application of a positive reinforcer to strengthen a behaviouris called positive reinforcement. More specifically, the principle of positivereinforcement includes a procedure, the presentation of a reinforcerimmediately after a behaviour, and an effect or result, the behaviour isstrengthened.

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14) What are two differences in theself-recording program with figure skaters used by Coach Hume versus the publicposting program with tennis players applied by Galvin and Ward? What do you seeas the relative advantages or disadvantages of the two approaches?

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do

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15) Briefly describe the educational signprompting program applied by Yu and Martin to increase ball mark repairing bygolfers. Does their program rely on natural reinforcers or deliberately managedreinforcers? Justify your choice.

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Following baseline, Dickie introduced aneducational sign prompt near the entrance to the clubhouse. The sign containedan explanation of, and photographs of, some unrepaired ball marks, adescription of how to repair ball marks as depicted in photographs, and arequest for golfers to help repair ball marks. The educational sign promptingdecreased the number of unrepaired ball marks on putting greens by approx. 37%.This study suggests that educational sign prompting may be a useful strategyfor conserving a public sport environment.

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1) Describe a plausible example ofself-reinforcement that might be used by an athlete that is not in thischapter.

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Teach athletes to use self-reinforcementinstead of self-criticism. An alternative to being super critical of a badsport or skill is for an athlete to reinforce their good shots or skills.

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1) Briefly describe the threeapproaches to gathering information during a functional assessment.

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Behaviour analysts have typically used oneor more of three main functional assessment approaches to identify antecedentsand causes of a problem behaviour of an individual. One approach is to conductan interview and/or questionnaire assessment of the people familiar with theclient. Hopefully the answers will allow the behaviour analyst to identify thecauses of the problem behaviour. A second approach to discover a problembehaviours controlling variables is to perform an observational or descriptiveassessment in which an observer carefully observes and describes the apparentantecedents and immediate consequences of the problem behaviour of theindividual as it occurs in natural settings. The third approach is to conduct afunctional analysis, which is the systematic manipulation of environmentalevents to experimentally test their role as antecedents or consequences incontrolling or maintaining specific problem behaviours.

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4) Briefly describe two causes ofself-control problems that involve behavioural excesses. Illustrate with asport example that is not in this chapter.

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Why did Carlos find it difficult to resisthaving a Blizzard on the way home from practice? There are two reasons. 1) Formany undesirable behavioural excesses, the immediate reinforcement of theproblem behaviour wins out over the unnoticeable negative effects that are onlycumulatively significant. For Carlos, eating the ice cream was immediatelyreinforced by the good taste. 2) The negative effects (excess cholesterol,increased body weight, etc.) of the ice cream were too small to be noticedimmediately. Rather, it is the accumulation of extra sweets on many occasionsthat causes health and weight problems.

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6) List six steps that characterize manyprograms of self-management in a variety of areas.

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The majority of successful, documentedcases of self-management in a variety of areas (such as improving eatinghabits, overcoming stress, improving study habits, etc.) include the followingsteps: 1) set specific behavioural goals for quantity and quality; 2) increasecommitment to change; 3) design monitoring data sheets for key behaviours; 4)manage antecedents to motivate desirable behaviours; 5) manage consequences tomotivate desirable behaviours; 6) prevent relapse and make it last.

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7) Give an example of a quantity goal for apractice of a sport that is not in this chapter.

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Number of successful spikes in volleyballhit within bounds.

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9) With behavioural self-management, whatis meant by “commitment to change?”

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A commitment to change refers to statementsor actions by an athlete which imply that it is important to improve in aspecific area, that he/she will work toward doing so, and that he/sherecognizes the benefits of doing so. In problem areas such as eating, smoking,studying, or dating, successful self-managers had both a stronger commitment tochange and used more behaviour change techniques than did unsuccessfulself-managers. It is probably also true for athletes that both a commitment tochange and knowledge of change techniques are important for successfulaccomplishment of self-modification projects.

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12) Using an example that is not in thischapter, describe how an athlete might improve practice performance byrearranging the immediate surroundings.

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1) The Immediate Surroundings:Because certain behaviours are likely to occur in certain situations orsettings, rearranging one’s existing surroundings can be an effective strategyfor changing behaviour. Consider the example of a golfer who experienceddifficulty following her off-season fitness routine that includedweightlifting. Frequently, she couldn’t seem to “get up her energy” to liftweights. To increase the likelihood of weightlifting during her fitnesssessions, she placed the weights in the centre of her exercise room, turned onthe TV to the local fitness channel, and opened her Muscle Beach magazine tothe centerfold showing her favorite body builder. Rearranging her surroundingsin this manner usually motivated her to do the weightlifting exercises. MAKE OWN EXAMPLE

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13) In a sentence or two each, describethree ways of manipulating consequences in self-control programs to motivatequality practices.

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1) Eliminate reinforcers forproblem behaviour: One strategy for manipulating consequences is to eliminatereinforcers that may be maintaining problem behaviour that interferes withdesired practice behaviour. Consider the example of a young figure skater whohad indicated on a pre-season needs assessment that she wanted to get more outof practices, but continued to show considerable off-task behaviour duringpractices. Observations indicated that most of her off-task behaviour involvedsocializing with other skaters. When this was pointed out to her, her strategywas to ask the other skaters to interact with her during practices only bymaking brief comments or words of encouragement when she worked at practicingher jumps and spins. They agreed not to converse with her about non-skatingactivities until after practices. As a result, her off-task behaviour decreasedto a much lower level. 2) Self-record & ChartImprovements: A second way of manipulating consequences is by self-recordingand charting the target behaviour. Seeing a line on a graph that representsgradual improvement can serve as a prompt to think a variety of positive,self-confidence thoughts. Example: a young gymnast named Jody. Jody included amove in her beam routine referred to as a front sumi down. The move is kind oflike a forward somersault in which the gymnast lands on one foot in a squatposition with the arms pointing straight out to each side. Although she waslanding the move approx. half of the time, she felt that she was making littleprogress and was very discouraged. She agreed to make 10 attempts on the frontsumi down in three practices per week, and to chart her progress. She showedconsiderable improvement, and by the end of the third week, was “sticking”approx. 90% of them. During the forth week, she participated in a competitionand did a clean beam routine, including her front sumi down. 3) Reinforce desirable practicebehaviours. A third way of manipulating consequences involves arranging forspecific reinforcers to be earned by the athlete for showing improvement, oreven just by sticking to the practice plan.

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16) Describe two possible causes of relapse(in self-management programs) in situations, and indicate how each might behandled.

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A relapse refers to going back to theunwanted behaviour at approx. the same rate at which it occurred before aprogram was initiated. The three variables of situations, behaviours, andconsequences provide a useful framework for analyzing causes of relapse and howto prevent them. One cause of relapse in self-managementprograms is a failure to anticipate setback situations-situations where one isat risk for returning to earlier unwanted behaviour patterns. Some setbacksituations can simply be avoided until the individual is better able to copewith them. For example, Carlos knew that he would have difficulty resisting hisvisits to the ice cream store on the way back to the dormitory after practices.His solution- he changed the route that he walked to return to the dorm so thathe didn’t have to walk by the ice cream store and resist his favorite dessert. Ifan athlete can avoid setback situations until after some success with theself-management program has been achieved, then that athlete might be betterable to cope with situations that provide strong cues for the problembehaviour. Another cause of relapse in situations iscounterproductive self-talk. In Carlo’s case, part way through his joggingprogram, he frequently thought to himself, “I don’t have to push myself yet.I’ve got lots of time left.” Recognizing such counterproductive self-talk is animportant first step in preventing relapse. But such self-talk needs to bereplaced by other self-talk and/or others behaviours. In Carlos’s case, youwill recall, he focused on swimming and Julia Roberts to take his mind off thefatigue.

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17) Describe two possible causes of relapse(in self-management programs) in specification of the response, and indicatehow each might be handled.

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Some relapses occur because the responsecomponent of the self-management program is too vague. For example, Mary wantedto improve her golf skills. But after a month of regular practice at thedriving range, she wasn’t sure if she was improving. The problem was that “wantingto improve” was too vague. She had not specified her target behaviour preciselyenough. If Mary’s goal had been to hit four drives in a row over 220 yards, orto hit four 9-irons in a row within 20 feet of a target marker, or to make four3-foot putts in row, then she would have been able to evaluate her progressmore easily. The target behaviour must be phrased in a way so that it can beeasily recognized when it occurs. In some cases, relapse may occur becauselong-term goals have not been translated into specific short-term goals. Afigure skater, for example, might set a goal of skating a clean program (withno falls or misses) at each practice. But if it is the beginning of the season,that goal is likely to be a long way away. In such cases, in order to providespecific progress checks along the way, daily and/or weekly short-term goalsshould be precisely stated, be realistic, and move the athlete in the directionof the long-term goal

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18) Describe a possible cause of relapse(in self-management programs) in consequences, and indicate how it might behandled.

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Many athletes begin self-managementprograms with a great deal of enthusiasm. But after awhile, the extra work fromrecording and graphing and rearranging the environment, along with the increasein practice activities that such self-management is likely to produce, canbecome quite burdensome. One way to prevent relapse is to link theself-management program to everyday activities that are rewarding. One 16 yearold figure skater, for example, had set a goal for herself of attempting atleast 50 elements (jumps or spins), landing three double axels, and landingthree triple toe jumps in each practice. She also agreed with her parents that,on those days when she did not meet her practice goals, she would not beallowed to drive the family car on the following day. She rarely missed meetingher practice goals. Another effective strategy to “make it last” is for theathlete to involve supportive others inthe program, both in the short term and in the long term. One strategy is toset up a “ buddy system.” Two athletes can initiate self-management programs atthe same time, and can check each other’s progress on a weekly basis. Involvingsupportive others has proven effective in a variety of self-managementprograms.

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7) What are simulations? Illustrate with asport example that is not in this chapter.

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Simulations are an attempt at making thestimuli present within a practice environment as similar as possible to thestimuli that will be encountered during an actual competition. This helpsensure that the athletic performance from practices will be transferred tocompetitions.

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8) List seven categories of cues that areuseful for simulating competitive stimuli at practices.

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1. Cues from the physicalenvironment2. Cues from the behaviour of thecoach3. Cues from the behaviour ofother athletes4. Cues from the level ofautonomic arousal or degree of anxiousness of the athlete5. Proprioceptive cues from themuscles of the athlete 6. The athlete’s imagery as cues7. The athletes self talk as cues

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10) Describe an example of how athletesmight use imagery at practices to simulate aspects of a competition in order toincrease the likelihood that practice performance will transfer tocompetitions.

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The Athlete’s Imagery as Cues While Tammy is working on improving hershooting skills from various places on the court, she imagines to herselfcompetitors running up to her, attempting to block her shot. Tammy imaginesthese defensive players to be of all different heights, weights and she evenimagines them with different hair colors. This imagery forces Tammy to takequick shots, or possible sidestep and deke the imaginary player. This providesTammy with the ability to practice in game like conditions when there isn’tsomeone around to play defence against her. Further, when it comes to actualgame day and Tammy determines who will be playing defence against her, sheimagines in her head situations of this player coming up to block her shot andhow she was going to get around them to score. Not only does this imagery allowTammy to practice her shooting skills, but it also allows her to transfer theseimaginary situations onto the court and successfully score some points for herteam.

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11) Pick a sport, with which you arefamiliar. For that sport, describe a plausible “pressure game” that an athletemight play at practices in order to get used to performing under conditions ofincreased autonomic arousal.

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Soccer

A soccer player working on the goalshooting skills hangs several $5 bills at various places on the goal post. Sheallows tapes a couple bills to some pylons and sets them up along the field infront the goal. The player then attempts to kick the ball to each one of thoseareas within the goal posts, aiming to hit the $5 bills. Whichever bills shemisses she leaves for the next player to come up and attempt to hit, whicheverones she does hit, she gets to keep.

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14) Describe the generalization strategyreferred to as “programming a few common stimuli.” Illustrate with a sportexample that involves imagery that is not in this chapter.

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A basketball player imagining a free throwgoing in.

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15) Describe the generalization strategyreferred to as “vary many of the training conditions.” Illustrate it with asport example that is not in this chapter.

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This strategy for programminggeneralization, adopted from the behaviour modification literature, involvesconducting practices under a wide variety of conditions. The assumption is thatis athletic skills are brought under the control of a greater variety ofstimuli during training, then there is an increased probability of some ofthose stimuli being present during competitions. For example: A water poloplayer practices in cold water, warm water, with tons of splashing going on,with tons of noise and echoing, with shallow-ish water, with deep water, etc.

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1) In general, what is peak performance?

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The term “peak performance” has been usedto refer to an outstanding athletic performance, when an athlete puts it alltogether.

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2) From a behavioural perspective, what isconfidence and what is not?

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From a behavioural perspective, confidenceis not some internal cause of successful athletic performance. Rather, it is asummary label that we use to describe athletes who have performed well inrecent practices and/or competitions, and who show certain behaviour patternsthat would be described collectively as illustrating the belief that they willperform well in an upcoming competition. The many behaviours that make up thatbelief are described below under the sub-section titled “steps to improveconfidence, concentration, and peak performance.” But first, let’s brieflyconsider the concept concentration.

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4) List four steps for developingconfidence and concentration at practices.

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Implementation of the following steps willhelp athletes to improve their confidence and concentration in order toexperience peak performance regularly. 1. Develop skills to a high levelwith practice drills2. Teach orientation to propercues3. Transfer the control of sportskills from rules to natural cues4. Athletes should perform well insituations

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6) List seven steps for maintainingconfidence on the day of a competition.

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1. Athletes should have a restful,stress-free day prior to competing 2. Athletes should relive bestperformances3. Athletes should focus on whatthey can control, not on uncontrollable4. Athletes should focus onrealistic goals for execution and/or performance standards rather than worryingabout outcome5. Athletes should focus on theirstrengths, not on their limitations or their mistakes6. Athletes should use“countering” and “reframing” to counteract negative thoughts7. Athletes should prepare andfollow a competition plan

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12) Describe the inverted-U relationshipbetween arousal and performance.

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Is it possible to maintain a sense of calmand be energized at the same time? The answer appears to be “yes.” Many studiessupport some variation of the inverted-U relationship between physiologicalarousal and performance. Before a competition, an athlete should not be toolaid back nor too pumped up or tense. Rather, the athlete wants to feel bothloose and energized at just the right level. Also, the inverted-U hypothesis isbased on summaries of data across athletes, and there is likely to beconsiderable variation in the relationship between arousal and performance forindividual athletes.

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13) To what does an optimal level ofarousal refer?

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Before a competition, an athlete should notbe too laid back nor too pumped up or tense. Rather, the athlete wants to feelboth loose and energized at just the right level. An optimal level of arousalis the level of physiological arousal associated with peak performance.However, the optimal level of arousal is likely to differ from individual toindividual and from sport to sport. A sport like weight lifting is likely tohave a higher optimal level of arousal for most athletes than a sport likegolf. The frequency of competitions is another variable that can influence anathlete’s level of arousal. They need to know how to energize before some gamesand how to relax before other games.

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14) Suppose that an athlete’s level ofarousal is far too low for a peak performance to occur. List four things thatan athlete can do to increase his/her level of arousal.

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If athletes need to energize during acompetition, they can use energizing imagery, energizing mood words, physicalactions (such as giving each other high fives), and energizing music.

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15) Suppose that an athlete’s level ofarousal is too high for a peak performance to occur. List four things that anathlete can do to decrease his/her level of arousal.

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Strategies for staying loose during acompetition include deep-centre breathing, muscle tensing and relaxing, use ofrelaxing mood words, use of humor, and “tuning out” during breaks in theaction.

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19) Using an example that is not in thischapter, illustrate a solution to the problem of an athlete who experiencesinterfering emotions.

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A golfer may get mad after making a badshot. A basketball player may become extremely upset if a teammate does notpass the ball when that player is open. A shortstop in baseball might becomeextremely angry after missing an easy double play. In such instances, if theanger stays with the athlete, then it is likely to interfere with thatathlete’s concentration for the next few plays. The solution: relax, regroup,and refocus. To eliminate errors due to negative emotions, athletes should beencouraged to practice the strategies described in chapter 8 to relax, regroup,and refocus. Example: A basketball player who feels asthough an opposing player tripped them on purpose and the ref didn’t notice.The player is extremely angry and this effects her passing and shooting skillssince she is putting too much force behind the ball. During a break period shetakes a minute to relax (breath in deep), regroup (clear their mind) andrefocus (think about how they know how to properly perform those skills andthat it was just one missed call that doesn’t have to effect the entire game).

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20) Using an example that is not in thischapter, illustrate a solution to the problem of an athlete who has difficultyconcentrating during a competition because of thinking too far ahead.

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Suppose that a golfer hits several badshots on the first couple holes. The golfer starts thinking, “oh no, im goingto shoot a terrible score.” Or suppose that the golfer has a great front nineand begins thinking, “if I can keep it together, I can shoot my best scoreever.” In such instances, the golfer is thinking too far ahead. The golfer isalready thinking about the final outcome. But thinking too far ahead can affectan athlete’s concentration in that the athlete is less likely to orient towardthe cues in the environment that normally exert stimulus control over skilledperformance. The solution: use self-talk to focus on the here and now. Thegolfer in the above example might be encouraged to tell himself, “My goal is totake it one step at a time.” “I’ll follow my pre-shot routine for the nextshot, and in between shots ill enjoy a walk in the part.” Athletes can use selftalk to focus on the cues that should control their behaviour at thatparticular point in time, rather than thanking too far ahead. Example: A hockey goalie stopping every single shotmade by the opposing team during the first period of play starts to think tohimself, “Nothing is going to get by me, I’m going to get a shut out!” He thenneeds to think to himself, “no don’t get to far ahead of yourself, there’sstill two periods to go.” He then begins to focus more on his same goal savingroutines whenever a player attempts a shot on him. Such as when a player isgoing for a wrap-around shot the goalie thinks to himself, “slide over, pressyour pad up against the net and block the hole.”

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5) What period of time is covered by acompetition focusing plan? Describe an example for a sport.

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(c) a competition focusing plan to ensurethat, once a competition begins, the athlete will experience the covert andovert behaviours associated with optimal performance (often described asmaintaining confidence and concentration and being mentally tough)

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6) What is a general goal of a competitionfocusing plan?

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The general goal of a competition focusingplan is to ensure that, once a competition begins, the athlete will experiencethat covert and overt behaviours that characterize optimal performance.

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12) What two aspects of an athletesperformance should a post-competition evaluation assess?

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Post-competition checklists should enablean athlete to self-assess their athletic performance as well as their mentalperformance and readiness.