Confidence

Strategies for Combating Social Inhibition
1. Improve selective attention and cut out the effects of the audience
2. Train infront of others
3. Reduce the importance of the event
4. Develop the use of mental rehearsal
5. Avoid social comparison
6. Encourage teammates to be supportive
7. Increase Self efficacy
8. Coach in a non-evaluative environment initially
9. Stress management and relaxation techniques
10. Use attributions correctly
11. Ensure skills are overlearned to encourage the dominant habit to occur as the levels of arousal increase
Home & Away: Advantages & Disadvantages
1. Generally we expect that a team playing at their home venue will have an advantage over their opponents because of the familiarity of the surroundings, lack of travel required before the event, large number of home supporters.
2. During the early rounds of competition, home advantage is helpful
3. In the USA more home matches are won than away matches
4. Home advantage was mainly due to audience support
5. More fouls are committed by the away team
6. The proximity of the crowds to the playing area and resulting noise increased has been seen as a factor
7. Olympics hosts tend to win more medals than in games before or after
8. Home teams tend to play in a more attacking style within the rules
9. As competitions progress, playing at home may hinder performance due to the increased expectations of the home supporters. This also applies to a team who are defending champions
10. If the crowd is close to the play, the opposition may find this more intimidating rather than the actual size of the crowd - PROXIMITY EFFECT
11. The more important the game the greater the negative effect on the home team
12. Supportive spectators can create expectations of success
13. Potential increase in home players self-consciousness
14. Higher personal expectations cause home players to think too much rather than just playing automatically
15. Coaches are now much more aware of these problems and try not to create too much pressure
Baron's Distraction-Conflict Theory
1. Proposed that athletes must focus their attention on the demands of the task in hand, and anything which may distract them or hinder their performance. We can only process a limited amount of info at any time, therefore the audience created social facilitation. If the task is simple or well learned, this effect will be less than that exerted on a complex or new skill.
2. The implication for a performer has to be that they can direct their attention to the task and attempts to ignore the distraction created by the crowd.
Evaluation Apprehension
1. A sense of anxiety experienced by a performer, caused by the feelings that they are being judged by those in the audience.
2. One weakness of this theory is that not all performers are affected by the presence of others as suggested.
  1. Cottrell's (1968) stated that others only have an effect on arousal levels if the performer felt that their actions were actually being evaluated. If this were the case there would be an increase in anxiety levels and a corresponding decline in performance.
    1. For example, a badminton player may be highly capable in the training environment and execute skills successfully. However when placed in a competitive situation with other people watching they may worry about what others watching will think about their performance. This results in deterioration in the performers skill levels.
Social Facilitation
1. The influence of the presence of others on performance which has a positive effect.
2. A performer can also be motivated by people observing their performance, and this allows the performer to produce a level of skill execution that they may not have thought possible. The concept of social facilitation tries to explain why this happens.
3. When participating in sport, the presence of others who might not be directly watching may affect arousal levels. e.g. there may be other competitors practicing in the immediate area.
4. Factors affecting SF
  1. Trait anxiety
  2. Personality
  3. Past experiences
  4. Age & Gender
  5. Knowledge of the crowd
  6. Status of the observer
    1. Size of the audience & Surroundings
  7. Nature of the Audience
  8. Proximity of the Audience
Zajonc's Model
1. Suggested that the presence of others on performance may be positive or negative.
2. If it has a positive effect its classed as Social Facilitation. If it has a negative effect then it is classed as Social Inhibition.
3. He suggested that as the level of arousal increases due to the presence of others, the dominant habit is more likely to occur. If this is the case we would expect the performance of an experienced player to improve and that of a novice performer to decrease if they were being observed.
4. Audience
  1. Those watching either as spectators at the event or at home via different forms of media.
5. Co-Actors
  1. Those performing the same task but not in competition e.g. another player.
6. Competitive Co-Actors
  1. Those in direct competition with the performer e.g. another player on the opposing team.
7. Social Reinforcers
  1. Those with a direct influence e.g. the coach
8. Within sport, the 'passive others' are important. An inexperienced player is likely to become over aroused, causing them to execute the skills poorly as they aren't yet developed. Whereas this will be the opposite for an experienced player.
9. Learning of complex skills can be hindered if an audience is present, and the execution of fine skills may also be affected negatively. However if the skill is gross in nature, co-actors may actually help to improve the final performance.
Self-Confidence & Self Efficacy
1. The degree of self-confidence experienced by a performer when placed in a specific situation. The perception of self belief in your own ability to cope with he demands of the situation.
2. Self confidence of an individual varies depending on the situation and it could actually alter from moment to moment.
  1. For Example: 2003 Rugby World Cup Finals, the England team had recorded victories over all their major competitors. This raised their level of self efficacy and contributed to their positive attitude and approach to the competition. They believed in their own abilities and approached each ame knowing they had the potential to defeat their opponents.
3. The individual performers level of self-efficacy can affect the:
  1. Choice of Activity: High levels will ensure the athlete participates.
  2. Amount of Effort Applied: High levels will ensure the athlete is highly motivated and applies themself fully.
  3. Level of Persistance: High levels will ensure the athlete works hard and maintains their effort and commitment.
Development of Self-Efficacy
1. Past Experiences
  1. A performer who has experienced success and enjoyment is more likely to develop high levels of confidence.
2. Verbal Persuasion
  1. A performer who recieves encourgement about their own abilities and actions.
3. Vicarious Experiences
  1. A performer who has watched others achieving the task will feel that they are able to do so as well, especially if the model is of a similar ability.
4. Emotional Arousal
  1. A performer who is encouraged to percieve their physiological and psychological arousal before participation in a positive manner is more likely to develop high self efficacy.
5. Experience Early succes
  1. Observe demonstrations by competent others of similar ability
  2. Realistic but challenging goals
  3. Set performance goals
  4. Verbal encouragement and positive feedback
  5. Effective stress management techniques
  6. Mental rehearsal
  7. Avoid social comparison
  8. Correct attributions
6. A coach can employ different strategies to boost self efficacy, such as; one to one attention, attribution retraining, highlight performance goals, use correct attributions. They must believe that they are in control of the situation and must attribute reasons for that achievement to their own abilities.

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	Created by Hannah96 about 10 years ago