Analysis of Self-Confidence and Anxiety in Applied Sport Psychology

This report delves into the critical role of self-confidence and anxiety within the realm of applied sport psychology. It begins by highlighting the significance of self-confidence as a key differentiator between successful and less successful athletes, referencing Bandura's self-efficacy theory and Vealey's sports-confidence theory, which distinguishes between trait and state confidence. The report then explores various strategies and psychological interventions, such as team cohesion, effective leadership, and mental preparation, aimed at enhancing an athlete's self-confidence. Furthermore, the report examines anxiety appraisal, presenting Jones's model of control and the concept of facilitative anxiety, where athletes interpret anxiety symptoms as helpful for performance. It discusses the advantages of facilitative anxiety and outlines psychological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and behavior therapy to help athletes manage and interpret their anxiety effectively. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and providing relevant references to support the discussed concepts.

Running Head: APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 1
Applied Sport Psychology
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APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 2
Building self-confidence
1.
It has been mentioned in the particular segment that self-confidence plays an important
role and also it is one of the most discriminating factors between the less successful and the
successful performances in the world of sports to a great extent.
It has been observed and witnessed that the self-efficacy as stated by Bandura in the year
1977 was the self-efficacy is regarded as the main role for analyzing the changes achieved in
avoidant as well as the fearful behavior in the individuals (Bandura and Adams, 1977).
Furthermore, the theory was mainly based on the main assumption that the psychological forms
do not matter whatever forms they are in serves as a vital component for strengthening and
creating the reasonable amount of expectations with regards to the personal efficacy. The theory
also distinguishes in a successful manner between the response outcome expectancies and the
expectations of efficacy (Bandura, 1977). On the other hand, in the sport-confidence theory
outlined by Valley in the year, 1986 suggested that the sports confidence can be defined as the
degree or the belief of certainty that an individual possesses about their personal ability to be
successful in the world of sports. Furthermore, it has been also noticed that the Sports
Confidence Theory mainly measures two factors: State sports confidence and traits sports
confidence. The trait sports confidence is considered to be like the other personality traits that
tend to remain in a stable position. Additionally, the trait confidence is also a difference from the
particular confidence as it relates to the generalized belief of a person about the extent to which
their ability may bring a reasonable amount of success across a huge range of sports. It is one of
the reasons why the trait confidence is also global. Secondly, the state sports confidence can also

APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 3
be developed via learning and it tends to be quite changeable and unstable. The state confidence
is directly related to the belief of an individual with regards to at what extent to which the sport's
person ability will bring success at a specific moment. It is the main reason why the state
confidence can be regarded as particular to a situation. Throwing light on the above-mentioned
discussion, it can be said that confidence plays the most important role in the life of a sports
person and it is also important for their performance as it has shown to influence the sporting
attainment, behaviors, and attitudes. One of the most recent models with regards to the sports-
confidence also retains the original nine sources of confidence and also includes the three vital
elements that are an absolute necessity for an athlete namely the physical training and skills,
cognitive efficiency, and the resilience. Furthermore, the model also proposed that the overall
culture of the sport such as the competition level and the characteristics of the sportsperson such
as their gender will greatly influence the types and sources of sports-confidence used (Vealey
and et al., 1998).
The following are some of the strategies and psychological interventions that are used by the
sports psychologists for enhancing the self-confidence of a sports person:
Firstly, the approval and the praise by some of the significant persons in terms of strong
team cohesion will tend to enhance the self-confidence of the sportsperson
Secondly, if there is an effective amount of leadership demonstrated by the coach then it
will instantly raise the confidence level at an alarming rate among the team members
Thirdly, the individuals who lack in the self-confidence must be helped by the sports
psychologists in terms of seeing if their working conditions are suitable enough for them

APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 4
The sportsperson will also require the mental preparation from their sports psychologists and
physical preparation from their coach so that their confidence will be increased and they will
deliver a successful performance
2.
In this segment, anxiety appraisal will be briefly highlighted. There are some of the
researchers that have suggested cognitively tensed/worried performers clarify their physiological
arousal symptoms in a negative manner, and followed by it they also tend to recognize they are
no longer in control with regards to their performance. Throwing light on the above-mentioned
discussion it can be said that for explaining the anxiety interpretation differences Jones in the
year 1995 had proposed a model of control that was regarded as quite useful for the athletes.
Furthermore, this particular model also tries to explain that the positive expectancy of goal
attainment is the effect of the ability to cope and perceived control and this produces a more
facilitative interpretation with regards anxiety. One of the famous basketball coach named Jack
Donahue said that "It is not a case of getting rid of the butterflies; it's a question of getting them
to fly in formation." This specific idea is also regarded as the stimulus regulation. Furthermore,
the arousal regulation also means entering into and maintaining an excellent level of
physiological and cognitive activation in order to maximize the performance of the sportsperson
(Hanton and Jones, 1999).
It has been said that the facultative anxiety is always considered to be quite good for a
sports person. It is good for the athletes because it is the feeling that they get for controlling a
specific stressor such as niggling injury or a dangerous rival will simply mean that the symptoms
related to anxiety-pumped up heart rate, butterflies in the stomach, and etcetera are considered in

APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 5
the sports psychology to be quite helpful or facilitative towards the performance of a sports
person on the field to a great extent. On the contrary, if the sports person does not have any type
of control over the situation such as their opponent is quite strong then this type of same
symptoms will be interpreted as likely to impair their performance or deliberative in nature.
Furthermore, it can be also said that the hypothesis of Jones's model has been generally been
supported by the academic literature. Moreover, there are some of the studies that have examined
the direction and intensity of the anxiety as the function of the competition goal orientation and
function of goal attainment expectation. It has been also stated that the direction and magnitude
of anxiety are how much an individual feels although the direction has to do with whether the
athletes translate the symptoms as being the deliberative of facilitative to the performance. Some
of the advantages of the facilitative anxiety for which it is considered to be quite desirable for the
sportsperson are as follows: It acts as the motivation as the sportsperson can control over the
situation so they are quite prepared for facing the challenges as well as consequences. Secondly,
facilitative anxiety is a positive anxiety so it motivates the sportsperson to do things more
effectively and it also encourages the athletes to make an extra effort in overcoming the feelings
of bad anxiety (Butt, Weinberg and Horn, 2003).
The psychological interventions that can help an athlete to interpret their anxiety are as
follows: The cognitive behavioral therapy is considered to be most broadly used therapy for the
anxiety-related disorders. There are researchers that have highlighted that it is one of the most
effective interventions for reducing the phobias, panic disorders among the athletes. Another
physiological intervention that is quite helpful for the athletes is the behavior therapy. It helps
them to cope up with the fearful situations rather than escaping or avoiding them (Greenspan and
Feltz, 1989).

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References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological
review, 84(2), 191.
Bandura, A., and Adams, N. E. (1977). Analysis of self-efficacy theory of behavioral
change. Cognitive therapy and research, 1(4), 287-310.
Butt, J., Weinberg, R., and Horn, T. (2003). The intensity and directional interpretation of
anxiety: Fluctuations throughout competition and relationship to performance. The Sport
Psychologist, 17(1), 35-54.
Greenspan, M. J., and Feltz, D. L. (1989). Psychological interventions with athletes in
competitive situations: A review. The sport psychologist, 3(3), 219-236.
Hanton, S., and Jones, G. (1999). The acquisition and development of cognitive skills and
strategies: I. Making the butterflies fly in formation. The Sport Psychologist, 13(1), 1-21.
Vealey, R. S., Garner-Holman, M., Hayashi, S. W., and Giacobbi, P. (1998). Sources of sport-
confidence: Conceptualization and instrument development. Journal of Sport and
Exercise psychology, 20(1), 54-80.