IB Sports, exercise and health science C.4 Stress and Coping Key Definitions

A negative emotional state marked by feelings of nervousness, worry, and apprehension about future events, often without a clear external cause.

Arousal refers to the level of physiological and psychological activation an athlete experiences. It ranges from low (relaxed) to high (intense excitement or stress).

Catastrophe theory refers to a psychological model that describes how a sudden and dramatic drop in performance can occur when an athlete's arousal level becomes too high, particularly when combined with high cognitive anxiety, leading to a "catastrophic" decline in performance rather than a gradual decrease.

Coping is defined by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) as the constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage internal or external demands perceived as taxing or exceeding personal resources.

Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioural and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events

Drive theory refers to a psychological concept that suggests a linear relationship between an athlete's arousal level and their performance, meaning as arousal increases, so does their performance, with no optimal level of arousal; essentially, the more aroused an athlete is, the better they will perform according to this theory.

The 'inverted U' theory proposes that sporting performance improves as arousal levels increase but that there is a threshold point. Any increase in arousal beyond the threshold point will worsen performance. At low arousal levels, performance quality is low.

Mental imagery is a cognitive simulation that involves representing sensory information in the mind without a direct external stimulus. It's also known as visualization.

Relaxation techniques refer to a set of practices designed to deliberately reduce muscle tension and mental stress, often used by athletes to manage anxiety and optimize performance by achieving a calm state,

Humans retain an evolutionary stress response similar to animals, activating the sympathetic nervous system in threatening situations. This fight-or-flight reaction increases heart rate and releases epinephrine (adrenaline) to mobilize energy for action.

A stressor is an event or situation that causes a stress response in the body. Stressors can be physical or psychological, and can be internal or external.