Assessment In Sports Psychology

1. ASSESSMENT
IN
SPORTS
PSYCHOLOGY.
by:
Bilal Anwaar

2. Contents:
1. Introduction.
2. Attention:
• Measurement of Attentional
Focus.
3. Attentional Style:
• Associative versus Dissociative
Attentional Style.
• Measurement of Attentional
Style.
4. Anxiety:
• The Multidimensional Nature of
Anxiety.
• Measurement of Anxiety.
5. Mood:
• Measurement of Mood State.
6. Stress:
• Selye's Concept of Stress.
• Measurement of Stress.
7. Burnout:
• Tests to Assess Burnout.
8. Imagery Training:
• List of Main Imagery Tests.

3. 1. INTroDUCTION.
The assessment of an athlete's mental strengths and
weaknesses can be a key role for a sport psychologist.
Sport psychologists work with athletes for a number of
different reasons one of which is to try to improve
performance by helping an athlete prepare mentally. The
following are the some major assessments through
which, athletes' mental states and performance can be
measured:

4. 2. Attention:
To focus on particular stimuli.
• Measurement of Attentional Focus:
Landers (1988) identified three primary ways in which attention
can measured:
1. A behavioral assessment of attention is made using the
reaction time probe technique. In this procedure, attention
demands of a primary task are estimated based on a subject’s
performance on a secondary reaction time task.
2. The second method used by sport psychologists for
assessing attention is the use of physiological indicators.
Physiological arousal and attentional focus are closely related.
As the level of arousal increases, an individual’s attentional
focus tends to narrow.

5. 3. The third method identified by Landers for assessing
attention is the use of the self-report. The self-report
method has tended to be more of an indicator of
attentional focus as a personality trait or disposition.
• Description and Classification of Attentional Subscales
as Measured by the Test of Attentional and
Interpersonal Style:Scale Name Discription
BET Broad-External Environmental awareness
BIT Broad-Internal Analytical planning skill
NAR Narrow-Focused Avoid distractions and ability to stay
focused
OET External-Overload Inappropriate attention to external
stimuli
OIT Internal-Overload Inappropriate attention to internal
stimuli
RED Reduced Attention Inability to shift direction
(internal/external)

6. 3. ATTENTIANAL Style:
An athlete’s particular style of attending to stimuli.
Associative versus Dissociative Attentional Style:
Morgan (1978) hypothesized that marathon run_x0002_ners adopt one of two
attentional styles to assist them in training and competition. He defined associators
as those runners who internalize the direction dimension of attention and focus on
the body’s sensory feedback signals. Conversely, he defined dissociators as those
runners who externalize the direction dimension of attention and gate out or block
out sensory information from the body.
Measurement of Attentional Style.
Methods of measurement such as Pencil-and-paper inventories include the:
Running Style Questionnaire (RSQ; Silva & Appelbaum, 1989),
the Attentional Focus Questionnaire (AFQ; Brewer, Van Raalte, & Lin_x0002_der,
1996), and
the Thoughts During Running Scale (TDRS; Goode & Roth, 1993).

7. 4. Anxiety:
An organized pscho-physiological reaction to outgoing
relationships with the environment.
• The Multidimensional Nature of Anxiety:
Anxiety is multidimensional in two different ways.
I. State anxiety is an immediate emotional state that is
characterized by apprehension, fear, tension, and an
increase in physiological arousal.
II. Trait anxiety is a predisposition to perceive certain
environmental situations as threatening and to
respond to these situations with increased state
anxiety.

8. • Measurement of Anxiety:
In recent years, the preferred method of measuring trait
and state anxiety has been through the use of pencil-
and-paper inventories.
Trait/State Inventory
TRAIT Spielberger’s Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI)
TRAIT Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT)
TRAIT Cognitive Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire (CSAQ)
TRAIT Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2)
STATE Spielberger’s State Anxiety Inventory (SAI)
STATE Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI)
STATE Activation-Deactivation Checklist (AD-ACL)
STATE Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2)
STATE Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-
2R)

9. 5. Mood STATE:
Differs from an emotion in that it is more diffuse and may last
for weeks or even months.
Measurement of Mood State:
While other inventories have been developed for measuring
mood states, the inventory most commonly used by is the
Profile of Mood States (POMS).
The most commonly used version of the POMS is the original 65
item version that mea_x0002_sures the following six mood
states: tension, de_x0002_pression, anger, vigor, fatigue, and
confusion.

10. 6. Stress.
• Selye's Concept of Stress:
“Nonspecific response of the body to any demand made
upon it”.
He also divided stress into tow catagories:
I. Eustress.
II. Distress.
Distress is considered to be synonymus with state
anxiety.

11. • Measurement of Stress:
Several different pencil and paper inventories have been
developed to measure stress in athletes.
I. Ways Of Coping (WOCC).
II. The COPE and MCOPE instruments.
III.Coping Invertory for Stressful Situations (CISS).
IV.Coping Style in Sport Survey (CSSS).

12. 8. BURNOUT:
A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion
caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
• Burnout can be assessed by the following Tests:
I. Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).
II. Eades Athletic Burnout Inventory (EABI).
III.COPE Instrument.
IV.MCOPE Instrument.

13. 9. IMAGERY TRAINING:
Imagery Aspects Name
Controllability Gordon's Test of Imagery Control (GTIC).
Controllability Group Test of Mental Rotation (GMRT).
Imagery Use Imagery Use Questionnair (IDQ).
Imagery Use Sport Imagery Questionnair (SIQ).
Imagery Use Exercise Imagery Questionnair-Aerobic Version (EIO-
AV).
Imagery
Vividness
Questionnair on Mental Imagery (QMI).
Imagery
Vividness
Vividness of Mental Imagery Questionnair (VMIQ).
Imagery
Vividness
Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnair (MIQ-
R).
Following are the few main tests used to measure Imagery Training:

14. THANKS.