CIC Sports Psychology & Motivation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which leadership style is generally most effective when coaching experienced, self-motivated high school athletes?
- Autocratic style with strict rules
- Delegative (laissez-faire) style
- Democratic/participative style (Correct answer)
- Prescriptive style with minimal input
Correct answer: Democratic/participative style
Democratic or participative coaching allows experienced athletes input in decision-making, which enhances autonomy, ownership, and intrinsic motivation.
Question 2: A swimmer's performance suddenly drops despite no physical injury. The coach suspects burnout. Which sign is MOST characteristic of athlete burnout?
- Increased training eagerness with poor technique
- Emotional exhaustion and sport devaluation (Correct answer)
- Heightened competitive anxiety before meets
- Elevated heart rate during warm-up
Correct answer: Emotional exhaustion and sport devaluation
Athlete burnout is characterized by emotional/physical exhaustion, sport devaluation (reduced sense of accomplishment), and a depersonalized attitude toward sport.
Question 3: In Achievement Goal Theory, an athlete with a strong task (mastery) orientation primarily defines success as:
- Outperforming teammates in practice
- Winning the championship game
- Personal improvement and skill mastery (Correct answer)
- Receiving praise from coaches and parents
Correct answer: Personal improvement and skill mastery
Task-oriented athletes judge success based on personal improvement and effort, independent of how they compare to others.
Question 4: A coach wants to reduce pre-game anxiety in a nervous athlete. Which intervention is MOST evidence-based?
- Telling the athlete to 'just relax and not think about it'
- Progressive muscle relaxation and controlled breathing (Correct answer)
- Increasing training volume the week before competition
- Publicly praising the athlete to raise confidence
Correct answer: Progressive muscle relaxation and controlled breathing
Progressive muscle relaxation combined with diaphragmatic breathing effectively reduces somatic anxiety by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.
Question 5: Which psychological concept explains why a soccer player's performance improves when playing in front of a supportive home crowd but declines with a hostile crowd?
- Social loafing
- Social facilitation (Correct answer)
- Deindividuation
- Group polarization
Correct answer: Social facilitation
Social facilitation theory explains that audience presence enhances performance on well-learned tasks but can impair performance on novel or complex skills depending on arousal level.
Question 6: An athlete persistently attributes losses to bad luck and wins to easy opponents. This pattern most indicates:
- Healthy coping and resilience
- External locus of control with self-serving bias (Correct answer)
- Task orientation and intrinsic motivation
- Adaptive explanatory style
Correct answer: External locus of control with self-serving bias
Attributing losses externally (luck) and wins externally (easy opponents) reflects external locus of control combined with a self-serving attribution bias.
Question 7: What is the PRIMARY purpose of using mental imagery (visualization) in sport?
- To replace physical practice during injury recovery only
- To rehearse skills and build confidence through mental simulation (Correct answer)
- To reduce the need for technical coaching feedback
- To distract athletes from anxiety before competition
Correct answer: To rehearse skills and build confidence through mental simulation
Mental imagery allows athletes to mentally rehearse skills, strategies, and emotional responses, strengthening neural pathways and building confidence.
CIC Sports Psychology & Motivation 3
Which leadership style is generally most effective when coaching experienced, self-motivated high school athletes?