NSCA CSCS Sport Psychology and Motivation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following is the MOST effective way a strength coach can enhance an athlete's self-efficacy?
- Providing verbal encouragement only
- Allowing the athlete to observe a peer succeed at the task
- Structuring progressively challenging success experiences (Correct answer)
- Reducing competitive stress before games
Correct answer: Structuring progressively challenging success experiences
Mastery experiences (performance accomplishments) are the strongest source of self-efficacy according to Bandura's model.
Question 2: An athlete who attributes a poor performance to lack of effort rather than lack of ability is making an attribution that is:
- External and stable
- Internal and unstable (Correct answer)
- External and unstable
- Internal and stable
Correct answer: Internal and unstable
Effort is classified as an internal (within the athlete) and unstable (can change) attribution in Weiner's attribution model.
Question 3: Which leadership style is MOST appropriate when working with a highly skilled, experienced athlete who prefers autonomy?
- Autocratic/directive
- Democratic/participative (Correct answer)
- Laissez-faire
- Transactional
Correct answer: Democratic/participative
A democratic or participative leadership style is best suited for experienced, capable athletes who value input and autonomy in decision-making.
Question 4: The phenomenon in which an individual exerts less effort when working in a group than when working alone is called:
- Social loafing (Correct answer)
- Groupthink
- Deindividuation
- Social facilitation
Correct answer: Social loafing
Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to reduce their effort and motivation when they are part of a group compared to working individually.
Question 5: Which motivational technique involves setting short-term, attainable subgoals that build toward a larger long-term goal?
- Goal stacking
- Proximity principle
- Graduated goal setting (Correct answer)
- Competitive benchmarking
Correct answer: Graduated goal setting
Graduated goal setting uses a stepwise progression of achievable short-term goals to maintain motivation and build toward a long-term objective.
Question 6: According to catastrophe theory, performance collapses abruptly (catastrophically) when both cognitive anxiety and arousal are:
- Both low
- High cognitive anxiety combined with high somatic arousal (Correct answer)
- Low cognitive anxiety with high somatic arousal
- High cognitive anxiety with low somatic arousal
Correct answer: High cognitive anxiety combined with high somatic arousal
Catastrophe theory proposes that performance drops sharply when high cognitive anxiety is combined with high physiological arousal, unlike a gradual decline.
Question 7: A coach who focuses feedback on what the athlete did correctly before addressing errors is using which motivational strategy?
- Extinction
- The sandwich approach (Correct answer)
- Negative reinforcement
- Punishment
Correct answer: The sandwich approach
The sandwich (or compliment-critique-compliment) approach frames corrective feedback between positive statements to maintain motivation and self-esteem.
NSCA CSCS Sport Psychology and Motivation 3
Which of the following is the MOST effective way a strength coach can enhance an athlete's self-efficacy?