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WalesPhysical Education

A2: Sport Psychology

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do arousal and anxiety affect performance, and how can they be managed?

The theories of arousal, the types of anxiety and their effect on performance, and the cognitive and somatic techniques used to control arousal and anxiety.
A focused WJEC A-Level PE answer on arousal and anxiety, covering drive theory, the inverted-U hypothesis, catastrophe theory and the zone of optimal functioning, the types of anxiety, and cognitive and somatic stress-management techniques.
13 min answer →

What makes an effective leader in sport, and which style suits which situation?

Theories of leadership, leadership styles, how leaders emerge, and the factors and models that determine effective leadership in sport.
A focused WJEC A-Level PE answer on leadership, covering trait, social learning and interactionist theories, autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire styles, prescribed and emergent leaders, and Chelladurai's multi-dimensional model of leadership.
12 min answer →

What drives performers to achieve, and how do they explain their successes and failures?

Types of motivation, achievement motivation and self-efficacy, goal setting, and the attribution of success and failure including learned helplessness.
A focused WJEC A-Level PE answer on motivation and attribution, covering intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, achievement motivation and the need to achieve, self-efficacy, goal setting, Weiner's attribution model, and learned helplessness.
12 min answer →

How do personality, attitudes and aggression shape sporting behaviour?

Theories of personality and personality profiling, the formation and change of attitudes, and the nature, theories and control of aggression in sport.
A focused WJEC A-Level PE answer on personality, attitudes and aggression, covering trait, social learning and interactionist theories, the triadic model of attitudes and how to change them, and the theories and control of aggression.
12 min answer →

How do other people and being in a team affect a performer?

Social facilitation and inhibition, evaluation apprehension, the stages of group formation, cohesion, and the causes of reduced individual effort in groups.
A focused WJEC A-Level PE answer on social facilitation and group dynamics, covering the effect of an audience, evaluation apprehension, Tuckman's stages of group formation, task and social cohesion, and the Ringelmann effect and social loafing.
12 min answer →