C.1.2SL + HL
Mental toughness
Guiding question: What helps some athletes stay confident and in control when the pressure is at its highest?
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C.1.2.1
What mental toughness is
Mental toughness is a personality characteristic that helps explain how people cope with pressure and challenge. It includes appraising challenges positively, commitment, confidence, a sense of control and resilience. It aids performance under pressure, is partly genetic and can be trained. Because it is hard to observe, it is usually measured with self-report questionnaires.
Match the terms
Key terms
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Check yourself
Quick check
1.Which are attributes of mental toughness? I. Unshakeable belief in own ability II. Avoiding challenges to prevent failure III. Coping effectively with adversity and pressure IV. Retaining concentration despite potential distractions
2.Which list contains only components of mental toughness?
3.Why is mental toughness usually measured with questionnaires completed by the athlete?
C.1.2.2 · HL only
Self-fulfilling prophecy and learned helplessness
Believing you will succeed leads to more effort and persistence, which makes success more likely. Learned helplessness is the reverse: people feel they have no control over what happens, so they stop trying.
Check yourself
Quick check
1.Which is an example of the self-fulfilling prophecy?
2.Learned helplessness is best described as
3.A gymnast repeatedly fails a vault and says, "I'll never land this, so there's no point trying." Which concept does this show?
C.1.2.3 · HL only
Mental toughness and health
Higher mental toughness is linked with better health: fewer symptoms of depression and burnout, and better-quality sleep. These are associations, so they do not prove that toughness causes the benefits.
Check yourself
Quick check
1.A study of university athletes finds a correlation of r = 0.45 between mental toughness scores and sleep quality scores. What can be concluded?
2.Why can the relationship between mental toughness and health be difficult to study?
3.Higher mental toughness is associated with which health outcomes? I. Fewer depressive symptoms II. Fewer burnout symptoms III. Better sleep quality
C.1.2.4 · HL only
Attribution theory
Attributions are the reasons people give for success or failure. Weiner's model sorts them by locus (internal or external) and stability (stable or unstable). The reasons an athlete chooses affect their future confidence.
Match the terms
Key terms
Match each term to its meaning.
Tap a term, then tap its meaning.
Check yourself
Quick check
1.In attribution theory, a player who says she lost because of bad luck is giving a cause that is
2.A boxer says he won because he is naturally more talented than his opponent. How is this attribution most likely to affect his future confidence?
3.After a heavy defeat, which attribution would best protect a young netball player's future confidence?
Practise this topic
Self-marking exam-style questions with Guide me hints and full mark schemes.
Links to other topics
- C.4.2Do mentally tough athletes choose different coping strategies when stress builds?
- A.2.3, A.3.1In a test to exhaustion, might mental toughness let an athlete keep going beyond their predicted physiological limit?