SOMATIC ANXIETY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL - THEIR EFFECTS UPON A HIGHANAEROBIC, LOW MEMORY DEMAND TASK

Two studies are reported which used 16 basketball and volleyball playe rs to investigate three hypotheses: 1) Somatic anxiety is positively r elated td Sargent lump performance while cognitive anxiety is not rela ted to Sargent lump performance: 2) Physiological arousal is also posi tively related to Sargents jump performance; and 3) Physiological arou sal is more strongly related to Sargent jump performance than somatic anxiety. Multidimensional anxiety was measured on three occasions usin g the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory - 2 (CSAI-2; Martens, Burton , Vealey, Bump & Smith; 1982, 1990) physiological arousal was measured using heart rate, and Sargent lump performance was measured as height jumped. The results from both studies supported the three hypotheses, and indicate that for this particular task increased somatic anxiety positively affects height jumped, cognitive anxiety does not affect pe rformance increased physiological arousal positively affects height lu mped, and physiological arousal is more strongly related to performanc e than somatic anxiety. These results are discussed in term of future research, and the implications for the coach and practicing sport psyc hologist.