Sport psychology
AQA GCSE Physical Education revision on Sport psychology. Aligned to the AQA GCSE PE 8582 specification. This bank has 49 practice questions on this topic.
Sample questions (3 of 49)
-
Question 1
Intrinsic motivation comes from...
- A) External rewards (money, medals)
- B) Within - personal enjoyment
- C) Coaches
- D) Sponsors
Show answer
Answer: Within - personal enjoyment
INTRINSIC motivation: doing something for its own sake - enjoyment, pride, mastery, sense of progress. Research: linked to long-term commitment + wellbeing. EXTRINSIC motivation: external rewards/punishments - money, trophies, fame, approval from others. Both can be useful but intrinsic generally more sustainable.
-
Question 2
Arousal is...
- A) Excitement only
- B) The general physiological + psychological state of alertness/readiness
- C) Performance
- D) Fear
Show answer
Answer: The general physiological + psychological state of alertness/readiness
Sports performance + arousal: there's an OPTIMAL level. Too low = drowsy, unfocused. Too high = anxious, jittery. INVERTED-U HYPOTHESIS: performance is best at moderate arousal. Different sports/skills need different optimal levels: archery (low - need calm), boxing (high - need intensity). Personality matters too - extroverts handle higher arousal.
-
Question 3
The inverted-U hypothesis says performance is best at...
- A) Low arousal
- B) Moderate (optimal) arousal
- C) Maximum arousal
- D) Zero arousal
Show answer
Answer: Moderate (optimal) arousal
Yerkes + Dodson Law (1908). Graph: arousal on x-axis, performance on y-axis = inverted U shape. Too low: not engaged. Too high: anxious/over-aroused. PEAK in middle. Optimal arousal varies by: type of task (precision vs power), skill level (experts handle higher), personality (extroverts higher).
Want to test yourself on the remaining cards for this topic?
46 more questions on Sport psychology — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole Physical Education spec.