C.1.1.1: Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. Personality is typically understood to be an interaction between genetic traits and the environment.

C.1.1.2: Social learning theory is a situational approach to understanding behaviour.

C.1.1.3: Personality can change over a long period of time.

C.1.2.1: Mental toughness is an aspect of personality that partly explains how individuals manage challenging and pressurised situations.

C.1.2.2: The theory of the “self-fulfilling prophecy” in sporting success suggests that a sportsperson’s perceived self-confidence results in greater persistence and effort, leading to an increased probability of eventual success.

C.1.2.3: Mental toughness is positively associated with better health outcomes, including fewer depressive symptoms, fewer burnout symptoms and improved sleep quality.

C.1.2.4: Attribution theory illustrates how the locus of control and stability can impact subsequent confidence.

C.2.1.1: Learning, including motor learning, is a relatively permanent change in behaviour brought about by experience, whereas performance is a temporary occurrence, fluctuating over time.

C.2.1.2: The psychological refractory period is the time during which the response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because a first stimulus is still being processed.

C.2.1.3: Transfer of learning refers to the influence of previous experience performing a skill on the learning of a new skill.

C.2.2.1: The proficient execution of specific skills requires the correct attentional focus.

C.3.1.1: Need achievement theory posits that personality and situational factors interact to produce resultant factors, which create emotional factors, which drive behavioural factors.

C.3.1.2: Goal orientation theory assumes that individuals strive to feel successful.

C.3.1.3: High ego orientation can be problematic if task orientation is low.

C.3.2.1: Self-determination theory hypothesises that humans strive to satisfy needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

C.3.2.2: Motivation can be placed along a continuum from amotivation to controlled motivation to autonomous motivation.

C.3.2.3: Self-determination theory is a meta-theory comprising six mini-theories, each explaining a facet of individual motivation.

C.3.3.1: Motivational climate describes the psychological environment that the coach creates by designing sessions that provide instructions and feedback, which will help to motivate the athletes in training or competition.

C.4.1.1: Arousal refers to the level of physical and psychological activation. This impacts on sport performance in the way that individuals attempt to manage their levels of intensity.

C.4.1.2: When anxiety is low, individuals experience positive emotions, such as excitement, desire and elation. High levels of anxiety induce negative emotions such as fear, worry and despondency.

C.4.2.1: A stressor causes psychological strain. This can be positive, such as looking forward to an opportunity, or negative, such as fearing an outcome.

C.4.2.2: Stressors can be considered as either controllable or uncontrollable.

C.4.2.3: Many coping strategies have been shown to be effective for athletes, although the effectiveness of each is specific to the individual and the situation.

C.5.1.1: Goal setting directs attention to a specific task. It is regularly used to enhance motivation in sport, exercise and health.

C.5.1.2: The goal-setting paradox explains that elite athletes often feel less satisfied when a higher goal is achieved than an easier goal. This is thought to be the result of feelings of deflation after success.

C.5.2.1: Imagery is an experience that mimics real experience. It involves using a combination of different sensory modalities in the absence of actual perception.