An Overview of Competitive Anxiety Studies in Their Early Stages : In order to Construct New Model on Competitive Anxiety in Sport

The purpose of this study was to reexamine various competitive anxiety theories, in order to construct a new model describing the relationship between competitive anxiety and sport perfomance, and also to clarify some of the problems concerning mental training. First, many studies on \u22AGARI\u22 (Stage fright) in Japan which had been made before the Tokyo Olympic Games, the trait-state anxiety theory in Spielberger, and the competitive anxiety theory by Martens were reexamined throughout. On the basis of these examinations, a new model on the relationship between competitive anxiety and sport performance (see Fig.8) was constructed in order to supersede the theories of Spielberger and Martens. Main points of emphases in this model were as follows: 1) Since the external and objective demands affecting cognitive appraisal in the Spielberger model were too narrow, they were widely interpreted and regarded as objective competitive situations in the Martens model. 2) Various elements affecting the internal stimuli in Spielberger or subjective competitive situations in Martents were regarded as important, in particular, in order to clear the prescriptive elements on cognitive appraisal. 3) Cognitive appraisal was divided into three dimensions: the first appraisal on the relationship between the stimuli and self, the second appraisal on coping patterns for harmful stimuli, and the third appraisal which considered the proprieties of these appraisals. Lastly, several of the problems which still needed to be solved in competitive anxiety studies were indicated. For example, they were as follows: 1) The development of new competitive anxiety scale which considered the charateristics of the sport events, the socio-cultural differences of players, and the relationship between anxiety and task complexity. 2) The necessity of research on the relationship between mental training and mental elements in performance, not sport performance itself. 3) The improvement of mental training techniques including combinations of different techniques, as well as the establishment of a precise suggested regimen for the mental managements which can contribute to an improvement in sport performance