SPSC 2315

Practice exam questions

Consultancy and Ethics – week 2

1. Attentional focus is an example of:

a) A Performance skill
b) A Foundation skill
c) A Team skill
d) A Personal development skill

2. Which construct forms the basis of the hierarchical structure of professional philosophy?

a) Consultant role
b) Theoretical paradigm
c) Model of practice
d) Personal core beliefs and values

3. What are the four different perspectives of a theoretical paradigm?

a) Psychosocial, behavioural, cognitive and voluntarism

b) Psychoanalytical, behavioural, interdisciplinary and supervisory
c) Psychoanalytical, behavioural, cognitive and humanistic
d) Psychosocial, medical, cognitive and interdisciplinary

4. Which of the following is not an ethical principle?

a) Respect
b) Dignity
c) Integrity
d) Competence

Anxiety, Stress and Coping – week 3

5. Increased heart rate, muscular tension and feelings of nausea are all symptoms of:

a) Cognitive anxiety
b) State anxiety
c) Somatic anxiety
d) Performance anxiety
 6. The multidimensional theory suggests that there is a negative linear relationship between
sports performance and:

a) Self confidence
b) Somatic anxiety
c) Cognitive anxiety
d) Trait anxiety

7. Hanton et al., (2004) found that intensity of somatic and cognitive anxiety started to
significantly increase:

a) 7 days prior to competition

b) 1 day prior to competition
c) 6 hours prior to competition
d) 2 hours prior to competition

8. Which of the following describes the primary appraisal within the transactional model of
stress and coping:

a) The personal significance of the event and its consequences

b) The evaluation of the significance of the stressor
c) The evaluation of controllability of the stressor
d) Strategies to mediate stressors

9. Nicholls et al., (2007) concluded that which stressors were significantly greater for males
than females?

a) Injury and communication

b) Injury and error
c) Communication and error
d) Injury and the coach

10. In the study by Fletcher and Hanton (2001), high usage of which psychological skills were
associated with lower anxiety?

a) Relaxation, self-talk and goal setting

b) Self-talk, relaxation and emotion control
c) Relaxation, imagery and self-talk
d) Imagery, self-talk and goal setting

Self-talk – week 4

11. According to Hardy et al., 2001 athletes typically use which types of self-talk more
frequently?
 a) Negative, External, Instructional, Sentences
b) Negative, Internal, Motivational, Cues/phrases
c) Positive, Internal, Motivational, Cues/phrases
d) Positive, External, Motivational, Cues/phrases

12. Hardy et al., 2005 concluded that the most common function of self-talk was?

a) Mastery function
b) Arousal function
c) Drive function
d) Specific function

13. Theodorakis et al., 2000 concluded that skills which require accuracy and precision benefit
more from:

a) Positive self-talk
b) Internal self-talk
c) Motivational self-talk
d) Instructional self-talk

14. Which of the following is not a mechanism for self-talk improving performance?

a) Focusing attention
b) Building confidence
c) Increasing negative thoughts
d) Reducing anxiety

15. Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2009 concluded that which type of self-talk decreases anxiety and
subsequently increase self-confidence?

a) Motivational self-talk
b) Instructional self-talk
c) Positive self-talk
d) Specific self-talk

Optimising athlete motivation – week 5

16. Within self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), relatedness refers to:

a) The perception of being the origin of one’s choices and decisions.

b) A sense of mastery through effective interaction with the environment.
c) Feeling securely attached to and being respected by significant others.
d) A tendency to orientate towards seeking rewards, gains, and approval.
 17. When motivation is regulated by ‘gaining approval from others’ it is said to be?

a) External
b) Introjected
c) Identified
d) Integrated

18. A performance-approach goal reflects which of the following?

a) Seeking normative competence

b) Developing skill mastery
c) Avoiding normative incompetence
d) Demonstrating ability with minimal effort

19. Roberts and Ommundson (1996) concluded that which type of achievement goal led to
avoidance of practice?

a) Task oriented
b) Mastery oriented
c) Ego oriented
d) Performance oriented

20. An ego orientation reflects:

a) An undifferentiated view of effort and ability.
b) A differentiated view of effort and ability.
c) An undifferentiated view of task difficultly and effort.
d) A differentiated view of task difficulty and effort.

21. Which of the following intervention strategies should be used to optimise an athlete’s
motivation?

a) Decrease autonomy-supportive behaviour

b) Increase autonomy-supportive behaviour
c) Promote ego oriented goals
d) Reduce feelings of relatedness

Athlete burnout – week 7

22. Which of the following is not a core symptom of athlete burnout?

a) Reduced sense of personal accomplishment

b) Depersonalisation
c) Increased anxiety
d) Emotional exhaustion
 23. Which model postulates that burnout occurs due to the stresses of physical training?

a) Smith’s 1986 model

b) Coakley’s 1992 model
c) Schmidt and Stein’s 1991 model
d) Silva’s 1990 model

24. Which two models of burnout have received the most research support?

a) Stress and SDT

b) Sociological and SDT
c) Commitment and SDT
d) Stress and Sociological

25. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of athlete engagement?

a) Dedication
b) Confidence
c) Enthusiasm
d) Enjoyment

Emotion regulation – week 8

26. Emotions arise due to:

a) Interactions between past experience and the environment

b) Interactions between the person and the environment
c) Interactions between the person and their peers
d) Interactions between past experience and the person

27. “Motivation to turn a negative event into a relatively stable positive one” describes which
type of motive to regulate emotions?

a) Hedonic
b) Instrumental
c) Internal
d) Subjective

28. Which emotion regulation technique is considered to be maladaptive?

a) Situation avoidance
b) Cognitive reappraisal
c) Expressive suppression
d) Imagery, self-talk and goal setting
 29. Mamassis and Doganis (2004) concluded that the mental training programme:

a) Increased anxiety
b) Decreased self-confidence
c) Decreased the direction of anxiety
d) Increased the direction of anxiety

30. What are the three phases of psychological skills training?

a) Education, training, evaluation

b) Education, acquisition, practice
c) Information, acquisition, implementation
d) Education, acquisition, implementation

Score /30

Topic(s) that you scored well on:

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Topic(s) that you scored less on that need more revision:

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