Lew Hardy

The ability to resist the potentially disruptive effects of stress and produce best

performances under most pressure

Personality characteristics Coping strategies Mental skills Brain mechanisms

Appraisal Anxiety, robustness, and resilience Stubbornness – fight and struggle Attributional style Dispositional optimism Sensitivity to threat

“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the views they take of them”

(Epictetus, Ancient Greek Philosopher)

Challenge Threat Loss

Spring time inin Paris

red

Catastrophising

Over generalising

Discounting the positive

Mind reading

Predicting the future /scare mongering

Black and white thinking

Taking things personally

“Pain is just weakness leaving the body”

Parachute Regiment maxim

Intensity of symptoms Interpretation of symptoms Effects of anxiety – robustness and

resilience (recovery)

Smith et al (2001); Hardy & Hutchinson (2007); Beattie et al (2010)

Persistence in maintaining goal directed behaviour

Willingness to fight and struggle

Middleton et al (2004); Bull et al (2005)

“Ugly runs are worth just as much as beautiful runs”

Tim Boon, Head Coach, England Cricket Development Programme

Reasons we give for events – e.g., success and failure

Attributional dimensions – controllability, stability, globality

Impact on emotion and behaviour

Elite performers attribute failure to controllable causes

Gould et al (2002)

Olympic gold medallists Hurricane victims

Active not a passive state – opportunity to influence vs no need to do anything

Links to attributional style

Gould et al (2002); Carver & Sheier (1998)

“Every day is a fishing day, but not every day is a catching day”

Adie Byrrell, U17 Head Coach, England Cricket Development

Programme

Neural networks in the brain:Activation – readiness to actArousal – response to new stimuliCoordination – make adjustments if necessary

Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

Pribram & McGuiness (1975); Gray (1970); Gray & McNaughton (2000)

Mental Toughness

Low Hi

High Reward Sensitivity

Low Reward Sensitivity

Punishment Sensitivity

Active Coping Planning Suppress competing activities Vent or control emotions Social support: advice and emotional Positive reinterpretation and growth Acceptance Denial Disengagement: behaviourally or mentally

Problem focused Coping – active coping, planning, suppress competing responses

Emotional focused coping – venting/controlling emotions, social support

Re-appraisal – positive reinterpretation, acceptance

Avoidance – denial, behavioural, mental

Gender differences Range of strategies

Demands

Supports Constraints

See all the Choices

Punishment conditioned stimuli Practice Coping skills Inspirational delivery

Everything is good for you if it doesn’t kill you

What we think influences what we do and who we are: appraisal, interpretation, and attributions

Mental Toughness is not always pretty See danger early, find choices and positives

later Wide range of well-rehearsed coping

strategies

Every threat and loss is an opportunity