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The present study examined the association between personality, competitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and physiological arousal in athletes with high and low anxiety levels. Anxiety was manipulated by means of an incentive. Fifty male participants, first, completed the Five Factor Personality Inventory and their resting electro dermal activity (EDA) was recorded. In the second stage, participants were randomly assigned to high or low anxiety groups. Individual EDAs were recorded again to determine precompetition physiological arousal. Participants also completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) and played a computer-simulated soccer match. Results showed that neuroticism was related to both CSAI-2 components and physiological arousal only in the group receiving the incentive. Winners had higher levels of cognitive anxiety and lower levels of physiological arousal than losers. On the basis of these findings, we concluded that an athlete's neurotic personality may influence his cognitive and physiological responses in a competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of positive and negative feedback on maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the biceps brachii muscle and explored the mediating effects of gender and conscientiousness. During elbow flexion, MVCs were measured in positive, negative, and no-feedback conditions. Participants were divided into high- and low-conscientiousness groups based on the median split of their scores on Tatar's five-factor personality inventory. Considering all participants 46 college student athletes (21 female, 28 male), positive feedback led to a greater MVC percentage change (-5.76%) than did negative feedback (2.2%). MVC percentage change in the positive feedback condition differed significantly by gender, but the negative feedback condition did not. Thus, positive feedback increased female athletes' MVC level by 3.49%, but decreased male athletes' MVC level by 15.6%. For conscientiousness, MVC percentage change in the positive feedback condition did not differ according to high and low conscientiousness. However, conscientiousness interacted with gender in the positive feedback condition, increasing MVC in high-conscientiousness female athletes and decreasing MVC in low-conscientiousness female athletes. Positive feedback decreased MVC in both high- and low-conscientiousness male athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between psychophysiological arousal, cognitive anxiety, and personality traits in young taekwondo athletes. A total of 20 male and 10 female taekwondo athletes (mean age = 18.6 years; ± 1.8) volunteered for the study. The Five Factor Personality Inventory and the state scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used to measure personality and cognitive state anxiety. Electrodermal activity (EDA) was measured twice, one day and approximately one hour prior to the competition, to determine psychophysiological arousal. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlations, and stepwise regression were used to analyze the data. Several ''Big Five'' facets were related to the EDA delta scores that were measured both one day and one hour before the competition. Two stepwise regressions were conducted to examine whether personality traits could significantly predict both EDA delta scores. The final model, containing only neuroticism from the Big Five factors, can significantly explain the variations in the EDA delta scores measured one day before the competition. Agreeableness can significantly explain variations in the EDA delta scores measured one hour before the competition. No relationship was found between cognitive anxiety and the EDA delta scores measured one hour before the competition. In conclusion, personality traits, especially agreeableness and neuroticism, might be useful in understanding arousal responses to competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]