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AQA GCSE Physical Education · 8582
AQA 8582 Check the specification (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
Arousal is a physical and mental state of alertness or readiness, varying from deep sleep to intense excitement or alertness. In sports psychology, it describes how activated a performer’s body and mind are at a particular moment.
Here, readiness means how awake and alert someone is, not how much training they have completed. A well-trained performer can still have a low level of arousal.
The physical, or physiological, aspect concerns the body. Increased heart rate and sweating can be signs of high arousal.
The mental, or psychological, aspect concerns the mind: how alert or excited the performer feels. Arousal is therefore more than a bodily change such as a faster heartbeat, and it is not simply another word for nervousness. Excitement can also involve high arousal.
For example, a runner waiting for a race to begin might feel intensely excited and notice their heart beating faster. The excitement illustrates the mental aspect of arousal; the increased heart rate illustrates the physical aspect.
A continuum is a range with gradual changes between its extremes. Arousal is not just switched ‘on’ or ‘off’.
At the low end is deep sleep, when alertness is very low. Further along the range, a person may be awake but relaxed, then increasingly alert and ready. At the high end is intense excitement or alertness. A performer’s position on this range can change as a sporting event approaches or unfolds.
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Arousal involves physical and mental alertness/readiness.
Deep sleep → increasing alertness → intense excitement/alertness. It is a continuum, not an on/off state.
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For a definition of arousal, include both physical and mental alertness or readiness, and the range from deep sleep to intense excitement.
Do not define arousal only as nervousness or a fast heart rate: these do not capture the whole concept.
Arousal
A physical and mental (physiological and psychological) state of alertness or readiness, varying from deep sleep to intense excitement or alertness.
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Arousal
A physical and mental (physiological and psychological) state of alertness or readiness, varying from deep sleep to intense excitement or alertness.