Background. Among the most important factors of success in sports there are self-regulation skills of that are formed through goal-attainment. In the context of achieving high sports results, the concept of achieving the goal of J. Nicholls deserves special attention (Nicholls, 1984). According to the research, the goals of athletes can predict their emotional state and the likelihood of anxiety in the upcoming competition.

The Objective is to reveal the connection between the state of pre-competitive anxiety and the goal-setting features as a way of self-regulation in curling athletes. In accordance with the researcher conclusions of the specifics of goal orientation, we assume that athletes with an ego goal orientation are characterized by a higher precompetitive anxiety compared to athletes with a task goal orientation.

Design. The article analyzes the types of target orientations and the state of anxiety in 56 curling athletes in the pre-competition period (m = 16, f = 40). The study used the following methods: Spielberger’s anxiety scale and R. Martens’ personal competitive anxiety scale with both methods in adaptation of Yu.Hanin, author’s questionnaire to establish the focus of the curler athletes’ goals.

Results. The assumption that athletes with an ego goal orientation are characterized by a higher precompetitive anxiety compared to athletes with a task goal orientation did not receive confirmation, which contradicts the results of studies performed by other specialists. The lack of connection between precompetitive anxiety and the orientation of the goals in athletes is probably determined by the specifics of curling as a team sport. It was established that men and women do not have significant differences in adherence to one or another orientation of goals (p> 0.05), however, significant gender differences were found in terms of personal and competitive anxiety (p≤0.01; p <0.05).

Conclusions. The performed work allowed us to identify new areas for further research, such as: the role of the coach in the target-setting for athletes; the study of factors that influenced the results.

The paper discusses the role of the movement in the process of shaping the personality, its importance as a mechanism for personality development is considered. The issue of the movement has always occupied a central place in Russian psychology. However, subsequently the movement began to be considered primarily as an executive action in human life. The role of movement in personality development can vary depending on the level it occupies in the hierarchical structure of activity, and also on the type of movement, its character, and the way it is constructed. Under certain conditions, the movement can express the attitude of the subject to the surrounding world and people.

Many foreign and Russian psychologists point to a special place of the postural tonic component of the motor movement, the posture in personal regulation. The posture reflects his/her personal attitudes, the system of relationships, and, above all, the emotional attitude or emotional assessment of the current situation, the interest in the actions performed. Mastering the tonic level of motor management is based on the emotional regulation, so the ability to regulate one’s own pose is an important stage in the personality development.

Posture tonic regulation of motor movements in humans reveals a qualitatively different character than in animals, this being due to the person’s facing the task of mastering his’her posture, arbitrary retention of the body in one or another position. Maintaining a vertical posture requires constant activity at an arbitrary and involuntary level of mental regulation. Mastering the posture of an unstable equilibrium presupposes the emergence of the «I» and is the last stage of the development. The way a person solves the motor task of maintaining the vertical position of the body reflects his/her specific personal strategy or attitude.

The psychophysical research (N=106) on loudness distinction of tonal signals (method 2AFC) has been carried out. Applying the principle of subject`s activity and qualitative analysis to traditional psychophysical research was accomplished in the frameworks of differential psychological approach in psychophysics. The influence of self-regulation (questionnaires: HAKEMP-90, Style of behaviour self-regulation, Self- organization of behavior) on sensory sensitivity index A’ was observed. The relationship between loudness distinction effect and self-regulation processes mediating the sensory task decision were revealed. Applying the theoretical principle of subject`s activity to traditional psychophysical research was accomplished in the frameworks of differential psychology approach in psychophysics (A.N. Gusev). The idea of stimuli variation uncertainty results in appropriate transformation of the functional organ (A.N. Leontiev, A.A. Ukhtomskiy) that is relevant to sensory discrimination task performance.

Modernization of equipment as well as extension of competition schedules and programs that have taken place over the past few decades have dramatically influenced professional activities of cross-country skiers. In particular, acuteness of competitive struggle has extremely increased and as a result psychological preparation of an athlete has become a very important and sometimes crucial factor.

Today, cross-country skiing is one of the most demanding sports associated with critical aerobic loading and cyclic explosive contractions involving all main muscle groups. Characteristic motor activity is highly uniform and automatic that potentially leads to negative psychological states decreasing motor efficiency. Athlete’s high motivation is the main tool to withstand this phenomenon. Muscles arbitrary relaxation rate (ARR) is considered to be the most important parameter of contractive activity. ARR is determined by the function of CNS inhibitory systems and decreased during emotional stress, which can be managed using respective psychological skills training (PST) features. Such interrelationship allows to reveal complex systemic links between various types of training and introduces the problem of the appropriate integration of PST into the entire training system. Available research data suggest that self-talk and mental imagery are quite useful as PST tools without regard to a skier’s level of expertise. Based on an individual interpretation for summarized data the author posed the following hypothesis: conversion from automatically executed to consciously controlled components of activity is involved to functionality of mental imagery; the conversion efficiency can be enhanced by means of attitude of intentional search for such components during visualization.