Volume 43 - n. 4 - July-August 2012

 

An explanation for the fallacy of facilitative anxiety: stress, emotions, coping, and subjective performance in sport

Adam R. Nicholls *, Remco C.j. Polman **, Andrew R. Levy *** and Johan Hulleman ****

(*) University of Hull, England
(**) Victoria University, Australia
(***) Edge Hill University, England
(****) University of Manchester, England

In this paper we explored the relationship between perceived stress, emotions, coping, and subjective performance. Participants were 636 athletes, who completed pre-competitive measures of stress and emotions. The participants also completed a measure of coping and subjective performance after their competitive event. Perceived stress significantly and positively correlated with the negatively toned emotions anger, anxiety, and dejection, but negatively correlated with one of the positively toned emotions, happiness. The positively toned emotions happiness and excitement correlated positively with subjective performance. The strategies mental imagery and effort expenditure were positively related to subjective performance, whereas disengagement/ resignation were negatively related to performance. Anxiety correlated with excitement, and excitement correlated with subjective performance. This finding would imply that it is the presence of excitement, which may have contributed to the notion that anxiety can be reported as being facilitative to performance.

Keywords: Coping strategies, Facilitative anxiety, Debilitative anxiety


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“Hold your Head high”. The influence of emotional versus neutral nonverbal expressions of dominance and submissiveness in baseball

Philip Furley * and Matt Dicks **

(*) German Sport University, Cologne, Germany
(**) VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Previous research has demonstrated that athletes displaying dominant nonverbal behavior (NVB) are perceived to possess more favorable performance characteristics and are expected to perform better than athletes showing submissive NVB. In the present study we used point light videos of a baseball pitcher displaying dominant, submissive, and neutral NVBs to show that this effect is mainly driven by the submissive condition. No difference between the neutral and the dominant condition was evident, suggesting that it is more important to avoid displaying submissive NVB instead of showing dominant NVB as neutral NVB already seems to lead to the impression that the athlete can handle the situation. The results show that NVBs expressing dominance and submissiveness are important early cues that affect the impression formation process in sport and the expectancy of success of the athlete observing this NVB. In addition, the results indicate, that further information about the ability level of the athlete might diminish this effect. Performance consequences of the effect of NVB are discussed.

Keywords: Nonverbal behavior, Person perception, Body language, Self-efficacy, Evolutionary psychology


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Self-regulation of learning and performance level of elite youth soccer players

Tynke Toering *, Marije T. Elferink-Gemser **, Geir Jordet *, Gert-Jan Pepping *** and Chris Visscher ***

(*) Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
(**) University of Gröningen and HAN University, Gröningen, the Netherlands
(***) University of Gröningen, the Netherlands

This study examined the relationship between self-regulated learning and performance level of 256 elite youth soccer players aged 12 to 17 years (Mage = 14.2; SD = 1.2). As relative age may affect this relationship through its association with maturation, experience, and performance level, we controlled for relative age. Practice and match experience was equal across groups [international (n = 76) vs. national level (n = 178)]. A logistic regression analysis revealed that players scoring high on reflection and players born in the first half of a selection year were more likely to belong to the international group (OR = 1.69 and 2.18, respectively). Relative age did not affect the relationship between reflection and performance level. We suggest that international players benefit more from practice than national players through reflective thinking. Additionally, given international players’ higher reflection scores irrespective of relative age, reflection may be a cognitive-behavioral marker of talent.

Keywords: Expertise Development, Football, Practice, Self-Regulated Learning, Talent identification


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Gaze behaviour during the soccer penalty kick: An investigation of the effects of strategy and anxiety

Benjamin Noël * and John Van Der Kamp **/***

(*) Institute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research, German Sport University Cologne, Germany
(**) Research Institute Move, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(***) Institute of Human Performance, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Gaze behaviour of penalty takers who either adopted a goalkeeper independent or goalkeeper dependent strategy was compared for low and high anxiety conditions. Results showed clear performance advantages for the goalkeeper independent strategy as compared to the goalkeeper dependent strategy. Balls were shot further away from the goalkeeper and less saves were made. The superior performance of the goalkeeper independent strategy was associated with longer times spent viewing to the target area inside the goal and toward the ball, and shorter looking times at the goalkeeper. The moderate, but significant increase in anxiety, however, did not affect gaze behaviour and performance. The present experiment is the first to demonstrate that the benefits of the goalkeeper independent strategy, relative to the goalkeeper dependent strategy, result from more optimal gaze patterns.

Keywords: Attentional control theory, Far aiming, Movement control


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The role of time pressure and accountability in moderating the impact of expectancies on judgments of tennis performance

Richard M. Buscombe * and Iain A. Greenlees **

(*) University of East London School of Health Sport and Bioscience, London UK
(**) University of Chichester School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences College Lane Chichester, Uk

Two studies are reported that investigated the role that time pressure and accountability play in moderating expectancy based judgments of a tennis player’s performance. Adopting a between subjects design, male participants (N = 57, N = 62, respectively) with experience of viewing or playing tennis watched video footage of a tennis player displaying either positive or negative body language during the standard warm-up period that precedes the start of a tennis match. An identical period of play was then viewed by all participants with judgments of the player’s performance being recorded on seven Likert-type scales. Time pressure (Study 1) and accountability (Study 2) served as additional independent variables which were manipulated in conjunction with the body language condition during the warm-up phase. In Study 1, between groups analysis of variance demonstrated an interaction between body language and time pressure (p = .001; ηp 2 = .18) such that when under time pressure the participants rated the player’s performance more favourably having previously viewed the player displaying positive as opposed to negative body language. In Study 2, between groups analysis of variance evidenced a main effect for body language (p = .02; ηp 2 = .10), however accountability was not seen to influence judgments of the player. This work confirms the existence of expectancy effects in sport and indicates that observers may be more susceptible to being influenced by prior held expectations of athletes when judgments are made under time pressure.

Keywords: Accountability, Social perception, Time pressure


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