Coping under pressure: employing emotion regulation strategies to enhance performance under pressure

Performing under high pressure is an emotional experience. Hence, the use of emotion regulation strategies may prove to be highly effective in preventing choking under pressure. Using a golf putting task, we investigated the role of arousal on declined sport performance under pressure (pilot study)...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sport & exercise psychology 2013-08, Vol.35 (4), p.408-418
Main Authors: Balk, Yannick A, Adriaanse, Marieke A, de Ridder, Denise T D, Evers, Catharine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Arousal - physiology
Athletic Performance - physiology
Athletic Performance - psychology
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Female
Golf - psychology
Heart Rate - physiology
Human performance
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pilot Projects
Sports
Strangulation
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Performing under high pressure is an emotional experience. Hence, the use of emotion regulation strategies may prove to be highly effective in preventing choking under pressure. Using a golf putting task, we investigated the role of arousal on declined sport performance under pressure (pilot study) and the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies in alleviating choking under pressure (main study). The pilot study showed that pressure resulted in decreased performance and this effect was partially mediated by increased arousal. The main study, a field study, showed that whereas the choking effect was observed in the control condition, reappraisal and, particularly, distraction were effective emotion regulation strategies in helping people to cope instead of choke under pressure. These findings suggest that interventions that aim to prevent choking under pressure could benefit from including emotion regulation strategies.
ISSN:0895-2779
1543-2904
DOI:10.1123/jsep.35.4.408