The purpose of the study was to conduct an in-depth examination of the stress and emotion process experienced by three sub-elite-level male cricketers over a series of five competitive performances. Using reflective diaries and follow-up semistructured interviews, the findings highlighted the impact of appraisal, coping, and emotion on performance, with perceptions of control and self-confidence emerging as variables that can influence the emotive and behavioral outcomes of a stressful transaction. Postperformance, guided athlete reflection was advanced as a valuable tool in the production and application of idiographic coping behaviors that could enhance perceptions of control and self-confidence and influence stress and emotion processes.
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Rich Neil, Harry C.R. Bowles, Scott Fleming, and Sheldon Hanton
Daniel L. Wann, Thomas J. Dolan, Kimberly K. MeGeorge, and Julie A. Allison
Previous research has indicated that spectators can influence the outcomes of athletic competitions. In Study 1, spectators' perceptions of their ability to influence the contests were examined. Results indicated that high levels of identification with sports teams were related to greater perceptions of influence. It was further predicted that high-identification fans would exhibit the most intense affective reactions to competition outcome. In Study 2 this proposition was tested and supported. High-identification fans reported an increase in pre- to postgame positive emotions following a win and an increase in negative emotions following a loss. Emotional changes were minimal for fans low in team identification. Finally, a third study was used to examine possible changes in team identification as a result of competition outcome for historically successful and marginally successful teams. The results indicated that although past team success was an important predictor of identification level, levels were not affected by game outcome.
Jane Lee Sinden
The present study examines Foucault’s (1977) concept of normalization as it applies to the emotions of female elite amateur rowers. Specifically, this study sought to understand how beliefs about emotion, developed through the normalization process, may coerce athletes to continue to train even when physically unhealthy. Interviews were conducted with 11 retired elite amateur female rowers who suffered health problems while training but continued training despite these health problems. Interpretation of the data suggests that the rowers suppressed emotions to avoid appearing mentally weak, negative, or irrational, despite needing to express their concerns about training volumes and health issues to minimize deleterious effects that continued training eventually had on their health.
Nicholas Stanger, Maria Kavussanu, and Christopher Ring
Aggression has been linked to empathy and emotions (e.g., guilt) in cross-sectional studies. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects of empathy on emotional reactions to aggression and the role of guilt in the empathy–aggression relationship. Seventy-one undergraduate sport and exercise science students with a mean age of 19.56 (SD = 1.94) years were randomly assigned to either a high- or a low-empathy group. We experimentally manipulated empathy using perspective taking instructions and examined the following: (a) participants’ emotional reactions to images of aggressive acts; (b) their reported likelihood to aggress in a hypothetical sport situation; and (c) the extent to which they anticipated feeling guilt if they were to engage in an aggressive act. Participants in the high-empathy group experienced stronger negative emotional reactions to images of aggressive acts and reported lower likelihood to aggress than did those in the low-empathy group. Anticipated guilt partially mediated the effects of empathy on reported likelihood to aggress. Our findings suggest that empathy may help reduce aggressive behavior and highlight the potential mediating role of guilt.
Alexander W.J. Freemantle, Lorenzo D. Stafford, Christopher R.D. Wagstaff, and Lucy Akehurst
Athlete emotions are defined as brief, discrete subjective experiences which can vary in response to the context-specific sporting events that occur (see Wagstaff & Tamminen, 2021 for a recent review). For example, scoring or losing a point can alter an athlete’s emotional experience ( Fritsch et
Eric Yiou, Manon Gendre, Thomas Deroche, and Serge Le Bozec
This study examined how pleasant and unpleasant emotional states influence the biomechanical organization of both forward and backward step initiation (SI). Participants (N = 31) purposely took a single step toward or away from a screen following the presentation of a pleasant (erotic), unpleasant (mutilation) or neutral (objects and landscapes) image. The main results showed that the reaction time for forward SI was shortened when individuals were exposed to pleasant pictures as compared with unpleasant pictures. The anticipatory whole-body center-ofmass velocity associated with backward SI, as well as the peak of center-of-mass velocity associated with forward SI both reached lower values when individuals were exposed to pleasant pictures as compared with neutral pictures. In contrast, unpleasant pictures did not significantly induce any change in the forward or backward SI parameters. Overall, these results obtained for whole-body approach/avoidance-like behaviors provided mitigated support for the so-called “motivational direction hypothesis.”
Mickaël Campo, Diane Mackie, Stéphane Champely, Marie-Françoise Lacassagne, Julien Pellet, and Benoit Louvet
recently argued for the need to consider the social self in the study of emotions in the context of competitive sport (e.g., Campo, Mellalieu, Ferrand, Martinent, & Rosnet, 2012 ; Tamminen et al., 2016 ). Focusing especially on the consequences of social identity for competitive emotions among athletes
Paul A. Davis, Louise Davis, Samuel Wills, Ralph Appleby, and Arne Nieuwenhuys
dysfunctional cognitions and emotions ( Jones & Harwood, 2008 ; McPherson, 2000 ). In this process of evaluation, athletes may consider the emotional state of their fellow competitors and attempt to determine whether an opponent is in his or her optimal emotional state for performance ( Hanin, 2003 ). The
Serge Brand, Markus Gerber, Flora Colledge, Edith Holsboer-Trachsler, Uwe Pühse, and Sebastian Ludyga
, this is problematic, as the Social Contract Theory ( Cosmides et al., 2005 ) claims, among others, that identifying and remembering faces of individuals breaking social rules is crucial for coping with cheaters, free riders, or defectors. Moreover, functional deficits in emotion processing, and the
Kelly L. Simonton, Alex C. Garn, and Nicholas Washburn
is referred to as a “caring climate” ( Newland, Newton, Stark, Podlong, & Hall, 2017 ), which has been considered foundational to student engagement ( Hellison, 2011 ). In addition, student emotions, arising from socioemotional characteristics of the learning environment, are prerequisites for
