Student Type

Undergraduate

College Affiliation

College of Science, Technology, and Health

Department

Psychology, Sociology, and Public Health

Submission Type

Poster

Abstract

Athletes and performers can experience a phenomenon called ‘choking’ whereby skill execution and performance decrease beyond self-expected standards due to factors such as performance anxiety. We explored the relationship between choking and how athletes/performers feel their inner experience influenced their choking experience. Participants (N = 63) were recruited to complete an online Qualtrics survey measuring mental imagery and their possible experience of choking in performance. Narrowing down to just those who reported choking (N = 19), participants were asked how much they believed various internal factors influenced the choking event to occur. A repeated-measures ANOVA found that picturing failure and negative self-talk were reported to be significantly more influencing when compared to other factors. These factors will be discussed regarding performance and competitive disciplines.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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Picturing Failure and Negative Self-Talk: A Perfect Combo for Choking

Athletes and performers can experience a phenomenon called ‘choking’ whereby skill execution and performance decrease beyond self-expected standards due to factors such as performance anxiety. We explored the relationship between choking and how athletes/performers feel their inner experience influenced their choking experience. Participants (N = 63) were recruited to complete an online Qualtrics survey measuring mental imagery and their possible experience of choking in performance. Narrowing down to just those who reported choking (N = 19), participants were asked how much they believed various internal factors influenced the choking event to occur. A repeated-measures ANOVA found that picturing failure and negative self-talk were reported to be significantly more influencing when compared to other factors. These factors will be discussed regarding performance and competitive disciplines.

 

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