This article was downloaded by: [McCarthy, Paul J.]
On: 13 April 2011 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 936394646] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t762290975 Positive emotion in sport performance: current status and future directions Paul J. McCarthy a a Department of Psychology, Faculty of Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK Online publication date: 13 April 2011 To cite this Article McCarthy, Paul J.(2011) 'Positive emotion in sport performance: current status and future directions', International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 4: 1, 50 69 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/1750984X.2011.560955 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2011.560955 Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Positive emotion in sport performance: current status and future directions Paul J. McCarthy* Department of Psychology, Faculty of Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK (Received 24 January 2011; nal version received 2 February 2011) Emotions have firmly established their place in sport psychology research over the past 40 years. For many decades following World War II, mainstream psychology researchers placed negative emotions (e.g., anxiety) ahead of positive emotions (e.g., happiness) but positive emotions are now a genuine, promising field of research because of their influence on specific components of performance (e.g., attention) and psychological well-being. The benefits of these emotions have hitherto not been wholly realized in a sport context, especially in their capacity to generate greater self-efficacy, motivation, attention, problem-solving, and coping with adversity. Although the sport emotion literature is sprinkled with studies that specifically examined positive emotion in sport settings, the breadth and depth of this research is too thin to make bold claims about the value of positive emotions in the emotion-performance relation. There are, however, at least three theoretical models available to sport psychologists to better understand the influence of positive emotions on sport performance and two of these models are specifically designed for sport contexts. Not only can these models deepen and widen this knowledge base, but they can also support interventions in applied settings to improve performance and psychological well-being. Keywords: positive emotion; sport performance; well-being The crucible of competitive sport raises the tide of emotion for sport performers and forces them to regulate those emotions that aid sport performance rather than disrupt it. Because so many sport performers appeared servile to the whims of vacillating emotions, especially competitive anxiety, researchers sought to explain their influence on competitive sport performance (Hanin, 2000; Parfitt & Hardy, 1993; Vallerand, 1983). The ensuing research inquiry raised many controversial issues for researchers because they discovered that the frequency, intensity and direction of emotions were ephemeral and, rather than acting alone, they acted in concert with other transitory subcomponents of performance such as motivation, self-efficacy and perceived control (Jones, Meijen, McCarthy, & Sheffield, 2009). This tangled knot of research lines could not be unravelled using sport literature alone, especially because the existing knowledge base could not offer an adequate solution to understand emotion in performance. Researchers, therefore, borrowed and tested theoretical models from other fields of psychology (Jones, 1995; Uphill & *Email: paul.mccarthy@gcu.ac.uk International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2011, 5069 ISSN 1750-984X print/ISSN 1750-9858 online # 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/1750984X.2011.560955 http://www.informaworld.com D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 Jones, 2004), developed and examined models exclusively for sport (Hanin, 1997; Jones et al., 2009) and cultivated the abundant field of sport emotion literature we read today. Although abundant, this literature indicates that negatively-valenced (i.e., intrinsic aversiveness of events, objects or situations) emotions such as anxiety, stress and anger, rather than positively-valenced (i.e., intrinsic attractiveness of events, objects or situations) emotions such as enjoyment, satisfaction and happiness, played leading roles (Jackson, 2000). This finding seems obvious on one hand but obscure on another. It is obvious that the machinery of those emotions that interfere with the quality of ones sport performance should be dismantled to help performers compete at their best these emotions are often, though not always, negatively valenced but equally it is obscure that emotions experienced during peak performances (Cohn, 1991) and flow experiences (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Stein, Kimiecik, Daniels, & Jackson, 1995) are rarely discussed or investigated these emotions are often, though not always, positively valenced. If positively-valenced emotions (e.g., enjoyment, satisfaction) are indelibly linked with superlative performances in sport, then establishing their exact nature and function in this relation seems necessary and instructive. Furthermore, positive and negative emotions do not act alone; people actually experience different emotions simultaneously, even if they are opposite in hedonic tone and especially if they are mild or moderate in intensity (Cerin, 2004; Gilboa & Revelle, 1994). This realization has affected research on stress and coping now it is necessary to measure the intensity and frequency of basic emotions, including positive emotions in this research (Cerin, Szabo, & Williams, 2001; Folkman, 2008). These contemporary changes in stress and coping imply that we ought to update the co-ordinates on the map of sport emotions to more accurately scale the geography of emotions in sport performance. This article focuses primarily on positive emotions in sport performance. Because positive emotions have only been explored briefly in a sport context, certain basic questions must be answered. For instance, what are positive emotions and how exactly can we differentiate among them? If they influence competitive sport performance, do they do so directly, or indirectly through subcomponents of performance such as motivation, concentration and self-efficacy? And is their influence enabling or disabling for the sport performer in competitive sport? If they enable the sport performer, how can these emotions be promoted? Equally, if they disable the sport performer, how can these emotions be tempered? This article shall, in so far as the available research allows, attend to these questions. To achieve this aim, I shall briefly review the estimation of positive emotion in the broad field of psychology and, more specifically, sport psychology. Next, I shall explore the function of positive emotions whilst acknowledging their benefits and drawbacks before finally sketching promising research directions based on contemporary developments from sport and mainstream psychology. To begin this article, I shall draft a working definition of emotion because over 90 different definitions abound (Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981) and such definitional variety churns misinterpreta- tion of research and increases the complexity of choosing fitting measures of emotion (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 51 D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 What is an emotion? What is an emotion? This was the title of a paper by William James in 1884. What is most perplexing about this question is that emotion researchers are still preparing an answer. One might imagine that to open any research field for empirical scrutiny requires at least conceptual clarity and precise definition of the topic under investigation. In the age of science, however, it is more important to understand a particular process deeply before proper definitions emerge (Oatley, Keltner, & Jenkins, 2006). It has been difficult to locate a precise definition of emotion that adequately accounts for the different theoretical approaches that abound. Many of the emotion definitions proposed by leading theorists such as James (1884), Arnold and Gasson (1954), Tooby and Cosmides, (1990), Lazarus (1991), Ekman (1992), and Frijda and Mesquita (1994) act merely as pointers (Oatley et al., 2006) because others (Griffiths, 1997; Mandler, 1984) argued that emotion is too heterogeneous to define. What is apparent, however, is that emotions have several components (that are expressed in facial movements, posture, gesture, touch and the voice), involve physiological responses in the brain and body and have specific action tendencies. At least three components of emotion have been studied experimentally (Vallerand, 1983; Young, 1973): subjective experience of emotion (e.g., experiencing happiness following a tennis match); physiological changes in the autonomic nervous system whilst experiencing emotion (e.g., increased blood pressure when faced with a threatening opponent); and observable emotional behaviour (e.g., smiling after a successful performance). Deci (1980, p. 85) included these three components to derive a definition of emotion: An emotion is a reaction to a stimulus event (either actual or imagined). It involves change in the viscera and musculature of the person, is experienced subjectively in characteristic ways, is expressed through such means as facial chances and action tendencies, and may mediate and energize subsequent behaviors. This working definition shall guide the research presented hereafter. Before I continue, two issues at the core of emotion research classification and measure- ment deserve brief illumination. Classifying and measuring emotions Some researchers interchange emotion with affect and feeling (e.g., Isen, 2000) while others distinguish these terms from each other (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001; Russell & Feldman Barrett, 1999). But it is affect, which is . . . the experience of valence, a subjective sense of positivity or negativity arising from an experience (Carver, 2003, p. 242) that we commonly encounter in sport research (Gaudreau, Blondin, & Lapierre, 2002; McCarthy, 2009; Robazza, Bortoli, Nocini, Moser, & Arslan, 2000). It can be categorized using valence (positive vs. negative) and activation (low vs. high) (Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998; Russell & Carroll, 1999). Low-activation positive emotions include emotions such as happiness and satisfaction and reflect ones achievement of valued goals and the absence of a need for action (Fredrickson, 1998; Skinner & Brewer, 2004). High-activation positive emotions include emotions such as excitement and enthusiasm and reflect ones anticipation of favourable outcomes (Skinner & Brewer, 2004). This classification allows scholars to erect silos 52 P.J. McCarthy D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 within which we can grasp emotions of different valence. And it is these low- and high-activation positive emotions that are the feature of this article. Some researchers study generic positive and negative affect (e.g., Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) rather than the specific discrete emotions (e.g., Ekman, 1992; Lazarus, 2000) such as pride, affection and joy. The former are classified as dimensional psychologists and the latter as discrete emotion theorists. The disposition to experience positive emotional states is called positive affectivity and it can be reliably assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988); however, the complete independence between positive and negative affect is rejected (Crawford & Henry, 2004; Watson et al., 1988). Ekman (1992) outlined at least nine characteristics that distinguish basic emotions from one another, such as distinctive universal signals (e.g., facial expressions), comparable expressions in other animals, distinctive physiology, distinctive universals in antecedent events, quick onset and brief duration. Such distinctions also help us differentiate emotions from other related processes such as mood and dispositions. Moods, for instance, typically last for hours, days or weeks. They are often objectless whereas emotions have an object such as when a person is angry, that person is typically angry about something specific. Dispositions typically refer to an enduring aspect of personality such as agreeableness or shyness (Oatley et al., 2006). Issues of time, context, reliability and validity are considered in measures of emotion. Time, for example, is critical in emotional experience because emotions are dynamic processes that unfold, linger, and then dissipate over time (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999, p. 42). They also prompt different response systems (heart rate, sweat glands, hormones) with particular onset times and duration. When emotions are recorded retrospectively rather than in real time, bodily changes associated with physiological systems become less obvious or redundant, obfuscating the gradation in subjective experience. Beyond this issue, when targeting a specific emotion for investigation, its onset and conclusion are critical. Measures with sufficient temporal resolution and proximity are necessary for each specific emotion. Contextual factors such as ambient mood (e.g., depressed, irritable), recent life events (e.g., bereave- ment), emotion-related personality traits (e.g., pessimistic), diurnal and circadian influences on mood all create noise in the data, especially when researchers are aiming to induce a specific emotion. Reliability and validity present other challenges that are consistently discussed in the emotion literature alongside measures of emotion such as self-report, observer ratings, facial, autonomic, brain-based, and vocal (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). Self-report measures of emotion dominate within sport contexts; however, there are samples of facial, autonomic, and brain- based measures also within the literature (e.g., Davis et al., 2008). Self-report measures of emotion form an extensive range of assessment instruments relying on participants to experience, reflect upon, and report their emotions using rating scales (Sport Emotion Questionnaire; Jones, Lane, Bray, Uphill, & Catlin, 2005) or adjective checklists (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) with single or multiple-item measures. Single-item measures might assess a global affective dimension (How unpleasant are you feeling?) or a specific emotion (How angry are you feeling?) with bipolar (unpleasant to pleasant) or unipolar (not at all angry to extremely angry) response scales. Although popular because of their brevity, ease of under- standing and administration, brief measurements have drawbacks such as sampling error, error variance, and representativeness (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). One International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 53 D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 particular single-item questionnaire that has been used successfully in a sport setting is the Affect Grid. It is based on the circumplex model of emotion (Larsen & Diener, 1992; Russell, 1980; Watson & Tellegen, 1985) and comprises a nine-by-nine matrix with emotion adjectives (e.g., excitement, relaxation, stress) placed at the midpoints of each side of the grid and at the four corners. Participants check one cell within the grid to reflect how they are/were feeling along the arousal and pleasantness dimensions. It measures sensitively manipulations designed to change participants levels of arousal and pleasantness and because it requires negligible effort, it can be administered often (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). Multiple-item measures of single emotions such as the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990) or multiple emotions such as the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppelman, 1971) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988), are popular in sport. But none of these two multidimensional scales were designed for sport and so do not adequately corral the emotional spectrum that exists in sport settings. To address this limitation, Jones et al. (2005) developed the Sport Emotion Questionnaire (SEQ). The SEQ has 22 items and is a sport-specific measure of pre-competitive emotion to assess anger, anxiety, dejection, excitement and happiness. This questionnaire has also been used successfully to assess recalled emotions in a sport setting (Vast, Young, & Thomas, 2010). On the basis that a self-report measure of emotion for a sport setting now exists, it should be possible to begin to better understand emotional experience among sport performers. Following the lead of other emotion researchers in sport (e.g., Jones, 1995), it should be possible to clarify not only the intensity of emotions experienced but also the direction or perceived value of those emotions among sport performers. For instance, does a high level of happiness benefit sport performance? Self-report is but one measure of emotional experience. Facial, autonomic, and brain-based measures of emotion will develop a better understanding of emotional experience in sport (e.g., Davis et al., 2008). Getting a grip on emotions in sport Colman Griffiths 1930 publication in the Research Quarterly, A Laboratory for Research in Athletics, requested a more scientific and experimental approach to understand the effects of emotion on sport performance. Though his request was specific, there was only a modest response among sport emotion researchers while those in the wider contours of emotion research constructed a comprehensive and methodically researched field. Such was their endeavour that the quantity of publications alone makes it impossible to be exhaustive, especially as interest in emotions spreads across many fields such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, neuroscience, psychiatry, biology, and anthropology (Oatley et al., 2006). Although emotion research is a diverse field, by examining specific facets of the emotion- performance relation, it is possible for order to emerge. For example, emotions influence subcomponents of sport performance including perception, attention, memory, decision-making and judgement (Forgas, 1995; Isen, 1993). When people experience positive emotion, they broaden their attention, which fosters openness, flexibility and an efficient integration of information (Carver, 2003; Derryberry & Tucker, 1994; Fredrickson, 2001). Positive emotions also influence social goals such 54 P.J. McCarthy D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 as attachment, affiliation and assertion (Oatley et al., 2006). These specific components can be examined empirically in sport settings; collectively, these subcomponents of sport performance could explain a substantial proportion of the emotion-performance relation in sport. In general, much more is known about the influence of negatively-valenced emotions on these subcomponents of competitive performance in sport (Cerin, 2003). A few reasons can explain this finding. First, the scope of research within mainstream psychology was to cure mental illness and this focus meant that the research spotlight tilted away from positive emotions (Myers & Diener, 1995), innocently concealing the bearing of positive emotions on psychological well-being (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Second, the dominant theoretical models within and outside sport meant that few appropriate models existed to understand the influence of positive emotions on athletic performance. For instance, Yerkes and Dodsons inverted-U theory (1908), Hulls drive theory (1943), Hardy and Fazeys catastrophe model (1987) and Martens et al.s multidimensional anxiety theory (1990) examined anxiety-performance relations (Hanin, 2000; Tenenbaum, Ed- monds, & Eccles, 2008), and this dominant theme shackled sport researchers curiosity to consider other emotions extensively. It was emotions such as anger, stress and anxiety that had their mechanisms dismantled (Cerin, 2003; Cerin, Szabo, Hunt, & Williams, 2000). But positive emotions were not ignored within sport psychology research; rather, the emotion research backcloth was punctuated with brief ventures to specifically explore positive emotions such as sport enjoyment (e.g., Scanlan & Simons, 1992), hope (e.g., Curry, Snyder, Cook, Ruby, & Rehm, 1997), happiness (e.g., Woodman et al., 2009), positive affect (e.g., Jones, Swain, & Harwood, 1996) and general positive emotions (Hanin, 2007). Of these specific emotions, sport enjoyment remains the only one that has received acceptable inquiry among youth, recreational and elite sport performers (McCarthy & Jones, 2007; Scanlan, Russell, Beals, & Scanlan, 2003). Scanlan and Simons (1992, p. 202) defined sport enjoyment as . . . a positive affective response to the sport experience that reflects generalized feelings such as pleasure, liking and fun. From a practical perspective, it is reasonable to understand why sport enjoyment has received substantially more scholarly time than other positive emotions. To explain, motivation and commitment are essential psychological attributes for successful performance in sport, especially in Olympic events (Gould & Maynard, 2009). That being so, by unearthing those factors that increase motivation and commitment, it should be possible to modify motivated behaviour. One significant factor to sustain motivated behaviour and commitment is sport enjoyment (McCarthy & Jones, 2007). By way of illustration, the former professional golfer, Arnold Palmer, at age 75 explained: I still enjoy playing, its not as much fun as it once was because I dont always play as well as I used to, and that takes a toll after a while . . . Im still working on my game, still trying to find a way to hit the ball further (Hauser, 2004). Simply, athletes who enjoy what they do, invariably do it for longer and with greater enthusiasm than those who do not enjoy what they do. The folds of research explain in unison that greater sport enjoyment is associated with greater sport commitment among youth (Scanlan, Carpenter, Lobel, & Simons, 1993; Scanlan, Carpenter, Schmidt, Simons, & Keeler, 1993; Scanlan & Simons, 1992) and elite sport performers (Mallett & Hanrahan, 2004; Scanlan et al., 2003; Scanlan, Stein, & Ravizza, 1989). The more we know about sport enjoyment, International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 55 D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 for example, the more we know about the motivational consequences of positive emotion. Positive emotions were also included in many studies of motivated behaviour in youth, recreational, and elite sport participants. They still feature when specific theories (e.g., achievement goal theory, Nicholls, 1984; Elliot, 1999; self-determination theory, Deci & Ryan, 1985) are examined in sport contexts; however, much of this research has examined typical achievement affects (e.g., competence, pride and enjoyment) without adequate consideration of other emotions (e.g., excitement, happiness). A fine-grained understanding of which antecedents (e.g., mastery or performance goals) produce which emotions is still needed (Vallerand & Blanchard, 2000). Not only does enjoyment serve a motivational role in sport, but it is also integral to optimal performance (Orlick & Partington, 1988). For instance, flow, an optimal psychological state that occurs when there is a balance between perceived challenges and skills of an activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Jackson, Thomas, Marsh, & Smethurst, 2001) is associated with enjoyment. Indeed, Jackson (1992) reported that enjoying what one is doing was regarded as one of five factors identified by elite figure skaters to enhance the likelihood of getting into a flow state. Similarly, research on peak experience has indicated that this psychological state is associated with psychological characteristics such as feeling highly self-confident, a narrow focus of attention, an absence of fear, and feeling physically and mentally relaxed these experiences are linked with fun or enjoyment (Cohn, 1991). Positive emotions are associated with many attributes, characteristics, and behaviours such as optimism, resilience, self-belief, self-esteem, commitment, control, challenge, concentration, attentional control, overcoming adversity, intrinsic motivation, internal locus of control and decision-making (Jones et al., 2009; Tugade, Fredrickson, & Feldman-Barrett, 2004; Vast et al., 2010). This partial list suggests that a balance of these emotions is necessary to compete successfully in sport. These attributes, characteristics and behaviours are also related to the multitudinous mental toughness qualities (e.g., Connaughton, Hanton, Jones, & Wadey, 2008; Crust, 2008; Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2009) and so deserve greater recognition as this field of research develops. What good are positive emotions? Charles Darwins (1872) book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, posed two broad questions: how are emotions expressed in humans and other animals and where do emotions come from? Both questions steer emotion researchers today but a third question is necessary for this analysis: what functions do emotions serve? This question is important because evolutionary wisdom implies that positive emotions do not warn us about danger or force us to protect ourselves from threat. Yet positive emotions have survived the evolutionary passage of time so clearly they bestow some value on our survival as a species. At some points in our lives, positive emotions seized the reins of our destiny. Positive emotions lie on the margins of emotion research and at least three reasons can explain this circumstance. To begin with, words for positive emotions within the English language are outnumbered by words for negative emotions four to one (Averill, 1980). A similar fate emerges in the scientific taxonomies for basic emotions with three or four negative emotions for each positive emotion (Ekman, 56 P.J. McCarthy D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 1992; Izard, 1977). Such findings may have emerged for other reasons. Pinker (1997, p. 366) argued that a language accumulates a large vocabulary including words for emotions when it has influential wordsmiths, contact with other languages, rules for forming new words out of old ones and widespread literacy. At a more elementary level, beyond etymology and onomastics, research has established that positive emotions assemble an ability to survive, though this proposal challenges the views of emotion theorists (e.g., Ekman, 1992; Frijda, 1986; Lazarus, 1991) who argue that emotions are linked with urges to act. If we consider, for example, fear and anger, the former creates an urge to flee while the latter creates an urge to attack. Fredrickson (1998) disputed this contention to suggest that such urges do not impel people to act but guide specific possibilities for action such as to run and hide or stay and fight. So, what good are positive emotions for sport performers? Based on the literature from other fields of psychology, it appears that positive emotions are necessary for successful performance in sport, though at first glance it might not be obvious to see their influence because they may manifest themselves indirectly rather than directly. To explain this line of reasoning, research has indicated that positive affect is an effective retrieval cue (e.g., Isen, Shalker, Clark, & Karp, 1978). Not only does it effectively retrieve information but it is especially effective at retrieving positive information. Successful performance in sport often relies on creativity, efficient problem-solving and decision-making. Positive affect stimulates more creative problem-solving (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987; Isen, Johnson, Mertz, & Robinson, 1985), and a greater association of multiple cues with encoded information to establish a mental environment suitable for making judgements and decisions under pressure (Isen & Daubman, 1984). Another feature of positive emotions are their transferable effects in social responses and cognitions. For instance, Isen (1970) gave participants perceptual-motor skills tests and told a random sample of participants that they had succeeded in the test, which made them feel mildly happy; however, she did not tell the other participants how they had done. Those feeling mildly happier were more likely to help a stranger (an associate of the experimenter) who had dropped her books. Perhaps more important from a sports perspective are the cognitive effects of happiness it has fashioned more creative problem-solving (Isen et al., 1987) and more satisfaction in performing tasks (Kraiger, Billings, & Isen, 1989). In many of these experiments, researchers used various methods to induce positive affect. They told participants about their skill success in a task (Isen, 1970), gave participants gifts (Isen et al., 1978), bags of candy (Isen & Geva, 1987), or showed them comedy films or TV bloopers (Kraiger et al., 1989). Other inductions included imagining previous positive events, listening to music, or being asked to read and get involved in a story and expressing the feelings in the story. One method that relates to the psychological skill of self-talk is the Velten mood induction procedure (Velten, 1968) in which the participant reads a list of statements (e.g., I am elated about things) silently, then aloud and tries to feel the suggested mood (Pressman & Cohen, 2005). Although these methods were specifically designed to induce positive affect in laboratory settings, they emerge from the behaviour of the experimenter or the individual. By extension, the coach, manager or sport performer might unwittingly change the emotional dial before performance by watching motivational films on the team bus, listening to music, or persuading performers of their success in past performances. Perhaps the coach or manager has a greater effect on the emotional International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 57 D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 experience of his or her charges when they can see and hear him or her. Evidence to support this suggestion comes from Mehrabian (1972) whose study of emotional communication reported that when interacting with others, only 7% of participants emotional understanding of the other person stemmed from the words spoken; however, 38% and 55% of their emotional understanding was attributed to verbal tone and facial expression, respectively. Putting on your game face seems just as important for the coach or manager as the athlete. Sport performers might also be able to change their affective experience by moving emotion-relevant muscles. Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) reported that participants holding a pen in their mouths making muscle movements characteristic of a smile rated cartoons funnier than those participants not contracting these muscles. Simply making distinct bodily changes produced distinct emotional experiences, which suggests that managing the emotional environs is a delicate duty. Similar findings emerged for sadness (Larsen, Kasimatis, & Frey, 1992) and when Berkowitz and colleagues (Berkowitz, 2003) induced pain and irritation in participants by making them raise their arms horizontally for three minutes, they acted more aggressively towards others. Research has consistently shown that feeling positive affect generates more cooperative and helpful behaviour in adults and children (e.g., Chertock, 1974; Isen & Levin, 1972; Marcus, 1987). Many researchers have reported that positive affective experiences increase attraction and strengthen social bonds (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; May & Hamilton, 1980; Veitch & Griffitt, 1976). In threatening circumstances, people like each other more because the presence of other people reduces ones distress and a positive emotional response becomes associated with those people (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Kenrick & Cialdini, 1977). Such research accentuates the value of positive affect in team settings, especially because moods, both good and bad, are catching. Totterdell (2000) reported that the happy moods of professional cricketers were linked with the current collective happy mood of their teammates during a competitive match. This mood linkage was greatest for those who were older, more committed to the team and more susceptible to emotional contagion. In organizational settings, empirical evidence has demonstrated that employees positive mood states predict task performance. Longitudinal studies (Tsai, Chen, & Liu, 2007) among insurance sales agents suggested that employee positive moods predicted task performance indirectly through motivational (self-efficacy and task persistence) and interpersonal processes (helping co-workers and co-worker helping and support). But what happens if you consistently perform better than your teammates? Social comparison research (Festinger, 1954) has consistently established that people strive to outperform others and to see themselves as superior (Festinger, 1954; Taylor & Brown, 1988). According to this competitive paradigm, upward comparison, or comparing oneself against those who fare better that oneself, should create negative affect; on the other hand, downward comparison, or comparing oneself against those who fare worse than oneself, should create positive affect (Exline & Lobel, 1999). It seems axiomatic that outperforming others makes people feel happier. Such achievement should generate pleasure and pride and it does however, mounting evidence suggests that outperforming others is also discomfort- ing. So discomforting in fact, that people will sometimes elude outperformance altogether, withdrawing effort so as not to outperform others (Pappo, 1983; Peplau, 1976). The fear of being envied prompts people to increase their helping behaviour 58 P.J. McCarthy D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 towards those potentially jealous of them as an appeasement strategy (van den Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2010). The accumulating research hints at the value of positive emotions for sport performance and psychological well-being. We can begin to realize the value of positive emotions through two models specifically designed for sport settings that allow us to understand positive emotions in the emotion-performance relation and by a third model that presents a specific theory of positive emotion. I shall present these next. Models to understand positive emotion and performance At the outset, I explained that some researchers developed and tested models specifically designed for the sport context (Hanin, 1997; Jones et al., 2009). Though these models do not exclusively deal with emotion, they do allow us to consider emotion alongside other constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, control, achievement goals) that more fully explain how sport performers respond emotionally to competition. The theory of challenge and threat states in athletes (TCTSA) proposed by Jones et al. (2009) and the individual zones of optimal functioning (Hanin, 1997) make specific predictions about positive emotions and their role in sport performance. The TCTSA emerged from the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat (Blascovich & Mendes, 2000; Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996), the model of adaptive approaches to competition (Skinner & Brewer, 2004) and related approaches to understand how athletes perceive forthcoming competitions. This theory outlines why athletes perceive forthcoming competitions as a challenge or a threat, how they respond emotionally and physiologically to competition, and how these motivational states influence sport performance. A challenge state emerges when a person perceives sufficient resources to meet situational demands and a threat state occurs when a person perceives insufficient resources to meet situational demands (Blascovich & Mendes, 2000). Following a challenge appraisal, positive emotions are likely to emerge and be perceived as a benefit to performance whereas following a threat appraisal, negative emotions are likely to emerge and be perceived as negative for performance (Skinner & Brewer, 2004). At issue here, however, is not the label of positive and negative emotions, but rather their interpretation by the athlete, and function in performance. For instance, Izard (1991) defined anxiety as a complex threat-related emotional state which may motivate approach and avoidance behaviour. Athletes who perceive a positive interpretation of their anxiety symptoms report more positive feelings than athletes who perceive their anxiety symptoms negatively (Jones & Hanton, 2001; Mellalieu, Hanton, & Jones, 2003). But the interpretation of these symptoms emerges from the athletes perception of control within the environment and of oneself, sufficient coping capability and a belief that the valued goal is achievable (Jones, 1995; Jones et al., 2009). Lazarus (2000, p. 230) referred to evaluation as an appraisal of the personal significance for well-being that a person attributes to this relationship and the process. Following appraisal, the performer experiences an emotional response. Hanin (2000) explained that when emotions are interpreted as pleasant, they might help performance; however, when interpreted as unpleasant, they might hinder performance. One critical dimension to consider in this analysis of the emotions-outcome link is functionality (Tenenbaum et al., 2008) because labelling emotions as pleasant or unpleasant does not describe International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 59 D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 their value for performance. To illustrate this difference, experiencing anger might be perceived as unpleasant but actually help performance and experiencing contentment after scoring a try in rugby, a player might think no further effort is necessary. Predicting athletic performance using only pre-competition anxiety has been a consistent limitation in sport psychology (Cerin et al., 2000; Gould & Tuffey, 1996; Jones & Hanton, 2001; Kerr, 1997; Robazza, Pellizzari, & Hanin, 2004). Frameworks such as the multidimensional theory of anxiety (Martens et al., 1990) represent a traditional group-oriented approach, which restricts the relevance of its findings to an individual athlete in a particular situation (Hagtvet & Hanin, 2007). The swell of consensus suggests that athletic performance is predicted best by including positively-valenced and negatively-valenced emotions rather than only pre-competi- tion anxiety (Cerin et al., 2000; Gould & Tuffey, 1996; Jones & Hanton, 2001; Kerr, 1997; Robazza et al., 2004). These restrictions are addressed by the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model (Hanin, 1997, 2000, 2007). The IZOF model was designed to describe and predict the effect of positive and negative emotions upon performance. In so doing, it would illuminate the emotion-performance relation in sport. The model accounts for the optimal and dysfunctional effect of positive and negative emotions upon performance with each athletes subjective experiences dissected by contrasting best and worst performance patterns (Hanin, 1997). Both models are beginning to generate a more robust understanding of positive emotion in sport performance (e.g., Hagtvet & Hanin, 2007; Williams, Cumming, & Balanos, 2010) and a third model seems fitting for this purpose also. According to Fredricksons broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001), certain discrete positive emotions including joy, interest, contentment, pride and love can broaden peoples momentary thought-action repertoires and build enduring personal resources (e.g., physical, intellectual, social and psychological). These emotions increased our tendency to play, explore and imagine future achievements and through this process our personal resources grew to guarantee our continued existence. Similar to negative emotions, the capacity to experience positive emotions is genetically programmed, which through natural selection became part of our human nature (Fredrickson, 2001). But when we measure positive emotions against the yardstick of negative emotions, their value seems questionable because negative emotions increased our evolutionary ancestors chances of survival by offering reliable and recognizable thought-action tendencies. For instance, when in the clutches of a life-or-death situation, fear, which is associated with the urge to escape, helped our ancestors to consider a specific set of behavioural choices (Fredrickson, 2001); yet positive emotions are less differentiated, less specific and their adaptability also escaped the attention of emotion theorists perhaps because they did not fit within the scaffold of existing theories of negative emotion (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2006; Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). The evolutionary currency of positive emotions differed from negative emotions so examining them through that lens would not allow us to appreciate their value in human existence. So rather than responding to one particular situation, positive emotions were designed to encourage us to explore our environment for resources and opportunities (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2006). The urges associated with these emotions (e.g., joy urges us to play and be creative) had a broadening effect on our survival, not alone, but over time, and actions associated with broadened states led to building. Play, for instance, assembles physical abilities that are necessary later in life 60 P.J. McCarthy D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 (Panksepp, 1998). The assembled experimental research indicates that positive emotions build psychological resiliency and trigger upward spirals toward improved emotional well-being (Fredrickson, 2001), broaden peoples thought-action reper- toires (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005) and undo lingering negative emotions (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998). Collectively, these findings share links with various strands of research in sport settings but have yet to be explored empirically. Future directions The main thrust of sport emotion research has focused on anxiety because of its effect on cognitive functioning and physical activity (Tenenbaum & Bar-Eli, 1995; Tenenbaum et al., 2008). Occasionally, researchers included more than one emotion when exploring this relation but rarely have they examined the broad spectrum of positive and negative emotions. However, this focus is necessary because these emotions are constantly modified through the process of cognitive appraisal (Lazarus, 1999, 2000; Martinet & Ferrand, 2009). A cursory glance at the contemporary developments in other fields of psychology suggests that the most rewarding bounty has yet to be harvested in this field (Isen, 2009). Broadly, we need to know more about the precise influence discrete positive emotions have on sport performers well-being and sport performances. Not only do we need to know the unique effect of these emotions but also the effect of co- occurring positive emotions. As Diener (1999, p. 803) noted, There is a glue that holds together certain of the discrete emotions. The explanation of the co-occurrence of emotions and moods has the potential of shedding light on the most fundamental nature of affect. Many emotions remain in the margins of sport emotion research, such as courage, hope, happiness, pride and, to a lesser extent, passion, that are customary in the language of managers, coaches, and sport performers. When more is known about these emotions, more will be known about positive emotions in sport performance. Numerous experiments have offered data to conclude that even a mildly positive mood benefits thinking, problem-solving, social interactions and psychological well- being (Isen, 2009). On this evidence, emotions are amenable to change and it seems equitable to suggest that positive emotions might benefit sport performers performances and well-being. Various direct and indirect strategies could generate positive emotions. Direct strategies might include promises of a reward, listening to music or watching comical sketches or films. Indirect strategies might include psychological techniques such as goal setting, self-talk, mental imagery and relaxation. These techniques generate positive emotion through performance accomplishment (see Emmons, 1986). In other words, because people are inclined to view their ability positively when they achieve important goals, this perception cultivates feelings of self-worth that in turn promote positive emotions (see Lazarus, 1991). Goal setting, or rather goal attainment, for example, is associated with positive emotion. When people are committed to their goals, they are generally successful at achieving them. Not only do they value their ability more, but they feel proud, happy and joyful, daily (e.g., Emmons, 1986). Positive emotions also arise from coping processes such as benefit-finding and reminding, reordering priorities, adaptive goal processes and permeating ordinary events with positive meaning International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 61 D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 (Folkman, 2008). Such straightforward techniques, when skilfully deployed in sport settings, could raise ones resilience and, perhaps, sport performance. Authors such as Seligman (2002) have included optimism, resilience, hardiness, and toughness whilst classifying emotions. Though specifically positive personal traits, greater optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1987; Taylor & Brown, 1988), resilience, hardiness, passion (Vallerand et al., 2006) and mental toughness are associated with greater positive emotion. It would be worthwhile, especially for sport psychologists in applied settings, to determine which specific positive emotions are associated with which positive personal traits. A note of caution although these characteristics are valuable to performers, they can also harbour danger for certain sports (e.g., motor racing) because risks might be taken when sport performers are unduly optimistic about their chances of success and the probable outcomes of events. For instance, studies among motorists have shown that the average driver judges himself more skilful than the average driver (Svenson, 1981). Even when surveys were conducted among motorists in hospital who caused the collision, they still considered themselves more skilful than the average driver (Preston & Harris, 1965). From a simple glance at the sports pages of daily newspapers or highlights on television, we see a display of positive emotions, from contentment and happiness to joy and ecstasy. The behaviour of sport performers after a stage win in cycling, a try scored in rugby or a holed eagle putt floods our minds with images of positive emotion. These images range from smiling faces, vocal expressions and warm embraces. These images reflect how emotions are communicated through facial expression, vocal communication and touch. Systematic coding of these detailed affective cues holds promise for researchers of affective communication and especially for those who explore intensely emotional situations in sport (Sauter, 2010). One example of this research comes from Tracy and Matsumoto (2008). They examined non-verbal expressions of pride among athletes following awin in Olympic judo matches. Winners exhibited behaviours associated with pride such as smiling, tilting their head back, raising their arms and expanding their chest. Even congenitally blind Olympic athletes exhibited similar displays after winning matches. Research has yielded a fertile understanding about a few discrete emotions (e.g., anxiety, enjoyment) and how they influence sport performance at youth, recrea- tional, collegiate and professional levels (Scanlan et al., 2003). The folds of research are gathering on emotional experience among athletes but also among coaches (Fletcher & Scott, 2010), parents (Harwood & Knight, 2009), referees (Bortoli & Robazza, 2002) and sport fans (Jones & Sheffield, 2007). The benefits and drawbacks of positive and negative emotions are being uncovered. For instance, positive emotion influences leadership behaviour and effectiveness, though negative affect can also be effective in these roles (Damen, van Knippenberg, & van Knippenberg, 2008). And regulating our emotions depletes self-control resources needed to perform successfully in sport (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998). We are missing longitudinal research that might explain whether greater positive affect is associated with greater long-term achievement in sport or enhanced well- being. In short, positive emotions bear immense authority on the emotion- performance relation in sport. Positive emotions bear immense authority on psychological well-being, but unless we can quantify this bearing, and generate and evaluate practical interventions to instil positive emotions among sport performers, they will be rendered a paltry consequence of sporting triumph. 62 P.J. McCarthy D o w n l o a d e d
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2 0 1 1 Conclusion Emotions are part of the fabric of everyday life but there is an unsettling ledger of limits to our understanding of positive emotions in sport performance. The embryonic research on positive emotions has lifted the curiosity of researchers from psychology, sociology, philosophy, neuroscience, psychiatry, biology, and anthropology to passionately pursue answers to critical conceptual and empirical questions that have hitherto impeded this research. The touchstone set with the emergence of positive psychology (i.e., the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions) (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005) means that this weanling science is maturing; and the diligence of a few researchers to resuscitate positive emotions within mainstream emotion research heralds it welcome to the lingua franca. But it would be misleading to stretch the research material that is thin to start with even thinner; however, based on the available evidence, positive emotions might be the catalysts of excellence in sport and deserve space on our workbenches if we are to raise the level of competitive performance among sport performers. From a holistic perspective, positive emotions are permanently linked with psychological well-being and research in this field is necessary especially when you call to mind the human suffering of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. This research is economically worthwhile when seen in the light of Mary Laskers assertion (founder of the Lasker Foundation): If you think research is expensive, try disease. References Arnold, M.B., & Gasson, J.A. (1954). Feelings and emotions as dynamic factors in personality integration. In M.B. Arnold & S.J. Gasson (Eds.), The human person (pp. 294313). New York: Ronald. Averill, J.R. (1980). A constructivist view of emotion. In R. Plutchik & H. Kellerman (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, research and experience: Vol. I. Theories of emotion (pp. 305339). New York: Academic Press. Baumeister, R.F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D.M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 12521265. Baumeister, R.F., & Leary, M.R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497529. Berkowitz, L. (2003). Affect, aggression, and antisocial behavior. In R.J. Davidson, K.R. Scherer, & H.H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 804823). New York: Oxford University Press. Blascovich, J., & Mendes, W.B. (2000). Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues. In J.P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition (pp. 59 82). Paris: Cambridge University Press. Blascovich, J., & Tomaka, J. (1996). The biopsychosocial model of arousal regulation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 28, 151. Bortoli, L., & Robazza, C. (2002). Idiosyncratic performance affect in volleyball referees: An extension of the IZOF-emotion model proling. Journal of Sport Behavior, 25, 115133. Carver, C.S. (2003). Pleasure as a sign you can attend to something else: Placing positive feelings within a general model of affect. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 241261. Cerin, E. (2003). Anxiety versus fundamental emotions as predictors of perceived function- ality of pre-competitive emotional states, threat, and challenge in individual sports. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 15, 223238. Cerin, E. (2004). Predictors of competitive anxiety direction in male Tae Kwon Do practitioners: A multilevel mixed idiographic/nomothetic interactional approach. Psychol- ogy of Sport and Exercise, 5, 497516. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 63 D o w n l o a d e d
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