Choking under pressure

Question 1

Definition of choking

Answer 1

The occurrence of inferior performance despite striving and incentives for superior performance”(Baumeister & Showers, 1986, p. 361)

“Choking in sport is a process whereby the individual
perceives that their resources are insufficient to meet the
demands of the situation, and concludes with a significant
drop in performance – a choke.”(Hill et al., 2009, p. 206)

Question 2

What can choking in sport do?

Answer 2

“a psychological catastrophe unfolding at the
worst possible moment” Matthew Syed,
following 2000 Sydney Olympics

“It affected the way I played. It affected the
way I lived. It played in my head like a
recorder—over and over again.” Nick
Anderson, following 1995 NBA finals.

Question 3

Inverted U Theory (Yerkes &

Dodson, 1908)

Answer 3

As our arousal increases so
does our performance

It arousal continues to increase we will incur
detrimental consequences to our performance

Question 4

Catastrophe Theory(Hardy & Fazey, 1987)

Answer 4

Focusses on the relationship between cognitive anxiety(CA),
physiological arousal (PA), and performance
CA = thought component of anxiety,
Worry and apprehension
PA = physiological arousal/activation
Heart rate and breathing rate
If anxious, increases in PA lead to sudden and dramatic decline in performance
DIAGRAM

Question 5

Conscious Processing Hypothesis (Masters, 1992)

Answer 5

Under pressure, athletes consciously think about the skill they need to perform
 Step-by-step execution of an automatic skill
 Skills that are well-learned (automatic)become disjointed due to “conscious processing”

Question 6

Approaches to understanding individual differences

Answer 6

Attentional Reinvestment

- Self-consciousness (Baumeister, 1984; Masters,1992)

Question 7

Attentional Reinvestment

Answer 7

Suggests that choking occurs due to reinvestment of conscious control over
otherwise automatic skills
 High reinvestors will tend to consciously control their movements under pressure

Question 8

Dispositional (Trait) Self-Consciousness

Answer 8

Suggests that choking occurs when individuals become self-focussed under pressure
 Athletes with high trait selfconsciousness
are thought to show high levels of self awareness and self-focus

Question 9

Other individual differences

Answer 9

 Trait anxiety (Wang et al., 2004)
 State anxiety (Hardy et al., 2001)
 Self-confidence (Baumeister et al., 1985)
 Dispositional Reinvestment (Masters et al., 1993)
 Skill level (Beilock & Carr, 2001)
 Coping strategies (Wang et al., 2004)

Question 10

Measurement of Self-consciousness

Answer 10

Self-consciousness Scale (Fenigstein et al., 1975)

Question 11

Ways to prevent Choking

Answer 11

Implicit, instead of explicit, learning
Helpful distractions (e.g., self-talk, cue words)
Process goals
Cognitive restructuring Imagery
Pre-performance routines