Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between flow experience and goal orientation theory, as well as, the differences in flow experience based on the orthogonal model of goal orientation theory. Two hundred and seventy eight athletes completed the Task and Ego Orientation Sport Questionnaire based on how they usually feel. The challenge and skills ratings were completed 1 h before the competition, based on how they felt at the exact time of answering. In the following, the Flow State Scale-2 was completed up to 30 min after the competition they just participated, along with the challenge-skill ratings, based on how athletes felt during the competition. The results indicated that the athletes’ task orientation may be an important factor for attaining flow in competitive sport, feeling more skillful and estimating the upcoming competition as challenging, while low ego and low task oriented athletes lack these elements, which are important for them to get into flow. Additionally, not the level of task and ego orientation per se, but the balance between athletes’ goal orientation preferences seems important for the formation of flow experience, indicating that high task – high ego and high task – low ego athletes are experiencing the most positive mental state.
Highlights
As managing negative emotions has been the primary focus of practitioners in the past, positive emotions have received limited examination in the sporting context
The theoretical and practical links of positive experience to other well-established theoretical approaches, such as goal orientation theory will provide fruitful information to better capture the nature of optimal experience, which is helpful to consultants and coaches’ work, and athletes’ performance improvement
The purpose of the current research is to examine (a) the nature of the relationship between flow experience and goal orientations in a more accurate and elucidatory way, (b) the differences in flow experience based on the orthogonal model of goal orientation theory [low ego-low task (LE-LT), high ego-low task (HE-LT), low ego-high task (LE-HT), high ego-high task (HE-HT)], and (c) the relationship between the orthogonal models of flow and goal orientation theories
Summary
As managing negative emotions has been the primary focus of practitioners in the past, positive emotions have received limited examination in the sporting context. Around the beginning of millennium this trend started to shift as a theoretical approach has emerged, under the name positive psychology (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). This new scientific field focused on the study of positive experience, trying to find the pathways to improve humans functioning, performance, and well-being. This approach is not new as three decades earlier Csikszentmihalyi (1982) started building this trend through the flow theory, examining ways to create and control this positive experience. The theoretical and practical links of positive experience to other well-established theoretical approaches, such as goal orientation theory will provide fruitful information to better capture the nature of optimal experience, which is helpful to consultants and coaches’ work, and athletes’ performance improvement.
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