The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Performance in Competitive Sports: A Meta-Analytical Investigation.

Alexandra Kopp,Darko Jekauc

doi:10.3390/sports6040175

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is considered as a factor influencing sport performance. The research findings are inconsistent with respect to the size and even the direction of the relationship, however. In order to summarise the available evidence, we conducted a meta-analysis examining the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and sports performance in competitive sports. A systematic literature search was conducted in June 2018. We identified 21 studies targeting EI and sports performance in competitive sports. We calculated correlation (r) to estimate the effect of the relationship. A random effects model was used to interpret findings. The meta-analysis of 22 effect sizes on the response of 3.431 participants found a small but significant relationship between EI and sports performance (r = 0.16). Additionally, the conceptualisation of EI (ability concept, trait concept, or mixed-model concept), type of publication, citation counts, and publication date turned out not to be significant moderators. Overall, the result is encouraging regarding the value of EI as a possible predictor in sports performance.

Highlights

Emotion is an inherent part of the competitive experience [1,2,3]
Studies had to meet the following criteria: (a) the study was empirical in nature; (b) the study involved quantitative methods; (c) the study had assessed emotional intelligence (EI) and sports performance; (d) the sample was constituted of sport competition participants; (e) the study presented a quantitative correlation analysis or comparison design; and (f) the article was written in English, German, or Spanish
21 articles targeting EI and sports performance in competitive sports were retained for the meta-analysis

Summary

Introduction

Emotion is an inherent part of the competitive experience [1,2,3]. According to Kleinginna et al [4]emotion can be understood as a complex set of interactions among subjective and objective factors, mediated by neural-hormonal systems, which can (a) give rise to affective experiences such as feelings of arousal, pleasure/displeasure; (b) generate cognitive processes such as emotionally relevant perceptual effects, appraisals, labeling processes; (c) activate widespread physiological adjustments to the arousing conditions; and (d) lead to behavior that is often, but not always, expressive, goal-directed, and adaptive.There is a consensus that emotions have an important impact on athletic performance [1,5,6,7].Emotions influence perception, cognition, neurophysiology, motivation, behavior, motor expression, subject feeling and decisions, thereby either facilitating or debilitating sport performance [1,3,8,9].Meta-analytic studies have highlighted the link between emotions and performance [9,10]. Emotion is an inherent part of the competitive experience [1,2,3]. Emotion can be understood as a complex set of interactions among subjective and objective factors, mediated by neural-hormonal systems, which can (a) give rise to affective experiences such as feelings of arousal, pleasure/displeasure; (b) generate cognitive processes such as emotionally relevant perceptual effects, appraisals, labeling processes; (c) activate widespread physiological adjustments to the arousing conditions; and (d) lead to behavior that is often, but not always, expressive, goal-directed, and adaptive. Cognition, neurophysiology, motivation, behavior, motor expression, subject feeling and decisions, thereby either facilitating or debilitating sport performance [1,3,8,9]. Craft et al [10]

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Conclusion