Toward a Theory of Emotions in Competitive Sports.

Darko Jekauc,Julian Fritsch,Alexander T Latinjak

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.790423

Darko Jekauc, Julian Fritsch + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.790423

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Abstract

In this article, we introduce a theory on the dynamic development of affective processes, affect regulation, and the relationship between emotions and sport performance. The theory focusses on how affective processes emerge and develop during competitive sport involvement. Based on Scherer’s component process model, we postulate six components of emotion that interact with each other in a circular fashion: (I) triggering processes, (II) physiological reactions, (III) action tendencies, (IV) expressive behaviors, (V) subjective experience, and (VI) higher cognitive processes. The theory stresses the dynamics of affective processes and describes the consequences for performance in competitive sports. It assumes that the peculiarities of different sports must be taken into account in order to understand the affective processes, and offers starting points on which strategies can be used to effectively regulate affective states. Consequences for research and practice are derived and discussed. To study the development of affective processes, future research should test the assumptions in ecologically valid contexts, such as real competitions or competition-like situations, using multi-component measures of emotions.

Highlights

Sports competitions can have a deep impact on the emotional life of athletes
Emotion theories used in sport psychology have two shortcomings that we aim to overcome in this paper: they refer to anxiety, and the conceptual delimitations between emotion and core affect are not clearly defined
We present a new theory of emotions by addressing three issues: First, we present the component model of emotions in sports, elaborating on how affective processes develop into emotions

Summary

Introduction

Sports competitions can have a deep impact on the emotional life of athletes. Because athletes often pursue personally relevant goals with uncertain outcomes, extreme states of positive and negative emotions can occur (Hanin, 2007). Core affect represents simple and rapid valuations that something is good or bad, that you like or dislike something, that you feel pleasure or displeasure. The core effect can be experienced as free-floating and is often associated with prototypical emotional episodes (Russell, 2003; di Fronso et al, 2020). It represents a continuous assessment of one’s current state, which is outside the person’s awareness most of the time. A person can become conscious of it when attention is drawn to it In this sense, core affect is constantly running in the background, changing in response to internal processes or changes in the environment (Russell, 2015)

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