The effects of achievement goals on emotions and performance in a competitive agility task.

Abstract

The link between achievement goals and emotions has received much attention in the sport psychology literature. However, experimental studies are lacking. In this experiment, we investigated the effects of achievement goals on (a) emotions experienced before and after a competitive agility task and (b) perceived and actual agility performance. Male (n = 60) and female (n = 60) undergraduate students were assigned to a task, ego, or control group and following a practice session, they competed in a speed agility quickness ladder drill. Participants completed questionnaires measuring excitement and anxiety at prepractice and precompetition, happiness and dejection at postpractice and postcompetition, and perceived performance for practice and competition. Actual performance was also measured. ANCOVAs controlling for pre- and postpractice emotions and LSD comparisons showed that the ego group reported greater precompetition excitement than the task and control groups and higher precompetition anxiety than the task group. The task and ego groups also reported higher postcompetition perceived performance than the control group. The results suggest that ego involvement could influence excitement, and both achievement goals could affect perceived performance.

The Effects of Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors on Emotion, Attention, and Performance During a Competitive Basketball Task

“…Specifically, in this study, we assessed actual performance, whereas previous research assessed "perceived" performance. Indeed, other studies have also shown discrepancy in the findings pertaining to perceived and actual performance (e.g., Dewar et al, 2013); thus results involving perceived performance may not fully generalize to actual performance.…”

“…The stem "During the task, I felt..." was followed by items measuring happiness (e.g., "joyful", "cheerful"), anxiety (e.g., "anxious", "nervous"), and anger (e.g., "annoyed", "furious"). Previous studies have supported the construct validity and internal consistency of the three subscales when used after competition (e.g., Dewar, Kavussanu, & Ring, 2013).…”

Understanding Flow Occurrence: Contributions from the 2x2 Achievement Goal Framework

“…The study utilized an experimental design that sought to induce a particular achievement goal state through the use of a detailed manipulation script. Many researchers have used a similar design to manipulate achievement goal states in a variety of tasks including dart throwing, golf putting, an agility drill, and basketball dribbling (Elliot et al, 2006;Kavussanu, Morris, & Ring, 2009;Ntoumanis et al, 2009;Dewar, Kavussanu, & Ring, 2013). These studies have typically included a manipulation check in the design as a way to test whether the participants adopted the desired goal or not.…”

“…These studies have typically included a manipulation check in the design as a way to test whether the participants adopted the desired goal or not. A common practice among researchers, when dealing with manipulations, is to remove the participants who are found to be incongruent with the manipulation (Dewar et al, 2013).…”

“…It is unclear why the manipulations used in this study were not effective. The manipulations were directly adapted from other research and included similar language (see Cury et al, 2002;Elliot et al, 2006;Ntoumanis et al, 2009;Kavussanu et al, 2009;Dewar et al, 2013). It may be that the task chosen for this experiment was not as and analyzed them using a hierarchal regression model.…”