Emotional intelligence and emotions associated with optimal and dysfunctional athletic performance

Area of Science:

• Sports Psychology
• Affective Science

Background:

• Emotional intelligence (EI) is crucial for athletes' performance.
• Understanding pre-competitive emotions is key to athletic success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between self-reported emotional intelligence and pre-competitive emotions in athletes.
• To differentiate emotions experienced before optimal versus dysfunctional athletic performances.

Main Methods:

• 284 participant-athletes completed measures of emotional intelligence and pre-competitive emotions.
• Emotions were assessed before optimal and dysfunctional performances.
• Repeated MANOVA was used for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Pleasant emotions were linked to optimal performance, while unpleasant emotions were associated with dysfunctional performance.
• Higher emotional intelligence correlated with pleasant pre-competitive emotions.
• Low emotional intelligence scores predicted intense unpleasant emotions before dysfunctional performances.

Conclusions:

• Emotional intelligence appears to influence athletes' pre-competitive emotional experiences.
• EI may help athletes identify emotion-performance relationships.
• Future research should explore EI's role in emotion-regulation strategies for athletes.