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Self-Focused Attention and Performance Failure under Psychological Stress
Chu-Min Liao1, Richard S W Masters2
11 National Taiwan College of Physical Education.
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology
|July 7, 2017
Summary
Stress can increase self-focused attention, particularly when learning new skills. This heightened self-focus under stress can lead to poorer performance due to overawareness of the process.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sports Science
- Performance Psychology
Background:
- Self-focused attention is theorized to mediate performance decline under stress.
- Empirical evidence supporting stress-induced self-focus is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between stress and self-focused attention.
- To examine how self-focused attention during skill acquisition impacts performance under stress.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Employed a time-to-event paradigm to measure anxiety and self-focused attention during competitive buildup.
- Study 2: Compared performance decrements in basketball novices instructed to focus on mechanics versus those told to do their best during practice, followed by a stressful test phase.
Main Results:
- Higher self-focused attention correlated with increased anxiety levels preceding competition.
- Basketball novices practicing with high self-focus showed significant performance decline in a stressful test, unlike those with a 'do your best' approach.
Conclusions:
- Psychological stress may indeed elevate self-focused attention.
- Acquiring skills under high self-focus exacerbates performance deficits under stress, likely through overawareness.
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