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International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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Positive emotion in sport performance current status and future directions

Paul J. McCarthyaaDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

Online publication date: 13 April 2011

To cite this ArticleMcCarthy, Paul J.(2011) 'Positive emotion in sport performance: current status and future directions',International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 4: 1, 50 69

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Positive emotion in sport performance: current status and futuredirections

Paul J. McCarthy*

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

(Received 24 January 2011; final version received 2 February 2011)

Emotions have firmly established their place in sport psychology research over thepast 40 years. For many decades following World War II, mainstream psychologyresearchers placed negative emotions (e.g., anxiety) ahead of positive emotions(e.g., happiness) but positive emotions are now a genuine, promising field ofresearch because of their influence on specific components of performance (e.g.,attention) and psychological well-being. The benefits of these emotions havehitherto not been wholly realized in a sport context, especially in their capacity togenerate greater self-efficacy, motivation, attention, problem-solving, and copingwith adversity. Although the sport emotion literature is sprinkled with studies thatspecifically examined positive emotion in sport settings, the breadth and depth ofthis research is too thin to make bold claims about the value of positive emotions inthe emotion-performance relation. There are, however, at least three theoreticalmodels available to sport psychologists to better understand the influence ofpositive emotions on sport performance and two of these models are specificallydesigned for sport contexts. Not only can these models deepen and widen this

knowledge base, but they can also support interventions in applied settings toimprove performance and psychological well-being.

Keywords: positive emotion; sport performance; well-being

The crucible of competitive sport raises the tide of emotion for sport performers and

forces them to regulate those emotions that aid sport performance rather than

disrupt it. Because so many sport performers appeared servile to the whims of

vacillating emotions, especially competitive anxiety, researchers sought to explain

their influence on competitive sport performance (Hanin, 2000; Parfitt & Hardy,

1993; Vallerand, 1983). The ensuing research inquiry raised many controversialissues for researchers because they discovered that the frequency, intensity and

direction of emotions were ephemeral and, rather than acting alone, they acted in

concert with other transitory subcomponents of performance such as motivation,

self-efficacy and perceived control (Jones, Meijen, McCarthy, & Sheffield, 2009).

This tangled knot of research lines could not be unravelled using sport literature

alone, especially because the existing knowledge base could not offer an adequate

solution to understand emotion in performance. Researchers, therefore, borrowed

and tested theoretical models from other fields of psychology (Jones, 1995; Uphill &

*Email: [email protected]

International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology

Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2011, 5069

ISSN 1750-984X print/ISSN 1750-9858 online

# 2011 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/1750984X.2011.560955

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Jones, 2004), developed and examined models exclusively for sport (Hanin, 1997;

Jones et al., 2009) and cultivated the abundant field of sport emotion literature we

read today.

Although abundant, this literature indicates that negatively-valenced (i.e.,

intrinsic aversiveness of events, objects or situations) emotions such as anxiety,

stress and anger, rather than positively-valenced (i.e., intrinsic attractiveness of

events, objects or situations) emotions such as enjoyment, satisfaction and

happiness, played leading roles (Jackson, 2000). This finding seems obvious on

one hand but obscure on another. It is obvious that the machinery of those

emotions that interfere with the quality of ones sport performance should be

dismantled to help performers compete at their best these emotions are often,

though not always, negatively valenced but equally it is obscure that emotions

experienced during peak performances (Cohn, 1991) and flow experiences

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Stein, Kimiecik, Daniels, & Jackson, 1995) are rarely

discussed or investigated

these emotions are often, though not always, positivelyvalenced. If positively-valenced emotions (e.g., enjoyment, satisfaction) are indelibly

linked with superlative performances in sport, then establishing their exact nature

and function in this relation seems necessary and instructive. Furthermore, positive

and negative emotions do not act alone; people actually experience different

emotions simultaneously, even if they are opposite in hedonic tone and especially if

they are mild or moderate in intensity (Cerin, 2004; Gilboa & Revelle, 1994). This

realization has affected research on stress and coping now it is necessary to

measure the intensity and frequency of basic emotions, including positive emotions

in this research (Cerin, Szabo, & Williams, 2001; Folkman, 2008). These

contemporary changes in stress and coping imply that we ought to update theco-ordinates on the map of sport emotions to more accurately scale the geography

of emotions in sport performance.

This article focuses primarily on positive emotions in sport performance. Because

positive emotions have only been explored briefly in a sport context, certain basic

questions must be answered. For instance, what are positive emotions and how

exactly can we differentiate among them? If they influence competitive sport

performance, do they do so directly, or indirectly through subcomponents of

performance such as motivation, concentration and self-efficacy? And is their

influence enabling or disabling for the sport performer in competitive sport? If they

enable the sport performer, how can these emotions be promoted? Equally, if theydisable the sport performer, how can these emotions be tempered? This article shall,

in so far as the available research allows, attend to these questions. To achieve this

aim, I shall briefly review the estimation of positive emotion in the broad field of

psychology and, more specifically, sport psychology. Next, I shall explore the

function of positive emotions whilst acknowledging their benefits and drawbacks

before finally sketching promising research directions based on contemporary

developments from sport and mainstream psychology. To begin this article, I shall

draft a working definition of emotion because over 90 different definitions abound

(Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981) and such definitional variety churns misinterpreta-

tion of research and increases the complexity of choosing fitting measures of emotion(Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999).

International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 51


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What is an emotion?

What is an emotion? This was the title of a paper by William James in 1884. What is

most perplexing about this question is that emotion researchers are still preparing an

answer. One might imagine that to open any research field for empirical scrutiny

requires at least conceptual clarity and precise definition of the topic underinvestigation. In the age of science, however, it is more important to understand a

particular process deeply before proper definitions emerge (Oatley, Keltner, &

Jenkins, 2006). It has been difficult to locate a precise definition of emotion that

adequately accounts for the different theoretical approaches that abound. Many of

the emotion definitions proposed by leading theorists such as James (1884), Arnold

and Gasson (1954), Tooby and Cosmides, (1990), Lazarus (1991), Ekman (1992),

and Frijda and Mesquita (1994) act merely as pointers (Oatley et al., 2006) because

others (Griffiths, 1997; Mandler, 1984) argued that emotion is too heterogeneous to

define. What is apparent, however, is that emotions have several components (that

are expressed in facial movements, posture, gesture, touch and the voice), involve

physiological responses in the brain and body and have specific action tendencies. At

least three components of emotion have been studied experimentally (Vallerand,

1983; Young, 1973): subjective experience of emotion (e.g., experiencing happiness

following a tennis match); physiological changes in the autonomic nervous system

whilst experiencing emotion (e.g., increased blood pressure when faced with a

threatening opponent); and observable emotional behaviour (e.g., smiling after a

successful performance). Deci (1980, p. 85) included these three components to

derive a definition of emotion:

An emotion is a reaction to a stimulus event (either actual or imagined). It involves

change in the viscera and musculature of the person, is experienced subjectively incharacteristic ways, is expressed through such means as facial chances and actiontendencies, and may mediate and energize subsequent behaviors.

This working definition shall guide the research presented hereafter. Before I

continue, two issues at the core of emotion research classification and measure-

ment deserve brief illumination.

Classifying and measuring emotions

Some researchers interchange emotion with affect and feeling (e.g., Isen, 2000)

while others distinguish these terms from each other (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001; Russell

& Feldman Barrett, 1999). But it is affect, which is . . . the experience of valence, a

subjective sense of positivity or negativity arising from an experience (Carver, 2003,

p. 242) that we commonly encounter in sport research (Gaudreau, Blondin, &

Lapierre, 2002; McCarthy, 2009; Robazza, Bortoli, Nocini, Moser, & Arslan, 2000).

It can be categorized using valence (positive vs. negative) and activation (low vs.

high) (Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998; Russell & Carroll, 1999). Low-activation

positive emotions include emotions such as happiness and satisfaction and reflect

ones achievement of valued goals and the absence of a need for action (Fredrickson,

1998; Skinner & Brewer, 2004). High-activation positive emotions include emotions

such as excitement and enthusiasm and reflect ones anticipation of favourableoutcomes (Skinner & Brewer, 2004). This classification allows scholars to erect silos

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within which we can grasp emotions of different valence. And it is these low- and

high-activation positive emotions that are the feature of this article.

Some researchers study generic positive and negative affect (e.g., Watson, Clark,

& Tellegen, 1988) rather than the specific discrete emotions (e.g., Ekman, 1992;

Lazarus, 2000) such as pride, affection and joy. The former are classified as

dimensional psychologists and the latter as discrete emotion theorists. The

disposition to experience positive emotional states is called positive affectivity and

it can be reliably assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson

et al., 1988); however, the complete independence between positive and negative

affect is rejected (Crawford & Henry, 2004; Watson et al., 1988). Ekman (1992)

outlined at least nine characteristics that distinguish basic emotions from one

another, such as distinctive universal signals (e.g., facial expressions), comparable

expressions in other animals, distinctive physiology, distinctive universals in

antecedent events, quick onset and brief duration. Such distinctions also help us

differentiate emotions from other related processes such as mood and dispositions.

Moods, for instance, typically last for hours, days or weeks. They are often objectlesswhereas emotions have an object such as when a person is angry, that person is

typically angry about something specific. Dispositions typically refer to an enduring

aspect of personality such as agreeableness or shyness (Oatley et al., 2006).

Issues of time, context, reliability and validity are considered in measures of

emotion. Time, for example, is critical in emotional experience because emotions are

dynamic processes that unfold, linger, and then dissipate over time (Larsen &

Fredrickson, 1999, p. 42). They also prompt different response systems (heart rate,

sweat glands, hormones) with particular onset times and duration. When emotions

are recorded retrospectively rather than in real time, bodily changes associated with

physiological systems become less obvious or redundant, obfuscating the gradationin subjective experience. Beyond this issue, when targeting a specific emotion for

investigation, its onset and conclusion are critical. Measures with sufficient temporal

resolution and proximity are necessary for each specific emotion. Contextual factors

such as ambient mood (e.g., depressed, irritable), recent life events (e.g., bereave-

ment), emotion-related personality traits (e.g., pessimistic), diurnal and circadian

influences on mood all create noise in the data, especially when researchers are

aiming to induce a specific emotion. Reliability and validity present other challenges

that are consistently discussed in the emotion literature alongside measures of

emotion such as self-report, observer ratings, facial, autonomic, brain-based, and

vocal (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). Self-report measures of emotion dominate

within sport contexts; however, there are samples of facial, autonomic, and brain-

based measures also within the literature (e.g., Davis et al., 2008). Self-report

measures of emotion form an extensive range of assessment instruments relying on

participants to experience, reflect upon, and report their emotions using rating scales

(Sport Emotion Questionnaire; Jones, Lane, Bray, Uphill, & Catlin, 2005) or

adjective checklists (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) with single or multiple-item

measures. Single-item measures might assess a global affective dimension (How

unpleasant are you feeling?) or a specific emotion (How angry are you feeling?)

with bipolar (unpleasant to pleasant) or unipolar (not at all angry to extremely

angry) response scales. Although popular because of their brevity, ease of under-

standing and administration, brief measurements have drawbacks such as samplingerror, error variance, and representativeness (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). One



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particular single-item questionnaire that has been used successfully in a sport setting

is the Affect Grid. It is based on the circumplex model of emotion (Larsen & Diener,

1992; Russell, 1980; Watson & Tellegen, 1985) and comprises a nine-by-nine matrix

with emotion adjectives (e.g., excitement, relaxation, stress) placed at the midpoints

of each side of the grid and at the four corners. Participants check one cell within the

grid to reflect how they are/were feeling along the arousal and pleasantness

dimensions. It measures sensitively manipulations designed to change participants

levels of arousal and pleasantness and because it requires negligible effort, it can be

administered often (Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999). Multiple-item measures of single

emotions such as the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Martens,

Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990) or multiple emotions such as the Profile of

Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppelman, 1971) and the Positive and

Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988), are popular in sport. But none of

these two multidimensional scales were designed for sport and so do not adequately

corral the emotional spectrum that exists in sport settings. To address this limitation,

Jones et al. (2005) developed the Sport Emotion Questionnaire (SEQ). The SEQ has22 items and is a sport-specific measure of pre-competitive emotion to assess anger,

anxiety, dejection, excitement and happiness. This questionnaire has also been used

successfully to assess recalled emotions in a sport setting (Vast, Young, & Thomas,

2010).

On the basis that a self-report measure of emotion for a sport setting now exists,

it should be possible to begin to better understand emotional experience among

sport performers. Following the lead of other emotion researchers in sport (e.g.,

Jones, 1995), it should be possible to clarify not only the intensity of emotions

experienced but also the direction or perceived value of those emotions among sport

performers. For instance, does a high level of happiness benefit sport performance?Self-report is but one measure of emotional experience. Facial, autonomic, and

brain-based measures of emotion will develop a better understanding of emotional

experience in sport (e.g., Davis et al., 2008).

Getting a grip on emotions in sport

Colman Griffiths 1930 publication in the Research Quarterly, A Laboratory for

Research in Athletics, requested a more scientific and experimental approach to

understand the effects of emotion on sport performance. Though his request was

specific, there was only a modest response among sport emotion researchers while

those in the wider contours of emotion research constructed a comprehensive and

methodically researched field. Such was their endeavour that the quantity of

publications alone makes it impossible to be exhaustive, especially as interest in

emotions spreads across many fields such as psychology, sociology, philosophy,

neuroscience, psychiatry, biology, and anthropology (Oatley et al., 2006). Although

emotion research is a diverse field, by examining specific facets of the emotion-

performance relation, it is possible for order to emerge. For example, emotions

influence subcomponents of sport performance including perception, attention,

memory, decision-making and judgement (Forgas, 1995; Isen, 1993). When people

experience positive emotion, they broaden their attention, which fosters openness,

flexibility and an efficient integration of information (Carver, 2003; Derryberry &Tucker, 1994; Fredrickson, 2001). Positive emotions also influence social goals such

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as attachment, affiliation and assertion (Oatley et al., 2006). These specific

components can be examined empirically in sport settings; collectively, these

subcomponents of sport performance could explain a substantial proportion of

the emotion-performance relation in sport.

In general, much more is known about the influence of negatively-valenced

emotions on these subcomponents of competitive performance in sport (Cerin,

2003). A few reasons can explain this finding. First, the scope of research within

mainstream psychology was to cure mental illness and this focus meant that the

research spotlight tilted away from positive emotions (Myers & Diener, 1995),

innocently concealing the bearing of positive emotions on psychological well-being

(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Second, the dominant theoretical models

within and outside sport meant that few appropriate models existed to understand

the influence of positive emotions on athletic performance. For instance, Yerkes and

Dodsons inverted-U theory (1908), Hulls drive theory (1943), Hardy and Fazeys

catastrophe model (1987) and Martens et al.s multidimensional anxiety theory

(1990) examined anxiety-performance relations (Hanin, 2000; Tenenbaum, Ed-monds, & Eccles, 2008), and this dominant theme shackled sport researchers

curiosity to consider other emotions extensively. It was emotions such as anger, stress

and anxiety that had their mechanisms dismantled (Cerin, 2003; Cerin, Szabo, Hunt,

& Williams, 2000).

But positive emotions were not ignored within sport psychology research; rather,

the emotion research backcloth was punctuated with brief ventures to specifically

explore positive emotions such as sport enjoyment (e.g., Scanlan & Simons, 1992),

hope (e.g., Curry, Snyder, Cook, Ruby, & Rehm, 1997), happiness (e.g., Woodman

et al., 2009), positive affect (e.g., Jones, Swain, & Harwood, 1996) and general

positive emotions (Hanin, 2007). Of these specific emotions, sport enjoymentremains the only one that has received acceptable inquiry among youth, recreational

and elite sport performers (McCarthy & Jones, 2007; Scanlan, Russell, Beals, &

Scanlan, 2003). Scanlan and Simons (1992, p. 202) defined sport enjoyment as . . .a

positive affective response to the sport experience that reflects generalized feelings

such as pleasure, liking and fun. From a practical perspective, it is reasonable to

understand why sport enjoyment has received substantially more scholarly time than

other positive emotions. To explain, motivation and commitment are essential

psychological attributes for successful performance in sport, especially in Olympic

events (Gould & Maynard, 2009). That being so, by unearthing those factors that

increase motivation and commitment, it should be possible to modify motivated

behaviour. One significant factor to sustain motivated behaviour and commitment is

sport enjoyment (McCarthy & Jones, 2007). By way of illustration, the former

professional golfer, Arnold Palmer, at age 75 explained: I still enjoy playing, its not

as much fun as it once was because I dont always play as well as I used to, and that

takes a toll after a while. . .Im still working on my game, still trying to find a way to

hit the ball further (Hauser, 2004). Simply, athletes who enjoy what they do,

invariably do it for longer and with greater enthusiasm than those who do not enjoy

what they do. The folds of research explain in unison that greater sport enjoyment is

associated with greater sport commitment among youth (Scanlan, Carpenter, Lobel,

& Simons, 1993; Scanlan, Carpenter, Schmidt, Simons, & Keeler, 1993; Scanlan &

Simons, 1992) and elite sport performers (Mallett & Hanrahan, 2004; Scanlan et al.,2003; Scanlan, Stein, & Ravizza, 1989). The more we know about sport enjoyment,



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for example, the more we know about the motivational consequences of positive

emotion. Positive emotions were also included in many studies of motivated

behaviour in youth, recreational, and elite sport participants. They still feature

when specific theories (e.g., achievement goal theory, Nicholls, 1984; Elliot, 1999;

self-determination theory, Deci & Ryan, 1985) are examined in sport contexts;

however, much of this research has examined typical achievement affects (e.g.,

competence, pride and enjoyment) without adequate consideration of other emotions

(e.g., excitement, happiness). A fine-grained understanding of which antecedents

(e.g., mastery or performance goals) produce which emotions is still needed

(Vallerand & Blanchard, 2000).

Not only does enjoyment serve a motivational role in sport, but it is also integral

to optimal performance (Orlick & Partington, 1988). For instance, flow, an optimal

psychological state that occurs when there is a balance between perceived challenges

and skills of an activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Jackson, Thomas, Marsh, &

Smethurst, 2001) is associated with enjoyment. Indeed, Jackson (1992) reported that

enjoying what one is doing was regarded as one of five factors identified by elitefigure skaters to enhance the likelihood of getting into a flow state. Similarly,

research on peak experience has indicated that this psychological state is associated

with psychological characteristics such as feeling highly self-confident, a narrow

focus of attention, an absence of fear, and feeling physically and mentally relaxed

these experiences are linked with fun or enjoyment (Cohn, 1991).

Positive emotions are associated with many attributes, characteristics, and

behaviours such as optimism, resilience, self-belief, self-esteem, commitment,

control, challenge, concentration, attentional control, overcoming adversity, intrinsic

motivation, internal locus of control and decision-making (Jones et al., 2009;

Tugade, Fredrickson, & Feldman-Barrett, 2004; Vast et al., 2010). This partial listsuggests that a balance of these emotions is necessary to compete successfully in

sport. These attributes, characteristics and behaviours are also related to the

multitudinous mental toughness qualities (e.g., Connaughton, Hanton, Jones, &

Wadey, 2008; Crust, 2008; Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2009) and so deserve

greater recognition as this field of research develops.

What good are positive emotions?

Charles Darwins (1872) book,The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,

posed two broad questions: how are emotions expressed in humans and other animals

and where do emotions come from? Both questions steer emotion researchers today

but a third question is necessary for this analysis: what functions do emotions serve?

This question is important because evolutionary wisdom implies that positive

emotions do not warn us about danger or force us to protect ourselves from threat.

Yet positive emotions have survived the evolutionary passage of time so clearly they

bestow some value on our survival as a species. At some points in our lives, positive

emotions seized the reins of our destiny.

Positive emotions lie on the margins of emotion research and at least three

reasons can explain this circumstance. To begin with, words for positive emotions

within the English language are outnumbered by words for negative emotions four to

one (Averill, 1980). A similar fate emerges in the scientific taxonomies for basicemotions with three or four negative emotions for each positive emotion (Ekman,

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1992; Izard, 1977). Such findings may have emerged for other reasons. Pinker (1997,

p. 366) argued that a language accumulates a large vocabulary including words for

emotions when it has influential wordsmiths, contact with other languages, rules for

forming new words out of old ones and widespread literacy. At a more elementary

level, beyond etymology and onomastics, research has established that positive

emotions assemble an ability to survive, though this proposal challenges the views of

emotion theorists (e.g., Ekman, 1992; Frijda, 1986; Lazarus, 1991) who argue that

emotions are linked with urges to act. If we consider, for example, fear and anger, the

former creates an urge to flee while the latter creates an urge to attack. Fredrickson

(1998) disputed this contention to suggest that such urges do not impel people to act

but guide specific possibilities for action such as to run and hide or stay and fight. So,

what good are positive emotions for sport performers?

Based on the literature from other fields of psychology, it appears that positive

emotions are necessary for successful performance in sport, though at first glance it

might not be obvious to see their influence because they may manifest themselves

indirectly rather than directly. To explain this line of reasoning, research hasindicated that positive affect is an effective retrieval cue (e.g., Isen, Shalker, Clark, &

Karp, 1978). Not only does it effectively retrieve information but it is especially

effective at retrieving positive information. Successful performance in sport often

relies on creativity, efficient problem-solving and decision-making. Positive affect

stimulates more creative problem-solving (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987; Isen,

Johnson, Mertz, & Robinson, 1985), and a greater association of multiple cues with

encoded information to establish a mental environment suitable for making

judgements and decisions under pressure (Isen & Daubman, 1984). Another feature

of positive emotions are their transferable effects in social responses and cognitions.

For instance, Isen (1970) gave participants perceptual-motor skills tests and told arandom sample of participants that they had succeeded in the test, which made them

feel mildly happy; however, she did not tell the other participants how they had done.

Those feeling mildly happier were more likely to help a stranger (an associate of the

experimenter) who had dropped her books. Perhaps more important from a sports

perspective are the cognitive effects of happiness it has fashioned more creative

problem-solving (Isen et al., 1987) and more satisfaction in performing tasks

(Kraiger, Billings, & Isen, 1989).

In many of these experiments, researchers used various methods to induce positive

affect. They told participants about their skill success in a task (Isen, 1970), gave

participants gifts (Isen et al., 1978), bags of candy (Isen & Geva, 1987), or showed

them comedy films or TV bloopers (Kraiger et al., 1989). Other inductions included

imagining previous positive events, listening to music, or being asked to read and get

involved in a story and expressing the feelings in the story. One method that relates to

the psychological skill of self-talk is the Velten mood induction procedure (Velten,

1968) in which the participant reads a list of statements (e.g., I am elated about things)

silently, then aloud and tries to feel the suggested mood (Pressman & Cohen, 2005).

Although these methods were specifically designed to induce positive affect in

laboratory settings, they emerge from the behaviour of the experimenter or the

individual. By extension, the coach, manager or sport performer might unwittingly

change the emotional dial before performance by watching motivational films on the

team bus, listening to music, or persuading performers of their success in pastperformances. Perhaps the coach or manager has a greater effect on the emotional



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experience of his or her charges when they can see and hear him or her. Evidence to

support this suggestion comes from Mehrabian (1972) whose study of emotional

communication reported that when interacting with others, only 7% of participants

emotional understanding of the other person stemmed from the words spoken;

however, 38% and 55% of their emotional understanding was attributed to verbal tone

and facial expression, respectively. Putting on your game face seems just as

important for the coach or manager as the athlete. Sport performers might also be

able to change their affective experience by moving emotion-relevant muscles. Strack,

Martin, and Stepper (1988) reported that participants holding a pen in their mouths

making muscle movements characteristic of a smile rated cartoons funnier than

those participants not contracting these muscles. Simply making distinct bodily

changes produced distinct emotional experiences, which suggests that managing the

emotional environs is a delicate duty. Similar findings emerged for sadness (Larsen,

Kasimatis, & Frey, 1992) and when Berkowitz and colleagues (Berkowitz, 2003)

induced pain and irritation in participants by making them raise their arms

horizontally for three minutes, they acted more aggressively towards others.

Research has consistently shown that feeling positive affect generates more

cooperative and helpful behaviour in adults and children (e.g., Chertock, 1974; Isen

& Levin, 1972; Marcus, 1987). Many researchers have reported that positive affective

experiences increase attraction and strengthen social bonds (Baumeister & Leary,

1995; May & Hamilton, 1980; Veitch & Griffitt, 1976). In threatening circumstances,

people like each other more because the presence of other people reduces ones

distress and a positive emotional response becomes associated with those people

(Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Kenrick & Cialdini, 1977). Such research accentuates the

value of positive affect in team settings, especially because moods, both good and

bad, are catching. Totterdell (2000) reported that the happy moods of professional

cricketers were linked with the current collective happy mood of their teammates

during a competitive match. This mood linkage was greatest for those who were

older, more committed to the team and more susceptible to emotional contagion. In

organizational settings, empirical evidence has demonstrated that employees

positive mood states predict task performance. Longitudinal studies (Tsai, Chen,

& Liu, 2007) among insurance sales agents suggested that employee positive moods

predicted task performance indirectly through motivational (self-efficacy and task

persistence) and interpersonal processes (helping co-workers and co-worker helping

and support). But what happens if you consistently perform better than your

teammates? Social comparison research (Festinger, 1954) has consistently establishedthat people strive to outperform others and to see themselves as superior (Festinger,

1954; Taylor & Brown, 1988). According to this competitive paradigm, upward

comparison, or comparing oneself against those who fare better that oneself, should

create negative affect; on the other hand, downward comparison, or comparing

oneself against those who fare worse than oneself, should create positive affect

(Exline & Lobel, 1999). It seems axiomatic that outperforming others makes people

feel happier. Such achievement should generate pleasure and pride and it does

however, mounting evidence suggests that outperforming others is also discomfort-

ing. So discomforting in fact, that people will sometimes elude outperformance

altogether, withdrawing effort so as not to outperform others (Pappo, 1983; Peplau,1976). The fear of being envied prompts people to increase their helping behaviour

58 P.J. McCarthy


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towards those potentially jealous of them as an appeasement strategy (van den Ven,

Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2010).

The accumulating research hints at the value of positive emotions for sport

performance and psychological well-being. We can begin to realize the value of

positive emotions through two models specifically designed for sport settings that

allow us to understand positive emotions in the emotion-performance relation and

by a third model that presents a specific theory of positive emotion. I shall present

these next.

Models to understand positive emotion and performance

At the outset, I explained that some researchers developed and tested models

specifically designed for the sport context (Hanin, 1997; Jones et al., 2009). Though

these models do not exclusively deal with emotion, they do allow us to consider

emotion alongside other constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, control, achievement goals)

that more fully explain how sport performers respond emotionally to competition.The theory of challenge and threat states in athletes (TCTSA) proposed by Jones

et al. (2009) and the individual zones of optimal functioning (Hanin, 1997) make

specific predictions about positive emotions and their role in sport performance.

The TCTSA emerged from the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat

(Blascovich & Mendes, 2000; Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996), the model of adaptive

approaches to competition (Skinner & Brewer, 2004) and related approaches to

understand how athletes perceive forthcoming competitions. This theory outlines

why athletes perceive forthcoming competitions as a challenge or a threat, how they

respond emotionally and physiologically to competition, and how these motivational

states influence sport performance. A challenge state emerges when a personperceives sufficient resources to meet situational demands and a threat state occurs

when a person perceives insufficient resources to meet situational demands

(Blascovich & Mendes, 2000). Following a challenge appraisal, positive emotions

are likely to emerge and be perceived as a benefit to performance whereas following a

threat appraisal, negative emotions are likely to emerge and be perceived as negative

for performance (Skinner & Brewer, 2004). At issue here, however, is not the label of

positive and negative emotions, but rather their interpretation by the athlete, and

function in performance. For instance, Izard (1991) defined anxiety as a complex

threat-related emotional state which may motivate approach and avoidance

behaviour. Athletes who perceive a positive interpretation of their anxiety symptoms

report more positive feelings than athletes who perceive their anxiety symptoms

negatively (Jones & Hanton, 2001; Mellalieu, Hanton, & Jones, 2003). But the

interpretation of these symptoms emerges from the athletes perception of control

within the environment and of oneself, sufficient coping capability and a belief that

the valued goal is achievable (Jones, 1995; Jones et al., 2009). Lazarus (2000, p. 230)

referred to evaluation as an appraisal of the personal significance for well-being that

a person attributes to this relationship and the process. Following appraisal, the

performer experiences an emotional response. Hanin (2000) explained that when

emotions are interpreted as pleasant, they might help performance; however, when

interpreted as unpleasant, they might hinder performance. One critical dimension to

consider in this analysis of the emotions-outcome link is functionality (Tenenbaumet al., 2008) because labelling emotions as pleasant or unpleasant does not describe



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their value for performance. To illustrate this difference, experiencing anger might be

perceived as unpleasant but actually help performance and experiencing contentment

after scoring a try in rugby, a player might think no further effort is necessary.

Predicting athletic performance using only pre-competition anxiety has been a

consistent limitation in sport psychology (Cerin et al., 2000; Gould & Tuffey, 1996;

Jones & Hanton, 2001; Kerr, 1997; Robazza, Pellizzari, & Hanin, 2004). Frameworks

such as the multidimensional theory of anxiety (Martens et al., 1990) represent a

traditional group-oriented approach, which restricts the relevance of its findings to

an individual athlete in a particular situation (Hagtvet & Hanin, 2007). The swell of

consensus suggests that athletic performance is predicted best by including

positively-valenced and negatively-valenced emotions rather than only pre-competi-

tion anxiety (Cerin et al., 2000; Gould & Tuffey, 1996; Jones & Hanton, 2001; Kerr,

1997; Robazza et al., 2004). These restrictions are addressed by the individual zones

of optimal functioning (IZOF) model (Hanin, 1997, 2000, 2007). The IZOF model

was designed to describe and predict the effect of positive and negative emotions

upon performance. In so doing, it would illuminate the emotion-performancerelation in sport. The model accounts for the optimal and dysfunctional effect of

positive and negative emotions upon performance with each athletes subjective

experiences dissected by contrasting best and worst performance patterns (Hanin,

1997). Both models are beginning to generate a more robust understanding of

positive emotion in sport performance (e.g., Hagtvet & Hanin, 2007; Williams,

Cumming, & Balanos, 2010) and a third model seems fitting for this purpose also.

According to Fredricksons broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

(Fredrickson, 1998, 2001), certain discrete positive emotions including joy, interest,

contentment, pride and love can broaden peoples momentary thought-action

repertoires and build enduring personal resources (e.g., physical, intellectual, socialand psychological). These emotions increased our tendency to play, explore and

imagine future achievements and through this process our personal resources grew to

guarantee our continued existence. Similar to negative emotions, the capacity to

experience positive emotions is genetically programmed, which through natural

selection became part of our human nature (Fredrickson, 2001). But when we

measure positive emotions against the yardstick of negative emotions, their value

seems questionable because negative emotions increased our evolutionary ancestors

chances of survival by offering reliable and recognizable thought-action tendencies.

For instance, when in the clutches of a life-or-death situation, fear, which is

associated with the urge to escape, helped our ancestors to consider a specific set of

behavioural choices (Fredrickson, 2001); yet positive emotions are less differentiated,

less specific and their adaptability also escaped the attention of emotion theorists

perhaps because they did not fit within the scaffold of existing theories of negative

emotion (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2006; Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). The

evolutionary currency of positive emotions differed from negative emotions so

examining them through that lens would not allow us to appreciate their value in

human existence. So rather than responding to one particular situation, positive

emotions were designed to encourage us to explore our environment for resources

and opportunities (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2006). The urges associated with these

emotions (e.g., joy urges us to play and be creative) had a broadening effect on our

survival, not alone, but over time, and actions associated with broadened states led tobuilding. Play, for instance, assembles physical abilities that are necessary later in life

60 P.J. McCarthy


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(Panksepp, 1998). The assembled experimental research indicates that positive

emotions build psychological resiliency and trigger upward spirals toward improved

emotional well-being (Fredrickson, 2001), broaden peoples thought-action reper-

toires (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005) and undo lingering negative emotions

(Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998). Collectively, these findings share links with various

strands of research in sport settings but have yet to be explored empirically.

Future directions

The main thrust of sport emotion research has focused on anxiety because of its

effect on cognitive functioning and physical activity (Tenenbaum & Bar-Eli, 1995;

Tenenbaum et al., 2008). Occasionally, researchers included more than one emotion

when exploring this relation but rarely have they examined the broad spectrum of

positive and negative emotions. However, this focus is necessary because these

emotions are constantly modified through the process of cognitive appraisal(Lazarus, 1999, 2000; Martinet & Ferrand, 2009). A cursory glance at the

contemporary developments in other fields of psychology suggests that the most

rewarding bounty has yet to be harvested in this field (Isen, 2009).

Broadly, we need to know more about the precise influence discrete positive

emotions have on sport performers well-being and sport performances. Not only do

we need to know the unique effect of these emotions but also the effect of co-

occurring positive emotions. As Diener (1999, p. 803) noted, There is a glue that

holds together certain of the discrete emotions. The explanation of the co-occurrence

of emotions and moods has the potential of shedding light on the most fundamental

nature of affect. Many emotions remain in the margins of sport emotion research,

such as courage, hope, happiness, pride and, to a lesser extent, passion, that are

customary in the language of managers, coaches, and sport performers. When more

is known about these emotions, more will be known about positive emotions in sport

performance.

Numerous experiments have offered data to conclude that even a mildly positive

mood benefits thinking, problem-solving, social interactions and psychological well-

being (Isen, 2009). On this evidence, emotions are amenable to change and it seems

equitable to suggest that positive emotions might benefit sport performers

performances and well-being. Various direct and indirect strategies could generate

positive emotions. Direct strategies might include promises of a reward, listening to

music or watching comical sketches or films. Indirect strategies might include

psychological techniques such as goal setting, self-talk, mental imagery and

relaxation. These techniques generate positive emotion through performance

accomplishment (see Emmons, 1986). In other words, because people are inclined

to view their ability positively when they achieve important goals, this perception

cultivates feelings of self-worth that in turn promote positive emotions (see Lazarus,

1991). Goal setting, or rather goal attainment, for example, is associated with

positive emotion. When people are committed to their goals, they are generally

successful at achieving them. Not only do they value their ability more, but they feel

proud, happy and joyful, daily (e.g., Emmons, 1986). Positive emotions also arise

from coping processes such as benefit-finding and reminding, reordering priorities,adaptive goal processes and permeating ordinary events with positive meaning



14/21

(Folkman, 2008). Such straightforward techniques, when skilfully deployed in sport

settings, could raise ones resilience and, perhaps, sport performance.

Authors such as Seligman (2002) have included optimism, resilience, hardiness, and

toughness whilst classifying emotions. Though specifically positive personal traits,

greater optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1987; Taylor & Brown, 1988), resilience,

hardiness, passion (Vallerand et al., 2006) and mental toughness are associated with

greater positive emotion. It would be worthwhile, especially for sport psychologists in

applied settings, to determine which specific positive emotions are associated with

which positive personal traits. A note of caution although these characteristics are

valuable to performers, they can also harbour danger for certain sports (e.g., motor

racing) because risks might be taken when sport performers are unduly optimistic

about their chances of success and the probable outcomes of events. For instance,

studies among motorists have shown that the average driver judges himself more skilful

than the average driver (Svenson, 1981). Even when surveys were conducted among

motorists in hospital who caused the collision, they still considered themselves more

skilful than the average driver (Preston & Harris, 1965).From a simple glance at the sports pages of daily newspapers or highlights on

television, we see a display of positive emotions, from contentment and happiness to

joy and ecstasy. The behaviour of sport performers after a stage win in cycling, a try

scored in rugby or a holed eagle putt floods our minds with images of positive emotion.

These images range from smiling faces, vocal expressions and warm embraces. These

images reflect how emotions are communicated through facial expression, vocal

communication and touch. Systematic coding of these detailed affective cues holds

promise for researchers of affective communication and especially for those who

explore intensely emotional situations in sport (Sauter, 2010). One example of this

research comes from Tracy and Matsumoto (2008). They examined non-verbalexpressions of pride among athletes following a win in Olympic judo matches. Winners

exhibited behaviours associated with pride such as smiling, tilting their head back,

raising their arms and expanding their chest. Even congenitally blind Olympic athletes

exhibited similar displays after winning matches.

Research has yielded a fertile understanding about a few discrete emotions (e.g.,

anxiety, enjoyment) and how they influence sport performance at youth, recrea-

tional, collegiate and professional levels (Scanlan et al., 2003). The folds of research

are gathering on emotional experience among athletes but also among coaches

(Fletcher & Scott, 2010), parents (Harwood & Knight, 2009), referees (Bortoli &

Robazza, 2002) and sport fans (Jones & Sheffield, 2007). The benefits and drawbacks

of positive and negative emotions are being uncovered. For instance, positive

emotion influences leadership behaviour and effectiveness, though negative affect

can also be effective in these roles (Damen, van Knippenberg, & van Knippenberg,

2008). And regulating our emotions depletes self-control resources needed to

perform successfully in sport (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998).

We are missing longitudinal research that might explain whether greater positive

affect is associated with greater long-term achievement in sport or enhanced well-

being. In short, positive emotions bear immense authority on the emotion-

performance relation in sport. Positive emotions bear immense authority on

psychological well-being, but unless we can quantify this bearing, and generate

and evaluate practical interventions to instil positive emotions among sportperformers, they will be rendered a paltry consequence of sporting triumph.

62 P.J. McCarthy


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Conclusion

Emotions are part of the fabric of everyday life but there is an unsettling ledger of

limits to our understanding of positive emotions in sport performance. The

embryonic research on positive emotions has lifted the curiosity of researchers

from psychology, sociology, philosophy, neuroscience, psychiatry, biology, andanthropology to passionately pursue answers to critical conceptual and empirical

questions that have hitherto impeded this research. The touchstone set with the

emergence of positive psychology (i.e., the study of positive emotions, positive

character traits, and enabling institutions) (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000;

Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005) means that this weanling science is

maturing; and the diligence of a few researchers to resuscitate positive emotions

within mainstream emotion research heralds it welcome to the lingua franca. But it

would be misleading to stretch the research material that is thin to start with even

thinner; however, based on the available evidence, positive emotions might be the

catalysts of excellence in sport and deserve space on our workbenches if we are toraise the level of competitive performance among sport performers. From a holistic

perspective, positive emotions are permanently linked with psychological well-being

and research in this field is necessary especially when you call to mind the human

suffering of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. This research is

economically worthwhile when seen in the light of Mary Laskers assertion (founder

of the Lasker Foundation): If you think research is expensive, try disease.

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