TY - JOUR

T1 - Don’t miss, don’t miss, d’oh! Performance when anxious suffers specifically where least desired

AU - Woodman, Tim

AU - Barlow, M.D.

AU - Gorgulu, R.

N1 - 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. Set statement to accompany deposit "as accepted for publication"

PY - 2015/2/13

Y1 - 2015/2/13

N2 - We present two novel tests of Wegner’s (1994) theory of ironic processes of mental control using a hockey penalty shooting task (Study 1) and a dart-throwing task (Study 2). In Study 1 we aimed to address a significant limitation of ironic effects research in a performance setting by differentiating non-ironic performance error from specifically ironic performance error. When instructed not to miss in a specific direction, anxious performers did so a significantly greater number of times; importantly, there was no difference in non-ironic error, which provides the first specific support for Wegner’s theory in a performance setting. In Study 2, we present the first examination of the precision of ironic errors. When anxious, participants performed not only more ironically but also performed more precisely in the to-be-avoided zone than when they were not anxious. We discuss the results in the context of the importance of specific instructions in coaching environments

AB - We present two novel tests of Wegner’s (1994) theory of ironic processes of mental control using a hockey penalty shooting task (Study 1) and a dart-throwing task (Study 2). In Study 1 we aimed to address a significant limitation of ironic effects research in a performance setting by differentiating non-ironic performance error from specifically ironic performance error. When instructed not to miss in a specific direction, anxious performers did so a significantly greater number of times; importantly, there was no difference in non-ironic error, which provides the first specific support for Wegner’s theory in a performance setting. In Study 2, we present the first examination of the precision of ironic errors. When anxious, participants performed not only more ironically but also performed more precisely in the to-be-avoided zone than when they were not anxious. We discuss the results in the context of the importance of specific instructions in coaching environments

U2 - 10.1123/tsp.2014-0114

DO - 10.1123/tsp.2014-0114

M3 - Article

VL - 29

SP - 213

EP - 223

JO - Sport Psychologist

JF - Sport Psychologist

SN - 0888-4781

IS - 3

ER -