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A review of paradoxical performance effects: Choking under pressure in sports and mental tests
Author(s) -
Baumeister Roy F,
Showers Carolin J.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420160405
Subject(s) - choking , psychology , distraction , social psychology , task (project management) , incentive , relevance (law) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , management , political science , law , economics , anatomy , microeconomics
Paradoxical performance effects (‘choking under pressure’) are defined as the occurrence of inferior performance despite striving and incentives for superior performance. Experimental demonstrations of these effects on tasks analogous to athletic performance and the theories that may explain them are reviewed. At present, attentional theories seem to offer the most complete explanation of the processes underlying paradoxical performance effects. In particular, choking may result from distraction or from the interference of self‐focused attention with the execution of automatic responses. Experimental findings of paradoxical performance decrements are associated with four pressure variables: audience presence, competition, performance‐contingent rewards and punishments, and ego relevance of the task. The mediating factors of task complexity, expectancies, and individual differences are discussed.