license.txt

Abstract

Choking under pressure is defined as decreased performance under situations of heightened anxiety. Previous research has demonstrated the existence of this phenomenon and theorized possible solutions, including the enhancement of a performer’s personal beliefs before a stressful event. The following experiment analyzes how enhancing one’s expected ability to perform under stress can help combat decreased performance under pressure, particularly during cognitive performance. The study randomly assigned participants into one of four groups: highpressure/ high expectancy, high-pressure/no expectancy, low-pressure/high expectancy, and lowpressure/ no expectancy, with a main focus on comparing the high-pressure/high expectancy to the high-pressure/no expectancy group. All participants were asked to complete a series of questionnaires, the General Causality Orientations Scale (GCOS) and The Self Determination Scale (SDS), followed by two sections of math testing. Following the first section of math testing, which served as a control measure for the manipulations, participants in the high expectancy groups were told that the questionnaires were a measure of one’s ability to perform under pressure, and that they had achieved abnormally high scores. The results were designed to increase their expected performance under pressure. In the second math section, half of the participants were placed under enhanced stress through a series of pressure induced manipulations. By comparing the results of the high-pressure conditions, it was determined that heightened self-expectancy did not improve performance, but was able to decrease levels of performance decrements in relation to non-enhanced expectancy. The remaining conditions served as a manipulation control to demonstrate the overall effect of both the enhanced expectancy and the choking phenomenon.