Running head: METAPHORIC DESCRIPTION OF PERFORMANCE STATES. Metaphoric Description of Performance States. Yuri L. Hanin,

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1 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 1 Running head: METAPHORIC DESCRIPTION OF PERFORMANCE STATES Metaphoric Description of Performance States Yuri L. Hanin, KIHU-Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, Finland Natalia B. Stambulova, The P.F. Lesgaft State Academy of Physical Education, St-Petersburg, Russia Address correspondence to: Dr. Yuri L. Hanin, Ph, DSc, Professor & Senior Researcher Research Institute for Olympic Sports Rautpohjankatu 6, Jyväskylä, Finland phone: (direct); fax: mobile: yhanin@kihu.jyu.fi Submission date: April 10, 2001; Reviews completed: Aug. 22, 2001; Re-submitted: Oct. 30, 2001 Authors Note Yuri L. Hanin is with the KIHU-Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä-40700, Finland; Natalia B. Stambulova is with the Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden. This research project was supported by a grant (# 164 / 722 / 99) to Dr. Yuri Hanin from the Finnish Ministry of Education. We express our appreciation to David Conroy, Athanasios Papaioannou, Robert Weinberg, and Dave Yukelson who read earlier and revised draft of the manuscript. For further information concerning this article contact Yuri Hanin <yhanin@kihu.jyu.fi>.

2 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 2 Abstract This study examined feeling states prior to, during, and after best ever and worst ever competition in 85 skilled Russian athletes (43 male and 42 female; age range from 19 to 21) using metaphorgeneration method (Hanin, 2000). Six situations elicited 510 idiosyncratic, symbolic, holistic, and functionally meaningful metaphors and 922 interpretative descriptors. Athlete-generated metaphoric images were animate (67%) (animals, human beings, mythical characters) and inanimate (33%) (vehicles, objects, plants, natural phenomena) agents. The content of metaphors and descriptors reflected high action readiness in best ever competition and low action readiness in worst ever competition. Athletes generated different metaphors to describe their feeling states prior to, during, and after performance (content overlap ranged from 0.03 to 0.11). Accompanying descriptors had multiple connotations with cognitive, affective, motivational, somatic, kinesthetic, performance (operational), and communicative components of psychobiosocial state. Aggregated content of athlete-generated descriptors was visually represented by the IZOF-iceberg profile with high scores on optimal and low scores on dysfunctional state characteristics in best ever competition but not in worst ever competition. Future research directions and practical implications for using personalized metaphors in interventions are suggested. Key word: psychobiosocial state, emotion, metaphor, IZOF model, athletic performance

3 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 3 Metaphoric Description of Performance States There is a growing interest in the practice of sport psychology in detailed and accurate description and better understanding of athletes subjective emotional experiences related to their successful and unsuccessful performance (Gould & Tuffey, 1996; Hanin, 1997, 2000; Lazarus, 2000; Morgan, 1985; Raglin, 2001). The phenomenology of performance-related experiences reflecting an athlete s perspective (Dale, 1996) is indispensable in the development of personrelevant and task-specific individualized assessment tools (Butler, 1997; Hanin, 1997), mental training programs, and interventions (Murphy & Jowdy, 1992). However, an athlete s self-referent perspective is often not captured if, for instance, standardized emotion scales are used to assess feeling states. To address this concern, an individualized approach using a metaphor-generation method was proposed (Hanin, 1997, 2000; Hanin, Stambulova, Lukkarila, & Tummavuori, 2000). This study further explores usefulness of metaphoric description of performance-related states in skilled athletes and establishes a descriptive foundation for future explanatory and predictive investigations. Theoretical Underpinnings In our approach, a phenomenological (Dale, 1996; Kerry & Armour, 2000) and individualized (Hanin, 1997, 2000) perspective is taken. Specifically, subjective experience of the athlete is conceived as a viable resource of information; and a first-person description of experience and the meaning of most memorable experience are especially important. Metaphors as Symbols of Subjective Experience Collins English Dictionary defines a metaphor (from Greek metaphora - to transfer) as a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance, for example he is a lion in battle (1991, p. 982). A similar term, simile, is defined as a figure of speech that expresses the resemblance of one thing to another of a different category, usually introduced by as or like (p.1441). It is important to realize that the

4 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 4 essence of metaphor is experiencing and understanding one kind of thing in terms of another. Thus, a metaphor usually stands for something else and allows understanding of something unknown (or difficult to describe) through the similarity to something already known or described (Combs & Freedman, 1990). A metaphor as a map of human thinking (Van Oech, 1990) is always related to a certain image, which is holistic and meaningful for a person. Words, objects, mental images, stories, etc. are the units of metaphor. A symbolic nature of a metaphor provides a picture of one s understanding of something with an emphasis on most personally relevant and important aspects and shades of meaning. Probably no area of psychology is marked by more vivid metaphors than is the area of emotion (Averill, 1990) and motivation (McReynolds, 1990; Weiner, 1991). There are hundreds of metaphors of emotion in different languages. In colloquial English, for instance, a fearful person is yellow-bellied, lily-livered, faint-hearted, spineless, chicken, with cold feet; a person is blue when sad, white when fearful, and red when angry (Averill, 1990, p.104). However, a metaphor is primarily a matter of thought and action [italics added] rather than only derivatively a matter of language (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 153). In sport, metaphors are a part of athletes understanding of themselves and their interaction with the environment and, therefore, athletes often use metaphors spontaneously to describe their thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, behaviour, and actions. Well-known metaphors describing performance related states in sport include being in the zone, in the groove, in the cocoon, flow state, and choked. Metaphors can be warnings of getting out of control: cotton mouth, cold, clammy hands, butterflies in the stomach, (Harris & Harris, 1984, p. 29). Furthermore, metaphors can symbolically describe a personal meaning of the situation for an athlete. For instance, after losing his first match, a wrestler recalled his feelings, it was just like the whole world was still coming down around me. It was still like I was in a burning house [italics added] (Eklund, 1996, p. 121). Another wrestler, who had cut weight extensively for a particular meet,

5 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 5 described his feelings as follows, I felt like crap, I felt like I had already wrestled a couple of matches [italics added] and I felt so weak (ibid, p. 123). From the applied perspective, it should be kept in mind that metaphors are multidimensional symbolic representations of personally meaningful experience (Combs & Freedman, 1990). Moreover, metaphors as holistic and action-oriented images can trigger specific emotional experiences by providing a direct link with the right hemisphere processes and by activating them (Mills & Crowley, 1986). This contention received empirical support in recent studies, which revealed that the right hemisphere is involved in the appreciation of metaphors (Bottini et al., 1994). Apparently, action-orientedness is one of the reasons why metaphors are often used in individual and family therapy, and interventions (Gordon & Meyers-Anderson, 1981; Mills & Crowley, 1986; Van Oech, 1990). Specifically, practitioners use metaphors to facilitate the processes of developing a client-consultant relationship, gathering information, assessing and utilizing resources, suggesting ideas, reframing, and, facilitating new patterns of thought, feelings, and behavior (Combs & Freedman, 1990). In sport practice, metaphors are also used in interventions, especially with children and young athletes (Efran, Lesser, & Spiller, 1994; Murphy & Jowdy, 1992; Orlick & McCaffrey, 1991). In several cases, however, a failure to consider the personal meaning the image has for the individual usually results in less than effective interventions (Ahsen, 1984; Murphy & Jowdy, 1992). For instance, Efran et al. (1994) used three boundary-strengthening metaphors (a bubble, a cocoon, and a chrysalis) in teaching youth tennis players on-court focus and coping with distractions. As expected, this metaphor method facilitated task concentration and enjoyment in children in practices and competition. However, the intervention was not entirely successful as these investigators used only three not personalized researcher-generated images, which did not match the needs of all athletes.

6 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 6 Finally, a value of individualized metaphor images was evident in two recent pilot studies using the metaphor self-generation method (Hanin, 2000; Hanin et al., 2000). In one study, 29 highly skilled junior Finnish hockey-players were able to generate metaphors describing their good and bad days and the image of their team. In another study, 148 junior Finnish ice-hockey players described their successful and poor performances by generating metaphors. All images were highly idiosyncratic and related to action tendencies reflecting high or low readiness to perform. These findings suggest that athlete-generated idiosyncratic metaphors may be useful in practice of sport psychology for holistic and personally meaningful description and better understanding of performance related states (Hanin et al., 2000). Performance Related States There is a clear shift in the practice of sport psychology from the predominant focus on preevent anxiety to a wider range of performance related pleasant and unpleasant emotions (Gould et al., 1999; Hanin, 1997, 2000; Hanin & Syrjä, 1995; Lazarus, 2000; Robazza, Bortoli, Nocini, Moser, & Arslan, 2000; Robazza, Bortoli, Zadro, & Nougier, 1998). Recently, a conceptualization of emotion as a component of performance related state was advocated. Specifically, the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) model holds that a psychobiosocial state is a situational, multi-modal and dynamic manifestation of the total human functioning (Hanin, 1997, 2000). Multilevel and systems descriptions of performance-related states includes at least five dimensions: form, content, intensity, context, and time. Form dimension. According to the IZOF model, an athlete s psychobiosocial state manifests itself in seven basic forms including cognitive, affective, motivational, somatic, kinesthetic (motor), performance (operational), and communicative components. These modalities are interrelated and provide a relatively complete description of a performance state (Hanin, 1997, 2000). This multipleform notion in conceptualizing the form dimension of performance states has received strong empirical support (Hanin, 2000; Hanin & Syrjä, 1995, 1996; Robazza et al., 1998, Robazza et al.,

7 Metaphoric Description of Performance States ). However, most of the IZOF-based research until quite recently focused mainly on affective (emotional) and motivational (Hanin, 1999) components of performance state. This study examines if all seven components of psychobiosocial state are represented in athlete-generated descriptions of feeling states related to best ever and worst ever competitions. Content dimension. Idiosyncratic emotion content is conceptualized within the framework of four global emotion categories based on hedonic tone (pleasant unpleasant) and functional impact on performance (optimal dysfunctional) distinctions. These four categories include pleasant and functionally optimal emotions (P+), unpleasant and functionally optimal emotions (N+), pleasant and dysfunctional emotions (P-), and unpleasant and dysfunctional emotions (N-). The four categories provide a robust and sufficiently broad structure that can accommodate a wide range of athlete-generated emotion descriptors reflecting individually relevant and task-specific experiences prior to, during, and after performance (Hanin, 1997, 2000). To describe the interactive effects of different emotions upon performance, Morgan (1985) proposed a nomothetic iceberg profile with a predominance of vigour over tension, confusion, depression, anger, and fatigue. The IZOF model extends this notion to an idiographic iceberg profile to represent visually an interaction of intensity of optimal idiosyncratic (positive and negative) emotions and dysfunctional idiosyncratic (negative and positive) emotions (Hanin, 1997, 2000). Apparently, these interactive effects apply not only to emotions but also to other components of feeling state. This study examines if the notion of the IZOF-based iceberg profile (situational and aggregated) can be applied to the content of optimal and dysfunctional feeling states. Time dimension. Temporal dimension reflects the dynamics of performance related experiences before, during, and after the performance of a single or repeated short- or long-duration task. Most current emotion research in sport psychology examined mainly pre-competition anxiety in the preparatory stage of a task execution process, although more emphasis on temporal dynamics of emotions is advocated (Cerin, Szabo, Hunt, & Williams, 2000; Hanin, 1997, 2000). This study

8 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 8 explores athlete s symbolic representation of their performance states across three functionally different but interrelated situations: (a) pre-event (anticipation of, preparation for an action), (b) mid-event (task execution, action itself), and (c) post-event (evaluation of performance). The context dimension. The context or setting dimension is an environmental characteristic including situational (practices versus competitions), interpersonal, intra-group determinants of intensity and content of emotions in sport (Hanin, 2000). This study focuses on the differences between the athletes subjective experiences in two qualitatively extreme performance situations: best ever and worst ever competitions. Functional impact of emotion upon performance. The explanation of functional impact of emotions upon performance in the IZOF model is based on the notion of resources matching. Optimal pleasant and unpleasant emotions reflect availability of resources and their effective recruitment and utilization by producing energizing (enhanced effort) and organizing (enhanced skill) effects. In contrast, dysfunctional unpleasant and pleasant emotions usually reflect a lack of resources or their inefficient recruitment and utilization resulting in dis-energizing and disorganizing effects upon performance. This study uses the notion of resources recruitment and utilization and the concept of action tendencies (Frijda, 1986) to examine the functional meaning of metaphors and interpretive descriptors of performance related states in best ever and worst ever competitions. The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study is to examine the feasibility of symbolic description of performance related states using self-generated metaphors and interpretative descriptors. Based on earlier evidence in sport practice (Efran et al., 1994; Eklund, 1996; Hanin et al., 2000; Harris & Harris, 1984; Murphy & Jowdy, 1992; Orlick & McCaffrey, 1991) and theoretical formulations (Averill, 1990; Combs & Freeman, 1990; Hanin, 1997, 2000; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), it was hypothesized that: (1) athlete-generated metaphors and interpretative descriptors are highly idiosyncratic, holistic, and action-oriented; (2) the content of metaphors and

9 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 9 descriptors reflects high action readiness in best ever competition and low action readiness in worst ever competition; (3) the metaphor content prior to, during, and after performance situations is different; (4) state descriptors have multiple connotations associated with different components of psychobiosocial state; and (5) the content of state descriptors is visually represented by the IZOFiceberg profile in best ever competition but not in worst ever competition. Method Participants Eighty-five Russian athletes (43 male and 42 female) participated in the study. The participants age ranged from 19 to 21 (M=20.3, SD=0.7) and they averaged 9.4 (SD=2.7) years of sporting experience. Of those 85 athletes, 54 competed at the national level, 14 at the international, and 17 at the local level. The athletes represented 16 different sports including track and field athletics (n=20), ball games (volleyball, basketball, baseball, handball, and football) (n=28), swimming (n=9), fencing, boxing, wrestling, tennis (n=11), rhythmic and artistic gymnastics, aerobics, diving, and synchronized swimming (n=17). Instrument The metaphor-generation method is an instrument developed specifically for the present study. The first section obtains demographic information (age, gender, sport event, sporting experience, skill level). The next section identifies self-generated metaphors and interpretative descriptors of feeling states prior to, during, and after best ever and worst ever competitions. As an introduction, the concept of a metaphor is briefly explained and examples of metaphors describing feelings and emotions in non-sports setting are provided. Asking a person to complete such a sentence as, When I am on a beach on a bright sunny day, I feel like generates a metaphor. Completing a paraphrased sentence, In other words, I feel myself, elicits a description or an interpretation of an athlete s state symbolized in a metaphor. As soon as participants understand the idea of a metaphoric description of psychological states, they are requested to recall their best

10 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 10 ever competition and to describe how they felt by completing three open-ended sentences and paraphrases: 1. Prior to my best ever competition I felt like ( In other words, I felt myself ) 2. During my best ever competition I felt like ( In other words, I felt myself ) 3. After the best ever competition I felt like ( In other words, I felt myself ) For instance, an athlete may complete the first sentence by indicating that, Prior to my best ever performance I felt like a tiger before a jump, (a metaphor); and add, In other words, I felt myself powerful, focused, and ready to fight (interpretative descriptors). After reporting their feeling states in best ever competition, athletes described how they felt prior to, during, and after their worst ever competition by completing the same three open-ended sentences except for substituting worst ever for best ever. In both cases athletes generated descriptors without using emotion stimulus list. Procedure. After the athletes were contacted, the aim of the study was explained, the confidentiality of the findings was assured, and a voluntary nature of their participation in the study was emphasized. To achieve a maximum consistency, the second author administered the open-ended questionnaire in small group (5-6 athletes) sessions that lasted minutes. Data Analysis Data analysis involved transcription of each athlete s written responses into an individualized metaphor profile (demographic data and a list of six metaphors with accompanying descriptors). Eighty-five profiles comprising 510 metaphors and 922 descriptors were prepared (a sample of a metaphor profile is available from the first author). Two investigators conducted the analysis independently following the guidelines for qualitative research (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994; Huberman & Miles, 1994; Mishler, 1990; Patton, 1990). A raw data text unit was a single metaphor and a descriptor (a word or sentence) relating to a single idea or meaning. At all stages of analysis,

11 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 11 the investigators discussed a particular text unit until consensus was reached in cases of doubt or disagreement. Text units were organized into groups with the similar meanings, using both inductive and deductive content analysis (Patton, 1990). Inductively, metaphors and interpretative descriptors were categorized according to the emerging themes reflecting their idiosyncratic characteristics. Deductive content analyses used four sets of conceptually specified categories with the raw data as the units of analysis (Huberman & Miles, 1994; Mishler, 1990). These four sets of categories included the concepts of resources recruitment-utilization, strength-weakness, seven components of performance state, and the IZOF-emotion iceberg (Hanin, 1997, 2000). A degree of similarity-dissimilarity between athlete-generated metaphors prior to, during, and after best and worst ever competition was established by calculating a content overlap with the formula proposed by Krahè (1986). Overlap scores vary from 0 (all metaphors across two situations are different) to 1.0 (all metaphors are similar). To test the multiple-form connotations hypothesis, each interpretative descriptor was related to cognitive, affective, motivational, somatic, kinesthetic, performance (operational), and communicative components of psychobiosocial state (Hanin, 1997). Direct relationship with the selected form component was coded as 1 ; an indirect connotation ( somewhat ) was coded as 0,5. Some descriptors were related only to one component of a psychobiosocial state; others had connotations with two or more components of state. Finally, to test the hypothesis that the IZOF-iceberg visually represents interactive effects of the state content, all interpretative descriptors were compiled separately for best ever and worst ever competition and their frequencies in each of the four global categories (N-, N+, P+, and P-) were calculated. Results Each athlete generated six metaphors and from 6 to 16 (M=10.8; SD=2.1) interpretative descriptors of feeling states prior to, during, and after their best ever and worst ever competition; 85 athletes generated 510 metaphors and 922 descriptors. Ninety percent of participants used entirely different metaphors describing how they felt in these six performance situations. Specifically, in

12 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 12 best ever competition, athletes described their feeling states prior to performance using 70 (82.4%) metaphors only once. During and after performance, 66 (77.6%) and 68 (80.0%) metaphors were used once, respectively. In worst ever competition, athletes described their feeling states prior to performance using 74 (87.1%) metaphors only once. During and after performance, 79 (92.9%) and 74 (87.1%) metaphors were used once, respectively. Finally, seven athletes (8.2% of 85) described their states prior to best ever and worst ever competition using similar metaphors; two athletes (1.8% of 85) described their states prior to and after worst ever competition also using similar metaphors. In other words, all athlete-generated metaphors were highly idiosyncratic. Animate and Inanimate Agents Inductive content analysis of self-generated metaphors revealed 7 empirically derived symbolic categories within the two large classes of animate (67%) and inanimate (33%) agents. Animate agents included animals (43.5%): a clumsy bear, a shark ; human beings (20.4%): a lucky hunter, a passenger missing a train ; and mythical characters (3.1%): Zorro, Zeus. Inanimate agents included objects (15.2%): a wooden doll, worn out jeans ; vehicles (8.4%): a powerful car, a taking off plane ; natural phenomena (4.7%): a light wind, a sun ray ; and plants (4.7%): a trembling leaf, a broken tree. Action Readiness General action readiness in metaphoric descriptions was reflected in action tendencies, strengths-weaknesses, and in the resources recruitment and utilization. Action tendencies. Three empirically derived categories of action tendencies included an agent s position (active-passive), potential to move (high-low), and quality of movement (adequateinadequate). As expected, athletes states in best ever competition were characterized by active position ( a cat playing with a mouse, a man pushing a wall ), potential to move ( a rocket at the start, a tiger ready to jump ) and actual movement ( a train moving at full speed, a rough ocean ), no barriers to movement ( a bird in the sky, an astronaut in weightlessness ), voluntary

13 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 13 movement, up and forward direction ( a floating eagle, a flying up balloon ), movement adequacy ( a fish in the water, a steady working mechanism ). In contrast, passive position ( a broken tub, a rabbit in front of a boa ), no or low potential to move ( a bear in the den, a crushed car ), no actual movement ( a bag with stones, a broken clock ), barriers to movement ( a mouse in a trap, a bird with wings cut ), involuntary movement ( a squirrel in the wheel, a boat in storm ), down, backward or away direction of movement ( going down Titanic, a cat running away from a dog ), and its inadequacy ( a fish on the ground, a caw on the ice ) characterized action tendencies in worst ever competition (Table 1). Strengths weaknesses. Two functionally opposite and action-related characteristics revealed in the content analysis of metaphors were: (a) being strong, skillful, in control, and able to cope ( Hercules, an experienced beast, a well working pipeline ) or (b) being weak, unskillful, out of control, and unable to cope with task demands ( a sleepy fly, a man without arms, a beaten dog ). As expected, strength, power, and skill were prominent prior to (81.2% of all 85), during (96.5%), and after (68.2%) best ever competition; weakness, lack of power and skill were observed prior to (78.8%), during (91.8%), and after (92.9%) worst ever competition. The differences in these characteristics between best ever and worst ever competitions were significant in pre-event, χ 2 (2, N = 170) = 58.9, p<.001; mid-event, χ 2 (2, N = 170) = 132.6, p<.001; and post-event situations, χ 2 (2, N = 170) = 65.2, p<.001. Resources recruitment and utilization. Metaphors reflecting available resources ( a boat with an engine, a mountain river ) and ability to recruit resources ( a horse in a light cart, a man who can move a mountain ) described athletes states prior to (93%), during (100%), and after (83.8%) best ever competition. In contrast, a lack of resources ( a sinking boat, an empty bottle ) and inability to recruit resources ( a man with weights on his legs, a bird unable to fly ) were characteristic for metaphors the athletes used to describe their states prior to (78.3%), during (94.7%), and after (93.8%) worst ever competition. Similar relationships were revealed in the

14 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 14 resources utilization: metaphors describing best ever competition reflected highly efficient use of resources ( Batman in flight, a fisherman catching a golden fish ) prior to (91.9%), during (100%), and after (83.9%) performance. In contrast, metaphors describing worst ever competition reflected inefficient or poor use of resources ( a bear after hibernation, a soldier in a burning tank ) prior to (85.9%), during (98.7%), and after (97.5%) performance (Table 2). Action tendencies, resources recruitment and utilization were all characteristics of perceived total readiness to cope with and to control the situation. Several interpretative descriptors highlight this readiness for action: I felt strong and ready to overcome any obstacle (athlete #19), I was ready for any situation in competition and for any results (#27), I was calm and completely ready to start (#41), I felt psyched up and ready (#51), I felt ready to move a mountain (#53). As expected, high readiness for action was characteristic for descriptions of athletes state prior to their best ever competition (70.6%), whereas low readiness for action was typical for the athletes perceptions of their state in worst ever competition (85.9%). Reversals in State-Performance Relationships It was revealed that in the best ever competition, 33 metaphors (12.9% of 255) were negative. Most of the negative symbols (75.8 %) were the descriptions of athletes states prior to competition ( a hunted animal, a tiger in a cage, a wounded bird, a fish on a frying pan, a man sentenced to death ). These metaphors were also accompanied by negative interpretative descriptors ( nervous, fearful, tense, frightened, and uncertain ). In other words, sometimes, especially in the pre-event situations, athletes can experience unpleasant states, but these do not have a detrimental effect upon their subsequent performance (a compensatory mobilisational effect). In the worst ever competition, 16 metaphors (6.3% of 255) were positive and most of these positive mismatches or reversals (75.0 %) were again symbolic descriptions of athletes states prior to competition ( a careless fish, a fish in the water, a calm lake ). These metaphors were accompanied by positive interpretative descriptors ( felt confident, did not

15 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 15 expect anything bad, wanted to fight, was calm, and well focused ). In other words, pleasant states, especially in pre-event situations, can sometimes have a detrimental effect upon subsequent performance (complacency, de-mobilisational effect). Metaphor Content Prior to, During and After Competition Metaphor content symbolically describing athletes states was different in pre-, mid-, and post-event performance situations in best ever and worst ever competition. For instance, a soccer player (#35) felt as a fish in the water (with a descriptor very confident ) prior to the game, as a boa in front of rabbit ( focused and confident ) during the game, and as a squeezed lemon ( very tired ) after the game. The same player used different images to describe his feeling state in worst ever competition: he felt as a bear in winter ( far from normal ) prior to the game; as a fish without water ( very badly ) during the game, and as a bold lion in the zoo ( ashamed and anxious to go home as soon as possible ) after the game. Comparisons at the group level also revealed a low content overlap between prior to and during (0.11), during and after (0.06), and prior to and after (0.09) performance situations. As expected, even a lower content overlap was revealed in metaphors describing the athletes states across best ever and worst ever competition prior to (0.09), during (0.03) and after (0.03) performance. Interpretative Descriptors of a Psychobiosocial State Table 3 reports frequencies of connotations derived from 922 interpretative descriptors and related to the seven components of psychobiosocial state in best ever and worst ever competition. Athletes interpretative descriptors had direct and indirect associations with all 7 components of performance state. It is noteworthy that athletes used more descriptors and, hence, perceived more details of their states in best ever than in worst ever competition. Athletes descriptors prior to their best ever competition were more often associated with cognitive ( focused, alert ), affective ( happy, anxious ), motivational ( purposeful, eager ), and operational ( skillful ), components of their states than prior to worst ever competition. Descriptors associated with

16 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 16 cognitive, affective, and motivational components were used more often to describe best ever competition than worst ever competition. In contrast, descriptors associated with somatic ( sleepy, shaking body ) and communicative ( pressed by my coach, forgotten by others ), components were used more often in the description of states during worst ever competition than in best ever competition. More descriptors related to cognitive, affective, motivational, somatic, kinesthetic ( free in movement, relaxed muscles ), and performance (operational) components emerged in the description of athletes states after best ever competition than after worst ever competition. Interestingly, a communicative component was implied 2.4 times more often during and after worst ever competition than during and after best ever competition. This finding suggests that athletes perceive reactions of significant others as subjectively more important in worst ever competition than in best ever competition. Taken together, the results indicate that athletes interpretative descriptors have indeed a wider range of connotations reflecting different forms of psychobiosocial state. Therefore, most salient indicators of an athlete s readiness for performance should include not only affective but also motivational, somatic, cognitive, and kinesthetic components. Interactive Effects of the Feeling States Content Figure 1 depicts the frequency profiles of interpretative descriptors generated to describe feeling states in best ever and worst ever competition within the framework of the four global content categories. Aggregated iceberg-shaped profiles prior to and during best ever competition reflect optimal interaction patterns: a clear predominance of optimal positive and negative descriptors and lower frequencies of negative and positive dysfunctional descriptors. A profile after best ever performance reflects a high satisfaction, considerable drops in strong action-oriented positive and negative emotions, and expected increase in fatigue. Such positively skewed postperformance profile suggests a need for effective recovery after successful competition. As predicted, aggregated idiographic emotion profiles prior to, during, and after worst ever competition displayed a typical dysfunctional pattern with predominance of negative dysfunctional content and

17 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 17 low positive optimal emotion content. Such negatively skewed flattened profiles had predominantly negative dysfunctional emotion content prior to, during, and after performance. Discussion The purpose of this study was to examine athletes perception and symbolic representation of feeling states prior to, during, and after best ever and worst ever competition using self-generated metaphors and accompanying interpretative descriptors. All 85 athletes were able to describe symbolically their feeling states prior to, during, and after best ever and worst ever competition. These findings support the hypothesis 1 of the study and suggest that metaphor-generation method can be used with skilled athletes to describe their performance states. These results are consistent with other studies involving the athletes of the same age and younger (16-18 years) who were able to describe their good and bad days, as well as successful and unsuccessful performances, and their team s climate by generating metaphors (Hanin, 1997, 2000; Hanin et al., 2000). A highly idiosyncratic nature of athlete-generated metaphors revealed in the study explains why nonpersonalized images and descriptors may be problematic in interventions for some athletes (Efran et al., 1994; Moran & MacIntyre, 1998; Murphy & Jowdy, 1992). Thus, from the sport psychology practice perspective, the metaphor-generation method extends and supplements the existing approaches to the individualized assessment of pre-, mid-, and post-performance states. The hypothesis 2 of the study was also supported. The content of metaphors represented symbolically a high readiness for action (action tendencies, strengths, and efficient resources recruitment and utilization) in best ever competition and a low readiness for action (or a lack of readiness) in worst ever competition (Tables 1 and 2). Metaphors and feeling state descriptors in best ever and worst competition had also opposite functional meaning in terms of athletes ability to recruit available resources and to use them efficiently. Thus in best ever competition, metaphors symbolizing strength, power, speed, and skillfulness were generated 5-10 times more often than in worst ever competition. In contrast, in worst ever competition, athlete s metaphors symbolized

18 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 18 weakness, slowness, and powerlessness five times more often than in best ever competition. Even stronger relationship was observed in the recruitment and utilization of resources, especially during performance in both best ever and worst ever competition. Therefore, the findings provide empirical support for the notion that a metaphor is primarily a matter of thought and action (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and that feeling states accompanying performance reflect action tendencies (Frijda, 1986). In some cases, however, feeling states-performance relationships were reversed in best ever (12.9%) and worst ever (6.3%) competitions, especially prior to performance (75.8% and 75.0%, respectively). These findings support earlier research, which revealed that sometimes athletes report negative feeling states prior to their successful competition and positive feeling states prior to their unsuccessful competitions (Hanin, 1997; 2000; Hanin & Syrjä, 1995; Robazza et al., 1998, 2000). Such reversals in feeling states are usually highly idiosyncratic and should be taken into consideration in the prediction of emotion-performance relationships. The hypothesis 3 of the study predicted that idiosyncratic metaphors describing the content of feeling states experienced throughout competition would be different across pre-, mid-, and postperformance situations. This assumption is based on the notion that a performance task usually involves 3 interrelated but functionally and qualitatively different stages: preparation for, execution of, and evaluation of performance. A low content overlap between metaphors across these 3 situations in best ever and worst ever competition provides a strong empirical support for this hypothesis. The findings suggest that the functional meaning of these three situations, as symbolically represented by idiosyncratic metaphors, is different for each athlete. These differences are triggered by situational appraisals of anticipated and occurred outcomes (gains and harms) (Lazarus, 2000) and, therefore, vary greatly across pre-, mid-, and post-event situations. These results are important for the practice of sport psychology in several aspects. Current sport psychology research focuses mainly on the intensity of specific ( fixed ) emotion content (e.g., anxiety) in pre-competition situations. There is a clear need to examine competition emotions

19 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 19 across pre-, mid-, and post-event situations (Cerin et al., 2000; Hanin, 2000). Moreover, these results suggest that emotion content is also very dynamic and can change from pre-event to midevent and post-event situations, if the meaning of performance situation for an athlete changes. Therefore, in research and applications it is important to identify a specific constellation (or a set) of emotion content that is optimal or dysfunctional for an athlete s performance and temporal patterns of emotion content throughout a particular competition or several competitions. Moreover, metaphors reflecting even slight changes in personal meaning of each performance situation could be useful for a practitioner in monitoring dynamics of performance related states and planning interventions. The hypothesis 4 of the study, based on a multi-modal perspective, predicted that athletegenerated interpretative descriptors would have multiple connotations with different components of psychobiosocial state (Hanin, 1997, 2000). The results revealed that the content of interpretative emotion descriptors overlapped with the content of cognitive, affective, motivational, somatic, kinesthetic, operational, and communicative components of psychobiosocial state. These findings are consistent with the rapidly growing body of empirical evidence demonstrating a large variety of athlete-generated idiosyncratic descriptors of performance related states (Gould et al., 1999; Hanin, 1997, 2000; Hanin et al., 2000; Hanin & Syrjä, 1995, 1997; Robazza et al., 1998, 2000). From sport practice perspective, it is important to identify and use vocabulary of the athlete consisting of a large pool of multi-modal descriptors that are personally meaningful and task-relevant. At the same time, however, emotion and non-emotion content should be clearly distinguished conceptually and methodologically (Lazarus, 2000). These findings provide initial support for the notion that sport psychology practice might benefit from two shifts: a shift from anxiety to pleasant and unpleasant emotions and a shift from emotions to performance related states (Hanin, 1997, 2000). The hypothesis 5 of the study predicted a specific constellation (and interaction) of content of feeling states in best ever and worst ever competition. As expected, descriptors of feeling states

20 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 20 prior to and during best ever competition displayed high action readiness visually represented by optimal aggregated IZOF-iceberg profiles (Fig.1). Interestingly, positively skewed postperformance profile after best ever competition was different from optimal performance profile reflecting high complacency and underestimated need for rest. In contrast, negatively skewed flattened emotion profiles prior to, during, and after worst ever competitions suggest potential problems with recovery and preparation for the forthcoming competition. Therefore, the notion of interactive effects applies not only to emotions but also to other components of feeling state. These findings concur well with the state-trait distinction formulated within the framework of the Mental Health model (Morgan, 1985). Specifically, in this model, nomothetic (POMS-based) iceberg profiles visually represent the interaction of relatively stable emotional patterns. However, Morgan (1985) emphasized the importance of an athlete s situational psychological response rather than his or her base-line characteristics. The idiographic (IZOF-based) iceberg profiles represent a situational interaction of intensity of idiosyncratic emotion (Hanin, 1997, 2000) and provide tools for the assessment of the dynamic aspect of the Morgan s model. The present findings extend the notion of interaction of content of feeling states to aggregated idiosyncratic iceberg profiles. Thus the IZOF model and the dynamics aspects of the Mental Health model can be integrated into a theoretically complementary state-trait framework for examining the association of psychological variables with sport performance (Raglin, 2001, p ). From the applied perspective, a visual representation of emotion content and intensity by the IZOF-iceberg profiles can be beneficial for the athletes and coaches for immediate diagnostics of the current emotional state and prediction of individual performance. These results also extend previous focus in conceptualization and assessments from pre-event and mid-event situations to post-event emotional profiling. Specifically, positively and negatively skewed profiles can be instrumental for monitoring performance induced and recovery related states. Practitioners can use post-performance profiles in preparing athletes for the forthcoming competition in two ways. The

21 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 21 first should focus on monitoring recovery and trying to avoid detrimental and de-motivational effects of excessive complacency upon performance following successful competition. The second should cope with excessive negativity and emerging staleness resulting from chronic underrecovery following a series of unsuccessful competitions. One limitation of the study was that the recall of best ever and worst ever competition was not accompanied by additional assessments of real emotional experiences in these situations. The specific focus of the study on past performance history and on best ever and worst ever competition, however, precluded the use of actual assessments. Although, recall accuracy is well documented for emotion descriptors (see Jokela & Hanin, 1999 for a meta analysis), a need to establish recall accuracy for metaphoric images is clearly indicated. Two possible options include (a) a comparison of actual and recalled metaphoric descriptions of athletes performance states and (b) repeated recalls of the same feeling states, if actual descriptions are unavailable or time-consuming. Such contrasts can establish the reproducibility of metaphor-generation method and distinguish between athletes perceptions of actual experiences and their meta-experiences. Practical Implications As mentioned earlier, practitioners in non-sport setting find metaphors instrumental in developing a client-consultant relationship, gathering information, assessing and utilizing resources, suggesting ideas, reframing, and, facilitating new patterns of thought, feelings, and behavior (Combs & Freedman, 1990). A systematic application of metaphors can be also beneficial in sport practice. First, a practitioner should be sensitive to athletes and coaches metaphoric language, which they use spontaneously and which reflects their conceptual systems. Second, metaphors can enhance an athlete s self-awareness and clarify the meaning of their subjective experiences, especially in young athletes and those with difficulties in verbal expression. Third, metaphors can be helpful to identify similarities and differences in performance related states in various competitions during the season. Finally, to improve current performance, metaphors can be used to

22 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 22 identify optimal and less than optimal performance patterns for subsequent conceptual mediation (discrimination) and change. One practical extension of the metaphor-generation method is its use with a focus on idiosyncratic description of specific qualities and characteristics that are important to monitor or develop (strong as a bull, quick as a cheetah, confident as a lion, clever as a fox, etc.). Another option is a metaphorical scaling of different feeling states with a chain of metaphors ranging, for instance, from a fish on a frying pan to a fish on the ground, a fish in the water, and a joyful fish in the warm sea. A metaphoric scale can also include different categories. For instance, to evaluate effects of mental training, the first author used a metaphor-generation method to monitor an athlete s feeling states in a series of international competitions. A chain of metaphor images generated by this athlete included a colt on a spring pasture, a tractor, a Volvo, a Mercedes, and a Ferrari. These metaphors were instrumental in identifying and anchoring his optimal level of confidence and increased self-control skills in competition. From social-psychological perspective, metaphoric images of a team can be used in teambuilding programs, for instance, to identify players idiosyncratic perceptions of the team climate and a coach s role in the team. A coach can use metaphors to enhance her communication with an athlete (and a team) in training and in competitions. Finally, metaphors as personalized and meaningful images can be instrumental in mental skills programs enhancing traditional practice in imagery, goal setting skills, and emotional control during the races. The example with the gear shift metaphor illustrates this application (Yukelson, Personal communication, October 25, 2001), Adam is a 21 year old distance runner (junior standing), one of the top members of the University Track and Field/Cross Country team. He trains extremely well but has a tendency to get anxious and lose his concentration during big meets. Oftentimes he would report getting so caught up in the excitement and emotion of big races that he would lose his focus and take it out too strong during middle and latter parts of his race, thus, leaving him with nothing in the gas tank at the end. We

23 Metaphoric Description of Performance States 23 worked on developing a race plan that combined usual self-regulation skills (e.g,. arousal regulation techniques, positive affirmations - "trust your preparation, the hard work will pay off", "think confidently and be competitive", visualization of himself running a solid race (e.g., going out strong, good position with the lead pack, remind self that patience will pay off, recognize the race really starts at the half way mark (3 mile mark). The gear shift metaphor was introduced to help him start accelerating gradually ( instead of throttling down imagine yourself taking it from 35mph to 38mph, be aware of your surrounding, at the last part of the race, take it to the finish line (stay relaxed, good turnover, good upper body swing, pick people off in front of you, race to win). The idea of the gear shift metaphor really worked well for him. Instead of usual going into oxygen debt and losing his focus because he panicked on the course, the gear shift metaphor served as a good trigger to relax, be patient, trust own conditioning and race with full focus and confidence without having to go full throttle. The athlete says the metaphor helped him focus on task relevant cues, remain confident, and gave him the courage to trust his race plan under pressure. It should be kept in mind, however, that all these applications are based only on our present descriptive findings, theoretical formulations, and practical experiences rather than on research evidence. Nevertheless, it is our contention that metaphors describing performance state are indeed maps of an athlete s thinking and self-knowledge, if we can read and use these maps properly.