Emotion- & Action-focused Coping in Sport Yuri L. Hanin Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, Finland Presidential address at the ICAP, July 13, 2010 Melbourne, Australia 3/19/2013 1
Traditional definition of coping Coping is a process of constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person (Lazarus, & Folkman, 1984, p. 141). Put more simply, coping is the effort to manage psychological stress (Lazarus, 1999, p. 111). 2
1.Stressors 2.Perception 3.Stress-reactions Focus in self-regulation on: 1. Stressors: tasks, conditions, goals 2. Attitude, appraisal, perception 3. Response, state, condition 4. Performance Success Average Failure 4. Performance process & outcomes 3
Existing Types of Coping Emotion-focused Coping Dealing with too much anxiety, fear, & low self-confidence in competitions generally considered as dysfunctional emotional states. Problem-focused Coping Identifying a problem situation & its causes; working on different options to solve the problem and cope with the stressor. 4
Emotion as experience Experience as a category reflects a person s attitude different aspects of environment and the meaning of the environment for the person Experience has a biosocial orientation as every experience is always someone s experience of something and, as such, is best represented as a unit of consciousness. 5
Types of Emotional Experiences Emotional state Experiences Reactions Processes Emotionality Patterns Dispositions Traits * Hanin, 2001 Meta-Emotion Knowledge, beliefs, Attitudes, preferences 6
Intensity *level *range *zones *profile Time *present, past, future *short- long duration *acute-chronic, frequency *before, during, after F o r m *cognitive *affective *motivational *volitional *bodily *behavioural *performance *communicative Content *positive-negative *optimal-nonoptimal *facilitative-debilitative *task relevant-irrelevant Context *situational *interpersonal *intra-inter group *cross-cultural
Multiple experience labels Cognitive => focused, alert, concentrated, distracted Emotional => worried, nervous, happy, calm, angry Motivational => motivated, willing, desirous, interested Volitional => determined, brave, daring, persistent Bodily => tired, worn out, jittery, sweaty, painful Sensor-motor => sluggish, relaxed, sharp Action process => smooth, easy, effortless movements Communication => connected, in touch * Hanin, 1997 8
Myths about emotion in elite sport Negative emotions are always bad Positive emotions are always good Thus: more positive + less negative Positive emotions Negative emotions P & N emotions Well-being Ill-being Performance * Hanin, 1995 9
Emotion content Pleasure P+ Success Pleasant helpful optimal facilitating Pleasant harmful dysfunctional debilitating P- Failure N+ Unpleasant helpful optimal facilitating Unpleasant harmful dysfunctional debilitating N- * Hanin, 1992 Displeasure 10
Emotions in hockey (N=97) Negative Positive Harmful: (N-) Helpful (N+) Helpful (P+) Harmful (P-) Tired Tense Energetic Easy-going Sluggish Dissatisfied Confident Tranquil Unwilling Vehement Charged Satisfied Uncertain Attacking Certain Overjoyed Downhearted Intense Motivated Excited Depressed Angry Purposeful Pleasant Distressed Irritated Willing Comfortable Sorrowful Nervous Cheerful Calm Afraid Provoked Enthusiastic Exalted Strained Restless Alert Nice * Hanin & Lukkarila, 1999 11
Coping in Sport Emotion - focused Action - focused Personal meaning Optimal goal setting Right focus Optimal energy level Avoiding dysfunction Identify ind. optimal skill Build up a skill chain Enhance awareness Standardize skill in practice Develop competition model Optimal state Skill corrected 12
Emotion Coping Resources-based appraisals I want I can I must Emotional State Task Execution Outcomes Action Coping * Hanin & Hanina (2009) 13
Emotion-focused Coping To prevent overreaction to competitive stress To reinforce situational success To deal with unexpected distractions To get psyched up & mobilized To calm down after unexpected success To calm down after situational failure To deal with potential problems 14
Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning 60 Best performance State Anxiety (STAI) 50 40 -in the zone- Out of zone Out of zone Best performance -in the zone- Out of zone Out of zone Best performance -in the zone- 30 Athlete A (high IZOF) Athlete B (moderate IZOF) Athlete C (low IZOF) *Modified from Hanin, 1978 15
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Emotion focused Coping in Sport 1. Assessment of individually optimal & dysfunctional states, emotion patterns, and relevant meta-experiences 2. Monittoring of current emotional states in practices & competitions; immediate effects & impact of intervention, and stability of post-intervention changes 3. Regulation (control, management) of emotion intensity & content in the selected modality based on expected functional impact & permanency of change 3/19/2013 17
The Need for Action-focused Coping Underperformance in important competitions Unexpected skill breakdown Lost move syndrome Habitual performance errors Change-induced problems with technique 18
Action Coping Outcomes Action-related experiences Movement sequence Trait-like patterns Meta-experiences The ICC as a problem solving tool in: in - Competitions - Preparation - Change Mngt - Injuries Mngt Task Execution * Adapted from Hanin & Hanina (2009) 19
Extended intervention procedure: Error identification from best-worst performances Old Way as an erroneous movement pattern Causes & effects of the Old Way are identified New Way as an individually optimal movement pattern Learning Trial (LT) for a rapid & permanent change Post-LT standardization & stabilization of a New Way
Emotion- & Action-focused Coping Emotion-focused strategies Regulatory function Maintaining effects of desirable emotions (P+ N+) Minimizing effects of undesirable emotions (N- P-) Action-focused strategies Signal function Identifying optimal movement sequence ( chain ) Stabilizing the key elements of the sequence Correction of habitual performance errors 21
Optimal emotional state: Antecedents & Impact Antecedents Personal meaning Mind-set Motivation Tactical plan Focus Self-talk Emotional State Experiences - form - quality - intensity - context - time Domains Impact Total task involvement Best use of resources Skillful performance Sufficient effort Effort-skill balance Successful performance * Hanin, 2003 22