Kirklies, Viviane Marie (2022) Towards a Better Understanding of Performance Under Pressure: A Longitudinal Field Experiment Among Ballet Dancers. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
In high-pressure situations, athletes aspire a maximized overlap between potential and actual performance. However, under pressure they are often not able to perform to their potential, witnessing performance losses. Cognitive distraction presumably plays a predictive role, thereby. Putatively reducing such distraction, mental practice may enhance athletes’ performance under pressure. A longitudinal field experiment, including eight measurement time points covering baseline, intervention, and control conditions plus pressure versus non-pressure contexts, tested this moderated mediation. The sample consisted of 25 amateur ballet dancers (92% female; M = 24.36 years) from a Dutch ballet school. Against anticipations and past research, the applied mental practice intervention remained ineffective and a mediated perceived pressure-cognitive distraction-performance link was not supported. Potential reasons for these findings are considered, including a) sampled dancers not experiencing performance losses in high-pressure situations, b) participants’ independent, study-unrelated visualization tendencies, c) sub-optimal implementation of the administered intervention. The outcomes’ theoretical and practical implications, the study’s strengths and limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Yperen, N. van and Hartigh, J.R. den |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Talent Development and Creativity (TDC) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Aug 2022 07:06 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Aug 2022 07:06 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1349 |
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