Choking under pressure: Self-consciousness and paradoxical effects of incentives on skillful performance.

Abstract

Choking under pressure is defined as performance decrements under circumstances that increase the importance of good or improved performance. A model for choking on coordination and skill tasks is proposed, holding that the pressure increases the conscious attention to the performer's own process of performance and that this increased conscious attention disrupts the automatic or overlearned nature of the execution. Six experiments provided data consistent with this model. Three studies showed that increased attention to one's own process of performance resulted in performance decrements. Three other studies showed similar decrements produced by situational manipulations of pressure (i.e., implicit competition, a cash incentive, and audience-induced pressure). Individuals low in dispositional self-consciousness were shown to be more susceptible to choking under pressure than those high in it.

Cited by (49)

1. Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.
   Steele, Claude M., Aronson, Joshua · 1995 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
2. Ironic processes of mental control.
   Wegner, Daniel M. · 1994 · Psychological Review
3. Performance in competitive environments: gender differences
   Gneezy, U., Niederle, M., Rustichini, A. · 2003 · The Quarterly Journal of Economics
4. What do people think they're doing? Action identification and human behavior.
   Vallacher, Robin R., Wegner, Daniel M. · 1987 · Psychological Review
5. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance.
   Mueller, Claudia M., Dweck, Carol S. · 1998 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
6. An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance
   Schmader, Toni, Johns, Michael, Forbes, Chad · 2008 · Psychological Review
7. A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface.
   Wood, Wendy, Neal, David T. · 2007 · Psychological Review
8. On the fragility of skilled performance: What governs choking under pressure?
   Beilock, Sian L., Carr, Thomas H. · 2001 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
9. Is the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical literature.
   Anderson, Cameron, Hildreth, John Angus D., Howland, Laura · 2015 · Psychological Bulletin
10. Habits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action.
    Wood, Wendy, Quinn, Jeffrey M., Kashy, Deborah A. · 2002 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
11. Motivation and cognitive control: from behavior to neural mechanism
    Botvinick, Matthew, Braver, Todd · 2015 · Annual Review of Psychology
12. Longitudinal Study of Procrastination, Performance, Stress, and Health: The Costs and Benefits of Dawdling
    Tice, Dianne M, Baumeister, Roy F. · 1997 · Psychological Science
13. Principles derived from the study of simple skills do not generalize to complex skill learning
    Wulf, Gabriele, Shea, Charles H. · 2002 · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
14. On conceptualizing self-control as more than the effortful inhibition of impulses.
    Fujita, Kentaro · 2011 · Personality and Social Psychology Review
15. Instructions for Motor Learning: Differential Effects of Internal Versus External Focus of Attention
    Wulf, Gabriele, Höß, Markus, Prinz, Wolfgang · 1998 · Journal of Motor Behavior
16. Directing attention to movement effects enhances learning: a review
    Wulf, Gabriele, Prinz, Wolfgang · 2001 · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
17. Behaviour change techniques: the development and evaluation of a taxonomic method for reporting and describing behaviour change interventions (a suite of five studies involving consensus methods, randomised controlled trials and analysis of qualitative data)
    Michie, Susan, Wood, Caroline E, Johnston, Marie, Abraham, Charles, Francis, Jill J, Hardeman, Wendy · 2015 · Health Technology Assessment
18. Coping flexibility and psychological adjustment to stressful life changes: A meta-analytic review.
    Cheng, Cecilia, Lau, Hi-Po Bobo, Chan, Man-Pui Sally · 2014 · Psychological Bulletin
19. Stereotype threat and working memory: mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover
    Beilock, Sian L., Rydell, Robert J., McConnell, Allen R. · 2007 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
20. A review and meta-analysis of age-based stereotype threat: negative stereotypes, not facts, do the damage
    Lamont, Ruth A., Swift, Hannah J., Abrams, Dominic · 2015 · Psychology and Aging
21. The performance of narcissists rises and falls with perceived opportunity for glory.
    Wallace, Harry M., Baumeister, Roy F. · 2002 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
22. Esteem Threat, Self-Regulatory Breakdown, and Emotional Distress as Factors in Self-Defeating Behavior
    Baumeister, Roy F. · 1997 · Review of General Psychology
23. Mindfulness and acceptance approaches to sporting performance enhancement: a systematic review.
    Noetel, Michael, Ciarrochi, Joseph, Van Zanden, Brooke, Lonsdale, Chris · 2019 · International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology
24. How to Evaluate Trust in AI-Assisted Decision Making? A Survey of Empirical Methodologies
    Vereschak, Oleksandra, Bailly, Gilles, Caramiaux, Baptiste · 2021 · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
25. Choose to move: The motivational impact of autonomy support on motor learning
    Lewthwaite, Rebecca, Chiviacowsky, Suzete, Drews, Ricardo, Wulf, Gabriele · 2015 · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
26. Altering mindset can enhance motor learning in older adults.
    Wulf, Gabriele, Chiviacowsky, Suzete, Lewthwaite, Rebecca · 2012 · Psychology and Aging
27. Internal and External Focus of Attention During Gait Re-Education: An Observational Study of Physical Therapist Practice in Stroke Rehabilitation
    Johnson, Louise, Burridge, Jane H., Demain, Sara H. · 2013 · Physical Therapy
28. Neural mechanisms underlying paradoxical performance for monetary incentives are driven by loss aversion
    Chib, Vikram S., De Martino, Benedetto, Shimojo, Shinsuke, O'Doherty, John P. · 2012 · Neuron
29. Increasing the effectiveness of digital educational games: The effects of a learning instruction on students’ learning, motivation and cognitive load
    Hawlitschek, Anja, Joeckel, Sven · 2017 · Computers in Human Behavior
30. Ironic effects of trying to relax under stress
    Wegner, Daniel M., Broome, Alexis, Blumberg, Stephen J. · 1997 · Behaviour Research and Therapy
31. Choking under pressure: theoretical models and interventions
    Mesagno, Christopher, Beckmann, Juergen · 2017 · Current Opinion in Psychology
32. Self-consciousness and trait anxiety as predictors of choking in sport
    Wang, J, Marchant, D, Morris, T, Gibbs, P · 2004 · Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
33. Choking on the money: reward-based performance decrements are associated with midbrain activity
    Mobbs, Dean, Hassabis, Demis, Seymour, Ben, Marchant, Jennifer L., Weiskopf, Nikolaus, Dolan, Raymond J., Frith, Christopher D. · 2009 · Psychological Science
34. Surfing the implicit wave
    Shea, Charles H., Wulf, Gabriele, Whitacre, Chad A., Park, Jin-Hoon · 2001 · The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A
35. External focus and autonomy support: Two important factors in motor learning have additive benefits
    Wulf, Gabriele, Chiviacowsky, Suzete, Drews, Ricardo · 2015 · Human Movement Science
36. Enhanced expectancies facilitate golf putting
    Palmer, Kimberly, Chiviacowsky, Suzete, Wulf, Gabriele · 2016 · Psychology of Sport and Exercise
37. Towards an understanding of the personal experience of the “yips” in cricketers
    Bawden, Mark, Maynard, Ian · 2001 · Journal of Sports Sciences
38. The self: Your own worst enemy? A test of the self-invoking trigger hypothesis
    McKay, Brad, Wulf, Gabriele, Lewthwaite, Rebecca, Nordin, Andrew · 2015 · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
39. Relating Test-Taking Attitudes and Skills and Stereotype Threat Effects to the Racial Gap in Cognitive Ability Test Performance
    Nguyen, Hannah-Hanh D., O'Neal, Alisha, Ryan, Ann Marie · 2003 · Human Performance
40. Depression and Anxiety in Times of COVID-19: How Coping Strategies and Loneliness Relate to Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Performance
    Freyhofer, Sebastian, Ziegler, Niklas, de Jong, Elisabeth M., Schippers, Michaéla C. · 2021 · Frontiers in Psychology
41. Choking Under Social Pressure: Social Monitoring Among the Lonely
    Knowles, Megan L., Lucas, Gale M., Baumeister, Roy F., Gardner, Wendi L. · 2015 · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
42. The effects of a brief mindfulness intervention on basketball free-throw shooting performance under pressure
    Wolch, Nathan J., Arthur-Cameselle, Jessyca N., Keeler, Linda A., Suprak, Dave N. · 2021 · Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
43. Enhanced Expectancies Improve Performance Under Pressure
    McKay, Brad, Lewthwaite, Rebecca, Wulf, Gabriele · 2012 · Frontiers in Psychology
44. Effects of psychological interventions on performance anxiety in performing artists and athletes: A systematic review with meta-analysis.
    Niering, Marc, Monsberger, Teresa, Seifert, Johanna, Muehlbauer, Thomas · 2023 · Behavioral Sciences
45. Personality predictors of yips and choking susceptibility
    Clarke, Philip, Sheffield, David, Akehurst, Sally · 2020 · Frontiers in Psychology
46. When time is of the essence: The use of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) informed single-session therapy (SST) to alleviate social and golf-specific anxiety, and improve wellbeing and performance, in amateur golfers
    Bowman, A.W., Turner, M.J. · 2022 · Psychology of Sport and Exercise
47. He Dies, He Scores: Evidence That Reminders of Death Motivate Improved Performance in Basketball
    Zestcott, Colin A., Lifshin, Uri, Helm, Peter, Greenberg, Jeff · 2016 · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
48. Mindfulness, reinvestment, and rowing under pressure: Evidence for moderated moderation of the anxiety-performance relationship.
    Sparks, Katherine V., Kavussanu, Maria, Masters, Rich S.W., Ring, Christopher · 2021 · Psychology of sport and exercise
49. Values- versus monetary reward-enhanced exposure therapy for the treatment of social anxiety in emerging adulthood
    Schneider, Rebecca L., Arch, Joanna J. · 2023 · Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Related (10)

1. DETERMINING QUALITY REQUIREMENTS AT THE UNIVERSITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION
   Nor Hanim Mustafa, Dinmukhamed Kelesbayev, Zh.D. Alibekova · 2018 · The Journal of Economic Research & Business Administration
2. Susquehanna Chorale Spring Concert "Roots and Wings"
   Deborah Hawkins · 2017
3. Choking under experimenter’s presence: Impact on proactive control and practical consequences for psychological science
   Clément Belletier, Alice Normand, Valérie Camos, Pierre Barrouillet, Pascal Huguet · 2019 · Cognition
4. Incentives, Performance and Choking in Darts
   Bouke Klein Teeselink, R.J.D. Potter van Loon, Martijn J. van den Assem · 2019 · SSRN Electronic Journal
5. Incentives, performance and choking in darts
   Bouke Klein Teeselink, R.J.D. Potter van Loon, Martijn J. van den Assem, Dennie van Dolder · 2019 · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
6. Influence of Athletes' Self-Consciousness on the Factor of Choking under Pressure
   Kenta Karakida, Hironobu Tsuchiya · 2023 · International Journal of Sport and Health Science
7. Irrelevant incentive learning revisited: Associating flavors and exteroceptive cues with positive incentives
   Terry L. Davidson, Elizabeth Deutsch Capaldi, David H. Campbell · 1985 · Learning and Motivation
8. Reappraisal of incentives ameliorates choking under pressure and is correlated with changes in the neural representations of incentives
   Simon Dunne, Vikram S. Chib, Joseph D. Berleant, John P. O’Doherty · 2018 · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
9. Choking under time pressure: The influence of deadline-dependent bonus and malus incentive schemes on performance
   Andrea Essl, Stefanie Jaussi · 2016 · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
10. Perceiver self-presentational goals as moderators of expectancy influences: Ingratiation and the disconfirmation of negative expectancies.
    Steven L. Neuberg, T. Nicole Judice, Lynn M. Virdin, Mary A Carrillo · 1993 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology