Topics: Choking, Performance Anxiety
Universities: University of Ballarat, University of Florida
Researchers: Christopher Mesagno, Jack T. Harvey, and Christopher M. Janelle
Two models for choking
In sport and performance psychology, there are roughly two camps that explain what happens in an athlete when they choke.
First, we have the distraction models which posit that choking happens because attention shifts from task-relevant cues to task-irrelevant cues.
For example, a basketball player at the free-throw line may find attention pulled away from task-relevant cues toward crowd noise, evaluators, or thoughts of failure
The second camp holds the position that choking (or loss of skill execution) occurs due to excessive self-focus. Pressure and anxiety cause the performer to either consciously process technical instructions or over-monitor body positions.
Example: a tennis player struggling with their serve in a tight match begins to allocate mental resources into detailed technical self-coaching, leading to a breakdown of an automatic skill
The more interesting question: why?
While it’s no doubt fascinating to know what happens during a choking experience for a skilled performer, the more interesting question is why does it happen? Here the researchers built upon and created the Self-Presentation Choking Model, drawing upon research from social anxiety.
In other words, the authors put forward the position that performers will experience anxiety when they believe that the impressions they make—missing an easy lay-up or losing to someone—will “lead others to devalue, avoid, or reject them.” From the authors: “being portrayed as an unsuccessful athlete under pressure, or more drastically, a ‘choker,’ can clearly lead to self- and relational devaluation.”
What did Mesagno et al. (2011) do?
To test their hypothesis about self-presentation being the reason for choking, Mesagno et al. devised a clever experiment:
Used 45 experienced (state or national level) field hockey players. Equal ratio of male to female athletes.
Participants took the Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2R) which measures cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence.
Participants were randomly assigned into one of five groups
Each group competed in a penalty stroke shootout
Different conditions for each group
Group 1: received money for each shot that was made
Group 2: Video camera placebo (camera placed but participants told it was for the experiment)
Group 3: Video camera. Group told that coaches would receive their tape for technical and team selection analysis
Group 4: Audience group. Five teammates were positioned to the side of the goalposts
Group 5: the combined pressure group: money, video camera, and teammates watching
Mesagno et al. hypothesized that groups 3 to 5 would experience more cognitive and somatic anxiety due to creating self-presentation concerns.
What they found
Results were clear: only the groups exposed to self-presentation pressure showed:
Increases in cognitive anxiety
Increases in somatic anxiety
Reduction in performance
On the other hand, the motivational pressure groups (those who were competing for money or had the camera placed as a placebo) did not “choke.”
Mesagno et al. went on to complete a mediation analysis which showed that cognitive anxiety partly explained this drop in performance in groups 3 to 5.
Put another way, it wasn’t just pressure that caused choking. It was worry about how one would be perceived and evaluated by others.
Limitations
As with any study or research finding, it’s key to consider limitations so as to note make sweeping assertions regarding findings:
The task was a simplified version of competitive challenges; real game situations and scenarios might illicit different emotions and reactions
Sample size was only 45 (N = 45)
Team sport athletes—may limit generalizability to individual sport athletes
How you can learn from and apply this information
Self-presentation (or concern about how one is viewed and evaluated) seems to be an upstream trigger.
If your athletes appear composed in practice but choke in pressure, consider:
Why do my athletes/performers feel this way?
Consider your part as a coach/program director in creating an evaluation-heavy environment
Normalize mistakes and a challenge approach to help athletes manage these pressures
Consider working with credentialed mental performance consultants and sport psychologists to reduce instances of choking
Choking, it seems, isn’t just about self-perceived pressure. It’s related to fears about how an athlete will be perceived if they fail.
That’s all for this week.
See you next time.
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Reference
Mesagno, C., Harvey, J. T., & Janelle, C. M. (2011). Self-presentation origins of choking: Evidence from separate pressure manipulations. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 33, 441–459. 
