Decision Outcomes in Sport: Influence of Type and Level of Stress.

In two experiments, the authors investigated the influence of stress type (i.e., low/no stress, mental, and physical), level (i.e., low, moderate, and high), and Type × Level interaction on intuitive decision frequency, decision quality, and decision speed. Participants were exposed to mental (i.e., color word task, mental arithmetic) and/or physical stress (i.e., running) and then required to make decisions regarding videotaped offensive situations in basketball. Intuitive decision frequency, decision quality, and decision speed were measured for each trial. Study 1 used a between-subjects design whereby 20 participants were randomly assigned to each of the five stress conditions. Results revealed that moderate stress was associated with faster decisions. Study 2 replicated the design and aim of Study 1 using a within-subject methodology (n = 42). Results suggested that moderate stress levels produced better, faster decisions. In conclusion, moderate levels of stress were associated with the most desirable decision outcomes.

Why Residuals Are Important in the Self-Efficacy-Performance Relationship Analysis: A Study Across 12 Cycling Sessions.

Background: The positive role of self-efficacy in directing a wide range of health-related interventions has been well documented, including those targeting an increase in physical activity. However, rarely do researchers control the influence of past performance and past self-efficacy perception ratings when exploring the interaction of self-efficacy and performance, allowing for a refined understanding of this relationship and the unique contribution of each factor. Methods: A residualized past performance, residualized self-efficacy hierarchical regression model was used to examine the effect of prior past performance and pre-exercise self-efficacy on performance with a health-related task (12 aerobic exercise cycling sessions). Results: The previous day's residualized performance was a significant predictor of performance, as was same-day residualized self-efficacy (P < .001). However, residualized self-efficacy became a stronger predictor over time. Conclusions: While maintaining a consistent level of moderate-vigorous physical activity over 12 exercise sessions, participants increased their ratings of task self-efficacy, explaining an increasing portion of the variance in the self-efficacy-performance relationship days 9 to 12.

Within-person relationship between self-efficacy and performance across trials: effect of task objective and task type.

BACKGROUND: Self-efficacy has been shown to be a consistent, positive predictor of between-persons performance in sport. However, there have been equivocal results regarding the influence of self-efficacy on a person's performance over time. This study investigated the influence of self-efficacy on motor skill performance across trials with respect to two different task objectives and task types. METHODS: Participants (N.=84) performed 4 blocks of 10 trials of a dart throwing (closed skill) and a hitting (open skill) task under 2 different task objectives: competitive and goal-striving. For the goal-striving condition, success was defined as reaching a predetermined performance level. The competitive condition involved competing against an opponent. RESULTS: Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the influence of past performance and self-efficacy on the within-person performance across multiple trials. Previous performance was negatively related with subsequent performance on all conditions. Self-efficacy was not a significant predictor of performance on any of the conditions. CONCLUSIONS: While task objective and task type did not moderate the efficacy-performance relationship in the current study, it is important to consider the role of other moderators in future research.

Influence of acute stress on decision outcomes and heuristics.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the take-the-first (TTF) heuristic and decision outcomes in sports under conditions of no, mental, and physical stress. METHODS: Participants (N.=68) performed 8 video decision-making trials under each of 3 stress conditions: no stress (counting backwards), mental stress (mental serial subtraction), and physical stress (running on treadmill at 13 RPE). Prior to each decision-making trial, participants were exposed to 30 seconds of stress. The decision-making task required participants to watch a video depicting an offensive situation in basketball and then decide what the player with the ball should do next. RESULTS: No differences were found between the 3 stress conditions on TTF frequency, number of options generated, quality of first generated option, or final decision quality. However, participants performing under conditions of no stress and physical stress generated their first option and made their final decision faster than they did when making decisions under mental stress. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results suggest that mental stress impairs decision speed and that TTF is an ecologically rationale heuristic in dynamic, time-pressured situations.

Take the first heuristic, self-efficacy, and decision-making in sport.

Can taking the first (TTF) option in decision-making lead to the best decisions in sports contexts? And, is one's decision-making self-efficacy in that context linked to TTF decisions? The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the TTF heuristic and self-efficacy in decision-making on a simulated sports task. Undergraduate and graduate students (N = 72) participated in the study and performed 13 trials in each of two video-based basketball decision tasks. One task required participants to verbally generate options before making a final decision on what to do next, while the other task simply asked participants to make a decision regarding the next move as quickly as possible. Decision-making self-efficacy was assessed using a 10-item questionnaire comprising various aspects of decision-making in basketball. Participants also rated their confidence in the final decision. Results supported many of the tenets of the TTF heuristic, such that people used the heuristic on a majority of the trials (70%), earlier generated options were better than later ones, first options were meaningfully generated, and final options were meaningfully selected. Results did not support differences in dynamic inconsistency or decision confidence based on the number of options. Findings also supported the link between self-efficacy and the TTF heuristic. Participants with higher self-efficacy beliefs used TTF more frequently and generated fewer options than those with low self-efficacy. Thus, not only is TTF an important heuristic when making decisions in dynamic, time-pressure situations, but self-efficacy plays an influential role in TTF.

Path analysis examining self-efficacy and decision-making performance on a simulated baseball task.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between decision-making self-efficacy and decision-making performance in sport. Undergraduate students (N = 78) performzed 10 trials of a decision-making task in baseball. Self-efficacy was measured before performing each trial. Decision-making performance was assessed by decision speed and decision accuracy. Path analyses examined the relationships between self-efficacy, residualized past performance, and current performance. The results indicated that self-efficacy was a significant and consistent predictor of decision speed (eight of nine trials), but not decision accuracy (four of nine trials). It was also found that experience does not have a meaningful effect on the relationship between self-efficacy and decision-making performance in sport.

Path analysis of self-efficacy and diving performance revisited.

The Feltz (1982) path analysis of the relationship between diving efficacy and performance showed that, over trials, past performance was a stronger predictor than self-efficacy of performance. Bandura (1997) criticized the study as statistically "overcontrolling" for past performance by using raw past performance scores along with self-efficacy as predictors of performance. He suggests residualizing past performance by regressing the raw scores on self-efficacy and entering them into the model to remove prior contributions of self-efficacy imbedded in past performance scores. To resolve this controversy, we reanalyzed the Feltz data using three statistical models: raw past performance, residual past performance, and a method that residualizes past performance and self-efficacy. Results revealed that self-efficacy was a stronger predictor of performance in both residualized models than in the raw past performance model. Furthermore, the influence of past performance on future performance was weaker when the residualized methods were conducted.

Relationship between decision-making self-efficacy, task self-efficacy, and the performance of a sport skill.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between decision-making self-efficacy and task self-efficacy and subsequent decision-making and task performance. Sixty undergraduate students (30 males, 30 females) participated in this study, which involved infield defensive plays in softball. The physical task required participants to throw a ball at a target. The decision-making task required participants to watch video scenes depicting different infield defensive situations and decide where to throw the ball in each situation. Both tasks used manipulated failure. Self-efficacy was assessed before performance. Strength of decision-making and task self-efficacy predicted physical performance, but not decision-making performance.