The impact of pressure on performance: Evidence from the PGA TOUR

Hickman, Daniel C.; Metz, Neil

doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.007

Cited by 53 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…This finding supports and extends earlier work in basketball by Cao et al (2011), who found that, compared to career averages, NBA free-throw shooting accuracy was significantly impaired during the final seconds of close games. As such, the pressure-performance effect found here provides further compelling evidence that detrimental effects can be observed in real-world elite sport, and not just in the laboratory.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The scoring system for the factors that increase pressure was developed based on: (1) previous literature examining performance pressure; (2) discussions with the same six American Football coaches; and (3) agreement between three of the authors. Pressure was predicted to be greater when: the game was close (e.g., Deutscher et al, 2018;Toma, 2017); there was less time remaining (Cao, Price & Stone, 2011;Solomonov, Avugos, & Bar-Eli, 2015;Toma, 2017); an error would confer a greater cost (Berenbaum et al, 2007;Hickman & Metz, 2015); or the expectation of a score was higher (Solomonov et al, 2015). Therefore, a pressure score was assigned in a cumulative manner, based on whether: i) the play was 3 rd or 4 th down; ii) the game score was close (within 8 points, i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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To err again is human: exploring a bidirectional relationship between pressure and performance failure feedback

Harris

Vine

Eysenck

et al. 2019

Anxiety, Stress, & Coping

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Background and Objectives: While the potentially negative effects of pressure on skilled performance have been well studied in laboratory-based research, theoretically driven questions based on real-world performance data are lacking. Design: We aimed to test the predictions of the newly developed Attentional Control Theory: Sport (ACTS), using archived play-by-play data from the past seven seasons of the National Football League (American Football). Methods: An additive scoring system was developed to characterize the degree of pressure on 212,356 individual offensive plays and a Bayesian regression model was used to test the relationship between performance, pressure and preceding negative outcomes, as outlined in ACTS. Results: There was found to be a clear increase in the incidence of failures on high pressure plays (odds ratio = 1.20), and on plays immediately following a previous play failure (odds ratio = 1.09). Additionally, a combined interactive effect of previous failure and pressure indicated that the feedback effect of negative outcomes was greater when pressure was already high (odds ratio = 1.10), in line with the predictions of ACTS. Conclusions: These findings reveal the importance of exploring momentary changes in pressure in real-world sport settings, and the role of failure feedback in influencing the pressure-performance relationship.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

To err again is human: exploring a bidirectional relationship between pressure and performance failure feedback

Harris

Vine

Eysenck

et al. 2019

Anxiety, Stress, & Coping

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Harris et al examined all plays from the National Football League (NFL) over seven seasons, using a scoring system to identify the occurrence of high-pressure plays and substantial errors. As has been found previously in laboratory-based (Cooke et al, 2010) and realworld (Hickman & Metz, 2015;Pocock et al, 2018;Toma, 2017) studies, an increase in performance pressure resulted in more frequent errors. Crucially for the predictions of ACTS, the detrimental effects of psychological pressure and a preceding error also had an interactive effect, causing the greatest disruption when a play was at a crucial moment of the game and preceded by an error.…”

supporting

confidence: 80%

“…Examining large, real-world data sets (e.g., as in Harris et al, 2019;Hickman & Metz, 2015;Toma, 2017) offers greater statistical power and opportunities to test predictions about pressure outside of the artificial laboratory environment, where 'blocked' experimental conditions are unlikely to reveal anything about the drivers of anxiety and its effect on the critical occasions when performance truly matters. For instance, Toma (2017) found evidence of widespread choking in both men's and women's college and professional basketball, with players less likely to successfully execute free throws in the final minutes of close games.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological pressure and compounded errors during elite-level tennis

Harris

Vine

Eysenck

et al. 2021

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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Objectives: In the context of Grand Slam tennis, we sought to examine how situational pressure and prior errors can disrupt subsequent performance in elite performers.Methods: A retrospective analysis of more than 650,000 points across 12 Grand Slam tennis tournaments from 2016-2019 was conducted to identify pressurised in-game moments and unforced errors. A scoring system was used to index situational pressure based on the current match situation (e.g., break points, stage of the match) on a pointby-point basis. The occurrence of performance errors was identified based on double faults and unforced errors, as instances of controllable mistakes. Results: A mixed effects logistic regression model revealed that an increase in the pressure index (a 1-5 score) significantly increased the probability of a performance error (ps<.001), as did an error on the preceding point (OR=1.2, 95%CI [1.17, 1.23], p<.001). A multiplicative effect of pressure and prior errors also emerged, as the negative impact of prior errors on performance was greater when situational pressure was already high, in line with the predictions of Attentional Control Theory: Sport (ACTS). Analyses of the distribution of winners and unforced errors across individual players revealed that winning players were as susceptible to pressure and prior errors as losing players. Conclusions: These findings extend our understanding of how ongoing feedback from prior mistakes may further exacerbate the effects of pressure on performance.

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“…Relating choking under pressure to golfers' age, an inverted U-shaped relationship on the professionals' tour with performance under pressure peaking at age 36 is shown [51]. The success rate at the final putt of a golf tournament is found to decrease as the value associated with that shot increases [52]. Finally, golfer currently with the lead are found to underperform at the end of close contests [53].…”

Section: Empirical Findings For Performance Under Pressure In Skill Tmentioning

confidence: 95%

Performance under pressure in skill tasks: An analysis of professional darts

et al. 2020

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Understanding and predicting how individuals perform in high-pressure situations is of importance in designing and managing workplaces. We investigate performance under pressure in professional darts as a near-ideal setting with no direct interaction between players and a high number of observations per subject. Analyzing almost one year of tournament data covering 32,274 dart throws, we find no evidence in favor of either choking or excelling under pressure.

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The impact of pressure on performance: Evidence from the PGA TOUR

Cited by 53 publications

References 25 publications

To err again is human: exploring a bidirectional relationship between pressure and performance failure feedback

To err again is human: exploring a bidirectional relationship between pressure and performance failure feedback

Psychological pressure and compounded errors during elite-level tennis

Performance under pressure in skill tasks: An analysis of professional darts

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