The Impact of Psychological Traits on Performance Under Pressure—Experimental Evidence of Handball Penalties

Our field experiment analyzes the influence of psychological traits on performance in sequential games. It uses handball penalties thrown under individual, team, or tournament incentives in the ABBA sequence. Considering the single moves of these games, player A and player B are taking turns in being the first-mover. We find no significant first-mover advantage. However, we observe that player A performs better than player B under tournament incentives and if he or she is confident enough.

Curling Coaches’ Understanding of Their Role in Developing Performance Under Pressure Through Skill Acquisition

There are few studies examining coaches’ awareness of their role in developing performance under pressure. This study has explored the application of implicit and explicit learning theory for skill execution under pressure through the understanding of coaches. Seven curling coaches who teach adult novices were interviewed using a semistructured approach. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to explore their experiences and beliefs around skill acquisition and pressure. Key factors that emerged from the analysis were the coaches’ lack of awareness of their role in developing skill execution under pressure and the importance of coach education in creating that awareness. The recognition of the pressure that players will face in games and the potential for implicit techniques to be employed by the coaches demonstrated positive prospects for the application of implicit/explicit skill acquisition theory. The coaches’ experiences highlighted aspects unique to curling that will need to be considered in progressing the study’s findings. The distinction between skill setup and execution was also raised by coaches and requires further study to identify whether it impacts the effectiveness of building robust skills and the resulting coaching advice. The study provides recommendations for application of the theory and suggestions for future research.

The Effectiveness of Assertiveness Training on Bullying, Competitive State Anxiety and Performance Under Pressure in Futsal Players

The aim of this research was determined the effect of assertiveness training on bullying, competitive state anxiety and performance under pressure in futsal players. 32 futsal players teenage guys who scored from low to moderate were scored in assertiveness questionnaire and were purposefully placed into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group was given eight session training, and no training was given to the control group. The data collection tools were assertiveness, bullying, competitive state anxiety questionnaires and athletes' performance checklist. Analysis of covariance results in bullying, competitive state anxiety and performance under pressure showed a significant difference between the two groups. In general, the results indicate the effect of assertiveness training on the bullying skills, competitive state anxiety, and performance under pressure of futsal teenage players, and suggested that assertiveness training be used to improve the performance under pressure in futsal players.

I Am Great, but Only When I Also Want to Dominate: Maladaptive Narcissism Moderates the Relationship Between Adaptive Narcissism and Performance Under Pressure

Narcissism–performance research has focused on grandiose narcissism but has not examined the interaction between its so-called adaptive (reflecting overconfidence) and maladaptive (reflecting a domineering orientation) components. In this research, the authors tested interactions between adaptive and maladaptive narcissism using two motor tasks (basketball and golf in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively) and a cognitive task (letter transformation in Experiment 3). Across all experiments, adaptive narcissism predicted performance under pressure only when maladaptive narcissism was high. In the presence of maladaptive narcissism, adaptive narcissism also predicted decreased pre-putt time in Experiment 2 and an adaptive psychophysiological response in Experiment 3, reflecting better processing efficiency. Findings suggest that individuals high in both aspects of narcissism perform better under pressure thanks to superior task processing. In performance contexts, the terms “adaptive” and “maladaptive”—adopted from social psychology—are oversimplistic and inaccurate. The authors believe that “self-inflated narcissism” and “dominant narcissism” are better monikers for these constructs.