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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2018 The Cascading Effect: Mitigating the Effects of Choking under Pressure in Dancers Ashley Marie Fryer Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION THE CASCADING EFFECT: MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF CHOKING UNDER PRESSURE IN DANCERS By ASHLEY MARIE FRYER A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Ashley Marie Fryer defended this dissertation on May 3, 2018. The members of the supervisory committee were: Gershon Tenenbaum Professor Directing Dissertation Susan K. Blessing University Representative Graig M. Chow Committee Member Thomas Welsh Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii I would like to dedicate this thesis to Ryan Sides and my family for their love and support that is unparalleled. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to acknowledge Jody Isenhour and Doubletake Dance for their tireless efforts to help me in data collection. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................5 3. METHOD ..................................................................................................................................42 4. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................54 5. DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................................72 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................................84 A. DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE ....................................................................................84 B. POST-AUDITION RETROSPECTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE AND SCRIPT ..........................85 C. MODIFIED COMPETITIVE STATE ANXIETY INVENTORY FOR PERFORMERS .......91 D. STATE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS SCALE FOR DANCERS ................................................93 E. SELF-EFFICACY SCALE FOR DANCERS ...........................................................................94 F. INTERVENTION PROTOCOLS .............................................................................................95 G. PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION SCRIPT ...........................................................111 H. HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL LETTER AND CONSENT/ASSENT FORMS ............114 References ....................................................................................................................................118 Biographical Sketch .....................................................................................................................138 v LIST OF TABLES 1 Participant demographic information by condition .................................................................45 2 Outline for 7 week mental skills training program ..................................................................50 3 Operational definitions for coding procedures. .......................................................................52 4 Content analysis for dancers’ experience of initial errors (pre-and post-intervention) ..........57 5 Content analysis for dancers’ experience of stressors (pre-and post-intervention) ................59 6 Content analysis for dancers’ experience of emotions/cognitions and cascade effect (pre- and post-intervention) .............................................................................................................63 7 Descriptive statistics and normality coefficients for the entire sample ..................................64 8 Descriptive statistics and independent t-tests by condition ....................................................65 9 RM MANOVA for all dependent variable by condition (A) and time (B) ............................66 10 RM ANOVA for all performance rating by condition (A) and time (B) ................................67 11 RM ANOVA for self-efficacy by condition (A) and time (B) ...............................................67 12 RM ANOVA for cognitive anxiety by condition (A) and time (B) ........................................68 13 RM ANOVA for somatic anxiety by condition (A) and time (B) ..........................................69 14 RM ANOVA for self-confidence by condition (A) and time (B) ...........................................69 15 RM ANOVA for self-consciousness by condition (A) and time (B) ......................................70 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1 Integrated perceptual model of choking under pressure (expansion of Lazarus and Folkman’s, 1984 model) ...............................................................................................................................4 2 Power analysis for part two of the study. .................................................................................42 3 Time schedule for Stage II .......................................................................................................51 4 Means for (A) overall performance rating, (B) self-efficacy, (C) cognitive anxiety, (D) somatic anxiety, (E) self-confidence, (F) self-consciousness for both interventions at the pre- and post-intervention stages. ...................................................................................................71 vii ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the cascading mechanism of choking under pressure in dance, validate an integrated-perceptual model of choking, and examine the effectiveness of a 7-week combined self-talk and progressive muscle relaxation (ST-PMR) training program in alleviating the effects of self-consciousness in choking under pressure in dance. The proposed model aimed to determine the performance decline-choking incidence by evaluating the appraisal processes that contribute to the domino effect of choking under pressure prior to, during, and after a performance error occurs. The model additionally included self- presentational concerns on anxiety and performance decline. The study examined 23 dancers using a mixed method approach which consisted of a randomized pretest-posttest control group experiment and semi-structured interviews. Overall, the ST-PMR training program was effective in increasing self-confidence, self-efficacy, and overall performance rating in comparison to dancers in the control condition. In addition, the ST- PMR training decreased somatic and cognitive anxieties significantly for dancers in that condition in comparison to dancers in the control condition. However, the results failed to show a decrease in self-consciousness as expected. The integrated-perceptual model was also partially substantiated; pre-intervention data suggested that the dancers’ initial appraisals of their performance led to increased cognitive anxiety and emotional arousal which preceded initial error occurrence. The dancers’ ability to utilize coping skills contributed to the likelihood that they experienced subsequent errors, which is consistent with the integrated conceptual model of choking under pressure. However, the post-intervention data failed to support the study’s hypotheses as all dancers in the ST-PMR and control conditions did not experience the cascade effect. Additional implications for this study and future research are discussed in detail. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Perfection in sports is elusive; even the most successful performer experiences minor errors from time to time. Errors are natural fluctuations in performance. However, when they are unexpected and detrimental to performance outcomes, we refer to this as choking under pressure (Beilock & Gray, 2007; Baumeister, 1984; Fryer, Tenenbaum, & Chow, 2017; Mesagno & Hill, 2013a.b.; Jackson, 2013). Choking has been extensively studied in sport and is traditionally conceptualized by seven main theories : distraction theory (Beilock & Carr, 2001), reinvestment theory (Masters, 1992), explicit monitoring theory (Lewis & Linder, 1997), processing efficiency theory (Eyseneck & Calvo, 1992), over-arousal theory (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908), self- presentational theory (Mesagno, 2009), and self-consciousness theory (Baumeister, 1984). The well-accepted definition of choking is a failure to perform at the expected level despite the presence of potential to be successful (Beilock & Gray, 2007). This definition generally lacks specificity, and as such, a debate ensued to determine how to best define choking and how to distinguish it from under-performance (see Buszard, Farrow, & Masters, 2013; Hill, Hanton, Matthews, &