Acta Psychologica Sinica

Abstract

In sports, there is a frequent occurrence of that athletes lose following by winning. Psychologists infer it as “choking under pressure” defining as deterioration in the execution of habitual processes of performance under pressure. Research into choking started in early 1980s, and “distraction hypothesis” and automatic execution hypothesis have been commonly accepted to explain choking under pressure. Due to the simplicity of the existed hypotheses explaining choking under pressure, there has been a lack of effective therapeutic technique for ameliorating choking. Based on the studies of choking, this article offers and discusses a choking process theory that explains choking as a process rather than a performance outcome. The article argues that the choking process includes stable and unstable causal factors, the perception of pressure, coping strategies, task characteristics, and skill levels. On the basis of the discussion, the author suggests possible techniques that allow athletes to avoid the occurrence of choking in sport.

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