Individual Affect-Related Performance Zones Using Various Performance Rating Methods

Individual Affect-Related Performance Zones (IAPZs) have been commonly estimated using a two-dimensional affect measures (arousal by pleasantness) as predictors of a unidimensional performance measure. Performance measures have been self-reported ratings of perceived overall performance or objective performance scores from competition (e.g., completion time, points total, etc.). IAPZs were determined through the multi-dimensional nature of affect and emotion but performance remained unidimensional. The purpose of this study was to use various dimensions of performance (i.e., anticipation, decision-making, and skill execution) to estimate IAPZs and compare them with the commonly used unidimensional measure, "overall performance." The self-reported affect (arousal and pleasantness) and performance (anticipation, decision-making, skill execution, overall performance) ratings of 9 college club bowlers during simulated competitions were used to estimate 8 probabilistic IAPZs for each bowler. The zone for each bowler was defined by the location and range of the affective intensity where optimal performances were more likely to occur than other performance types. Descriptive differences in IAPZ parameters (i.e., location, range, and probability) emerged at the group and individual levels. Each bowler presented 8 IAPZs that were unique across all bowlers. The 8 IAPZs for each bowler were somewhat different, giving evidence for within-bowler differences when using various dimensions of performance or affect. The ranges and probabilities of each zone were used in a repeated measures ANOVA to assess whether the outcomes of the three new performance dimensions (i.e., anticipation, decision-making, and skill execution) were statistically different from the traditional measure of overall performance across all bowlers. Results of the analysis showed non-significant effects for affect, performance dimension, and the affect by performance interaction on both outcome variables, range and probability. Though non- significant there were important descriptive differences both within and among bowlers' optimal zones. The findings revealed unique IAPZs for various performance dimensions, which implies more accurately determining the multidimensional nature of performance affect-related zones.