Self-Presentational Issues in Competition and Sport

Abstract

This paper critically reviews self-presentational behavior, cognition, and affect in competition and sport. It is subdivided into three main sections. The first section focuses on self-handicapping behavior, describing what it is and why it occurs. Self-handicapping research is reviewed followed by suggestions for future study. In section two, cognitions related to stereotypes about individuals who play certain sports are discussed. The third and final section examines demographic, environmental, and physical self-perception correlates of social physique anxiety as well as the tenability of Leary's (1992) conceptualization of competitive anxiety.

Notes

¹Values are weighted by sample size and based on data from 668 participants in studies conducted by Carron, Prapavessis, and Grove (1994), Hausenblas and Carron (1996), Ryska, Yin, and Cooley (1998), and Prapavessis and Grove (1999).