Expectancy in Motor Behavior: A Crucial Element of the Psychobiological States That Affect Performance

Abstract

Evidence is critically reviewed that bears on the effect of expectancy on motor performance. Many of these studies have methodological and conceptual problems, especially in the translation from ideal to operational definitions. Nonetheless, in aggregate, these data are sufficient to permit rejection of the null hypothesis that expectancy has no effect on motor-performance. Outcome and self-efficacy expectancies are hypothesized to be reciprocally interactive with one another as well as with other cognitions, emotions, perceptions, physiological activity, and ongoing behavior. Expectancies are key elements of the psychobiological states people experience in the context of motor performance; expectancies discriminate being psyched-up in meeting a challenge from being anxious in the face of threat. These different states are partially engendered by expectations for their occurrence but can also be deliberately cultivated or avoided by means of preparatory strategies and relaxation techniques. Self-presentational concerns are hypothesized to play a major role in motor performance, and their intensification in situations that maximize the importance of performing well can lead to heightened awareness of well-learned motor sequences that interferes with their execution-choking under pressure.