Autonomy as a protective factor against the detrimental effects of ego depletion on tennis serve accuracy under pressure

Englert, Christoph; Bertrams, Alex (2015). Autonomy as a protective factor against the detrimental effects of ego depletion on tennis serve accuracy under pressure. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 13(2), pp. 121-131. Routledge 10.1080/1612197X.2014.932828

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It has been repeatedly demonstrated that athletes in a state of ego depletion do not perform up to their capabilities. We assume that autonomous self-control exertion, in contrast to forced self-control exertion, can serve as a buffer against ego depletion effects and can help individuals to show superior performance. In the present study, we applied a between-subjects design to test the assumption that autonomously exerted self-control is less detrimental for subsequent self-control performance in sports than is forced self-control exertion. In a primary self-control task, the level of autonomy was manipulated through specific instructions, resulting in three experimental conditions (autonomy-supportive: n = 19; neutral: n = 19; controlling: n = 19). As a secondary self-control task, participants executed a series of tennis serves under high-pressure conditions, and performance accuracy served as our dependent variable. As expected, a one-way between-groups ANOVA revealed that participants from the autonomy-supportive condition performed significantly better under pressure than did participants from the controlling condition. These results further highlight the importance of autonomy-supportive instructions in order to enable athletes to show superior achievements in high-pressure situations. Practical implications for the coach–athlete relationship are discussed.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Education > Educational Psychology
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Education

UniBE Contributor:

Englert, Christoph, Bertrams, Alexander Gregor

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 370 Education

ISSN:

1612-197X

Publisher:

Routledge

Language:

English

Submitter:

Christoph Englert

Date Deposited:

08 May 2015 14:13

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:46

Publisher DOI:

10.1080/1612197X.2014.932828

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.68103

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/68103

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