Psychological Characteristics And Cognitive Intervention Of Flow State In Sport

Despite recognition of both negative and positive sides to emotion,psychologicalresearch has focused overwhelmingly on the former.Sport psychology,like generalpsychology,has tended to emphasize negative experiences,with plentiful research onanxiety and associated topics.However,sport psychology has also included a positiveperspective,and performance enhancement is still a predominant focus.Achievingpeak performance is an all-important goal for competitive athletes and coaches,andflow can facilitate such outcomes.In view of this point,taking the latest developmentof positive psychology and sport psychology as the perspective,and the current resultsand future trends as the breakthrough point,using the questionnaire survey (includingscales adaptation) and experimental methods,the present research was designed tostudy the psychological characteristics of flow state in sport,and to increase thepossibility of flow occurring through the cognitive intervention of goal setting.Theconclusions were as following:(1)The factorial validity and reliability of the Chinese versions of the DFS-2 andFSS-2 was satisfactory,and they can be used to measure the flow experience in sportfor Chinese samples.Flow state in sport was universal,and the psychologicalcharacteristics of both the dispositional flow and the state flow can be included in thenine dimensions of flow experience.(2)The flow tendency of collegiate athletes was different.For cultural background,the flow scores of American collegiate athletes were higher significantly than that ofChinese collegiate athletes.For gender,four dimensions (Challenge-skills balance,Sense of control,Loss of self-consciousness,and Autotelic experience) ofdispositional flow and the total scores of men athletes were higher significantly thanthat of women athletes for Chinese samples;there was no significant difference forAmerican samples.For competitive levels,there was significant difference on threedimensions (Total concentration on the task at hand,Sense of control,and Autotelicexperience) and the total for Chinese samples;the scores of expert athletes were lowerthan that 1st grade,2nd grade,and general athletes.There was also significant difference on three dimensions (Action-awareness merging,Unambiguous feedback,and Autotelic experience) and the total for American samples;the scores ofDivision-â… athletes were lower than that Division-â…¡athletes.For sport events,onlyone flow dimension (Autotelic experience) of skill-showing events was highersignificantly than that of physical ability-showing events for Chinese samples.All buttwo dimensions (Clear goals,and Transformation of time) were different significantlyfor American samples,the scores of skill-showing events was higher than that ofphysical ability-showing events.For training life,there was no significant differenceboth for Chinese samples and American samples.(3)Goal setting increased the occurrence of flow experience,especially on thedimensions of Action-awareness merging,Sense of control,Loss of self-consciousness,Autotelic experience,and the total for the dispositional flow,while onthe dimensions of Challenge-skills balance,Sense of control,Loss of self-consciousness,Autotelic experience,and the total for the state flow.Goal orientationhad a main effect on both the dispositional flow and the state flow,and setting taskoriented goals resulted in flow experiences more frequently than setting ego orientedgoals.Goal difficulty had a main effect on both the dispositional flow and the stateflow,and setting moderately difficult goals resulted in flow experiences morefrequently than setting easy and hard goals.There was no interaction between goalorientation and goal difficulty for both the dispositional flow and the state flow.Flowacted as a mediator of goal setting on athletic performance.For dispositional flow,Action-awareness merging and Autotelic experience were partial mediators;whileTotal concentration on the task at hand and Loss of self-consciousness were completemediators.For state flow,Loss of self-consciousness was a partial mediator;whileUnambiguous feedback,Sense of control,and Autotelic experience were completemediators.