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Self-regulation and recovery : Approaching an understanding of the process of recovery from stress
(2004)
Stress has been studied extensively in psychology. Only recently, however, has research started to address the question of how individuals manage to recover from stress. Recovery from stress is analyzed as a process of self- regulation. Several individual difference variables which affect the efficiency of self-regulation have been integrated into a structured model of the recovery process. Such variables are action versus state orientation (a tendency to ruminate, e.g., about a past experience) and volitional components, such as self-determination, self-motivation, emotion control, rumination, and self-discipline. Some of these components are assumed to promote recovery from stress, whereas others are assumed to further the perseverance of stress. The model was supported by the empirical findings of three independent studies (Study 1, N = 58; Study 2, N = 22 1; Study 3, N = 105). Kuhl's Action Con trol Scale measured action versus state orientation. Volitional components were assessed with Kuhl and Fuhrmann's Volitional Components Questionnaire. The amounts of experienced stress and recovery from stress was assessed with Kellmann and Kallus's Recovery-Stress Questionnaire. As hypothesized in the model, the disposition towards action versus state orientation was a more distant determinant of the recovery from stress and perseverance of stress. The volitional components are more proximal determinants in the recovery process. Action orientation promotes recovery from stress via adequate volitional skills, e.g., self-determination, self-motivation, emotion control, whereas state orientation furthers a perseverance of stress through rumination and self-discipline
The present study evaluated the interaction between preference for a focus of attention and instructions for focusing attention. N = 42 experienced billiard players had to shoot a billiard ball into a target area and received a focus instruction either corresponding or opposite to their preferred focus of attention. Two-dimensional error scores of accuracy and consistency were obtained. Accuracy of performance increased between the first test phase without instructions and the second test phase with focus instructions, independent of preference or instruction. However, participants with a preference for an external focus receiving an internal focus instruction showed less consistent performance.