ABSTRACT
An athlete’s emotions can have a strong influence on their performance, and this influence can have a positive or negative effect on their performance. Athletic events and the performance of the athlete and team, can also influence emotions and moods. All emotions can be defined by three major elements: 1) valence (positive, negative, neutral) based on if the emotion makes a person feel good, bad, or have no feeling; 2) arousal, which is wakefulness-alertness; 3) activity pattern (advance, retreat, none). One of the emotions that has the greatest influence on competitive athletes is anger, and one of the best treatments for the mood disorder of depression is physical exercise. This chapter discusses the influence of emotions and mood on athletic performance and how athletic activities can alter emotions and mood. This chapter also discusses the brain mechanisms that are responsible for emotions and these alterations of mood and emotions.
