Challenge and Threat States, and Emotions

Despite elite athletes refining their skills over years of practice, when it comes to pivotal sporting moments, performance may often hinge on the emotional consequences of motivational states. The biopsychosocial model (BPSM) of challenge and threat proposes that, in motivated performance situations, a key determinant of emotions is the evaluation of situational demands and personal resources. The distinct response profiles arising from such evaluations are known as “challenge” and “threat” states, which differ in their emotional, cognitive and performance outcomes. Challenge states are associated with both pleasant and unpleasant emotions, while threat is usually marked by unpleasant emotions only. Further, when in a challenge state, emotions are considered facilitative to performance while the opposite occurs when threatened. In other words, challenge and threat states differ by types of emotions experienced (e.g. anxiety, excitement) and how these emotions are perceived (e.g. facilitative, debilitative). Recent work has provided mixed findings regarding the complex relationship between challenge and threat states and emotions, but there is much scope to replicate, broaden and better understand this interaction, particularly in the context of sports performance. This chapter discusses the theory behind challenge and threat states and emotions, their interrelationships and downstream effects on performance, as well as implications for practice.