Metaphoric Description and Individualized Emotion Profiling of Performance States in Top Karate Athletes

Abstract

This paper reports an investigation extending recent studies of a symbolic representation of performance related states (Hanin, 1997, 2000; Hanin & Stambulova, 2002). Consistent with this theoretical framework, the content and frequency of self-generated metaphors with accompanying interpretative descriptors of feeling states in high-level Spanish karate athletes (N = 16; 12 men and 4 women) were examined. The athletes generated 98 idiosyncratic, symbolic, and functionally meaningful metaphors and 167 interpretative descriptors of feeling states prior to, during, and after their best and worst performances. The metaphoric images included animate (animals, human beings, mythical characters) and inanimate (vehicles, objects, plants, natural phenomena) agents. As predicted, the content of metaphors and interpretative descriptors reflected high action readiness in best performance and low action readiness in worst performance situations. Moreover, content of metaphors was different prior to, during, and after performances (content overlap ranged from 0.06 to 0.15) and across best and worst competitions (from 0 to 0.18). As expected, self-generated interpretative emotion descriptors were idiosyncratic and context-specific. These descriptors were similar to eight basic emotions (happiness, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, fright, sadness, and shame) from the 15 proposed by Lazarus (2000). Interpretative descriptors had multiple connotations with emotion and non-emotion components of psychobiosocial state. In the follow-up (n = 12) after a 5-month interval, the initially generated idiosyncratic metaphors were retained, thus, reflecting stability and consistency of perceived personal meaning of the situation. The findings are contrasted with earlier research and practical implications are suggested.