Emotions in Sport

Abstract

Emotions play an important role in sport. This chapter provides a timely overview of research on emotions from both sport psychology and general psychology. This current chapter covers emotions from evolutionary perspectives, the experience, assumed functions, and connections with physiology. Subsequently, we review studies on the connection between emotions and athletic performance that serve as the foundation for the process of emotion regulation. We extend this discussion to include recent research on emotional intelligence and its significance for performance in sport, health, and well-being. Finally, current methods of emotion research are described in detail including presenting state-of-the-art methods of emotion induction and measurement.