Metamotivational state and dominance: Links with EMG gradients during isokinetic leg extension and a test of the misfit effect

Telic-Paratelic Dominance and Heart Rate Variability in Athletes Engaged in Power and Endurance Training

Purpose: The current study aimed to evaluate the telic-paratelic tendency and heart rate variability in athlete participants from different sports activities.Methods: We assigned 117 healthy participants (M age = 20, SD = 3 years) into three groups according to their training activity: power-trained (PT; n=43), endurance-trained (ET; n=36), and healthy untrained individuals (n=38). We assessed their telic-paratelic tendencies with the validated Telic Dominance Scale and their autonomic nervous system activity with heart rate variability (HRV) analyses.Results: Our findings revealed no significant differences in the telic-paratelic tendencies between ET and PT groups. However, significant differences were observed between athletes and untrained individuals (p = 0.001). Indeed, compared to untrained participants, ET and PT athletes had a greater telic tendency (both p = 0.001), were more focused on planning orientation (ET: p = 0.003; PT: p=0.001), and less often avoided arousal or activation (For ET 31% and for PT 26% of participants). The paratelic tendency was more important in untrained individuals, with most of these participants lacking in seriousmindedness and planning. In addition, we found higher HRV in paratelic ET athletes (SDNN p = 0.050, LF p = 0.022, and LF/HF p = 0.031) compared to their telic peers.Conclusion: our results suggest that sport activity did not influence the telic-paratelic tendency. Nevertheless, this tendency differentiates trained from untrained participants. HRV was higher among paratelic ET athletes, potentially reflecting less stress and more training adaptability in these athletes.

Personality and motivational predictors of well-being and coping during COVID-19: A reversal theory analysis

This study used reversal theory to examine motivational predictors of well-being and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 149 UK based respondents completed an online survey including measures of demographics, well-being, coping, motivational style, and dominance. Well-being was predicted by optimism (positively), autic and mastery (negatively) dominances, by alloic sympathy, optimism and paratelic motivation styles (positively), and, negatively by arousal seeking, arousability and pessimism. Coping was positively predicted by optimism and negativism dominances and by negativist, paratelic and telic motivations, and, negatively by arousability and pessimism. Using motivational dominances, indirect support was identified for the link between psychodiversity and well-being, but not coping. Findings suggest that well-being and, to a lesser degree, coping could be enhanced by encouraging individuals to experience a range of motivations, possibly focusing on those identified here as significant predictors. Future research needs to determine the context specificity of these findings and explore psychodiversity, well-being and coping using both metamotivational states and composite profiles incorporating the full range of motivational constructs.

Stress, Emotions, and Motivational States Among Traditional Dancers in New Zealand and Japan

This study used a reversal theory framework to examine motivational dominance and changes in motivational state, arousal, stress, and emotions among members of traditional Japanese (Nihon Odori Sports Science (NOSS)) and New Zealand (Kapa Haka) dance groups. Eighty-four participants (50 in Japan and 34 in New Zealand) completed questionnaires on each variable before and after a dance class. The findings indicated that the Kapa Haka dancers were significantly more playful and arousal-seeking than the NOSS dancers. They also reported higher overall arousal, preferred arousal, and effort during performance while the NOSS dancers became more serious afterward. Data on emotions matched those of arousal in that the Kapa Haka dancers felt significantly more excited and provocative after the session. The NOSS dancers were more relaxed and placid, both overall and after dancing. These patterns were consistent with the dancers' respective motivational states and motivational dominance, and suggest that both dances can be effective in reducing negative affect. They also suggest that psychological effects are dependent upon performers' personal and cultural affiliation with the two dance forms.

Motivational State and Personality in Relation to Emotion, Stress, and HRV Responses to Aerobic Exercise

Abstract. This study examined emotion, stress, and performance during aerobic exercise performed in the telic and paratelic states, in relation to telic and paratelic dominance. The study tested the misfit effect and is the first to examine heart rate variability (HRV) responses to exercise in relation to both personality and motivational state. Based on their Paratelic Dominance Scale scores, participants identified as telic dominant (TD) and paratelic dominant (PD) completed ramp tests following telic and paratelic state manipulations (repeated measures). In each condition, participants watched “serious” (telic) or “playful” (paratelic) videos for 10 min, then performed a ramp test on a cycle ergometer while continuing to watch the videos throughout the entire protocol. Motivational state (telic/paratelic), HRV, emotion, and stress levels were measured at baseline, pre, post, and 15 min post-ramp test. Time to exhaustion was measured as an index of performance. Limited support was obtained for the misfit effect as interactions between state and dominance were not revealed for any of the variables with the exception of low frequent (LF) and the low frequent/high frequent ratio (LF/HF % normalized), which can be interpreted as indicating that both groups were more relaxed in their preferred state condition. Regardless, findings offer useful insight into methodological considerations for similar studies, such as consideration of the moderating effects of exercise characteristics. Our findings also confirm a number of reversal theory ( Apter, 1982 ) proposals including the concept of dominance as an individual difference factor, with varying characteristics of different dominances, based on physiological response variables. We recommend continued research into the misfit effect with larger samples, and designs that accommodate the methodological considerations raised by the present results.

Psychophysiological and stress responses to competition in team sport coaches: an exploratory study

Examinations of stress in coaches have mainly been qualitative and focused on chronic stressors. This exploratory study examined stress responses in coaches during competition, including psychological and physiological indices. Using reversal theory, we examined metamotivational state profiles during competition. Ten male team sport coaches (mean age 39.8 ± 13.12 years) reported levels of subjective stress, pleasant and unpleasant emotions, metamotivational state, and provided saliva samples, on a competition day: 15 min prior to the pre-match team talk; start of the match; end of the first half; start of the second half, and end of the match, then at equivalent times on a noncompetition day. Saliva samples were assayed for alpha-amylase activity. On competition day, alpha-amylase activity was significantly higher, as were subjective stress, arousal, and unpleasant emotions. Prior to and during active play, participants were mainly in the conformist, alloic (other-oriented), and mastery states, and at the end of the match, in the telic and sympathy states. Only 22 metamotivational state reversals were observed, mostly at the start and end of the match. The elevated levels of subjective stress, alpha-amylase activity, and unpleasant emotions suggest that educational programs may be useful for some coaches to manage psychological states during competition.