172 Chapter 12 Arousal -Performance Relationships

Good

I

Maximum performance

Poor Poor performance Poor performance

Low(Underaroused)

Moderate(Optimally aroused)

Emotional arousal

High(Overaroused)

FIGURE 12.3The Inverted-U Relationship Between Arousal and Performance

Thus, it appears that other hypotheses, such as the inverted-U, need to beconsidered as a more plausible explanation for the relationship betweenarousal and athletic performance.

Inverted-U Hypothesis

The inverted-U relationship between arousal and performance is shown inFigure 12.3. The inverted-U hypothesis predicts that as arousal increasesfrom drowsiness to alertness, there is a progressive increase in performanceefficiency. However, once arousal continues to increase beyond alertness toa state of high excitement, there is a progressive decrease In task perform-ance. Thus, the inverted-U hypothesis suggests that behavior is aroused anddirected toward some kind of balanced or optimal state.

Although the exact shape of the curve does riot exactly match theidealized pattern in Figure 12.3, the decrement in performance at highlevels of stress does occur across studies with considerable regularity. Forexample, Martens and Landers (1970) found greater motor steadiness atintermediate levels of arousal as measured with a physiological measure.Wood and Hokanson (1965) have observed a similar inverted U-shapedpattern for performance when arousal has been experimentally producedby varying muscle tension. Babin (1966) and Levitt and Gutin (1971) havealso found reaction-time performance curves resembling an inverted-U that

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