IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURE OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS APPROPRIATE TO REVERSE THE DISTRESS ASSOCIATED TO BASKETBALL FREE THROWS

Abstract

Leopoldo Ferrer Maldonado

Distress involves a catabolic response which decreases the performance
before sport challenges, for example: basketball free throws.
Fredrickson and Branigan (2000), affirms that Positive emotions reverse the
physiological effects of negative emotions. This project takes The Undoing
Hypothesis of these authors, and the Somatic Marker Hypothesis too
(Damasio,1994) as well as the use of blood pressure to identify responses of distress
and eustress (Gonzales,2004). The following question may be asked: How
to identify the appropriate positive emotions used to modify the athlete’s physiological
parameters on distress basketball free throws? To answer this question,
a new procedure called “The Undoing Testing” was designed and implemented.
It includes these steps: evocation of distress, physiological measurement, induction
of one positive emotion and physiological measurement. This procedure
allowed the identification of appropriate positive emotions to reverse either
unpleasant body sensations or cardiac responses related to distress.