Bullseye! How power improves motor performance
Bullseye! How power improves motor performance
Power makes people think, feel, and behave in ways that help them to maintain and increase power. Thus far, the mechanisms underlying power’s beneficial effects on goal pursuit have been investigated predominantly on a cognitive level. The present research tested whether power influences goal pursuit in an even more fundamental way, namely by improving actual behavior on motor-based tasks. Furthermore, we suggest that this effect is produced by changes in perceptual goal representation. Consistent with our assumptions, Experiment 1 found that individuals primed with high-power outperformed control participants on a golf-putting task. In Experiment 2, individuals receiving a high-power prime outperformed individuals receiving a low-power prime on a dart-throwing task. Moreover, high-power primed participants represented the focal goal (a dart board) in greater goal-relevant detail, which mediated the effect of power on motor performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that power shapes performance in more fundamental ways than previously assumed.
224-232
Burgmer, Pascal
c8c43b56-572c-4242-800c-9f44ff648cec
Englich, Birte
32edf6a9-74d2-451d-a371-6290cf355c90
Burgmer, Pascal
c8c43b56-572c-4242-800c-9f44ff648cec
Englich, Birte
32edf6a9-74d2-451d-a371-6290cf355c90
Burgmer, Pascal and Englich, Birte
(2012)
Bullseye! How power improves motor performance.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4 (2), .
(doi:10.1177/1948550612452014).
Abstract
Power makes people think, feel, and behave in ways that help them to maintain and increase power. Thus far, the mechanisms underlying power’s beneficial effects on goal pursuit have been investigated predominantly on a cognitive level. The present research tested whether power influences goal pursuit in an even more fundamental way, namely by improving actual behavior on motor-based tasks. Furthermore, we suggest that this effect is produced by changes in perceptual goal representation. Consistent with our assumptions, Experiment 1 found that individuals primed with high-power outperformed control participants on a golf-putting task. In Experiment 2, individuals receiving a high-power prime outperformed individuals receiving a low-power prime on a dart-throwing task. Moreover, high-power primed participants represented the focal goal (a dart board) in greater goal-relevant detail, which mediated the effect of power on motor performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that power shapes performance in more fundamental ways than previously assumed.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 16 July 2012
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Local EPrints ID: 479784
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479784
ISSN: 1948-5506
PURE UUID: cf1b493d-c9b9-46fd-b445-81d523ad29bb
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Date deposited: 26 Jul 2023 17:02
Last modified: 21 May 2024 16:49
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Author:
Pascal Burgmer
Author:
Birte Englich
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