Where’s the Emotion? How Sport Psychology Can Inform Research on Emotion in Human Factors

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to demonstrate how research on emotion in sport psychology might inform the field of human factors. Background: Human factors historically has paid little attention to the role of emotion within the research on human-system relations. The theories, methods, and practices related to research on emotion within sport psychology might be informative for human factors because fundamentally, sport psychology and human factors are applied fields concerned with enhancing performance in complex, real-world domains. Method: Reviews of three areas of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology are presented, and the relevancy of each area for human factors is proposed: (a) emotional preparation and regulation for performance, (b) an emotional trait explanation for risk taking in sport, and (c) the link between emotion and motor behavior. Finally, there are suggestions for how to continue cross-talk between human factors and sport psychology about research on emotion and related topics in the future. Results: The relevance of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology for human factors is demonstrated. Conclusion: The human factors field and, in particular, research on human-system relations may benefit from a consideration of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology. Application: Theories, methods, and practices from sport psychology might be applied usefully to human factors.