Background/Purpose Athletes are told that they need to play to win. Research demonstrates that playing to avoid losing provides more motivation in competition than playing to win. This is primarily due to loss aversion, explaining that the pains of losing are worse than the joys of winning; people will do anything they can to avoid those pains. This study looks not only at how athletes respond to situations that warrant loss aversion, but also how the athlete's motivational profile affects their response. An achievement goal framework was used to determine if athletes have approach versus avoidance motivation. The research hypothesized that athletes with approach motivation will accept the challenge from loss aversion, while those with avoidance motivation will perform worse.
Method The participants in this study (n =44) were asked to complete a free throw shooting task. Participants in the experimental group were told at the halfway point in the task that they were either ahead, behind, or tied with other participants; those in the control group were given no feedback.
Analysis/Results Participants who were playing to win were more likely to have a mastery approach orientation [r(42)=.37, p=.01], however this only occurs when losing [r(10)=.89, p<.001]. Participants identified as having performance avoidance motivation were more likely to play to avoid losing [r(42)=.40, p=.01].
Conclusions This study can provide coaches, athletes, and sport psychologists insight into motivations of athletes who respond either positively or negatively to loss aversive situations and will be beneficial to developing future interventions aimed at increasing positive performance outcomes.