How do a performer's emotions help or hinder their performance?
The emotional factors that impact on performance, including their features such as anger, fear and anxiety, happiness and confidence, and the positive and negative effects emotions can have on a performer.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the emotional factors impacting on performance, covering their main features (anger and aggression, fear and anxiety, happiness and confidence) and the positive and negative effects emotions can have on a performer.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
The SQA wants you to explain what the emotional factor is, identify its main features, and explain how emotions can have a positive and a negative impact on performance. Emotional questions reward an understanding that the same emotion can help or hinder depending on whether it is controlled.
The answer
What emotional factors are
At Higher the examinable features are anger and aggression, fear and anxiety, and happiness and confidence. The unifying skill is emotional control: keeping each emotion at a level that helps rather than hinders.
Anger and aggression
Fear and anxiety
Happiness and confidence
Examples in context
A footballer near the end of a heated derby shows how emotions cut both ways. A controlled level of aggression drives strong, committed but legal tackles and lifts the whole team. If anger takes over after a poor refereeing decision, the same player lunges in late, concedes a free kick and risks a card, hurting the team. Meanwhile a confident striker, buoyed by an earlier goal, attacks defenders decisively, but over-confidence can lead to a careless touch that wastes a chance. The constant theme is control: the emotion itself is neutral, and its impact on performance depends on whether the player keeps it at a helpful level, which is exactly what the SQA expects you to explain.
Try this
Q1. Name two features of the emotional factor. [2 marks]
- Cue. Choose from anger and aggression, fear and anxiety, or happiness and confidence.
Q2. Explain one positive and one negative impact an emotion can have on performance. [4 marks]
- Cue. Positive: controlled confidence makes a performer decisive. Negative: high anxiety tightens the muscles and causes tentative actions.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher 20224 marksExplain how emotional factors can have a positive and a negative impact on performance.Show worked answer →
A -mark explain question rewarding one developed positive and one developed negative point, not a list of emotions.
Positive: controlled confidence makes a performer willing to take on a skill, so a netball shooter takes the shot decisively and scores under pressure.
Negative: anxiety before a key moment tightens the muscles and narrows attention, so a penalty taker snatches the kick and misses. The discriminator is explaining how the emotion changes the action and the outcome, not simply naming it.
SQA Higher 20206 marksDescribe two emotions that affected your performance and explain the impact of each.Show worked answer →
A -mark describe-and-explain question, roughly half description and half explanation. Choose two distinct emotions.
Describe confidence (belief in your ability to succeed) and anxiety (worry or apprehension about the outcome).
Then explain the impact in a named activity: confidence after an early success meant attacking the badminton net positively and winning points; rising anxiety late in a tight game tightened the arm and led to tentative, error-prone shots. Marks come from the developed link between the emotion and the change in performance.
Related dot points
- Managing anger, fear and anxiety as features of the emotional factor: how these emotions affect performance when uncontrolled, and the approaches used to manage them such as relaxation, breathing techniques, positive self-talk and routines.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on managing anger, fear and anxiety as emotional factors, covering how uncontrolled emotions damage performance and the approaches (relaxation, breathing, self-talk, routines) used to keep them at a helpful level.
- Confidence and emotional control as features of the emotional factor: how positive emotions such as confidence and happiness affect willingness and decisiveness, the risk of over-confidence, and approaches used to build and steady confidence.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on confidence and emotional control as emotional factors, covering how positive emotions affect willingness and decisiveness, the risk of over-confidence, and the approaches used to build and regulate confidence.
- Mental toughness as a feature of the mental factor: staying focused, confident and composed under pressure, resilience and recovering from setbacks, and the approaches used to develop it such as mental rehearsal, positive self-talk and routines.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on mental toughness as a mental factor, covering composure and resilience under pressure, recovery from setbacks, and the approaches (mental rehearsal, positive self-talk, routines) used to develop it.
- Methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, including the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods, examples such as observation schedules, video analysis, standardised tests, questionnaires and match analysis, and why a performer uses more than one method.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, covering qualitative and quantitative methods, examples such as observation schedules, video analysis and standardised tests, and why more than one method is used.
- Approaches to developing performance, including how a performer selects approaches that match the factor and the stage of learning, principles such as progression and specificity, and examples of approaches for the physical, mental, emotional and social factors.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the approaches to developing performance, covering how to select approaches that match the factor and stage of learning, principles such as progression and specificity, and examples for each of the four factors.
Sources & how we know this
- SQA Higher Physical Education Course Specification — SQA (2019)