This study examined the relationship between felt arousal, thoughts/fe
elings, and ski performance based on recent arousal and affect concept
ualizations. An eclectic integration of these perspectives suggests th
at to understand the arousal-performance relationship, researchers nee
d to examine not only a felt arousal continuum (i.e., intensity or lev
el ranging from low to high), but also a concomitant thoughts and feel
ings continuum (i.e., ranging from positive to negative). Recreational
slalom ski racers completed a self-report measure examining felt arou
sal and thoughts/feelings prior to several ski runs. Results demonstra
ted a significant relationship between felt arousal level, thoughts/fe
elings, and subjective ski performance ratings, but not for actual ski
times. in contrast to the inverted-U hypothesis for subjective perfor
mance ratings, high felt arousal is not associated with poor performan
ce ratings if it is accompanied by positive thoughts and feelings.