A CRISIS-RELATED ANALYSIS OF PERCEIVED REFEREES BEHAVIOR IN COMPETITION

The purpose of the present study was to analyze perceived referees' be havior, using a theory of psychological performance crisis in competit ion. Perceived referees' behavior in competition was analyzed in terms of referee's response in favor of, against, no response in favor of, and no response against the athlete, during a home or away game and ex pected or unexpected by the athlete. The perceived contribution of the se variables to extreme psychological arousal states (crisis, non-cris is) was investigated. Eighty elite ball-game players estimated the occ urrence probability of all Bayesian combinations among these variables under crisis and non-crisis conditions. A repeated measures ANOVA pro cedure revealed that psychological performance crisis was highly assoc iated with (a) referee's response against a player as well as no respo nse in the player's favor, (b) an away game, and (c) unexpected events . The repeated measures ANOVA findings also revealed that under non-cr isis conditions, (a) no response against a player and a response in a player's favor, (b) a home game, and (c) an expected event, were judge d as more probable. The 4-way interaction between the variables was si gnificant. Results are discussed theoretically in reference to the cri sis construct.