How Nonverbal Behaviour and Game Context Alter Athletes Perceptions: A Study of Nonverbal Influence on Expectancy of Success and Impression Formation in Different Game Scenarios, Immediately After an Opponent’s Mistake

Abstract

Nonverbal behaviour is a social cognition component of sport psychology. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of non-verbal behaviour (NVB), and game scenarios immediately after a mistake was made. Participants (N = 103) were randomly assigned to one of six groups, comprised of one of two body languages, dominant (n = 51) and submissive (n = 52), and one of three game scenarios, winning (n = 34), tied (n = 34), and losing (n = 35). Due to a high internal consistency between factors of performance outcomes and psychological characteristics one composite variable was created for each variable. Results revealed that dominant NVB was rated significantly higher than submissive NVB in each category, while game situation did not show any significant differences for performance outcome or psychological characteristics. NVB can be a readily accessible resource that should utilized by athletes to gain an advantage over their opponent.