Emotional contagion in sports training

The morning sun rises gently over a tennis facility, casting long shadows across freshly groomed clay courts. Eight players gather around their coach, laughter and eager anticipation filling the air. During drills, their energy is palpable - players cheer each other's successful shots, exchanging high-fives after tough rallies. Mistakes prompt supportive shouts: "You've got the next one!", "Keep pushing!", "Great effort!". The mood is infectious; even initially tired or discouraged, players soon find themselves uplifted, motivated by the group's collective enthusiasm. The coach joins in, reinforcing positivity, celebrating effort as much as success. By session's end, players leave the court smiling, energised, and eager for tomorrow's session.

On the adjacent court, the scene couldn't be more different. Players shuffle onto court silently, heads down, eyes tired. Each error triggers sighs of frustration and negative comments: "This drill's pointless," or "I can't get anything right today." Rather than support, there is criticism and blame - "Why can't you make that shot?", "Come on, you're better than this." The coach watches passively or even criticises further. Quickly, the collective mood spirals downward, players withdrawing into themselves. Drills become tedious, enthusiasm wanes, and performance suffers. By the end of the session, players leave demoralised, feeling drained, and reluctant to return.

These contrasting scenarios aren't unusual - they vividly demonstrate a powerful yet often overlooked phenomenon known as emotional contagion.

Emotional contagion refers to the process by which one individual's emotions and related behaviours directly trigger similar emotional responses in others. Put simply, emotions are contagious - they can spread rapidly within a group, especially in close-knit, regularly interacting groups such as sports teams or training partners.

Elaine Hatfield and colleagues defines emotional contagion as "the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronise facial expressions, vocalisations, postures, and movements with those of another person, consequently converging emotionally." This process happens largely unconsciously; humans are naturally wired to absorb and reflect the emotions around them, whether positive or negative.

The Science Behind Emotional Contagion in Sport

Neuroscientific research suggests that emotional contagion occurs via mirror neurons - specialised neurons in our brains that fire both when we perform an action and when we see someone else perform that same action. These neurons facilitate empathy, allowing us to feel others' emotions as if they were our own. In a training environment, athletes quickly and subconsciously pick up cues from teammates' facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and attitudes, absorbing these emotions into their own mood states.

Research found that in sports teams, emotional contagion had a measurable impact on team performance outcomes (se example papers below). Athletes' moods have been seen to correlate strongly with their teammates' moods over the duration of training sessions and matches. Positive emotions such as enthusiasm, optimism, and joy were found to enhance collective confidence, resilience, and performance quality. Conversely, negative emotions like frustration, anxiety, and discouragement quickly spread through teams, degrading motivation, focus, and overall performance.

Why Emotional Contagion Matters in Tennis Training Groups

Tennis, a sport heavily reliant on confidence, concentration, and emotional stability, can be greatly influenced by emotional contagion. Tennis players regularly train in small groups, interacting constantly through partnered drills, matches, and off-court interactions. This close proximity means emotions spread quickly and powerfully.

Positive emotional contagion boosts:

• Motivation and Energy: Positive emotions increase players' willingness to push themselves, creating a vibrant training environment.

• Resilience: Players become better at bouncing back from mistakes, fostering a growth mindset.

• Group Cohesion: A supportive emotional atmosphere helps build strong relationships, improving communication, teamwork, and collective goal-setting.

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Negative emotional contagion creates:

• Reduced Effort: Players become demotivated, reducing their intensity and commitment.

• Loss of Focus and Confidence: Negative emotions undermine players' self-belief and concentration, directly impairing performance.

• Fragmentation of Group Dynamics: Negative emotions can lead to interpersonal conflicts, further harming team performance and morale.

How Coaches Can Facilitate Positive Emotional Contagion?

Coaches play a critical role in creating the emotional climate of a training session. Here are practical strategies coaches can adopt to foster positive emotional contagion in their training groups:

1. Set a Positive Emotional Tone Early

• Begin each session with enthusiasm, energy, and positivity.

• Use warm-up games or team-building exercises to boost morale and camaraderie.

2. Model Desired Behaviours

• Coaches should visibly demonstrate resilience, optimism, and a positive attitude toward setbacks or mistakes.

• Celebrate effort and positive behaviours openly to reinforce them within the group.

3. Encourage Positive Communication

• Prompt athletes to use supportive language, affirmations, and positive feedback toward each other.

• Set clear expectations that criticism should be constructive, not dismissive or harsh.

4. Intervene Quickly When Negativity Emerges

• Address negative emotions or attitudes early before they spread, gently reframing the group's perspective.

• Offer alternative viewpoints and emphasise solutions rather than dwelling on problems.

5. Empower Athletes to Lead Positively

• Assign leadership roles within the group, encouraging key athletes to consciously set a positive example.

• Reinforce athletes who consistently maintain positive attitudes, using them as influential role models within the group.

6. Promote Self and Collective Reflection

• Regularly prompt athletes to reflect on the emotional climate and its impact on their performance.

• Facilitate discussions on how emotions affected past performances and strategise how to better manage them in future sessions.

Emotions within training groups are highly contagious, profoundly affecting individual and collective performance. By understanding the science and implications of emotional contagion, coaches can strategically create training environments that harness the positive aspects of emotional contagion, empowering their athletes not only to perform better but to experience greater satisfaction, resilience, and joy in their sport.

In sport (as in all areas of life) the emotions we spread are just as influential as the shots we hit. When coaches consciously cultivate positive emotional contagion, the entire training group benefits, fostering an environment where both skills and individuals flourish.

Starting point for futher reading

Totterdell, P., & Leach, D. (2001). Negative mood regulation expectancies and sports performance: An investigation involving professional cricketers. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2(4), 249-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1469-0292(01)00016-4

Rust, S., & Seiler, R. (2013). Emotional contagion in team sports and its impact on individual performance – an experimental study. This study investigated the occurrence of emotional contagion in dyads during a basketball task and the impact of a socially induced emotional state on performance. https://core.ac.uk/works/19664076/

Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, R. L. (1993). Emotional contagion. Current directions in psychological science, 2(3), 96-100.