Inverted U Hypothesis

The relationship between arousal and performance is a vital component in the study of an athlete’s performance. As feelings of arousal are experienced (or the lack thereof) in a competitive sporting situation, the subsequent effects can be huge. One of the major principles of the arousal-performance relationship is the Inverted-U hypothesis (Baechle and Earle 2008, 168), developed by Yerkes and Dodson. According to their hypothesis, as arousal levels increase, so do the performance levels of the individual, but only to certain point (known as the ‘optimal’ point). Necessary levels of arousal are different in many situations. The ‘optimal’ level depends on the type of activity, skill level and personality of the individual. The following will detail the Inverted-U hypothesis and how this varies amongst athletes, sports and skills.

As briefly mentioned, the Inverted-U Hypothesis relates to the relationship between arousal and performance. Two psychologists, Yerkes and Dodson, developed the Inverted-U hypothesis. The hypothesis focused on the decision-making abilities of mice when they were presented with varying intensities of a stressor (Arent and Landers 2003, 436). This hypothesis was then later modified for the application to sport. The Inverted-U hypothesis states that at low arousal levels, performance will be low (i.e. the individual is not psyched up enough) and as arousal is increased, so does the performance, up to the aforementioned ‘optimal’ level (Weinberg and Gould 2010, 86). After this ‘optimal’ level, if arousal begins to increase, the individual’s performance will begin to deteriorate due to the individual becoming over-aroused. This is represented by an inverted-U (see Figure 1). Over arousal can b...

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