Clutch vs. Choking Performance: Examining NBA Free Throw Shooting Under Pressure

Waney, Kyle

dc.contributor.advisor	Kontorovich, Vladimir
dc.contributor.author	Waney, Kyle
dc.date.accessioned	2014-08-07T15:22:03Z
dc.date.available	2014-08-07T15:22:03Z
dc.date.issued	2014
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10066/14560
dc.description.abstract	This study analyzes the effects of psychological pressure on the free throw shooting performance of professional NBA basketball players. Using five season of play by play data the current study investigates the concept that players have a tendency to either over-perform (clutch performance) or under-perform (choking behavior) using the single most controlled form of offensive production in sports: the free throw. Using sports as a natural context to examine human behavior the results of this research reveal not only that NBA basketball players suffer from a tendency to under-perform in moments of enhanced pressure, but also that choking behavior is less the result of individual characteristics and more the result of regulatory focus theory.
dc.description.sponsorship	Haverford College. Department of Economics
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/
dc.subject.lcsh	Free throw (Basketball) -- Psychological aspects -- Mathematical models
dc.subject.lcsh	Basketball players -- Psychology -- Mathematical models
dc.subject.lcsh	Performance anxiety -- Mathematical models
dc.title	Clutch vs. Choking Performance: Examining NBA Free Throw Shooting Under Pressure
dc.type	Thesis
dc.rights.access	Dark Archive