Abstract

This paper rewiews research on mental states and athletic performance within the framework of Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) model. The IZOF model includes precompetitive positive (pleasant) and negative (unpleasant) emotions facilitating or inhibiting performance. It employs, besides standardized measure scales, idiographic scaling as an appropriate procedure for assessing the athletes' perception of their psychological conditions. Empirical results show how beneficial or detrimental effects, as well as pleasant or unpleasant affects, may depend upon individual self-perception. Recent research attempted to extend the IZOF model beyond emotions to include other idiosyncratic psychophysical factors associated with optimal and poor performances.