Definition
Performance anxiety is defined as an unpleasant psychological state in response to a perceived threat concerning the performance of a task or event, under pressure (Cheng et al. 2009). Additionally, performance anxiety may involve the concern of being perceived and evaluated negatively by others (Hook et al. 2013). This construct shows different dimensions, such as a social dimension (e.g., social judgment), a cognitive dimension (e.g., worry, self-focused attention), a physiological dimension (e.g., autonomous arousal, somatic tension), and a regulatory dimension (e.g., perceived control) (Cheng et al. 2009).
In an alternative perspective, performance anxiety consists of behavioral, cognitive, and physiological symptoms and signs that may precede or accompany a performance and that seem out of proportion to the specific situation. Some degree of performance anxiety is common, if not universal, but disabling symptoms may indicate the need of professional intervention...
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Naz, ., Ilyas, N., von Humboldt, S. (2019). Performance Anxiety. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_81-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_81-1
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