LeBron James and Miami HEAT Need Hater Therapy for the 2012 NBA Season

Since Dwyane Wade and LeBron James said playing off the hate cost them a championship last season, the Miami Heat Index and a Mental Health Counseling major discussed the psychological impact of haters on job performance and what the Miami HEAT can do about it this season.

Podcast Details

Podcasters: Miami Heat Index and Aziza A.B. Platt
Recorded: December 21, 2011 at 5:15 PM ET
Duration: 27:17
How to Listen: Play the audio embedded below, download the mp3 or subscribe via iTunes

Impact of Hate

How does hate affect performance? Mrs. Platt provided some examples of positive and negative effects hate can have on player performance listed below.

• Experiencing strong emotions, regardless of whether they are positive or negative, will improve athletic performance (Vast, Young, & Thomas, 2010).
• Klumpp and Mialon (2011) developed a model of the effects of hate in two-opponent situations. They found there are two outcomes: the stooping-down effect (becoming more aggressive in response to the hate) and turning the other cheek (becoming less aggressive in response to hate). Stooping-down is more successful for the stronger team and the weaker team is better off turning the other cheek.
• Negative emotions are especially detrimental in sports that require fine motor movement and produce tension, loss of concentration and inconsistent performances (Dalloway, n.d.).
• Cause of anger becomes the focus of attention and leads to lack of concentration on the task at hand and deterioration in performance, which leads to loss of confidence in abilities and becomes a vicious cycle (Mackenzie, 1997).

Defeating Hate

How can LeBron and the HEAT prevent hate from impacting their performance this season? Our friendly Mental Health Counselor discussed the “Thought Stopping” technique and offered the insight listed below.

• Positive emotions require more concentration to maintain but produce better performance, and positive emotions are more likely to lead to a “performance-relevant focus and automatic physical movements, both of which were beneficial for concentration and performance” (Fisher, 2010).
• Theory of cognitive dissonance states when thoughts and behaviors are contradictory, people seek to resolve them by changing one or the other (Aronson, 2010). For example:
• “I’m not a bad person but I am being treated like a bad person.”
• “Maybe I am a bad person?”
• “I will become the bad person they say I am.”

Disclaimer: Mrs. Platt is obligated to make the following statements:

• She is not a licensed counselor yet, she just played one on the HEATcast
• She never met with any of the individuals discussed on the podcast

This podcast was inspired by E.J. Fischer.