Acting fast on feelings!: Naïve theories of futsal players about the use of feelings during their course of action

Athletes often report relying on their gut feelings to guide their decisions. This paper examines this reliance through a social-cognitive approach, focusing on players’ beliefs about how they use feelings, thoughts, or a simple assessment of the situation when making decisions. In Study 1, we first asked athletes about how they define “actions” and “changes of action” in a sports context and then inquired them about how they would justify their decisions to make such changes – whether through feelings, thinking, or a simple apprehension of the situation. Study 2 replicates these questions and explores whether the justifications for changes of action vary in different contextual characteristics (ambiguity, dynamism, or complexity) represented through a set of futsal game scenarios (photos). The results of both studies clearly show that, although athletes believe they make decisions based on all three sources of information, they predominantly rely on their feelings to guide most of their action decisions, particularly when the actions are fast-paced, dynamic, and complex. These findings are discussed in relation to theories that highlight the role of feelings as a valuable source of information in decision-making and action.