The influence of mental toughness on responses to feedback in snooker: A  real-time examination

Two experiments investigated whether mental toughness (MT) is associated with the ability to respond to and/or  overcome unwanted information during real-time sport performance. Participants were male snooker players  ranging from club to professional level, and MT was measured using the MTQ48 (Clough et al., 2002). In  experiment 1, players performed five break-off shots and received deceptive feedback (either positive or negative) from the researcher about their performance relative to other players. Then they performed another five  break-offs. Results showed a significant decline in performance following feedback, but no interaction with the  nature of feedback or MT variables. In experiment 2, feedback was delivered by a coach and yielded a significant  effect on performance. Specifically, negative feedback improved performance while positive feedback impaired  performance. The Life Control subscale of the MTQ48 was a significant covariate. The results suggest that  negative feedback, delivered constructively by a respected figure, may act as a catalyst for performance  enhancement in snooker and that this is moderated by MT.