The Relationship between Action and State Orientation and Decision Making Behavior of Expert Female Football Players

Decision making plays an important role in sport activities and is directly associated with sporting success or failure. On the other hand, one of the key issues in psychology of sports and behavioral sciences is sport orientation. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of action and state orientation with decision making behavior of expert female football players. 27 players who attended competitions for at least 8 years participated in the present study. Action Control Scale (ACS-90) was used to specify action or state orientation of players. Then, to evaluate the performance of decision making of players, the images of real football situations were used. The players were required to respond correctly to one of the existing options (shooting, dribbling, passing). K-S test was applied to examine normal data distribution and multiple regression and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze data at significance level of 0.05. Results showed a significance correlation between action orientation and accuracy and decision making behavior of action players (P0.05). Moreover, results indicated no significant relationships between state orientation and variables (accuracy, speed and decision making behavior) of state players (P>0.05). Finally, it can be inferred that action orientation in expert players has a correlation with accuracy in decision making and risk taking choices and it can facilitate reaching their goals.