SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Sport Performance
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Confidence & Self-efficacy
Surely success is to do
with confidence
If you think you’re going
to succeed, you give
100%
You improve your skills
If you expect to fail, you
put in less effort
Your skills don’t improve
Self-efficacy 1
Who’s this guy?
Albert Bandura – the
man who added
vicarious learning to
behaviourism
Theory of SELF-
EFFICACY (1977)
Explains how we learn
confidence…
Self-efficacy 2
The BELIEF YOU CAN MASTER A
SITUATION
Expectations of success/failure based
on…
(1) previous experiences (reinforcement)
(2) vicarious learning (role models)
(3) verbal persuasion (“pep talks”)
(4) interpreting arousal (thrilling? or
distressing?)
Self-efficacy 3
Verbal persuasion is weakest
source of self-efficacy … unless
well timed
Best to have self-efficacy
higher than actual ability.
Why?
You aim high, try hard…
… you improve your skills
This is a LEARNED COGNITION
Self-efficacy 4
Gould & Weiss (1981)
Learners reported
improved self-efficacy after
observing models
Especially if the model was
similar to them in ability
Weiss & Horn (1990)
boys & girls with low self-
efficacy drop out of sports
– especially girls
Positive Self-talk 1
A conversation with yourself
Positive – focus on priorities, recall
key skills
Negative – frustration, anxiety, poor
attention, low effort
(1) THOUGHT-STOPPING
Say “Stop!” to negative thoughts –
out loud, but silently with practice
Positive Self-talk 2
(2) SUBSTITUTION
Change negative thoughts
to positive
Not a crisis – an
opportunity!
“He knows he’s got me
beat”
“Now to take him by
surprise”
Sport-Specific Model
Self-Efficacy is a general explanation of
self-confidence
Sport situations are quite unusual:
1. the pressures are intense
2. extremes of fatigue, uncertainty and
dependency on others
3. coordinating several different skilled
behaviours, often at the same time
Need for research into sport-specific
self-confidence
Dr Robin Vealey at the University of
Miami.
Vealey’s Sport-Specific Model
SC-trait is
permanent self-
confidence
(disposition)
SC-state is
situational self-
confidence
Competitive
Orientation is
another trait –
how you handle
success/failure
Vealey’s tests
Psychometric tests to measure sport
self-confidence
Trait Sport Confidence Inventory
(TSCI)
State Sport Confidence Inventory
(SSCI)
TSCI similar to Martens' SCAT
Vealey herself helped work on the
CSAI-2 which is similar to her SSCI
What is Mental Imagery?
Using VISUALISATION to imagine
situations
ie. It is imagining yourself
performing a skill well in your head
and being able to use this visual
image as practice
reducing anxiety
rehearsing sporting situations to
improve performance
Feltz & Landers (1983)
reviewed the research into imagery
and sport performance
When mental rehearsal is combined
with physical rehearsal, performance
improves
Particularly effective for skills with a
large cognitive component
Particularly for experienced athletes
Paivio (1985)
There are two main
types of imagery:
(1) internal (imagining
things from your own
viewpoint)
(2) external (seeing
yourself from outside,
like watching yourself
on video).
V.M.B.R. (1)
VISUO MOTOR BEHAVIOUR REHEARSAL
A type of mental practice using imagery to
study own performance
Use imagery as a "mental videotape“
played backwards or forwards or frozen
at one particular event
Coaches will use actual videotapes
“Rewind" the mental videotape of a
performance focus on things to improve
Make changes to image let mental
videotape "play forward" with new
improved performance
V.M.B.R. (2)
There are 4 functions to VMBR:
1.Technique enhancement: practising a
new technique using imagery in slow-
motion, then faster
2.Error Analysis: visualising mistakes
slow down or stop the image to focus on
what went wrong
3.Preparation for Competition: imagining
future performances and visualising
various ways you will cope
4.Skill Enhancement: lots of practice
V.M.B.R. (3)
An important feature of
VMBR is that the
imagery should be
multisensory
touch + smell +
hearing as well as sight
Athlete experiences
some of the physical
stress (arousal) of the
behaviour while
imagining it