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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

Lesson 02

SELF-CONFIDENCE AND SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

Athletes who are highly motivated tend to be very self-confident about their abilities. Yet, a distinction

must be made between global self-confidence and situation-specific self-confidence.

Global confidence is more of a personality trait or disposition. Global self is an important personality

characteristic that facilitates daily living. It can be instrumental in encouraging a young person to try

new things, but it is not the same as believing that you can succeed at a specific task. Situation-specific

confidence is the confidence one shows in performing a particular task. For example, a cricket player

may have high level of self-confidence in batting, but a low level of self-confidence in fielding.

Models of Self-Confidence

The three models of self-confidence will be discussed. These include:

Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory

Harter's Competence Motivation, Sport Confidence Theory

Vealey's Sports-Specific Model Of Sports Confidence

Bandura's Theory of Self-Efficacy (1997)

Bandura (1997) defines self-efficacy as `beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the course

of action required to produce given attainments". As such, self-efficacy is a form of situation-specified

self-confidence.

Self-efficacy is the critical component of what Bandura refers to as social cognitive theory. In order for

self-efficacy to develop, the individual must believe that she is in control and that the acts she

performed were performed intentionally. The power and will to originate a course of action is the key

feature of personal agency. Now for example if a person believes she is in control and that she has the

power to produce specific results, she will be motivated to try to make things happen.

Now if an athlete perceives or believes that she can influence for good the outcome of a contest, she

will eagerly enter into the competition. Thus, an efficacious athlete is a motivated athlete. The athlete is

motivated to work hard to ensure success because she believes that she can succeed.

Bandura proposes four fundamental elements effective in developing self-efficacy. Each of these

elements is critical in understanding how an athlete can develop self-efficacy and self-confidence.

Bandura's four fundamental elements in developing self-efficacy

1. Successful Performance

In successful performance the athlete must experience success in order for self-efficacy to develop.

With a difficult task, this is an unrealistic expectation, so the coach or teacher must ensure success by

initially reducing the difficulty the difficulty of the task. An example of this can be found in tennis and

volleyball instructions. A beginner may not be able to successfully serve volleyball across the net on a

regulation court, but when the coach encourages the athlete to step into the court several meters, it can

be accomplished.

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

2. Vicarious Experience

Beginning athletes can experience success through models. In learning a new skill the learner needs a template

or model to copy. This can be provided by the instructor, a skilled teammate, or a film or video of a skilled

performer.

An important component of Bandura's theory is the concept of participatory modeling. In participatory

modeling, the learner first observes a model perform a task. Then the instructor or model assists the subject in

successfully performing the task. The vicarious experience of success will provide a good foundation for the

experience of success in a real situation.

3. Verbal persuasion

Verbal persuasion usually comes in the form of encouragement form the coach, parents, or peers. Helpful

verbal statements that suggest that the athlete is competent and can succeed are most desirable. Coaching

should be such that it should not contain any negativism.

For example, the coach could say "good swing, Mary. Now remember to keep your eyes on the ball". Verbal

persuasion can also take the form of self-persuasion. This is referred to as self-talk.

4. Emotional arousal

Emotional and physiological arousal is the factors that can influence readiness for learning. Proper attention is

important in helping the athlete to master a particular skill and develop a feeling of efficacy.

The efficacy of Bandura's model in the sport setting is well documented. Perceived self-efficacy is a strong and

consistent predictor of individual athletic performance.

Harter's Competence Motivation Theory (1978)

According to Harter the theory of achievement motivation is based on an athlete's feeling of personal

competence. According to Harter, individuals are innately motivated to be competent in all areas of human

achievement. An individual's self-perception of success at these mastery attempts develops feelings of positive

or negative affect. Successful attempts at mastery promote self efficacy and feelings of personal competence,

which in turn foster high competence motivation. As competence motivation increases, the athlete is

encouraged to make further mastery attempts.

Conversely, if a young athlete's attempts at mastery result in perceived rejection and failure, and then low

competence motivation and negative affect will be the end product. It is hypothesized that low competence

motivation will result in a youth sport dropout.

Sports-related studies have provided support for Harter's competence motivation theory. In Harter's model,

high competence motivation leads to successful task performance, much as high self-efficacy leads to successful

performance.

Vealey's Sport-Specific Model of Sport Confidence (1986)

Vealey defines sport confidence as `the belief or degree of certainty individuals possess about their

ability to be successful in sport'. The athlete brings to the objective competitive situation a personality

trait of sport confidence (SC-Trait) and a particular competitive orientation. These two factors are then

predictive of the level of situational state-specific sport confidence (SC-state) the athlete exhibits during

competition. Situation-specific sport confidence (SC-state) is then predictive of performance or clear

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

behavioral response. Behavioral responses give rise to subjective perceptions of outcome. Examples of

subjective outcome include things such as satisfaction, perception of success. Subjective outcomes in

turn influence and are influenced by the athlete's competitive orientation and personality trait of sport

confidence.

Vealey (1986) tested the basic tenets of her proposed model and found them to be viable. In doing so,

she also developed instruments for measuring SC-trait (Trait Sport-Confidence Inventory), SC-state

(State Sport-Confidence Inventory), and Competitive Orientation (Competitive Orientation Inventory).

Vealey's sport confidence model is very useful for explaining the relationship between general sport

confidence and situation-specific sport confidence. An athlete who is very successful at one sport

transfers much of the confidence derived from his success to other sport situations.

Developing Self-Confidence Through Self-Talk

Self talk basically is an effective technique to control thoughts and to influence feelings. Thoughts and

feelings can influence self-confidence as well as performance.

Thoughts that come into an athlete's mind during competition can be either positive or negative. These

thoughts are a form of self talk. This athlete must learn to control his thoughts and to structure them to

his advantage. This is effectively accomplished through self talk. The athlete must carefully select the

actual words and phrases used during self talk and consider them for maximum effectiveness.

Zinsser, Bunker, and Williams (2001) explain that thoughts affect feeling, which in turn influence

behavior or performance in sport.

Thoughts

feelings

performance

An athlete may not feel as self-confident in a situation as she ought to feel. Lack of self-confidence will

have a negative effect upon how well an athlete performs. When an athlete steps to the foul line to

attempt the first of two free throws in basketball, a number of self-efficacy thoughts pass though

consciousness. Hopefully, the thought and feeling is one of "give me the ball; I have made this shot a

hundred times and I will do it again. Unfortunately, for many athletes the thought that comes into their

minds is: "I should be able to make this shot, but what I miss?" The two athletes in this example may

be equally skilled as far as years of experience and practice are concerned, but level of state self

confidence is very different. In these two situations, self-talk can be effective in either affirming self-

efficacy or countering negative thoughts with positive thoughts.

Categories of Self-Talk

Self talk can be in the form of words actually spoken, or in the form of thoughts that come into ones

mind. These thoughts can be either positive or negative. As a psychological method for improving self-

confidence, self-talk must be positive in nature and lead to positive feelings about an athlete's ability.

Self talk is basically used to enhance the self confidence in athletes. Self talk is a strategy used by both

players' juniors as well as professional.

The three primary categories of self-talk,

Task-specific statements relating to technique

Encouragements and effort

Mood words

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

Task-specific statements relating to technique

This category of self-talk refers to words or statements that reinforce technique. For example, in tennis volley,

the word "turn" might be used in association with preparation for stepping into the volley.

Encouragements and effort

This category of self-talk refers to words or statements that provide self-encouragement to preserve or to try

harder. For example, in cricket, the phrase "you can do it" might be used by a batsman in preparation for hitting

a six.

Mood words

This category of self-talk refers to words that precipitate an increase in mood or arousal. Example: the mood

words "hard" or "blast" might be used in conjunction with a play in football or soccer.

References

Cox, H. Richard. (2002). Sport Psychology: Concepts and Applications. (Fifth Edition). New York: McGraw-

Hill Companies

Lavallec. D., Kremer, J., Moran, A., & Williams. M. (2004) Sports Psychology: Contemporary Themes. New

York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers