Self Talk : An Effective Strategy For Enhancing Task Performance

Sports—which involve emotion, competition, cooperation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area for psychological study. People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer,

Can specific Cognitive behavioural intervention techniques be used in different levels of sports performance to increase the ability and self confidence level of the athlete.

Mesagno & Mullane-Grant studied the effects of pre- performance routines on 60 elite soccer players, their performance was looked at under both high and low pressure with some of the athletes being provided with pre performance routines, measuring levels of state anxiety (Mesagno & Mullane-Grant, 2010). The pre performance routine consisted of cue words, deep breathing, temporal consistency and extensive pre-performance routines that consisted of finding optimal arousal levels, behavioural steps and focusing on eternal zones of scoring (Mesagno & Mullane-Grant, 2010). Extensive pre-performance routines were the most successful form of intervention in Mesagno & Mullane-Grant’s study in reducing the choking in performance and decreasing the athletes levels of state anxiety (Mesagno & Mullane-Grant, 2010). This strategy is similarly seen in Wang, Callahan & Goldfine’s study looking at psychological interventions (Jin Wang, Callahan, & Goldfine, 2003). In which they suggested the use of psychological approaches including mental imagery, attentional training, self-talk in order to prevent choking in athletes, by decreasing distractions and anxiety levels (Jin Wang et al.,

At the conclusion of the experiment, the researchers found athletes to be more outgoing and fearless. They all had much lower levels of depression, sadness, and fatigue as opposed to a non-athlete students, and differed in almost every way. Another examination was done on female athletes where researchers Peterson, Weber, and Trousdale used the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire to look into the personality types of the athletes competing in the 1964 Olympic teams. The results showed that female athletes tend to be more serious and dedicated than the average female. They were also smarter, aggressive, and persevering (Butt, 1987, p. 101). Throughout the existence of sports psychology and its research, athletes have certainly differed from non-athletes in a loud

Visualizing. Self-Visualizing is very important before every game because it tells the mind what you want out of the game. For example, if you tell yourself to not mess up during the game, all you will be thinking about is failure instead of winning and success. (Mullins, 2008) Browne & Mahoney claim that mental training is the use of imagery to project future success. When athletes are negative, negative things are visualized and therefore occur. Mental perpetration works best when paired with practice, not on its own. An athlete still has to work at what they want to achieve, but visualizing can help heighten performance. Scott (1997) claims that by using imagery, which is a technique when athletes picture their goals which turns on neurons

Elite athletes not only use physical conditioning to enhance performance, but also psychological skills. Psychological skills allow athletes to acquire the optimal mindset to compete and achieve success. An example of a psychological skill is goal setting. Goal setting allows the athlete, as well as their coach, to understand where they are, and where they need to go in order to progress with their physical performance. Session plans should be formed in order to aid with goal setting. These session plans should incorporate the progression of short to long term goals through all various types of goals, to achieve

Physical skill and pure athleticism alone is not enough to deal with the high demands of being an athlete. Therefore, many coaches and athletes turn to sports psychologist for assistance in enhancing their individual or team performance. “Sport Psychologists assist people by helping them to develop the skills necessary to become mentally strong, and prevent them from choking in key situations” (Mauro, 2005). An increasing number of athletes are utilizing Mental Skills Training (MST) and Sport Psychology Programs (SPP) to improve their confidence and feel more in control of their performance in their sport. The beauty of this is that everyone can benefit from improving and strengthening their mental skills. It doesn’t only benefit the strong athletes, but also the athletes who are beginners. Strong mental skills can help an athlete achieve a more consistent physical performance by learning how to regulate the mental aspects of

Goal-setting and pre-performance routines are two effective and relatively simple psychological interventions that have been shown to improve individual and team output (Ashnel, 2013). Pre-performance routines (PPR) are of particular interest because of the ease of application and variety of functions. A pre-performance routine can be applied seconds, hours, or days before and event (depending on the needs of the athlete or team). In addition to a temporal variability, there are wide ranges of psychological interventions that can be utilized in a pre-performance routine catering to the individual or team preferences.

In this chapter “Self-Talk,” Bourne provided readers a self-help manuscript of how to deal with negative self-talk. He argued that the ways people felt about external events depend on the ways people talked to themselves. When an external event happens, people interpret the event and talk to themselves about the event. Then they react to the event of how they feel. Most of the time people feel anxious about certain events because of their distorted and negative self-talks, so by focusing on positive self-talk, people might free themselves from anxiety.

Yet another semester is coming to an end, which means it’s time for final exams and end of the semester projects. I decided to end my journey though Sport’s Psychology by writing this individual synthesis project. Throughout this paper I will refer back to Reflective Writing Number Four, where I interview an outstanding performer with my questions focusing on three main concepts. These concepts are self-confidence, goal setting, and imagery. In this paper I am going to go into greater depth on the concepts themselves, as well as how the athlete applied the concepts to his performance.

The age of overwhelming strength and stamina governing sports is over, and the age of the mentally tough athlete has arrived. Athletes are no longer the superficial jocks and robots programmed to accomplish one goal, victory. Modern athletes ranging from the high school to professional levels are faced with many pressures and temptations, normally outside the realm of their sport. These pressures can inhibit an athlete’s performance substantially; therefore, the pressures need to be dealt with by psychologists. The effectiveness of sports psychology is demonstrated through the fields many theories, applications, and variety of techniques and procedures.

In the world of sports, competitive athletes are willing to do whatever is necessary to be better than their opponent. The nature of the competitive drive in some athletes is precisely what separates the average from the elite. Compared to their novice counterparts, elite athletes usually have a more extensive knowledge-base of sport-specific information and are more adept at using said knowledge efficiently to identify, remember and manipulate relevant information in their specialist sport (Swann, Moran, & Piggott, 2015). In order to achieve max performance, an elite athlete must be skilled in their craft, meaning they are able to produce the skills needed reliably, on demand, and with very little luck. Demonstrating their skill ability by maximizing the certainty of the intended goal achievement, minimizing their energy expenditure (physically and mentally), and minimizing the time used (Schmidt & Lee, 2015). An athletes’ cognitive performance will ultimately reflect in their physical capabilities.

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, I want my audience to know how the mental aspect of sports can help you become a better athlete.

I plan on being a basketball coach at the junior high or high school level. I want to talk to the readers about mastery orientation within sport performance. Most players, regardless of sport, are ego-orientated people due to the theme of winning or success. Before I continue, I am not suggesting that I prefer all my players to be just mastery oriented. I believe a positive ego oriented athlete can reflect positively and help with the mastery oriented part.

Journaling is a way to improve one’s language. It has been studied that writing has a clear connection to speaking. Over the course of the last six journals, I have noticed that the level of my interpersonal competence has strongly improved. McCornack states that interpersonal communication competence is evaluated by one’s “ability to communicate consistently in appropriate, effective, and ethical ways” (G-6). Therefore, when one has competence, he/she is able to choose what type of communication is best suited for any given situation. I have seen my interpersonal competence grow through the journal in my emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and communication skills.