Athlete Self Talk
The famous baseball player and manager Yogi Berra once said that in sports, “90 percent of the game is half mental”. Although this is a malapropism, which this man is inherently famous for, the wisdom is still there; sports are more of a mental game than a physical one. This is where the use of self-talk comes in. What is it that usually causes athletes to perform different in games than they do in practice? A lot of factors come to mind but the biggest one is pressure. Pressure can change a player in the strangest ways; one player who performs great in practice can suddenly do nothing right in the game. Now this is where self-talk comes in. How an athlete talks to themselves can usually make or break a performance by controlling how they handle pressure. Negative versus positive self-talk sets an athlete up to either fail or succeed. Once an athlete makes the choice to use positive self-talk it is usually falls under the category of either instructional or motivational. To put all of these types of self-talk into context and to give more depth, the four Ws are used: when, what, where, and why. An important variable that relates to self-talk and how it is executed is self-efficacy: defined by Psychologist Albert Bandura as “one’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task”. This component is one of the most important relators to self-stalk as it determines how an athlete approaches a situation and how they think it is going to turn out. If an athlete can get a handle on their self-talk and harness it to work best for them, they are likely to have the mental edge over their competitors.
Negative self-talk gives a person just about the biggest handicap one can have in life. Seeing everything through a negative filter automatically gives the person a disadvantage because one is more likely to picture a negative outcome which therefore makes a negative outcome more likely. This use of negative-self talk can be detrimental in sports. In a research study on how negative self-talk effects athletes, particularly on distance runners, it was revealed that “pre-competition anxiety was related to negative self-talk athletes experienced during competition” (Hatzigeogiadis 244). This shows that just the act of thinking negative thoughts before a competition can increase the athlete’s anxiety levels and therefore lead to a poorer performance. Hatzigeogiadis also concluded that “discrepancies between goals and performance were found to be a strong predictor of negative self-talk” (Hatzigeogiadis 244). Hatzigeogiadis identified another predictor, “when an athlete’s performance does not reflect their expectations, or when unexpected difficulties arise during competition athletes tend to ruminate over performance-related, self-evaluative thoughts” (Hatzigeogiadis 255). Therefore, if an athlete expects his performance to be greater than it is actually likely to be, negative self-talk usually ensues. Negative self-talk is a sign of mental weakness because it causes an athlete to be more vulnerable to outside variables, likely giving up at the first sign of trouble.
Positive self-talk on the other hand sets an athlete up for success because it puts situations into a more optimistic perspective which time and time again has proven to lead to a better outcome. Simply, when one thinks positively, positive things are more likely to happen. Psychologist Antonis Hatzigeogiadis backs this up in a well-known research study done on the use of self-talk in youth tennis players. The study tested the fore-hand drive of forty-six tennis players split up into two groups (one with self-talk and the other a control) and tracked both groups’ progress across five sessions. After examining the results of the study he concluded that “the core of self-talk is that focusing on the desired thought leads to the desired behavior” since those in the self-talk group showed an immediate positive responsive after speaking to themselves positively. In this sense, positive self-talk can have many major impacts on an athlete’s performance including the acquisition of skills, the development of self-confidence and the self-regulation of habits. When one gets into trouble, self-talk can lead them to a more constructive way to deal with the issue instead of making the problem worse. Christiana Gerena of the University of California, Irvine conducted a research study on the potential benefits of incorporating psychological skills training into college dancers. She explains, “the objective is to equip dancers with the positive self-talk practice necessary to combat cultural stressors in dance” (Gerena viii). Because dancing is a profession that “offers no stability and little gratitude” (Stanway, Bordia, & Fein) dancers are more vulnerable to depression, negative self-image, low self-esteem, and high anxiety. The results showed that many dancers were not aware of self-talk before this study and did not know it could be used in a positive way. The study was beneficial in the sense that “developing a vocabulary that helped them define what they were feeling allowed the students to gain more control over their thoughts and emotions” (Gerena 60). Self-talk is the channel of behavior change hence spinning one’s own dialogue in a positive way can produce create a significant change in an athlete’s performance.
A subcategory of self-talk that has proven to have marginal benefits on an athlete’s performance is instructional self-talk. Instructional self-talk is an aid in concentration which can enhance the performance of motor skills and as sport psychologist Keith Begley explains “can facilitate the performer’s understanding of task requirements helping them to attend to task-relevant cues aiding their concentration during task execution” (Begley 133). The most widely used and widely researched way to use instructional self-talk is with “cues” for execution. One research study that tested this was conducted by examining the effectiveness of teaching skilled youth soccer athletes to use instructive self-talk and measuring the results. Four fourteen-year-old females participated, one used as a control and the other three were taught to self-talk a two-word sequence selected by the coaching staff “down” and “lock” every time they shot the ball. After tracking these girls for a three-month period it was concluded that each participants’ game had become more consistent (although each participant progressing at different rates). When interviewed after the research study was complete each girl admitted that they believed this method of self-talk with cues could help their performance. Instructional self-talk along with helping a skill become more consistent, can also aid motor anxiety. When an athlete thinks about the actual function of the task he is about to perform, he is reminded of the basic technique. A technique that he has practiced hundreds of times and certainly knows how to do. When filling one’s mind with only with the technique of the task, it allows no room for the mind to wander or get distracted by outside factors. Additionally, if performed enough, the cue will be solely associated in the brain with the task performed, causing consistency over the long run.
Multiple research studies have concluded that motivational self-talk makes the biggest impact on an athlete’s performance in situations including strength or endurance. Motivational Self-talk can be defined as “a multidimensional top-down regulation strategy that focuses on an individual’s self-addressed verbalizations, reappraising negative thought patterns that arise during tasks with instructional and motivational statements” (Wallace 192). A good study done to test this was conducted on how motivational self-talk effected the performance of cyclists in the heat. As Phillip Wallace explains, “exercise in the heat is physically demanding, where endurance capacity is reduced compared with thermometric environments because of an increase in cardiovascular strain, reductions in neuromuscular function and central fatigue” (Wallace 191). In this study eighteen trained cyclists were split into two groups, one having received two weeks of self-talk training and the other a control. The groups were put through a series of tests such as biking to exhaustion in 35-degree Celsius heat. The motivational self-talk cyclists were shown to have improved marginally, increasing their endurance from eight minutes to eleven minutes. Therefore, motivational self-talk was found to improve the speed and the accuracy for an executive function task of the cyclists in both the baseline testing and testing in the heat, the cyclists increased their endurance from eight minutes to over eleven minutes. This major improvement was the result of the athletes just telling themselves to push through. Solely by telling oneself that they can do something, they are more likely to believe it. The body wants to stop much before it has actually reached full capacity therefore motivational self-talk needs to be used to push an athlete to his full potential.
There have been many debates by sport psychologists over whether instructional or motivational is more beneficial to an athlete’s performance. The most logical approach to this argument though is that each are better in different situations. Motivational self-talk puts athletes in the right state of mind where instructional self-talk brings an athlete’s focus to the technical aspects of their sport. Each of them are very useful when used correctly but the key is to know which one to use at the right time. Studied have shown that in more technical sports such as tennis, golf and swimming, instructional self-talk can be more effective. In a study on the effect of instructional self-talk on swimmers learning the backstroke it was found that the use improved the swimmers’ performance. Eleni Zetou explains, “athletes, by using the keywords loudly, could focus on correcting their mistakes during the execution of the skill and be lead to improvement of learning and long-term retention of the skill” (Zetou 31). Focusing on the technique can help an athlete better understand the skill in the first place and can help them find holes in their game. Through instructional self-talk an athlete can build a stronger game through fixing weaknesses that become apparent when instructional self-talk is used. These technical sports do not benefit as much from motivational self-talk, and sometimes can be effected poorly by it. In a study conducted on golfers who were made to use motivational self-talk found that it had more of a negative effect than a positive one. One participant explained, “with motivational, you get like a pumped up, feeling I can do this, you get more psyched up” and “it feels like more is at stake and the pulse goes up” and this was not helpful for the participant, expressed as: “that is not how I perform my best” (Linnér 24). Motivational talk instead holds the most benefits in sports where the endurance aspects outweigh the technical aspects. Sports such as track, wrestling or cycling can find profit from motivational cues to increase their ability and motivation. To use self-talk in the most effective way one must assess their situation and pick what type of self-talk to use based the aspects of their sport.
To paint a better picture of the overall use of self-talk and to go more in depth on analysis, the four Ws are used: when, where, what and why. It is important to include all of these to get a better understanding of how an athlete actually uses self-talk. In terms of “when”, research has shown that athletes use self-talk the most for competition therefore the “where” can be assumed to be at the competition. Very few athletes have admitted to using self-talk either in practice or in the down time of day to day life. Furthermore, the heaviest use of self-talk is right before the competition followed by during the actual event. For an example of pre-competition use, in a study conducted on cricket players done by interviewing elite players alongside watching edited video footage of their batting innings, the players explained what was going through their mind as they walked out to bat. After listening to the self-talk of all the cricket players up to bat, the interviewer observes that “many stressors can influence the batsman’s psychological state…it’s very easy to let all the information overwhelm them” (Miles 877). During this period all of the five batsman interviewed admitted to using some type of self-talk in order to feel as confident and comfortable as possible. It was found evident from this study that “self-talk was used as a continual narrative as part of pre-performance routines that strategically determined shot selection and enhanced skill execution” (Miles 877). Pre-performance positive self-talk puts athletes in the right state of mind to do their job to the best of their ability.
The “what” of self-talk represents both the physical characteristics and the content of the self-talk that is used. The physical characteristics of self-talk are broken down into three parts: person, nature and structure. Person refers to whether the athlete uses first person or second person, nature determines if the talk was positive, negative or neutral, and structure can be seen in the use of a cue word, phrase or an entire sentence. In James Hardy’s research study conducted to test the “four Ws” he found that “most athletes’ self-talk was said in an abbreviated (single words plus phrases) structure rather than as complete sentences” (Hardy 908). Since much of this self-talk is used in the game, it is faster and more effective to use shorted phrases. The specific content of an athlete’s self-talk was mainly comprised of the task-instructions that athletes gave themselves. Task-instructions can include anything the athlete wants to execute such as a certain skill, a type of breathing or the skill that one wants to perform.
The “why” is arguably the most import aspect of the nature of self-talk. If an athlete wants to use self-talk effectively then they need a legitimate reason behind it or they will not use it consistently. These reason can usually be found through the choice of either instructional or motivational self-talk. The motivational reason an athlete uses self-talk can be related to either mastery, arousal or drive. Mastery is the self-confidence booster, the focuser and is used by an athlete who is trying to cope in difficult situations. In Kimberly Gammage’s description of self-talk in exercise one participant stated that he used this type of self-talk particularly to “get through an intense or long workout” (Gammage 241). Arousal in self-talk is used either to psych an athlete up or to calm them down. Arousal in some cases can also relieve an athlete of boredom. Drive, the most frequent use of motivational self-talk, is used simply to stay motivated. This drive component includes controlling effort level and the incentive to keep one’s previously set goal. The instructional “why” most frequently comes down to skill specific reasons. Athletes try to use instructional self-talk to work on the technique of a skill. This is shown time and time again improve motor performance because it stimulates desired actions through attentional focus on the technical aspects of the skill. The why in instructional self-talk can also be to aid in combating cognitive anxiety which comes up consistently when athletes are put into pressure situations.
Self-efficacy plays a major role in the athlete’s use of self-talk and whether or not it will be effective. Self-efficacy refers to the “belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura 3). Simplified, this means what one thinks that one can do right now or a general judgement of capability. Self-efficacy is important in facing the pressure situations of competition because it can prematurely set an athlete up to fail or succeed. Efficacy builders set themselves up for success with a winning mindset by going in believing that they will get a positive result. Strong self-efficacy helps one find the most beneficial way to approach a difficult situation. On the contrary, when faced with difficult tasks those who doubt their capabilities “dwell on their personal deficiencies, on obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully” (Bandura 2). If an athlete has low self-efficacy this can cause a block on the effectiveness of the use of self-talk. The block comes when the athlete does not actually believe the motivational self-talk he is telling himself. The self-efficacy theory drawn up by psychologist Albert Bandura suggests that “self-appraisal information and people’s subsequent thought patterns, emotions, motivation and behavior are mediated through the cognitive mechanism of self-efficacy” (bandura 5). This cognitive mechanism of self-efficacy includes a major function of thought that an athlete uses to predict the outcome of a certain situation. An athlete naturally runs every situation he could come up with through this efficacy bias, predicting an outcome that is comparable to his level of self-efficacy. Ergo, for self-talk to be a successful tool in an athlete’s toolbox, they must have a certain level of self-efficacy otherwise these self-talk techniques will not be effective. On the other hand, studies have also shown that the use of motivational self-talk can build self-efficacy in an athlete. With a five session tennis forehand stroke intervention study, Antonis Hatzigeogiadis reported that “using motivational self-talk increased self-efficacy and performance whereas no changes were reported in the control group” (Linnér 8). This proves that self-talk and self-efficacy are a result of one another and must be used in conjunction to get the best result.
An athlete’s performance can greatly be affected by the use of self-talk. Negative self-talk handicaps an athlete by causing competition anxiety and by predetermining a negative outcome producing negative results. Positive self-talk sets a player up into a good position for success and had been proved by extensive research to lead to positive self-regulatory habits. Instructional self-talk relieves cognitive anxiety by bringing the athlete’s focus to the technical aspects of their sport. This causes consistency over the long run and can help an athlete fix mistakes in their technique. Motivaltional self-talk puts an athlete into the right mindset to compete and during competition can be used to push themselves to withstand hard conditions for a long period of time. The four Ws are helpful to psychologists because they provide organization and depth which is important because self-talk is more than just what an athlete says to themselves, it is much more complex than that. If athletes can understand how self-talk effects themselves they can become more successful in competition.