The effects of positive and negative self- talk on performance
Prof. Dr .Magda Mohamed Ismail
Self-Talk is thekey to cognitive control, the frequency and content of
thoughts vary from athlete to athlete and situation to situation and can
be in the form of words actually spoken, or in the form of thoughts that
come into athletes 'mind. These thoughts can be either positive or
negative. As a psychological method self-talk must be positive in nature
and lead to positive feeling about an athlete’s ability.
Divination of self-Talk
Self-talk is identified as an important cognitive strategy for developing
situation- specific self – concept, and also can be define as an effective
technique to control thoughts andto influencefeelings.
Self-talk becomes an asset when it enhances self-worth
andperformance, such talk can help the athlete change Cognitions,
regulate arousal and anxiety, stay appropriately focused, and cope with
difficulties. On the other hand self-talk becomes a liability when it is
negative, distracting to the task at hand, or so frequent that disrupts the
automatic performance of skills.
Self-talk occurs when an athlete engage in this process he carry on an
internal dialog with himself, such as giving himself instructions and
reinforcement or interpreting what he is feeling or perceiving. This
dialogue can occur out loud (e.g., mumbling to himself) or inside his
head.
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There is even evidence that more self-talk occur in competition settings
than in practice settings and that the greatest use occurs during
competition compared to before or after performance. In
addition,individual sport and skilled athletes use self-talk more
frequently than team sport and less skilled athletes.
Professor of sport psychology, Factuality of physical Education Helwan University
Self-talk can affects athletes' self-concept, self-confidence, and behavior.
Therefore, it is important to teach athletes to recognize and control their
thoughts. Once athletes can do this, they are far more likely to
experience those desirable episodes of unconscious immersion. If used
properly, thinking can be a great aid to performance and personal
growth.
Categories of self-Talk
There are three primary categories of self-talk include:
1. Task-specific:
This category refer to words or statements that reinforce
technique. For example, in the tennis volley, the words "split"
and “turn" might be used in rhythm with the timing association
with preparation for stepping into the volley.
2. Encouragement and effort:
This category refer to words or statements that provide selfencouragement to persevere or to try harder for example the
phrase “You can do it " might be used in preparation for an
anticipated play.
3. Mood words:
This category refer to words that precipitate an increase in mood or
arousal. For example, the mood words "hard" or "blast" might be used in
conjunction with a play in soccer.
Selecting Self-TALK statements
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Coaches and sport psychologist must assist the athlete in preselecting
self-talk statements that can be used during competition or during
preparation for competition which suggested to be (a) brief and
phonetically simple, (b) logically associated with the skill involved, and
(c) compatible with the sequential timing of the task being performed
Specific Uses of Self-Talk
The uses for self-talk are almost as varied as are the different types of
sports. Self-talk can be used to aid athletes in learning skills, correcting
bad habits, preparing for performance, focusing attention, creating the
best mood for performance, and building confidence and competence.
Here are some common uses,
1-Self-Talk for Skill Acquisition and Performance:
Learning a new skill requires persistence, effort, and dedication.
Self-talk can be effective in helping the athlete to continue to
work hard in order to achieve a worthwhile goal.
2-Self-Talk for Changing Bad Habits:
To change a bad habit, it is usually necessary to intentionally force
conscious control over the previously automatic execution and to
then direct attention to the replacement movement. Self-talk can
facilitate this process. The more drastic the change, the more
detailed the self-talk in the learning phase.
3-Self-Talk for Changing Affect or Mood:
Effective use of mood words can either create a desired mood or
change an undesirable one. Words are powerful motivators
because of the meaning that convey. Each word should have an
emotional quality that is linked to the appropriate movement
quality or content.
4-Self-Talk for Controlling Effort:
Self-talk can suggest to athlete the need to increase effort when it
is needed or to sustain effort when it is deemed beneficial for
performance learning or enhancement. Self-talk words and
phrases such as “pick it up," "stay with it," or "pace" can be
effective in controlling effort.
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5-Self-Talk for Building Self-Efficacy:
Self-talk is effective in stimulating thoughts and feelings that lead
to the belief that athlete is competence and able to perform a task
efficiently and effectively.
6-Self-Talk for Attention Control:
Self-talk can help athletes control their attention, it is often easy
to be distracted during competition and practice. Athletes often
get tired, and their concentration can easily wander. If that
happens when the coach is teaching an important concept relating
to the athlete ' role on the team, it is imperative that he heighten
and maintain concentration. Such words and phrases as “focus,"
"stay with it" can help the athlete stay focused.
Identifying Self-Talk after and during competition
Identifying the thoughts that typically prepare an athlete to
perform well and to cope successfully with problems during
competition can provide a repertoire of cognitive tools for the
enhancement of performance. Top successful athletes have
learned to identify the type and content of thought associated
with good and bad performance and can find the different
between the successful and unsuccessful one.
The most three effective tools for identifying self-talk are:
1 - Retrospection
By re-create the thoughts and feelings that occurred prior to and
during the situations in which the athlete performed particularly
well or particularly poor, many athletes are able to identify typical
thoughts. Viewing videotapes, CDs, or DVDs of actual past
performances helps the athlete recount the action by heightening
the memory of the event.
2 –Imagery
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In this technique the athlete just to relax as deeply as possible and
then try reliving a past performance through imagery, recreating
all relevant sensory experiences, such as how a moment felt or
sounded, after athletes have relived past performances through
imagery, it may be helpful to have them write down the recalled
thoughts, situations, and outcomes. If it is not disruptive, the
athletes may even want to talk into a tape recording as they are
imaging.
3 -Self-Talk Log
Keeping a daily dairy or self-talk log thoughts and performance
situations is an excellent tool for accurately creating awareness of selftalk. Thoughts should be transcribed as soon after they occur as
possible. Some questions should be address when using these technique
such as, when I talk to myself, what do I say before, during, and after my
good performance? And how frequently am I taking to myself? When
performing poorly, do I deprecate myself as a person? Do I stay in the
present moment, or revert to dwelling on past performance? Does the
content of my self-talk center on how I feel about myself, or how others
will feel about me, or on letting down my friends and teammates, or on
how unlucky I am?
More specifically, the athlete should identify what is said when
performing very well, after making mistakes, after teammates
performing poorly, after having difficulty performing a new skill or
strategy, when fatigued, and after the coach criticizes performance. It is
so important to monitor self-talk during practice because that provides
the foundation for effective thinking during competition.
Techniques for Controlling Self-Talk
1-Thought-stoppage:
The technique of thought stoppage provides one very effective
method for eliminating negative or counterproductive thoughts
the technique begins with awareness of the unwanted thought
and uses a trigger to interrupt or stop the undesirable thought.
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The trigger can be a word such as stop or a physical action such as
snapping the finger or clapping one hand against the thigh. Each
athlete should choose the most natural trigger and use it
consistently.
2-Changing negative thoughts to positive thoughts:
The process in which the athletes learn to couple any negative
thought with a positive thought that either provides
encouragement and support or appropriately redirects attention.
Athlete should be instructed to extinguish unwanted thought as
soon as it is recognized and then immediately practice switching
to a positive or more appropriate thought.
3-Countering:
Countering is an internal dialog that uses facts and reasons to
refute the underlying beliefs and assumptions that led to negative
thinking. Rather than blindly accepting the negative voice in the
back of the head, the athlete argues against it.
4-Reframing:
Reframing described as the process of creating alternative frames
of references or different ways of looking at the world. Reframing
allows the athletes to transform what appears at first to be a
weakness into strength by looking at it from a different point of
view.
5-ABC Cognitive restructuring:
The process begins by getting the athlete to keep a daily record in
which he record not only his upsetting thoughts but also the
resulting feelings and behavior and the negative events that
triggered him.
6-Affirmation statements:
Affirmation are statements that reflect positive attitudes or
thoughts about oneself. Team slogans can also serve as
affirmations: " Winners think they can and they do" Another way
to build affirmations is to have etch athlete make a self-esteem
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list contains all of the athlete's positive attributes- all of his
perceived assets, strengths, and positive qualities.
7-Mastery and coping tapes:
Effective method for training the mind to think in successful way is
through the use of mastery and coping tapes or digital audio files
such as an MP3 for an iPod.For a mastery tape or file the athlete
records his own voice describing an outstanding performance in
which events proceed as desired, including the ideal thoughts,
feelings, and emotions experienced just before, during, and after
performance. Coping tapes or files allow the athlete to practice
dealing with negative and anxious thoughts and situations,
including all the things that could go wrong.
8-Video technology:
Modern video technology can be used in helping athlete to
enhance performance, bycreating highlight video of a few scenes
of peak performance, it is desirable to select performances in
which athletes can see themselves excelling at the skills or
strategy. An audio input can add favorite music to serve as the
sound track to the video images.
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