Chapter 15: Self-Confidence Flashcards
Self Confidence
belief that you can successfully perform a desired behaviour
most recent thinking views sport self-confidence as a social cognitive construct that can be more trait-like or more state-like, depending on the temporal frame of reference used
being confident is related to increased performance
Trait self confidence
degree of certainty individuals usually have about their ability to succeed
State self confidence
belief of certainty that individuals have at a particular moment about their ability to succeed
Self-fulfilling prophecy
expecting something to happen helps cause it to happen
Negative self-fulfilling prophecy
psychological barrier whereby the expectation of failure leads to actual failure
What abilities did Vealey and Knight determine confidence is linked to?
execute physical skills, use psychological skills, employ perceptual skills, be fit and highly trained, improve one’s skill
What aspects of self-confidence in sport did Hays, Maynard, Thomas, and Bawden determine?
confidence is linked to mental toughness
additional types of self-confidence in elite athletes
elite athletes have strong beliefs in their abilities and is consistent with the importance of self-belief as seen in the literature on mental toughness
individual with increased self-confidence/mental toughness see opponents as challenge and not threat
What are the benefits of self-confidence?
arouses positive emotions, facilitates concentration, affects the setting and pursuit of challenging goals, increases effort, affects game strategies, affects psychological momentum, affects performance
What are the levels of confidence?
optimal confidence - involves being so convinced that you will achieve your goals that you strive hard to do so
lack of confidence - creates anxiety, breaks concentration, and causes indecisiveness
overconfidence - causes you to prepare less than you need to in order to performance
What model does confidence relationship with performance follow?
skew inverted U model
people strive for an individual, optimal confidence level but sometimes become either overconfident or underconfident
each person has optimal level of self-confidence, and performance problems can arise with either too little or too much confidence
How can expectations influence performance?
expectations play a critical role in the behaviour change process
self expectations and performance - expectation of beating a tough opponent or successfully performing a difficult skills can produce exceptional performance as psychological barriers are overcome
coaches’ and teachers’ expectations can alter an athletes feelings and performance
the coach expectation and performance process occurs in four stages
Coaches’ Expectations and Athletes’ Performance
Stage 1 - coaches form expectations based on first impressions such as personal cues and performance information; problems occur when inaccurate expectations are formed; can become dangerous loop
Stage 2 - coaches expectations influence their behaviours regarding the frequency and quality of coach-athlete interactions, quantity and quality of instruction, type and frequency of feedback
Stage 3 - coaches behaviours affect athletes’ performance by causing low expectancy performers to perform more poorly because of less reinforcement, less playing time, less confidence, and attributions to low ability
Stage 4 - athletes’ performances confirm the coaches’ expectations; performance results then feed back into stage 1
What are the expectations and behaviour guidelines for coaches?
coaches should determine what sources of information they use to form preseason or early season expectations for each athlete
coaches should realize that their initial assessments of an athlete’s competence may be inaccurate and thus need to be revised continually as the season progresses
during practices, coaches need to keep a running count of the amount of time each athlete spends in non-skill related activities to ensure they treat everyone fairly
coaches should design instructional activities or drills that provide all athletes an opportunity to improve their skills
coaches should generally respond to errors with instructions about how to perform the skill correctly
coaches should emphasize skill improvement as a means of evaluating and reinforcing individual athletes rather than using absolute performance or levels of skill achievement
coaches should interact frequently with all athletes on their team to solicit information about athletes’ perceptions, opinions, and attitudes regarding team rules and organization
coaches should try to create a mastery-oriented environment in team practices, focusing on improvement and team play
coaches should communicate their expectations to athletes are aware of how they are being evaluated
coaches should create concrete measures to evaluate athlete improvement in psychological factors which are often difficult to objectively measure
Self-efficacy
perception of one’s ability to perform a task successfully
situation-specific form of self-confidence
Bandura’s self-efficacy theory
self-efficacy provides a model for studying the effects of self-confidence on sport performance, persistence, and behaviour
repeated positive outcomes = increased self-efficacy
increased self-efficacy = negative outcomes have decreased effect
important when one has the requisite skills and sufficient motivation
affects an athlete’s choice of activities, level of effort, and persistence
people with high self-efficacy set more challenging goals
