The Self within Sport

Question 1

Define self-esteem?

Answer 1

A personal judgement of worthiness (Coopersmith, 1967)

Question 2

Define self-concept vs self-esteem?

Answer 2

Self concept= what we know about ourselves
Self esteem= what we feel about ourselves

Question 3

Explain the multi-dimensional, hierarchal model of self-perceptions?

Answer 3

A common approach to studying self-esteem and self-perceptions.
Fox and Corbin (1989) proposed physical self-worth can be decided into various subdomains such as competence, conditioning and physical strength.
Higher order constructs (ACADEMIC, SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL) , are dependant on lower order constructs.
Self concept and simpler and fewer components= less opportunity to affirm ones-self.

Question 4

What’s common within athletes with low self esteem?

Answer 4

-Rely on how they are doing in the present to determine how they feel about themselves.
-Success doesn’t heighten SE- sustains it
-Attribute negative events internally and are less resilient and less consistent
-A cycle= low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, low motivation, failure, negative feedback.

Question 5

What’s common with athletes with high self-esteem?

Answer 5

-They accept themselves and value themselves as worthy and worthwhile- allowing them to cope with failure.
-Future performances less affected by failure- self-worth not attached to performance.
-A cycle= high self-esteem, high self-confidence, high motivation, success, positive feedback.

Question 6

Name the main differences between low and high self -esteem put forward by Wylie and Baumeister?

Answer 6

High self-esteem
* Independence, leadership, adaptability, resilience to stress (Wylie, 1989)

Low self-esteem
* Anxiety, depression, phobias (Baumeister, 1993)

Question 7

What did Fox conclude about self domains in 2002?

Answer 7

SPEX (Sport and Exercise Psychology) and PA (physical activity) should have a greater impact on physical self domains compared to other domains (academic) or the higher order domains.

Question 8

Define self-confidence?

Answer 8

A belief about our ability to succeed.

VEALEY, 1986: “the belief or degree of certainty individuals possess about their ability to be successful in sport”

Generally distinguishes highly successful from less successful athletes.
1998 Winter Olympics (Gould et al , 1999)- 63 highest achievers= 90% reported high self confidence levels.

Question 9

Explain the difference between state sport confidence (SC)
and trait sport confidence (TC)?

Answer 9

Trait SC: how confident you are in general- consistent and STABLE

State SC: how confident you feel right now in a situation- temporary and UNSTABLE

Question 10

What did Hayes et al conclude about the extra bit of confidence sport performers have that pushes them over the edge (good way)?

Answer 10

Found additional types in elite athletes- winning improved performance- elite athletes have a little edge that allows them to be fully confident
1. Belief in ones superiority over opposition
2. Belief and ability to achieve

Question 11

What are the benefits of self-confidence?

Answer 11

High expectancy of success
Can trigger the ABC’s of psychology- Affective, Behavioural, Cognitive.
Arouses positive affect, facilitates concentration, affects goals and increases effort.

Question 11

What are the benefits of self-confidence?

Answer 11

High expectancy of success
Can trigger the ABC’s of psychology- Affective, Behavioural, Cognitive.
Arouses positive affect, facilitates concentration, affects goals and increases effort.

Question 12

Define optimal self-confidence?
‘INFLATED and FASLSE confidence?”

Answer 12

Being so convinced that you can achieve your goals you will strive hard to do so.
BUT
“Confidence will not overcome incompetence”
Each person has an optimal level of self-confidence- performance problems arise with too little/ too much confidence.

Can lead to “inflated confidence”- believe
1. They overestimate their ability
2. They underestimate their opponents ability
Highly competent but fail to prepare.

Could also lead to “false confidence”
Confident on the outside, fear on the inside- a duckling on water
Prepare hard but lack competence to be successful.

Question 13

Define ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”?

Answer 13

‘A prediction made that sets in motion a series of events that ultimately causes the original production to come true’
What you expect is what you get- your beliefs and perceptions about something will cause that to come true.

> Negative self-fulfilling: Expect failure, which leads to actual failure, which lowers self-image and expectations of future failure. . . A vicious cycle.

> Positive self-fulfilling: Expecting the desired outcome and performance, leading to success.

Question 14

What are the main misconceptions about self-confidence?

Answer 14

Either you have it, or you don’t

Only positive feedback can build confidence

Success always builds confidence

Confidence equal outspoken arrogance- lots of individuals simply feel confident

Mistakes inevitably destroy confidence

Question 15

What are the main ways you can build self-confidence?

Answer 15

PART G(r) U
Performance accomplishments
Acting confident
Retrospections- what you have done in the past and how did you achieve it
Thinking confidently

Goal setting
Using imagery

Question 16

Define self-efficacy?

Answer 16

The perception of ones ability to perform a task within a SPECIFIC situation.

Self-confidence vs Self efficacy
Self-confidence= global/ general
Self-efficacy= specific situation

For example: Someone may be generally self-confident in sport (golf) but when it comes to playing golf (specifically putting) then they may have low self-efficacy in that situation.

Question 17

How do beliefs play into self-efficay concept?

Answer 17

Behaviour is better predicted by our beliefs about ones capabilities than by your actual capabilities.

“What people think, feel and believe affects how they play”
Bandura (1986)

Question 18

Explain the self-efficacy theory in a broken down way?

Answer 18

ASSUMPTION- The primary mediator of behaviour/ behaviour change is self-efficacy

The adoption and persistence of one’s behaviours are determined by?

1. The expectations about one’s skills and capabilities to engage successfully in the specific target behaviour in particular situations (SE expectancy)
   e.g., adhering to an 8 week exercise programme, walking 5 times a week for 30 minutes

2.Expectations about outcomes, and (outcome expectancy);
i.e., believing that adherence to such a programme with result in the desired outcomes

3. The value placed on those outcomes (outcome value)

Question 19

What are the effects of a higher SE and a lower SE?

Answer 19

Higher SE- higher goals, and the more persistence one shows towards reaching higher goals

A person with a high SE and fails- he/ she will attribute the failure to insufficient effort and be more likely to persist.

Lower se-may attribute failure to low ability and be more likely to give up

Question 20

What are the main 6 sources of self-efficacy?

P
P
E
V
V
(I)

Answer 20

Performance Accomplishments: strongest increaser, but failures lower SE

Physiological states- sweating, HR (perceived)
Facilitative= SE IS ENHCANCED
DEBILATIVE= SE IS LOWERED

Emotional States- Research- positive emotional states (happiness) more likely to enhance SE judgements than negative emotions (sadness) (Maddux and Miere, 1995)

Vicarious experience: modelling/ imitation- social comparison can be both good and bad- try and pick individuals with similar levels of ability.
The use of individuals in the media- use individuals like the target group- elite athletes are actually ‘interesting’ and ‘motivational’

Verbal Persuasion: weaker influence (external) - characterised by encouragement, reinforcement and feedback.

Imagined experiences: generate beliefs about personal efficacy/ lack of efficacy- imagine behaving effectively or not in head.
See oneself demonstrating mastery (Moritz et al., 1996)