Determining the Effectiveness of Personalized Versus Prescribed Self-Talk on Athletic Performance for Elite and Novice Athletes

Jane E. Magnusson^, and Carl A. van Roon

Cite this paper:
Jane E. Magnusson and Carl A. van Roon. Determining the Effectiveness of Personalized Versus Prescribed Self-Talk on Athletic Performance for Elite and Novice Athletes. American Journal of Applied Psychology. 2013; 1(1):1-6. doi: 10.12691/ajap-1-1-1

Abstract

An athlete’s performance can be influenced in positive and negative ways by what and how they think (i.e. their self-talk). While there is evidence indicating that self-talk can influence performance it is not clear if the level an athlete has achieved in their sport influences the effect that self-talk has on their performance and/or what type of self-talk is of greatest benefit to them. The present study investigated if personalising self-talk makes it more effective than prescribed words in relation to enhancing an athlete’s performance and if this effect differs between novice and elite Taekwon-Do athletes. It was found that for elite athletes ‘personalised’ self-talk enhanced performance whereas ‘prescribed’ self-talk was detrimental to performance; however for novice athletes the relationship was less clear. The factors that influenced the relationship between self-talk type and the performance of elite and novice athlete are discussed.

Keywords:
sport psychology self-talk mental skills Taekwon-Do

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