THINK WITH ENTHUSIASM

Think with Enthusiasm and Encouragement and youll be just fine!; A Mixed-Methods
Analysis Examining the Relationship between Self-Talk Beliefs and Self-Talk Frequency
David Carter
Grand Canyon University: COM-355
April 21, 2016

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Athletes are always in competition with one another and seeking a way to separate
themselves from the herd. Successful athletes such as Michael Jordan, Novak Djokovic, and
Usain Bolts all have physical abilities that make them more dominant than others. However, are
their mental factors at work? Does the way an athlete think or talk to themselves during a
sporting event perhaps affect how they perform? If athletes do talk to themselves during athletic
competitions, then how often do they do it? These were some of the key questions that guided
the research study and now, more and more researchers are seeking to determine how the mental
aspect of sport affects performance.
The researcher had a unique hypothesis and purpose for creating this survey. There were
2 main hypotheses for this study, both of which correspond to each research question.
Hypothesis 1 states that that how an athlete think and/or talks with themselves during an athletic
performance, positively or negatively, affects performance. Hypothesis 2 states that the stronger
an athlete believes encouraging, specific thoughts affect performance, the more they will talk to
themselves during this event. Ultimately, the main purpose of this study is to add to the literature
of sports communication and prove the hypotheses that how athletes think about their
performance and the types of thoughts they have determine how often they speak to themselves
during an athletic competition.
Review of Literature
Sports communication is a relatively new field that has sprung up in the past 10 to 15
years. Much research has been conducted on this top. Investigators have analyzed different
concepts in the field of sports communication such as communication among athletes
themselves, among players and officials, between player and player, and amidst a player and a
coach. Much of this research is relatively new and offers a detailed understanding of different

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factors that contribute to improved performance among athletes. In a study looking at the
communication between athletes and officials, it was determined that officials who have the Xfactor, or who have a sense of charisma, were more liked by players than officials who do not
have this X-factor (Cunningham, Simmons, Mascarenhas, & Redhead, 2014). Although this
study was not specifically looking at links between communication and performance, it reveals
that research has been undertaken to understand this growing field.
Other studies have focused on player to player communication during a sporting event. In
a study looking at the communication of defensemen in netball, a sport similar to basketball, it
was determined that the more the defenseman verbalize their tactics when the opposition had the
ball, the more shots there were on goal (LeCouteur & Feo, 2011). That is, the opponents were
improving their performance while the athletes were communicating. This finding is the
converse of what the common person expects. The thinking is that the more communication
there is during an athletic competition, the more likely performance will improve among
teammates.
It can also be the case that intra-team communication among can improve performance.
In a study looking at the correlation between relationship building and task cohesiveness among
collegiate ultimate Frisbeem teams, it was concluded that communication among the athletes
strengthened the connection between these two variables (Smith, Arthur, Hardy, Callow, &
Williams, 2013). The two previously illustrated studies seem to offer conflicting evidence.
However, it is important to note that the first study is looking at communication during an
athletic competition whereas the second study is looking at communication before an athletic
competition.

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Other research has been conducted looking at the importance of coach-parent

communication in youth sports. It an article discussing ways to enhance the interaction between
coaches and parents, it was suggested that both parties use Weplay, which is an online
community site that disseminates information to parents, coaches, and athletes (Gilbert & Hamel,
2011). This is a way to develop the skills of the youth since it allows the different parties to stay
connected with one another.
Other studies have focused on how self-talk and athletic performance are related to one
another. Cutton and Hearon (2014) conducted an analysis looking at how self-talk among an elite
power lifter influences performance. The research indicates that the positive self-talk came
immediately after the negative self-talk. These positive, encouraging messages are believed to
help the power lifter overcome negative beliefs about his abilities and strategy. It also is believed
that the power-lifters motivational self-talk during practice and competition helped push him
through obstacles and roadblocks and become a successful power lifter.
Other research has also determined the correlation between these two variables.
Barwood, Corbett, Wagstagg, McVeigh, & Thelwell (2015) measured the improvement of
cyclists who used motivational self-talk and neutral self-talk in a time trial. After examining the
completed times of each cyclists time trial, it was concluded that the motivational self-talk
group finished their time trial with an average score of 77 53 seconds faster than the neutral
self-talk group. Furthermore, in another study examining the combined effect of self-talk and
performance feedback of coaches administered to adult tennis players, it can be determined that
this combination has more motivational benefits to the tennis players compared to using solely
self-talk (Latinjak, Torregrosa, & Renom, 2011). This reveals valuable insights into the sports
communications discipline. With research describing the correlation between athletic

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performance and self-talk, athletes can now use these findings to improve their sports
performance simply through altering the way they think.
Method
The study had a unique method carried out to it. The researcher sent out a 16 question
survey on his Facebook page, multiple Facebook groups, and to a various amount of his friends
and family. The survey consisted of 11 closed-ended, Likert scale questions (all were based off
of a 7 point value), 1 open-ended essay question asking the respondents to clarify their opinions
on the subject, and 4 demographic questions. The two variables that were being measured were
self-talk beliefs (independent variable; STB-measured from strongly agree-strongly disagree)
and self-talk frequency (dependent variable; STF-measured from always/always true-never/never
true). Below is the bivariate correlation between these two variables.
In terms of numbers, 51 people took the survey. There was a good mixture of the sexes,
as 27 males and 24 females took it. Most respondents were college-students between the ages of
18-22, white, and still in school having completed some college credit, but not having completed
their degree program, had graduated high school or have obtained an associate degree. There
were others who had completed the survey as well. According to the data, the minority who had
taken the survey who were older than 18-22 all had at least obtained a bachelors degree.
Results
Quantitative Data

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The quantitative data highlighted key elements of the research study. The main point of
the study was to figure out the relationship between the independent variable of self-talk beliefs
and the dependent variable of self-talk frequency. Before continuing, it is important to recognize
the descriptive statistics of the variables. Below, from left to right, are the descriptive statistics
for all the self-talk belief questions, self-talk frequency questions, and for all the closed-ended
questions (excluding demographics).
Statistics

Statistics

STF

OverallMeanClSD

Statistics
STB
51

Valid
N
Missing

N
Missing

Mean

5.6887

Median

5.7500
5.75

Mode

Valid

Std. Deviation

.71474

Sum

290.13

51
0

Valid
N
Missing

51
0

Mean

4.8497

Mean

5.4599

Median

5.0000

Median

5.4545

Mode
Std. Deviation
Sum

6.00
1.16679
247.33

Mode

5.36

Std. Deviation

.70779

Sum

278.45

As indicated, the overall mean represents that most respondents were answering with the
higher composite scores. Many seemed to agree with what the questions were asking. The
respondents believed that positive self-talk is good and there are certain thoughts athletes should
have to enhance performance. One important aspect to note is that 68% of the average score for
each respondent falls within one standard deviation of the overall mean.
Reliability is also important pieces that need to be discussed. Below are the reliability
coefficients for 2 sets of data; they include: STF1* and STB1, and the overall reliability for all
11 core STF and STB questions put together.

(* Please note, the 1 in STF1 represents STF Question 1, and the 5 in STB
represents STB Question 5.)

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STF1 and STB1

All 11 STF and STB Questions

Reliability Statistics

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha

Cronbach's Alpha

N of Items

.545

N of Items

.749

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STF1 and STB1 are measuring the relationship between how much an athlete uses
encouraging and enthusiastic thoughts during an athletic event and whether they believe this
improves performance. The reliability check is 0.545 representing a moderate correlation
between these 2 variables. It is not the strongest, but it is definitely considerable. The reliability
index for all 11 questions is strong as well. This is 0.749. Even though this represents the data of
all the core questions, this is a significant relationship between all the data and depicts that is a
relationship between the data.
Qualitative Data
In the qualitative portion of the survey, the respondents were asked how they believe an
athlete should speak with themselves during an athletic competition and how this impacts
athletic performance. There were many different responses, short and long, but they generally
fell into 2 categories: positive and encouraging, or positive and constructive.
Positive and Encouraging. Many of the respondents indicated that athletes need to
speak to themselves using positive and encouraging language. Many argue that doing so will
improve performance not only for ones own sake, but also for others. As one respondent points
out:

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Talk encouraging things to yourself and teammates to help one feel better and to
increaser or improve performance.
Others had a different effect on the positive benefits of these types of thoughts. Few respondents
assert that positive thinking gives them clarity of mind. One respondent notes:
When you [are] down [on] your self you are unable to move forward constantly
worrying. A lot of times clearing my thoughts before a big game always helped. It helped
me focus on what was in front of me at the moment
As this respondent identifies, positive thinking relaxes him and gives him clarity before a match.
Positive and Constructive. Not only did many respondents identify that athletes should
be positive and encouraging to themselves, but also many argued that being positive and
constructive is a key element of success. One respondent mentions this approach:
I think that positive thoughts are good but also when you aren't playing well you have to
get on yourself a little bit in order to live up to your potential. For a competitor you can't
always be positive.
As this respondent illustrates, sometimes it is necessary to be critical as this may improve results.
Discussion
From understanding the results of the closed-ended questions, there seems to exist
somewhat of a correlation between self-talk beliefs and self-talk frequency. It seemed that the
majority of the respondents who had high self-talk belief scores also had high self-talk frequency
scores. However, this was not always the case. Many respondents with high STB scores did not
always have high STF scores. More reliable data could have been gathered if the wording of the
questions was clearer or if there were more STF questions. However, there were two main
insights that the researcher gathered from the closed-ended section.

THINK WITH ENTHUSIASM

For one, it was found that most participants believed that positive thoughts are associated
with success in an athletic competition. In one question, the respondents were asked if they
believe athletes who think encouraging and uplifting thoughts do better in athletic competition.
On the 7 point Likert-scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly degree, 46 out of the 51
respondents (90.2%) answered with somewhat agree or stronger. Another insight that was
learned from the survey is that there is wide variation in the self-talk frequency of athletes. Some
use self-talk quite often, while others do not use at all. Much of it depends on the athlete and how
often they use it.
In the open-ended section, there were quite a few insights gained from the relationship
between self-talk and athletic performance. It was interesting to learn that many respondents
argued that having positive and constructive self-talk is a vital key in having success during an
athletic competition. The researcher did not think much of the importance of constructive
criticism before creating the survey, but this may be an important component to athletic success.
Another insight that was gained was the importance of team relationship building and
maintenance. Some respondents argued the importance of encouraging the team so that others
succeed, not just the individual. The researcher was not expecting respondents to discuss the
importance of team comradery, but this is a relevant finding since healthy relationships usually
reveal healthy lives. The healthier ones life is, the stronger an individual may perform
athletically.
Validity is also an important component that must be discussed. The researcher was
originally interested in determining the relationship between positive self-talk and athletic
performance. However, the way the researcher structured the question represented different
variables. Instead, STB and STF was being measured. The closed-ended section of the survey

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did not measure what it originally meant to measure, but the open-ended did. With new variables
for the closed-ended section, what was being measured changed. However, as was concluded,
the researcher did find evidence of some validity in the section as he measured his new purpose
of finding the relationship between STB and STF. He found that most individuals who had
strong positive beliefs about how they should talk to themselves during athletic events also spoke
with themselves quite often.
Limitations and Future Research
There are quite a few limitations with this research. For one, the survey questions which
the researcher believed were to be determining the correlation between self-talk and athletic
performance, were actually determining the correlation between self-talk beliefs and self-talk
frequency. The researcher was finding the relationship between 2 variables which he did not
mean to measure. Furthermore, one other limitation of the study is that most participants who
took the survey were college aged students and white. This represents a small demographic pool
and for future surveys, it is recommended that researches include a larger demographic so they
can gain a better understanding between the relationship with self-talk beliefs and athletic
performance.
There are also other limitations of the study. For example, the reliability coefficient
between self-talk beliefs and self-talk frequency of 0.391 is not strong. To be considered
accurate, it is recommended that the reliability coefficient is 0.7 or greater. This low coefficient
may occur because the wording of the questions may have been confusing to the respondent or
because there may not be much of a strong correlation with these 2 variables in the first place.
Furthermore, for future research, it is recommended that investigators have more of an equal
amount of questions for each variable set. For this study, the researchers variables were not

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weighted equally. Self-talk beliefs had 8 questions and self-talk frequency had 3 questions
associated with it. For future research, correcting these is essential.
Conclusion
After examining all the data from this study, it seems that many insights were gained into
the distinct models of STB and STF. For one, it seems that hypothesis 1 was proven stating that
how athletes speak to themselves during an athletic competition affects performance. This was
understood by the myriad of responses in the qualitative section with many arguing that having
positive and encouraging or having positive and constructive thoughts were indicators of how an
athlete would perform while on the field.
Furthermore, it seems that hypothesis 2 was somewhat to moderately proven. It seems
that the reliability index of the variables between the questions measuring STB1 and STF1, and
all the other closed-ended questions reveal that the more an athlete believes that encouraging,
specific thoughts affect performance, the more often they will use self-talk. Ultimately, after
analyzing all the data, it can be seen that thoughts do affect how athletes perform and how often
they use self-talk in competition. However, the idea of self-talk relates more to just sports. If
common citizens would use self-talk in their day-to-day lives, then there would be not only an
increase in the overall quality of how well people play a sport, but also an increase in the mental
health of many people.

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References

Barwood, M. J., Corbett, J., Wagstaff, C. D., McVeigh, D., & Thelwell, R. C. (2015).
Improvement of 10-km time-trial cycling with motivational self-talk compared with
neutral self-talk. International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance, 10(2), 166171.
Cunningham, I., Simmons, P., Mascarenhas, D., & Redhead, S. (2014). Skilled Interaction:
Concepts of Communication and Player Management in the Development of Sport
Officials. International Journal of Sport Communication, 7(2), 166-187.
Cutton, D. M., & Hearon, C. M. (2014). Self-talk functions: portrayal of an elite power lifter.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 119(2), 478-494. doi:10.2466/29.PMS.119c25z2
Gilbert, W., & Hamel, T. (2011). Enhancing coach-parent relationships in youth sports:
increasing harmony and minimizing hassle a commentary. International Journal of
Sports Science & Coaching, 6(1), 37-41.
Latinjak, A. T., Torregrosa, M., & Renom, J. (2011). Combining self talk and performance
feedback: their effectiveness with adult tennis players. Sport Psychologist, 25(1), 18-31.
LeCouteur, A., & Feo, R. (2011). Real-time communication during play: Analysis of teammates' talk and interaction. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12(2), 124-134.
Smith, M. J., Arthur, C. A., Hardy, J., Callow, N., & Williams, D. (2013). Transformational
leadership and task cohesion in sport: The mediating role of intrateam communication.
Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 14(2), 249-257. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.10.002

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Appendix: Self-Talk Beliefs and Self-Talk Frequency Survey

1.) While I am winning in a sporting event, I talk to myself with encouraging and
enthusiastic language so I can stay in the lead.
a. Always

b. Very Frequently

c. Frequently

d, Half the Time

e. Sometimes

f. Rarely

g. Never

2.) When talking with myself during a sporting event, I use specific, detailed language to
improve my tactics.
a.

Always

b. Very Frequently

c.

Frequently

d. Half the Time

e.

Sometimes

f. Rarely

g.

Never

3.) Athletes who think encouraging and uplifting thoughts tend to do better during a sports
event.
a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree

4.) Worrying about what strategy to employ next hurts my athletic performance.

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a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree

5.) I believe that my positive thoughts will help me do well in an athletic competition.
a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree

6.) By thinking relaxing thoughts, I will perform better in an athletic competition.

a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree

7.) Having a thought such as this maintains or improves performance: Good job. I need to
continue moving my feet as doing so gives me a better chance to succeed.
a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree

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8.) Having a thought such as this decreases performance: I am playing terrible. I hate this. I just
want to quit.
a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree
9.) I can mentally think of ways to improve my performance during a sports event.
a. Always True

b. Very Often True

c. Often True

d. True

e. Sometimes True

f. Rarely True

g. Never True
10.) I believe that doubting my abilities inhibits my ability to perform well.
a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree
11.) I believe that what types of thoughts athletes think will impact their athletic performance.
a. Strongly Agree

b. Agree

c. Somewhat Agree

d. Neutral

e. Somewhat Disagree

f. Disagree

g. Strongly Disagree

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12.) Please explain how you think an athlete should talk with themselves during a sports
competition and how this impacts athletic performance. (Open-ended question)
Demographics:
13.) What is your age? (Not required to answer)
a) Under 18
b) 18-22
c) 23-30
d) 30-45
e) 45-60
f) 60+
14.) What is your ethnicity? (Not required to answer)
a) White
b) Hispanic or Latino
c) Black or African American
d) Native American or American Indian
e) Asian/Pacific Islander
f) Other (Write out your answer if so)

15.) What is the highest level of education you have received? (Not required to answer)
a) No schooling completed
b) Nursery school to 8th grade
c) Some high school, no diploma
d) High school graduate, diploma, or the equivalent (for example: GED)

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e) Some college credit, no degree
f) Trade/technical/vocational training
g) Associate degree
h) Bachelors degree
i) Masters degree
j) Professional degree
k) Doctorate degree

16.) What is your sex? (Not required to answer)

a) Male
b) Female

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