Self-talk Interventions Research Articles

A Longitudinal Multicase Study About the Board-Game Format of an Educational Self-Talk Intervention

This study explored goal-directed self-talk and its optimization through educational self-talk interventions, focusing on a novel sports-oriented board-game intervention. Examining a practitioner’s experiences and diverse participant profiles, including an elite tennis player, a recreational athlete, a football referee, and a tennis coach, the research employed four in-depth case studies. A unique aspect of this study involved intentional control transfer from practitioner to client, documented through a practitioner diary and postintervention interviews. Participants generally expressed appreciation for the intervention; however, the coach’s case necessitated bespoke adjustments, underscoring the importance of contextual sensitivity in applied practice. The educational self-talk intervention reportedly facilitated the analytical deconstruction of challenges, enhancing self-regulation through goal-directed self-talk. The study underscored the pedagogical merit of the board game and observed a substantive transfer of control from practitioner to participant over the intervention’s longitudinal trajectory. Detailed recommendations have been crafted for practitioners to implement the educational self-talk intervention effectively in their practice.

Noisy condition and three-point shot performance in skilled basketball players: the limited effect of self-talk.

In modern basketball, the three-point shot plays an important tactical role. Basketball players often face the distraction from audience and opponents, necessitating psychological skill to maintain their performance. The study examined the effects of self-talk interventions on the three-point shot performance under quiet and noisy conditions. It involved 42 national second-level basketball players and used a 2 (Condition: quiet condition, noisy condition) × 3 (Intervention: control group, motivational self-talk, instructional self-talk) mixed design to investigate the performance of the static and dynamic three-point shots tasks. The results revealed that the static three-point shot score was significantly lower in noisy condition compared to quiet condition (p = 0.016), while the main effect of Intervention and the interaction effect of Condition × Intervention were not significant. Post-hoc analysis indicated that only the control group showed significantly lower scores in the noisy condition (p = 0.043). For the dynamic three-point shots performance, there were no significant main effects of Intervention or Condition, nor any significant interaction effect between Condition and Intervention. In conclusion, noise distraction negatively affects the static three-point shots task, and although self-talk interventions can mitigate such negative effects, their effectiveness is limited for dynamic three-point shots task with high physical demands.

Reframing self-talk in endurance sports using grammatical taxonomy

Abstract In this theoretical paper, we use a linguistic vocabulary to reframe self-talk in endurance sport through a focus on grammatical function. Self-talk often works as speech acts, a kind of communicative action, e.g. where a self-talker is using the imperative mood to accomplish some goal with respect to herself (Come on!). Auxiliary modal verbs work across three main types of utterances: Deontic modality involving permission and obligation; dynamic modality involving ability and willingness; epistemic modality involving probabilistic judgements. In self-talk, these all function to establish a hypothetical domain for further reflection. Self-distance can be negotiated using 1st and 2nd person pronouns (I/you) and spatial demonstratives (this/that). Sentiment is communicated using adjectives, while negation may yield a means for impulse control. We can question our own utterances and use interjections to communicate surprise. These are all vital mental tools in endurance sports and an increased awareness of their functions in self-talk research will likely yield better self-talk interventions and lead to better performance for athletes.

Self-Talk: An Interdisciplinary Review and Transdisciplinary Model

The present work synthesises the self-talk literature and constructs a transdisciplinary self-talk model to guide future research across all academic disciplines that engage with self-talk. A comprehensive research review was conducted, including 559 self-talk articles published between 1978 and 2020. These articles were divided into 6 research categories: (a) inner dialogue, (b) mixed spontaneous and goal-directed organic self-talk, (c) goal-directed self-talk, (d) spontaneous self-talk, (e) educational self-talk interventions, and (f) strategic self-talk interventions. Following this, critical details were extracted from a subsample of 100 articles to create an interdisciplinary synthesis of the self-talk literature. Based on the synthesis, a self-talk model was created that places spontaneous and goal-directed organic self-talk as well as educational and strategic self-talk interventions in relation to variables within their nomological network, including external factors (e.g. task difficulty), descriptive states and traits (e.g. emotions), behaviour and performance, metacognition, and psychological skills (e.g. concentration).

Organic self-talk content categories and their relations to sport-specific contextual and personal factors

While strategic self-talk interventions are well documented, less is known regarding organically occurring self-talk. Previously, eight organic self-talk content categories were identified, however contextual and personal factors relating to these categories is unexplored. The aim of the study was to explore the relationships between stress, coping, athletic identity, demographic and sport-related factors and the eight organic self-talk categories of anxiety control, confidence, disengagement, instruction, psych-up, somatic fatigue, worry, and irrelevant. 216 NCAA student-athletes were recruited. Regression was used to determine the relationships between the contextual and personal variables and organic self-talk. Stress, coping and self-talk categories were compared in and out-of-season. Stress was associated with all self-talk frequencies except confidence. Coping was associated with psych-up, confidence and worry. Athletic identity was associated with psych-up, confidence, instruction and disengagement. Age was associated with anxiety control and instruction. Lastly, sport type and division level were associated with disengagement and instruction self-talk respectively.

Effect of mindfulness-based intervention on endurance performance under pressure and performance-relevant mental attributes, an interdisciplinary perspective: Protocol for a Mindfulness-Based Peak Performance (MBPP) trial

Performance under pressure is one of the primary features of competitive sports. Considering that increased competition levels are typically accompanied by elevated stress and anxiety, athletes' ability to cope with stress has gained even more importance in recent years. Accordingly, the current trial, entitled Mindfulness-based Peak Performance (MBPP), will take an interdisciplinary approach (e.g., sport psychology, sports training, and cognitive neuroscience), to more definitively examine whether a MBPP affects athletic performance under pressure and relevant mental attributes. This study is an 8-week, three-arm, randomized controlled trial (RCT). A total of 90 athletes, aged between 18 and 30 years will be recruited. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned into (1) an MBPP group, (2) a self-talk (ST) group, and (3) a wait-list control (WC) group. The MBPP and ST interventions consist of a 60-min session weekly for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes are endurance performance and performance-relevant mental attributes including behavior (i.e., stress response, emotion regulation, and engagement) and neurocognitive processes (e.g., attention, executive function, brain resting state), which will be assessed at baseline and post-intervention. Dispositional mindfulness and athletic psychological skills will be secondary outcomes, also assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The MBPP and ST are expected to improve performance under pressure, but MBPP is expected to show greater improvement than ST. Additionally, we expect the MBPP will improve the relevant mental attributes. The results from this trial might provide rigorous evidence and insight into MBI application in the sports context. ClinicalTrials.govregistration:NCT05612295.

Shooting Free Throws Under Pressure: A Social Media Self-Talk Intervention

The present study sought to investigate the effects of a self-talk intervention on free-throw performance under pressure. The experimental manipulation was designed using a video from a social media platform. Thirty male college basketball players were randomly assigned into two groups (i.e., control and experimental). The experimental protocol incorporated three trials of three free throws each. Psychophysiological stress was assessed by use of heart rate variability. The illusion of pressure was created using arena recordings of large crowds along with instructions for participants to visualize a high-pressure scenario. The results indicate that the self-talk intervention was sufficient to improve free throw shooting accuracy during the postintervention phase. Short-term heart rate variability reduced significantly for the control group and remained relatively stable for the experimental group. Self-talk appears to influence free throw accuracy during situations of psychosocial stress by inhibiting the influence of negative thoughts on peripheral physiological reactions and movement automaticity.

Positive Self-Talk Intervention to Decrease Stress in Parents of Children with Special Needs

The caregiving experience of parents of children with special needs (CSN) can be challenging and can lead to significant stress and negative impacts on mental health. To address this issue, a community service activity was implemented to provide positive self-talk training to 25 parents of CSN who are members of the Indonesian Special Family Forum (FORKESI) in South Sumatra. The training was conducted online using the Zoom Meeting platform and employed the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) method. The results of the community service indicated that the average stress levels of the participants decreased after participating in the training. Additionally, participants reported feeling more grateful for the condition of their children, more accepting of their children's condition, and having more open minds. These findings suggest that positive self-talk training is an effective strategy for reducing stress in parents of children with special needs and may have broader implications for supporting caregivers in the community.

Strategic Self-Talk Assists Basketball Free Throw Performance Under Conditions of Physical Exertion.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a strategic self-talk intervention on basketball free throw performance under conditions of physical exertion. Forty-one male basketball players (Mage = 23.19 years) participated in the study. Following a baseline assessment, a 3-week intervention was implemented. During this period participants of the two groups practiced the same number of free throws in their training sessions; participants of the experimental group practiced using self-talk and developed personal free throw self-talk plans. In the final assessment, the participants repeated the free throw test following a typical shuttle run task causing increased physical exertion. The results showed that in the final assessment the self-talk group performed significantly better than the control group. Overall, the findings indicate that self-talk can be an effective strategy for basketball players when performing free throw under conditions of physical exertion, which is a typical situation in basketball games.

Effects of a Strategic Self-Talk Intervention on Attention Functions and Performance in a Golf Task under Conditions of Ego Depletion

States of reduced self-control described as ego depletion have been shown to impair sport task performance. Recently, self-talk has emerged as a successful method to counteract ego depletion effects in cognitive tasks. Extending this line of research, the present study examined the effects of a self-talk intervention on attention functions and performance in a golf-putting task under conditions of ego depletion. Two studies were conducted; the first involved a simple putting task, whereas in the second, a divided attention factor was introduced in addition. Participants in the first experiment were 62 sport science students (30 females and 32 males, Mage = 18.58, SD = 1.03) who were randomly assigned into experimental (n = 31) and control (n = 31) groups. Participants in the second experiment were 54 sport science students (27 females and 27 males, Mage = 19.91, SD = 1.04) who were randomly assigned into experimental (n = 27) and control (n = 27) groups. Both experiments were completed in a single session that lasted approximately 60 min. All participants were tested individually. The procedures included (a) baseline performance assessment consisting of two sets of ten putts, (b) practice period, consisting of six sets of five putts, during which the experimental group was also introduced to the use of strategic self-talk, (c) an ego-depleting task, and (d) final performance assessment, which was identical to the baseline. The results showed that in both experiments, performance of the experimental group increased from baseline to final assessment (experiment 1, p < 0.001; experiment 2, p = 0.023), whereas that of the control group had no significant change (experiment 1: p = 0.241; experiment 2: p = 0.407). The findings showed that self-talk is an effective strategy for buffering the effects of ego depletion and suggest that improved attention functions are a viable mechanism for explaining the facilitating effects of self-talk on sport performance tasks.

Do self-talk phrases affect behavior in ultimatum games?

The current study investigates whether self-talk phrases can influence behavior in Ultimatum Games. In our three self-talk treatments, participants were instructed to tell themselves (i) to keep their own interests in mind, (ii) to also think of the other person, or (iii) to take some time to contemplate their decision. We investigate how such so-called experimenter-determined strategic self-talk phrases affect behavior and emotions in comparison to a control treatment without instructed self-talk. The results demonstrate that other-focused self-talk can nudge proposers towards fair behavior, as offers were higher in this group than in the other conditions. For responders, self-talk tended to increase acceptance rates of unfair offers as compared to the condition without self-talk. This effect is significant for both other-focused and contemplation-inducing self-talk but not for self-focused self-talk. In the self-focused condition, responders were most dissatisfied with unfair offers. These findings suggest that use of self-talk can increase acceptance rates in responders, and that focusing on personal interests can undermine this effect as it negatively impacts the responders’ emotional experience. In sum, our study shows that strategic self-talk interventions can be used to affect behavior in bargaining situations.

Application of Strategic Self-Talk: An Experimental Study on the Effects on Shooting Stability and Performance

Background: Pistol shooting is a sport with high attentional demands. Strategic self-talk has been shown to assist learning and increase performance, in particular due to its effects on attention. Objective: The current study aimed to examine the impact of a strategic self-talk intervention on the learning of pistol shooting. Methods: An experimental study was designed and implemented. Forty sport sciences students with no experience in pistol shooting were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The study took part in nine sessions, one for familiarization, two for baseline measurements, four for training, and two for final measurements. The shooting was performed from a distance of five meters and recorded through the SCATT shooting system. Performance as Average Score (AS) and two stability variables, Average Length of Tracing (ALOT) and Stability of Aim (SOA), were recorded. Results: Repeated measures MANOVA showed a significant multivariate group by measurement interaction. Pairwise comparisons revealed that (a) AS increased for both the experimental (p.001) and the control group (p=.006), with the experimental group showing greater improvement, and (b) SOA and ALOT improved for the experimental group (p.001 and p=.003, respectively) but not for the control group (p=.37 and p=.21, respectively). Conclusions: The increases in performance for both groups can be attributed to the learning effect; however, the impact of self-talk was evidenced in the greater performance improvement, but also in the improvement of the stability variables that were targeted through the instructional self-talk cues that were used. The greater performance change for the self-talk group may be attributed to attentional mechanisms that brought about the improvement of the stability parameters.

Effects of a strategic self-talk intervention on attention functions

ABSTRACT In the sport psychology literature, the use of self-talk strategies has proven effective for enhancing task performance, and preliminary evidence suggests that the effectiveness of self-talk can be partly attributed to attentional mechanisms. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the effects of self-talk strategies on different attention functions, namely, alertness, vigilance, focused, selective, divided, and spatial attention. A between-subjects experimental design was adopted. Six experiments were conducted involving 255 (130 males and 125 females) participants (mean age 21.17 ± 2.31), assigned into experimental and control groups. A five-session protocol was implemented including baseline testing, training intervention, and final assessment. The Test Battery for Perception and Attention Functions from the Vienna Test System was used to assess attention functions. The analysis showed that in all experiments, in 14 out of 17 tests, the experimental groups had faster reaction times than the control groups, and a meta-analytic synthesis of the results showed a large effect size (d = 0.75). The findings suggest that self-talk benefit the attention functions and support postulations for an attentional interpretation of the facilitating effects of self-talk strategies on task performance.

An Empirical Test of the Self-Talk Dissonance Hypothesis: The Effects of Self-Talk Overtness and Personality on Performance

According to the sport-specific model of self-talk, self-talk dissonance occurs when a mismatch between gut feelings/impressions and self-talk creates discomfort and disrupts performance. The purpose of this study was to test the sport-specific model of self-talk’s dissonance hypothesis by examining the effects of self-talk on introverts (n = 28), who may be uncomfortable speaking their self-talk aloud, and on extraverts (n = 30). Each participant completed a dart-throwing target task using (a) overt and (b) covert self-talk in a counterbalanced order. Results of analysis of covariance indicated a significant interaction that supported the sport-specific model of self-talk’s dissonance hypothesis. Introverts performed better when using covert (private) self-talk, and extraverts performed better when using overt self-talk. The results of this research show that self-talk dissonance adversely affects performance and suggests that tailoring self-talk interventions by incorporating personal factors into intervention designs could enhance intervention effectiveness and performance outcomes.

Embrace the challenge: Acknowledging a challenge following negative Self-Talk improves performance

There are mixed results regarding the performance effects of negative self-talk. An interesting consideration is that negative self-talk may not have to be replaced to improve performance. The purpose of the present study was to determine if negative self-talk can improve performance when interpreted as a challenge. Participants (N = 93) completed a baseline VO2max test and were randomized into self-talk groups (i.e., motivational, negative, neutral, and challenging) after matching based on their predicted VO2max and sex. During a subsequent session, participants completed a thirty-minute self-talk condition followed by twenty-minutes of “do your best” cycling. The results revealed a significant group by time interaction effect, where the challenging self-talk group significantly outperformed the negative self-talk group during the final five minutes of the task. Overall, these results provide initial support for implementing challenging self-talk and suggest that time within an endurance task moderates the self-talk-performance relationship. Lay Summary: Participants in the study used self-talk that was either motivational, neutral, negative, or negative with a challenging statement during a 20 minute cycling task. The results showed that participants who used negative self-talk, such as “My legs are tired” did much worse in the final five minutes of the task than those who added a challenging statement to their negative self-talk, such as “My legs are tired, but I can push through it”. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Rather than working to replace negative self-talk, practitioners can have athletes acknowledge it and add a challenge statement to enhance endurance performance. Time within an endurance task and level of fatigue are important to consider when implementing self-talk interventions. Self-talk interventions may be most effective when they include a cognitive skill applicable to organic negative ST.

Fast talkers? Investigating the influence of self-talk on mental toughness and finish times in 800-meter runners

The purpose of this study was to explore whether a personalized self-talk intervention influenced mental toughness, rating of perceived exertion, sense of the urge to slow down, perceived performance and finish times in a series of 800-meter run time trials. While mental toughness has been associated with improved endurance performance, the effect of changing an individual’s momentary self-talk on mental toughness and finish time has not yet been examined. This single-subject, multiple baseline design case study incorporated three participants who each ran a series of 11 − 13 maximum effort 800-meter time trials on the track, separated by a minimum of two days, across ten weeks. Following an initial series of four to six baseline sessions, they were each then provided a personalized self-talk intervention before running the seven additional sessions. Visual analysis (including review of non-overlapping data points between baseline, intervention, and follow-up sessions) demonstrated the personalized self-talk intervention positively influenced mental toughness and finish times across all three participants but did not consistently affect the rating of perceived exertion, urge to slow down or perceived performance. Additional insights were identified through the integration of social validation interviews informally after each run session and then formally after the intervention. These insights included identifying a new baseline of effort accompanied by different levels of mental toughness and an intrigue on the part of participants about the notable improvement in outcomes in spite of previously perceived “all-out” effort. Lay Summary: Mental toughness variability and 800 meter finish times were both positively influenced by a personalized self-talk intervention in runners. In addition, as mental toughness increased, 800 meter finish times improved.

Motivational self-talk improves time-trial swimming endurance performance in amateur triathletes

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to compare the effects of an instructional and a motivational self-talk intervention on swimming endurance performance in amateur triathletes. To this purpose, we designed a parallel two groups, randomised, longitudinal (pre- and post-test) study. During 12 days in all exercise-training sessions, the motivational self-talk (M-ST) group (n = 10) was asked to rehearse motivational sentences driving to improve effort to finish the swimming test (750 m) as fast as they could. The instructional self-talk (I-ST) group (n = 11) was asked to rehearse sentences driven to keep pace and movement fluency. The performance in the swimming test increased significantly only in the M-ST group from pre- to post-intervention (2.8%, ). In addition, only the M-ST group increased significantly the swimming pace , which was measured every 150 m, and maintained the same perception of effort level when comparing pre- and post-intervention. The M-ST group also increased significantly their outcome expectancy (6%, = .34) from pre- to post-intervention, in which the variance of swimming performance was approximately 60% explained by the outcome expectancy (B = .656, SE = .086, p < .001, 95% CI [.482, .830]). Findings suggest that M-ST enhanced outcome expectancy, helping triathletes to improve endurance performance probably due to the higher level of potential motivation which mobilised more effort. Therefore, M-ST intervention has been probably effective to improve swimming endurance performance in amateur triathletes, whereas I-ST has maintained it.

Endorsement and Constructive Criticism of an Innovative Online Reflexive Self-Talk Intervention.

This study prospectively followed the experiences of skilled athletes who were involved in an innovative reflexive self-talk online intervention targeting goal-directed self-talk. Four experienced female athletes between the ages of 20 and 40 years were invited to an initial interview, a 4-week intervention, and two post-intervention interviews. Two applied sport psychologists used an online Socratic questioning approach to encourage their athletes to describe challenging scenarios, think about their use of self-talk and its effectiveness, and explore alternative self-statements that could be used in future situations. Data were multi-sourced stemming from the psychologists, athletes, and third parties (e.g., coach). Three athletes completed the intervention, whereas one athlete withdrew prematurely, mainly because the Socratic questioning approach and the online mode of delivery did not meet her preferences. From the three athlete who had completed the intervention, there was endorsement and constructive criticism of the intervention and its online delivery mode. The intervention, largely due to the accompanying raised awareness of self-talk use and refined content, seemingly benefited a range of variables including emotions, motivation, and confidence, both inside and outside of the athletes’ sports life domain. Accordingly, this new type of online intervention warrants further consideration in the literature.

Self-Talk Intervention Using Video –Imagery: Effects on Under 19 State Soccer Players’ Anaerobic Performance

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of motivational and instructional self-talk cues with video-imagery intervention on Wingate cycle 30-sec anaerobic performance. The participants were 45 male state soccer players employing either one out of three different combination of delivering methods using self-talks cues and video-modelling imagery provided for 4 weeks. A pre-test, intervention, and post-test study design were employed. Using the mixed-design ANOVA, the results shown that participants’ who employed self-talk were performing better in anaerobic capacities during the post-test compared to the pre-test (p < .05). Participants’ who employed self-talk intervention were also performed better in anaerobic performance compared to control group (p < .05). However, result between the interventions group were found not significant during post-test. In conclusion, self-talk cues employed with imagery video modelling interventions were found to be beneficial to enhance anaerobic capacity, however there is no different of effects on employing either motivational or instructional self-talk cues. Thus, motivational and instructional self-talk interventions were suggested to be employed with imagery and video modelling.

Effects of Self-Talk Training on Competitive Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, Volitional Skills, and Performance: An Intervention Study with Junior Sub-Elite Athletes.

(1) Background: Self-talk (ST) is used to influence athletes’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Samples of squad and competitive athletes are underrepresented, although research has proven the positive effects of ST in the context of sports. Thus, the present study focused on the impact of ST on psychological and performance outcomes of junior sub-elite athletes. (2) Methods: N = 117 athletes (55 females, 62 males; M = 16.0 years) were randomly assigned to either one of two experimental groups or to a control group (n = 30). The experimental groups received an ST intervention for either one week (n = 36) or eight weeks (n = 38), and the control group received no ST training. The dependent variables (competitive anxiety, volitional skills, self-efficacy, and coaches’ performance ratings) were assessed three times before and after the intervention. It was expected that (a) an ST intervention would reduce the competitive anxiety and increase volitional skills, self-efficacy, and performance; and, (b) long-term training would lead to higher effects than short-term training. (3) Results: As expected, ST training led to (less) somatic state anxiety and (higher) state self-confidence, self-optimization, self-efficacy, and performance. Additionally, long-term training was more effective than short-term training. (4) Conclusions: Targeted ST interventions may help to improve junior athletes’ psychological states and performance.