The Effect of Self-Talk on Individuals Dart Throwing Performance - Research Paper Example

al Affiliation The effect of self talk on individuals’ dart throwing performance. This research examines how self talk affects a person’s performance in sports. In particular, it examines the effect of self talk on individuals’ dart throwing performance. Generally we will be trying to find out if motivation plays any role in how a person performs in a given activity. Hardy, Hall, & Hardy (2005) described self talk as a multidimensional phenomenon concerned with athletes verbalizations that are addressed to themselves (p, 90). Its purpose is usually to enhance confidence in a person and help them focus at what they are doing. However, the type of self talk greatly determines whether the person’s performance will be improved or made worse off. Several researches have been done on the effect of self talk on dart throwing performance. Dagrou, Gauvin, and Halliwell (1992) did research on how dart throwing performance was affected by positive, negative, and neutral self-talk. Three groups were involved: positive self talk, negative self talk, and neutral self talk. Their results showed that persons in the positive self-talk group performed best beating those in the group for negative self talk and those in the neutral self talk group. In another study conducted by Van Raalte et al. (1995) on the dart throwing experiment, the same kind of results were recorded. Individuals who used positive self talk performed best, followed by those in neutral self talk while those in negative self talk came last. It has also been found that positive self talk increased the performance in an endurance task (Weinberg, Smith, Jackson, and Gould, 1984). The question that is yet to be comprehensively tackled is whether a person’s belief in his/her self talk has any impact on the performance however, is whether one’s belief in the practicality of self-talk also has an impact performance. The question whether a person’s belief in self talk affects his performance will be the next step in research as we endeavor to understand the concept of motivation. Based on previous findings, it is expected that individuals who exercise positive self talk will perform better than those that practice neutral or negative self talk. Those who practice negative self talk are expected to perform least productively. Method Participants A total of 350 undergraduate students from the University of Western Sydney participated. These were randomly allocated to one of the five experimental conditions: 1) internal positive self talk, n = 62; 2) internal negative self talk, n = 70; 3) external positive self talk, n = 72; 4) external negative self-talk, n = 84; or 5) neutral self talk, n = 62. To control for experience effects, two participants who rated themselves as having played darts more than once per week in the last year were screened out, leaving 348 participants. In addition, those participants that responded differently to their assigned condition when asked “What were you thinking about (or saying aloud to yourself)” while throwing darts were screened out, leaving 340 participants (249 females, 91 males). Materials and Apparatus This consisted of a regulation dart board (35.5 cm in diameter) located 210cm from the target line at a height of 183cm. Six darts were used and throws that missed the dart board were measured as 17.75cm, the longest distance from the bull’s eye to the outer sides of the dart board. A post-experimental questionnaire was given as a manipulation check that asked “What were you thinking about (or saying aloud to yourself) while you were throwing darts?” and “How often do you play darts?” Procedure Participants were tested in class groups (n =15 to 26). Each class group was randomly assigned to one of five conditions: internal positive self talk, internal negative self talk, external positive self talk, external negative self talk, and no self talk. Participants were instructed to hit the bull’s eye in three practice throws and three experimental dart throws. Prior to the throwing their experimental throws, the control group was given no self talk instructions, the internal positive self talk condition were asked to say to themselves in their head “I can do it” before each throw, the internal negative self-talk group were asked to say to themselves in their head “I can’t do it” before each throw. The external positive self talk condition were asked to say out loud “I can do it” before each throw, the external negative self-talk group were asked to say out loud “I can’t do it” before each throw. After the test phase, participants completed the post dart throwing questionnaire and each group was debriefed. Results Dart throwing accuracy (cm from the bulls eye) for the five types of self-talk were analyzed with a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). |The assumptions of the test i.e. normality and homogeneity of variance were verifiable, and the result was statistically significant, F(4, 335) = 36.5, p = .01. Planned comparisons revealed that participants in the positive self talk conditions (internal and external) were significantly better on the dart throwing task than participants in the no self talk condition (control condition). There was no significant difference in dart throwing accuracy for internal and external positive self talk. The negative self talk conditions (internal and external) were significantly worse on the dart throwing task than participants in the no self talk condition (control condition). There was no significant difference in dart throwing accuracy for internal and external negative self talk. Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1. Table 1 Dart Throwing Accuracy by Self Talk Condition Group Mean distance from bulls eye SD Internal positive self talk 9.42 1.70 External positive self talk 9.55 1.30 Internal negative self talk 13.66 1.37 External negative self talk 13.89 1.71 No self talk 11.47 1.43 From the results above, it can be noted that persons who applied positive self talk performed best. Both the internal and external positive talker had the highest levels of accuracy. Negative self talkers performed worst. The neutral person/no self talk was second. The results imply that self talk has a bearing on outcomes in physical activities and in this case dart throwing. This result corresponds to previous research conducted by other scholars and hence justifies the argument that self talk has an impact on individuals’ performance. The purpose for conducting this research was to analyze the impact of the various forms of self talk i.e. positive and negative self talk on performance. According to the results, it can be said that the form of self talk that a person applies whether positive or negative had a great significance on the outcome of the task done. The test was conducted using a sample of 350 students using self talk as stimuli to gauge their performance in a dart throwing competition. The students were put in different groups and each group was randomly assigned a form of self talk which they were to apply during their dart throws. The results were reflective of previous findings by other researchers such as Dagrou. Positive self talkers performed better that negative self talkers and as such implying that self talk motivates if used positively and acts in an opposite manner when used in a negative way. It would be correct to conclude that previous research on the effects of self talk on sports was done correctly since outcomes are similar. References Dagrou, E., Gauvin, L., & Halliwell, W. (1992).Effects of positive, negative, and neutral self-talk on motor performance. Canadian Journal of Sports Sciences, 17, 145-147. Hardy, J., Hall, C. R., & Hardy, L. (2004). A note on athletes’ use of self-talk. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 16, 251-257. Hardy, J., Hall, C. R., & Hardy, L. (2005). Quantifying athlete self-talk. Journal of Sports Sciences, 23, 905-917. Self-Talk and Sports Performance: Meta-Analysis Perspectives on Psychological Science July 2011 6: 348-356, Van Raalte, J. L., Brewer, B. W., Lewis, B. P., Linder, D. E., Wildman, G., & Kozimor, J. (1995). Cork! The effects of positive and negative self-talk on dart throwing performance. Journal of Sport Behavior, 18, 50-57. Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (2003). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology (3rded.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Read More