Self-Talk (Sports)

Hatzigeorgiadis, Zourbanos, Galanis, & Theodorakis (2011) made several interesting findings in their meta-analysis (consisting of 32 studies) of the effects of self-talk on sports performance.

(1) Overall effect size. Using self-talk has been shown to produce a positive moderate effect size (.48).

(2) Fine motor tasks. Self-talk has a more positive impact on fine-motor tasks, although it also positively impacts gross motor tasks. Fine motor tasks "require dexterity, hand-eye coordination, precision, and accuracy(e.g., dart-throwing, golf-putting, shooting in basketball)," while gross motor tasks "require physical conditioning, endurance, strength, and power (e.g., cycling, long distance running, long-jump, shot-put)." The authors hypothesize why self-talk has a great effect on fine motor tasks: "Considering the requirements of fine motor tasks, it could be argued that such tasks can benefit more from the enhancement of concentration compared to gross tasks."

(3) Types of self-talk. Both instructional and motivational self-talk are equally efficacious, although instructional self-talk is more effective for fine tasks than gross tasks. "Motivational self-talk includes cues aiming at psyching up (e.g., 'let’s go'), maximizing effort (e.g., 'give it all'), building confidence (e.g., 'I can do it'), and creating positive moods (e.g., 'I feel good'). Instructional self-talk includes cues aiming at focusing or directing attention (e.g., 'see the target') and providing instruction with regard to technique (e.g., 'high elbow'), strategy (e.g., 'push'), or kinesthetic attributes of a skill (e.g., 'smoothly')."

(4) Novel tasks. Self-talk is more efficacious when individuals are performing novel tasks. "Considering that, in novel tasks, there is more scope for improvement and that performance enhancement can be achieved faster compared to well-learned tasks, we hypothesized that self-talk interventions will have a greater impact on novel rather than well-learned tasks."

(5) Training. Individuals with some self-talk training showed more success than individuals without training. Perkos, Theodorakis, & Chroni (2002) conducted a study containing such training. In their study, two groups received instruction in basketball but only the treatment group was told to use self-talk when practicing new skills: e.g., to verbally say “low, rhythm” for dribbling, “fingers, target” for passing, and “hand, center” for shooting.

Van Raalte, Vincent, & Brewer (2016) summarize the findings on self-talk in sports: "self-talk has been shown to enhance performance of badminton, basketball, cycling, dart throwing, dressage, golf, running, sit-ups, skiing, soccer shooting, swimming, tennis, vertical jump, volleyball, and water polo goal shooting." Outside of sports, they write, "[s]elf-talk has been shown to be related to behaviour on tasks as diverse as anagram solving, clinical case formulation, interview success, [and] school performance."

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Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Zourbanos, N., Galanis, E., & Theodorakis, Y. (2011). Self-talk and sports performance: A meta-analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(4), 348-356.

Perkos, S., Theodorakis, Y., & Chroni, S. (2002). Enhancing performance and skill acquisition in novice basketball players with instructional self-talk. The Sport Psychologist, 16(4), 368-383.

Tod, D., Hardy, J., & Oliver, E. (2011). Effects of self-talk: A systematic review. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 33(5), 666-687.

Van Raalte, J. L., Vincent, A., & Brewer, B. W. (2016). Self-talk: Review and sport-specific model. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 22, 139-148.