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The present study compared the effects of two types of modeling, self- and other-modeling, on learning elementary swimming skills. Specifically, potential differences between the two modeling conditions in swimming performance, swimming self-efficacy, and state anxiety were investigated. Participants were adult volunteers from a college community. Ages ranged from 20 to 58. Each participant took five individual swimming lessons. Results indicated that participants in the self-modeling condition demonstrated better swimming performance by the fourth swim session than participants in the other-modeling condition. No differences were found between modeling conditions on either swimming self-efficacy or state anxiety. Potential reasons for the difference in performance are identified and discussed.
Joanna Starek is with the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309. Penny McCullagh is now with the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at California State University, Hayward, Hayward, CA 94542.