I Will Use Declarative Self-Talk . . . or Will I? Replication, Extension, and Meta-Analyses
in The Sport PsychologistClick name to view affiliation
A series of studies was conducted by Senay et al. in 2010 to replicate and extend research indicating that self-posed questions have performance benefits. Studies 1–3 compared the effects of the self-posed interrogative question (“Will I?”) to declarative (“I will”) and control self-talk, and found no significant group differences in motivation, perceived exertion, or performance. In Studies 4–5, interrogative, declarative, and control self-talk primes were compared, and no outcome differences were found. In Study 6, the effects of self-talk on motivation, perceived exertion, and physical performance were assessed. The self-talk groups performed better and were more motivated than the control group, but declarative and interrogative groups did not differ from each other. Finally, meta-analyses of the six studies indicated no significant differences among conditions. These results highlight the value of replication and suggest that factors other than grammatical form of self-posed questions may drive the demonstrated relationships between self-talk and performance.
Van Raalte and Brewer are with the Dept. of Psychology, Springfield College, Springfield, MA. Cornelius is with the School of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, CA. Mullin is with the Dept. of Physical Education and Health Education, Springfield College, Springfield, MA. Van Dyke is with the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV. Johnson is with the Dept. of Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI. Iwatsuki is with the Dept. of Kinesiology, Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA.
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