The Frequency and Perceived Effectiveness of Images Used to Build, Maintain, and Regain Confidence

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated the content of the images athletes use to build, maintain, and regain their confidence. It also investigated their perceptions of the effectiveness of images for these confidence sub-functions. Participants were 142 college student athletes (60% female) from the central north area of the United States or Canada. Participants completed a modified version of the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ; Hall, Stevens, & Paivio, 2005). Data were analyzed using a repeated measures design at the subscale level, and using descriptive statistics at the item level. For imagery use, there was a significant main effect for imagery subscales, confidence sub-functions, and a significant interaction between the imagery subscales and confidence sub-functions (p < .05). For imagery effectiveness, there were significant main effects for both imagery subscales and confidence sub-functions. At the individual item level, analyses revealed that athletes used different images depending on whether they were building, maintaining, or regaining confidence, and that the images that were the most used were not always perceived to be the most effective. In general, the results provide sport psychology researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of the imagery-confidence relationship. The item level results are particularly meaningful for sport psychology practitioners because they indicate which images athletes used and perceived to be the most effective for building, maintaining, and regaining confidence.Imagery is considered to be one of the most popular performance enhancement techniques or psychological skills because of its versatility in affecting several different outcomes. According to Paivio (1985), imagery has both cognitive and motivational functions when influencing behavior, and can operate on both specific and general levels. Using this framework as their basis, Hall, Mack, Paivio, and Hausenblas (1998;Hall, Stevens, & Paivio, 2005) developed the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ) to measure how often athletes use these functions of imagery. Based on exploratory factor analysis results, they operationalized five functions of imagery: cognitive specific (CS: imaging specific perceptual motor skills), cognitive general (CG: imaging strategies), motivation specific (MS: imaging goal oriented responses), motivation general-arousal (MG-A: imaging arousal), and motivation general-mastery (MG-M: imaging mastering challenging situations). Paivio's (1985) framework and the corresponding SIQ subscales were used as the centerpieces of the applied model of imagery use proposed by Martin, Moritz, and Hall (1999). In this model, these five imagery functions (or imagery types as called by Martin et al.) were linked with specific psychological and behavioral outcomes (i.e., the result of imagery; Murphy, Nordin, & Cumming, 2006).

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