From: Scientific American

Different Sports Require Different Motivation

Scientific American:

The link between thought and performance on a test, stage or in sports has been shown in many studies. Think positively and repeat phrases like “I can do it”, and you’re likely to do better.

But a new study breaks down various types of motivational thinking, referred to as self-talk, for various types of sports. And it finds that different kinds of motivation have different effects.

Researchers analyzed the use of self-talk in 32 sports-related psychology studies. And they found that, for fine motor skills like improving your swimming stroke, instructional self-talk works best, as in repeating specific phrases like “elbow-up” in our head.

Read the whole story: Scientific American


APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February 2021, you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations present in article comments are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of APS or the article’s author. For more information, please see our Community Guidelines.

Please login with your APS account to comment.