Sports Psychology

Sports Psychology

The Effect of Self-Talk on Motor Performance with Experimental Expression on Self-Esteem: Testing the Self-Talk Inconsistency Hypothesis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Neda Baghban 1
Amir Dana 2
1 Department of Physical Education, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Physical Education, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.
10.48308/mbsp.2025.238193.1281
Abstract
Purpose: The general purpose of this research was to study the effect of motivational self-talk on motor performance with an emphasis on self-esteem.

Methods: The current research method was an experimental type that was collected in the field; For this purpose, two groups of 18 people with high self-confidence and 18 people with low self-confidence were targeted. In the basic stage, the Bruce test was performed, and before and during the Bruce test, the subjects did not use any kind of self-talk, then, the test execution time was recorded in minutes, and the perceived pressure was measured using the Borg scale. . In the condition of motivational self-talk, the subject was asked to tell himself "I can, keep going" whenever he felt tired, difficult or painful during the Bruce test. At the end of the test, the perceived pressure was recorded. The order of presentation of these two equalization conditions was mutual and there was a gap of 48 hours between each research condition.

Results: The results of variance analysis of 2 factors (self-esteem and self-talk) showed that motivational self-talk led to significant improvement of endurance performance and reduction of perceived pressure in the Bruce test. Also, motivational self-talk in people with high self-esteem compared to low self-esteem led to a greater improvement in endurance performance and a greater reduction in perceived pressure.

Conclusion: Therefore, it seems that the self-talk dissonance hypothesis was confirmed and motivational self-talk led to improved motor performance in the Bruce test by reducing perceived pressure.
Keywords
motivational self-talk
motor perfor
mance
self-esteem
perceived pressure and self-talk dissonance
Subjects
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Sports Psychology
Volume 17, Issue 2
February 2025
Pages 125-143

  • Receive Date 01 January 2025
  • Revise Date 01 October 2025
  • Accept Date 05 October 2025