Running Head: THE MENTAL SIDE OF SPORTS
The Mental Side of Sports
Megan C. Smith
University of Minnesota
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Athletes are always wondering what they can do to get that extra edge to set themselves
apart from the rest. While many athletes understand the importance of physical training, many
do not understand that mental training is equally as important for successful performance. Using
mental imagery, having self-confidence, using positive affirmations and relaxation techniques,
and having an optimal level of arousal can give an athlete this extra edge and help that athlete
perform to his or her fullest potential when combined with good conditioning, skills, and
physical health (Swartz, 1988).
Each year at the United States Olympic Trials there are about ten to fifteen different
athletes in each event capable of making the Olympic team who unfortunately do not achieve
their goal. With that being said, what do Olympians have that allow them to succeed against all
the other talented athletes at the trials? While they may be better conditioned, more genetically
gifted, or be in better physical health, the thing that most likely set them apart in the end was
their mental preparation. Ninety percent of US Olympians in a study conducted at the United
States Olympic Training Center reported using some sort of mental imagery. Of these athletes
that used mental imagery, ninety-seven percent believed it enhanced their performance (Murphy,
Jowdy, & Durtschi, 1990; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 297).
So what is mental imagery? According to Weinberg and Gould, “through imagery you
can re-create previous positive experiences or picture new events to prepare yourself mentally
for performance” (Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 296). There are several ways athletes use
imagery to help them improve both physically and mentally. Some things imagery is used for
include, “improving concentration, building confidence, controlling emotional responses,
acquiring and practicing sport skills and strategies, and coping with pain or injury” (Weinberg &
Gould, 2007, p. 306). Imagined stimuli have similar effects on the brain to actual stimuli
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(Marks, 1977, p. 285; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 303). According to Carpenter’s
psychoneuromuscular theory (as cited in Weinberg & Gould, 2007), neuromuscular activity has
been detected during imagery that stimulates the same muscles used during the activity being
rehearsed, but just to a lesser degree (Carpenter, 1894; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 303). There
is scientific evidence to support this theory, although a few studies have found conflicting
results. More research is needed to be conclusive. None the less, one can learn an activity
nearly as well using mental rehearsal as with actual practice (Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 303).
A story of a navy pilot who was imprisoned in a camp in Vietnam during the war is a
perfect example of the effectiveness of visualization. As a way to keep himself sane during the
long duration of his stay at this camp, he learned how to play a guitar from his cell mate who was
a professional musician. What makes this story interesting is that he had never touched a guitar
before in his life and never touched or heard one while learning to play at the camp. The two
prisoners drew six lines on a two inch wide board and used that as a guitar. The musician would
show the navy pilot the fingerings on the board as the pilot would sing out the note he heard in
his head. While lying in bed, the pilot would visualize playing the chords he had memorized.
Years later, the pilot was finally released from the camp and came home as an accomplished
guitarist after years of visualization and never touching a guitar (Lynch & Scott, 1999, p. 30).
While visualization has not necessarily been proven to be more effective than actual practice,
this case shows it was still very effective.
While mental imagery can be used to learn new skills, it can also be used to maintain old
skills when physical practice is not possible. An article in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation
titled “Use of mental imagery to limit strength loss after immobilization,” written by J. Newsom,
P. Knight, and R. Balnave, further supports the effects of mental rehearsal on performance. In
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this experiment, eighteen university students were randomly split into two groups, an
experimental group and a control group. The non-dominant forearm of all participants was
immobilized for ten days. During these ten days, the experimental group visualized squeezing a
rubber ball for five minutes three times a day. The control group did not participate in this
activity or any others related to this experiment during this time. After the ten days, the grip
strength of the immobilized forearm in both groups was tested and compared to the results of the
same test performed before immobilization. The experiment found that the grip strength of the
experimental group was about the same as it was before the immobilization, while the grip
strength of the control group had declined significantly during this time. While mental imagery
did not increase performance, it did help maintain it during the time of inactivity for the
experimental group (Newsom et al., 2003).
While imagery generally is perceived to enhance performance, there are instances when it
can hurt performance if used in a negative way. Martin and Murphy found that “in fact, when
directly asked, 35% of athletes, 25% of coaches, and 87% of sports psychologists could point to
examples when imagery inhibited performance” (Murphy & Martin, 2002). A study by S.
Beilock, J. Afremow, A. Rabe, and T. Carr, published in the article “'Don't Miss!' The
Debilitating Effects of Suppressive Imagery on Golf Putting Performance” in the Journal of
Sport & Exercise Psychology, explored this topic of negative imagery. This study examined the
effects of the use and frequency of suppressive imagery on putting accuracy by novice golfers.
The participants were split into six groups: a positive mental imagery group, a suppressive
imagery group, and a suppressive replacement group. Each of these categories was divided in
half with one group being a high frequency imagery group and the other one being a moderate
frequency group. The high frequency group was led through visualization before every putt
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while the moderate frequency group received visualization instructions before every third putt.
They found that both positive mental imagery groups improved performance after undergoing
the visualization, while the suppression and suppression replacement groups’ performance
declined when visualizing every putt, but improved when visualizing every third putt. These
findings suggest that frequent suppressive imagery (i.e. focusing on avoiding error rather than
achieving success) hurts performance, and trying to replace the negative thoughts with positive
ones does not decrease the damage done. In fact, the more someone tells him or herself not to do
something, the more likely that person will actually be to do what he or she is telling him or
herself not to do (Beilock et al, 2003).
While suppressive imagery is one type of imagery to use with caution due to its proven
adverse affects when used with a high frequency, there are a few other types of imagery that
should be used with caution as well. These types of imagery include imagery that causes an
excessive amount of anxiety, leads an athlete to be overly confident, or focuses on factors that
are unrelated or uncontrollable which could cause an athlete to imagine failure or errors. Using
imagery in any of those ways is likely to lead to poor performance (Murphy & Martin, 2002).
There are different factors which influence the effectiveness of imagery. One of these is
the type of task being visualized. Research has found visualization to be more effective for tasks
that are primarily cognitive such as decision making compared to tasks that are primarily
physical (Landers, 1983). The skill level of an athlete is another factor influencing how effective
imagery is. While imagery can help both experienced and novice players improve, it has been
found that it has a greater effect on experienced players (Hall, 2001; Weinberg &Gould, 2007, p.
302). The skill level one has at using visualization is also a major factor in its effectiveness
(Issac, 1992; Weinberg & Gould, 2007). Athletes who are better able to control the images they
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are imagining and use visualization effectively are more likely to see positive benefits from using
it (Rodgers, Hall, & Buckholtz, 1991; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 302). A final factor that
affects the effectiveness of imagery is whether or not it is used along with physical practice.
While the sole use of visualization has been found to be effective in situations where physical
practice was not possible, it still is more beneficial to use it as a supplement to physical practice
rather than a replacement. All the imagery of winning in the world is not going to be effective if
the athlete does not have the physical skills to back it up (Vealey & Walter, 1993; Weinberg &
Gould, 2007, p. 303).
Similar to the use of visualization, confidence is another key factor that sets apart the
great from the good in athletics. In fact, there is research that shows confidence is the most often
stated factor that separates the most successful athletes from the rest (Jones & Hardy, 1990;
Vealey, 2005; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 322). Ninety percent of sixty three highly
accomplished athletes that were interviewed stated that they had a very high level of selfconfidence (Gould, Greenleaf, Lauer, & Chung, 1999; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 322). Since
the brain cannot distinguish between real and imagined stimuli, it is important to imagine success
and have self-confidence, because people will perform just how they image themselves doing in
their heads. This is known as a self-fulfilling prophesy. If someone expects to fail, then a
negative self-fulfilling prophesy is created where the person will actually end up failing or doing
exactly what the person expected to do. This, in turn, leads to a lowered self-esteem and
confidence level resulting in a higher expectancy of failure which increases the chance that this
negative self prophesy will be fulfilled, resulting in failure again. This negative cycle is likely to
continue until the athlete increases his or her self-confidence (Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 323).
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The story of Roger Bannister is an excellent example of someone overcoming a widely
believed, negative, self-fulfilling prophesy. Most people at the time believed it was
physiologically impossible for a human to run a mile under four minutes. Bannister, however,
did not on the day that he became the first man to do so in 1954. Although he had his doubts that
it was possible, on that day in 1954, he believed one hundred percent that he was capable of
running a mile under four minutes and did exactly that that day. With the psychological barrier
broken, several other runners broke the four minute barrier within the next year. Did the training
and physical condition of all those athletes suddenly improve immensely during that following
year allowing them to break the barrier? Most likely not. More likely, it was because the
negative self-fulfilling prophesy was removed by knowing it was actually possible for a man to
run a mile in less than four minutes (Bascomb, 2004).
Several research studies support this self-fulfilling prophesy theory of athletes performing
to the level they expect to perform. In one such study, performed by Nelson and Furst in 1972
(as cited in Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 328), two people were assigned to arm wrestle each
other. Both people incorrectly believed that the one person was stronger. The person one was
actually weaker, but believed to be stronger, won ten out of twelve arm wrestle contests, thus
supporting the idea of people performing to their own expectations or self-fulfilling prophesies
(Nelson & Furst, 1972; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 328).
In a study performed in 1979 by Ness and Patton, weight lifters were told “that they were
lifting either more or less weight than they actually were” (Ness & Patton, 1979). The most
weight was lifted by the participants when they believed they were lifting less. They were able
to lift more weight then they thought they were able to, because they believed the weight to be a
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lesser weight that they knew and were confident they were able to lift, thus living up to their
expectations and self-fulfilling prophesy (Ness & Patton, 1979).
Another study done with weightlifters, by Maganaris, Collins, and Sharp in 2000, further
showed the role of confidence and performance levels. In this study, weight lifters were given a
placebo pill containing saccharine, but were informed that it was an anabolic steroid that would
increase their performance. The performance of these athletes increased with their confidence
gained from taking the pill, until they were informed that it was a placebo. Their performance
decreased after they learned the drug was not actually enhancing their performance (Maganaris,
Collins, & Sharp, 2000). Other studies have shown how students and athletes create selffulfilling prophesies in order to live up to their teacher’s or coach’s high or low expectations for
them (Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 329).
While it is important for an athlete to be confident in his or her ability to succeed, it is
also important for an athlete not to be overly confident which can lead to poor performance. To
describe the relationship between confidence and performance, a graph shaped as an inverted-U
is used with the upper right corner of the U being skewed slightly to the right. The optimal level
of confidence lies slightly to the right of the middle of the U. In general, increased confidence
leads to increased performance up until a point where confidence far exceeds one’s ability and
becomes detrimental to performance. This is because the athlete believes he or she does not
even have to exert much effort because he or she is so confident that his or her goal will be
achieved. Being under-confident can also hurt performance. An athlete in this state often has
the skills to be successful, but is not, because the athlete does not believe that he or she actually
does have those skills. Each person has an optimal level of confidence that is the best level for
him or her personally (Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 325-326).
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Preparing for a competition using mental imagery and having self-confidence will help an
athlete succeed in competition in several ways. One is by helping the athlete stay more relaxed
and positive and less stressed while competing. Stress causes disturbances in the neurological
pathways connecting muscles to the cerebral cortex. This can cause one to tense up and fatigue
under pressure or stress and also can cause a person to misstep and trip and fall (Lynch & Scott,
1999, p.18-19).
One way to avoid stressing and tensing up during a race or competition is to try to stay
relaxed and use positive affirmations. A positive affirmation is a word or phrase that helps
affirm one’s confidence or helps an individual stay focused and motivated on the task at hand. A
positive affirmation uses a positive word of phrase to repeat to oneself when an athlete starts to
get tired or stressed out, such as “relax” or “I am strong” etc. This reminds the athlete to relax or
do whatever it is the affirmation is affirming. Positive affirmations can be used before, during,
or after competitions. Sometimes they are just a word or phrase repeated in an athlete’s head, or
other times the athlete may find it useful to actually write out the affirmations on his or her hand
or on a note card (Lynch & Scott, 1999, p. 41).
Another way to stay relaxed and to relieve stress in addition to the ways previously
discussed, is to focus on the process and not the outcome during a competition. A competitor
can only control the process of a race or competition which will influence the outcome, but one
cannot control what the competition does or other outside factors that influence an event’s
outcome. There is no reason to focus on what one cannot control, which will only cause stress.
Instead, the focus should be on what can be controlled. If a runner focuses on solely on trying to
win during a race, it is likely he or she will worry too much about his or her position in the race,
and focus on “not dying.” Stressing too much over position during a race can cause the runner to
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tense up and “die,” exactly what he or she was focused on not doing. On the counterpart, a
runner focused on staying relaxed and having good form is more likely to stay relaxed and
succeed (Lynch & Scott, 1999, p. 22).
Another important component to mental preparation for competition is having the correct
level of arousal before and during competition. It is not good to be overly aroused and stressed
about an event, but at the same time, it is not good to be under-aroused and not excited to
compete at all to the point where the athlete does not try hard enough. Research has found
support for R. B. Zajonc’s social facilitation theory (as cited in Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 86)
that people generally perform well-learned tasks better in the presence of others, while they
typically perform worse in front of others while performing a task that hasn’t been mastered yet
(Zajonc, 1965; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 86). The inverted-U hypothesis, similar to the one
used for confidence levels and performance, can be used to explain the relationship between
arousal levels and performance. This model attributes top performance with a middle level of
arousal and decreases in performance with either too low or high levels or arousal. According to
the individual zones of optimal functioning model by Yuri Hanin, a Russian sports psychologist
(as cited in Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 88), each person has his or her own optimal level of
arousal where optimal performance is reached. According to this theory, an optimal level of
arousal may not be exactly in the middle of the inverted-U, but instead may be higher or lower
depending on the individual and the task at hand (Hanin, 1980, 1986, 1997; Weinberg & Gould,
2007, p. 88).
L. Hardy (as cited in Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 89-90) developed a slightly different
theory, known as the catastrophe theory, in order to address the relation between arousal and
cognitive anxiety. This model relates to the inverted-U hypothesis, but is different in that it
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proposes that increased cognitive anxiety (i.e. worry) leads to increased arousal. This increased
arousal is facilitative up until a point where arousal becomes too high and leads to a rapid decline
in performance or a catastrophe as opposed to the gradual decline predicted by the inverted-U
hypothesis (Hardy, 1990, 1996; Weinberg & Gould, 2007).
G. Kerr (as cited in Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 90-91) further developed the theories of
arousal by coming up with the reversal theory. According to this theory, performance is not only
affected by the level or arousal, but by the way one views arousal. Arousal can either be viewed
as positive and facilitative or negative and debilitative. A high amount of arousal could be
facilitative and improve performance if viewed that way, but could also be very debilitative if
viewed in a negative way which causes stress (Kerr, 1985, 1997; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p.
90-91). A study of swimmers by Hanton and Jones, in 1999 (as cited in Weinberg & Gould,
2007, p. 91), found that a debilitative interpretation of anxiety can be changed to a facilitative
one through the use of mental training skills such as goal setting, positive self-talk, and mental
imagery (Hanton & Jones, 1999b; Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p. 91). Interpreting anxiety in a
debilitative way can lead to increased stress and can cause muscles to tighten up and fatigue
sooner resulting in poor performance. Lack of confidence, often caused by uncertainty, is one
thing that can cause increased anxiety. This anxiety is usually interpreted in a debilitative way
by under-confident people, which in turn leads to increased stress and poor performance. People
who are more confident will experience less state-anxiety and interpret it in a more facilitative
way than those with lower confidence (Weinberg & Gould, 2007, p.93-97).
Overall, it is important to prepare mentally as well as physically for competition.
Athletes who prepare mentally will have an advantage over those of equal skill level who do not.
It is important to practice mental imagery, have self-confidence, use positive affirmations and
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relaxation techniques, and have an optimal level of arousal in order to have the mental edge over
the competition. Top performing athletes use both mental and physical preparation to achieve
top performances.
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