Nothing unfortunate about disagreements in sport self-talk research: Reply to Van Raalte, Vincent, Dickens, and Brewer (2019).

Abstract

Self-talk is one of the classic topics in sports and exercise psychology (Vealey, 1994). Since the first studies of self-talk in sports, the literature has steadily grown to a point where the concept of self-talk represented various psychological processes and skills (Hardy, Comoutos, & Hatzigeorgiadis, 2018). In our review article, we had identified developments in self-talk that led us to propose a new integrative conceptualization that both reflects previous approaches and evidence and facilitates a more coherent body of research conducted in the future (Latinjak, Hatzigeorgiadis, Comoutos, & Hardy, 2019). Accordingly, self-talk takes form in verbalizations addressed to the self, overtly or covertly, characterized by interpretative elements associated to their content, and it either (a) reflects dynamic interplays between organic, spontaneous and goal-directed cognitive processes or (b) conveys messages to activate responses through the use of predetermined cues developed strategically, to achieve performance related outcomes.

Self-Talk: An Interdisciplinary Review and Transdisciplinary Model

“…Noticeably, articles on educational self-talk interventions also emphasised organic self-talk ( n = 6), goal-directed self-talk ( n = 12), and spontaneous self-talk ( n = 1). The eight articles that focused on more than two categories were mainly theoretical contributions to the self-talk literature (Fritsch et al, 2020; Hardy, 2006; Latinjak et al, 2018; 2019a; 2019b; Van Raalte et al, 2016; 2019; Weinberg, 2018). With the categorisation of the articles, we were able to continue with the stratified sampling of the articles in each self-talk category for the focused review section.…”

“…The differentiation of self-talk entities is not without controversy. Where some see different entities that correspond to different lines of research (Latinjak, Hardy et al, 2019), others see a single self-talk entity that has merely been examined using two different methods (Van Raalte et al, 2019). To differentiate between strategic (e.g.…”

“…telling oneself that ‘I should do that') and organic self-talk, it is important to focus on the cognitive origins of self-statements and not on their content, functions, or effects. The content of a cue word in strategic self-talk may be indistinguishable from an example of organic self-talk, but the former was determined prior to use, while the latter is formed just before or even during its verbalisation (Latinjak, Hardy et al, 2019). Strategic self-talk, like organic self-talk, can perform instructional or motivational functions (Hatzigeorgiadis et al, 2011; Fritsch et al, 2022), but strategic self-talk is planned in anticipation of needs, while organic self-talk is a response to ongoing events and emerging needs.…”

The Coach–Athlete Relationship and Self-Talk in Turkish Athletes

“…In the past, many theories have been proposed to explain the effectiveness of self-talk interventions [5,8,10,11] such as the self-efficacy theory [12], Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development [13], the self-fulfilling prophecy [14], and the self-determination theory [15]. However, recently, two theoretical frameworks have been introduced to explain the effectiveness of self-talk in sport [16][17][18]. Latinjak et al [17], and Van Raalte et al's [18] theoretical frameworks mutually attempted to explain self-talk in sport.…”

“…In response to Van Raalte et al's [18] commentary, Latinjak et al [16] defined self-talk as organic self-talk (related to psychological and cognitive processes) and strategic self-talk (related to behavioral rules). Although both theoretical frameworks conclude that there are many similarities in their examination of athletes' self-talk, Latinjak et al [16] insist that their terminology (organic and strategic) is different and provides a better understanding and that Van Raalte et al's [18] framework lacks data-driven studies in sport. Furthermore, there was another comment about the assessment of self-talk.…”