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Self-efficacy has consistently distinguished between highly successful and less successful athletes. Given this relationship there is demand in sport to have strategies to enhance self-efficacy. The use of motivational general-mastery (MG-M) imagery is an effective psychological technique to enhance self-efficacy. What moderates the effectiveness of this technique is the athlete’s ability to use MG-M imagery. A single-subject multiple baseline design was employed where inter-collegiate golfers (n = 3; male) completed baseline and post-intervention measures: Motivational Imagery Ability Measure for Sport and the Golf Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Participants completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory prior to each competition and the score recorded for each round of golf was used to evaluate performance. Participants engaged in six sessions of guided MG-M imagery training over a 3-week period. The results of the study demonstrated that the sport confidence and golf self-efficacy of Participants 2 and 3 improved, while Participant 1 remained at a relatively constant level. All participants showed improved imagery ability and Participants 1 and 3 demonstrated improved golf performance. Post-experimental interviews indicated all participants felt the imagery training program was effective and appropriate for their sport.

Background: All the students in the University College of Södertörn in Sweden who are studying to become a teacher, are attending practice education. Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to illuminate and analyze how the students experienced their practice education. My intent was to investigate if the students by their experiences have been affected in their own self-esteem. Method: This is a qualitative study that has been responded by 60 teacher students. The students attended in an internet- survey that included ten different questions. Result: The result of the interviews shows that the self-esteem has been affected, mostly in a positive way. Conclusion: The most common reason that affected the student self-esteem depended on how their supervisor has been treating them during their practice.

The study examined the effect of feedback and gender on confidence, risk taking and decision making. Surveys were administered to 88 male and 110 female college students (N=198). Males were shown to be higher in risk taking than females. Individuals who received positive feedback were highest in both risk taking and confidence. Among individuals who received positive feedback, men were especially higher in risk taking and confidence than women. Regarding decision making, the study showed that there was no significant difference between males and females. Although, males had an advantage in the positive feedback condition and a disadvantage in the negative feedback condition, the results were not significant. Decision making was shown to be positively correlated with confidence but not with risk taking. The applications of the findings to entrepreneurship are discussed.

The purpose of the investigation was to determine the effect of self-modeling on self-efficacy and performance of balance beam routines. Subjects (n=ll) were intermediate level gymnasts rated at the 5, 6, and 7 skill levels with ages ranging from 8 to 13 years. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups, a self-modeling or a control group. For the self-modeling group, self-modeling videotapes were made of each subject performing her balance beam routine. During a six week period, the self-modeling group subjects viewed the videotape of themselves prior to practice three times a week for six consecutive weeks. All subjects completed two different self-efficacy inventories and a balance beam skills test at four intervals: a pretest, a 2-week test, a 4 week-test, and a posttest. During the six weeks, each group participated in their normal instructional program at the gymnastics academy.The results of this study indicated no significant differences in ratings of self-efficacy or balance beam performance, as based on judge's ratings between the self-modeling group and the control group. However, a significant correlation was found between predicted performance scores and actual performance scores for the self-modeling group (r=.92). This correlation was not significant for the control group (r=.02). Even though a significant effect of self-modeling on self-efficacy and performance scores was not found, this significant correlation indicates that self-modeling may enhance a subject's ability to realistically assess her/his performance. Thus, self-modeling may benefit the learner by developing an accurate conception of one's performance which would enhance the ability to understand and utilize instructional feedback to improve performance. / School of Physical Education

Amningsförekomsten har minskat i Sverige de senaste åren. Studier har visat att amning ger flera hälsovinster hos barn och mammor samt att mammornas tillit till sin förmåga att amma har betydelse för amningsutfallet.   Syfte: Att undersöka mammors tillit till sin förmåga att amma samt att se om mammornas tillit påverkade amningsutfallet när barnet var fyra månader, efter att mammorna genomgått Sensus förberedande amningskurs under graviditeten.   Design/ Metod: En kvantitativ, experimentell och prospektiv design valdes för att genomföra studien. En interventionsstudie utformades med en före-efter design. Interventionen utgjordes av totalt fyra kurstillfällen. Enkäten Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale Short Form (BSES-SF) användes för att mäta kvinnornas tillit till amning och fylldes i av kvinnorna vid tre tillfällen, den sista när barnet var fyra månader gammalt. När barnet var fyra månader svarade kvinnorna även på en enkät om barnets mat och sömn.   Resultat: Sensus amningskurs höjde kvinnornas medelvärde på BSES-SF, från 42,92 innan utbildningen, till 55,82 efter utbildningen (p<0,001). Mammornas tillit till sin förmåga att amma kvarstod när barnet var fyra månader (m=58,10) (p<0,001). Amningsförekomsten bland kvinnorna i studien var hög procentuellt sett jämfört med hur kvinnor ammar i Sverige.   Slutsats: Studien visade att förberedande amningskurs under graviditeten höjde mammornas (förstföderskor/omföderskor) tillit till sin förmåga att amma, samt ledde till hög amningsförekomst när barnet var fyra månader. Dessutom visade studien att de kvinnor som ammade i någon omfattning skattade tilliten till sin förmåga att amma högre än de kvinnor som inte ammade alls.  Det stöd som kvinnorna skattade som mest betydelsefullt för sin amning var stödet från hennes partner, därefter kom Sensus amningskurs och efter det Amningshjälpen. / In Sweden, the occurrence of breastfeeding has decreased over recent years. Research has shown that breastfeeding is beneficial health wise for both the child and the mother. It has also shown that the mothers’ self-efficacy in their ability to breastfeed is relevant in regards to the actual act of breastfeeding.   Aim: To investigate mothers’ confidence in their ability to breastfeed and if this confidence effected the frequency in which mothers breastfed once the child had reached four months of age after the mothers had undergone the Sensus breastfeeding program during pregnancy.   Design/ Method: A quantitative, experimental and prospective design was chosen to carry out this study. An intervention study was created which consisted of a pre and post design. This intervention was utilized on a total of four occasions. The questionnaire Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale Short Form (BSES-SF) was used to measure the women’s confidence in their ability to breastfeed. This questionnaire was filled in three times by the women, the last time being when the child was four months old. During this final occasion they also filled in another questionnaire concerning the child’s feeding and sleeping habits.   Results: The Sensus breastfeeding program raised the women’s mean in BSES-SF, from     42, 92 before the program to 55, 82 after the program (p<0,001). The women’s confidence in their ability to breastfeed remained the same when the child was four month’s old (m=58, 10) (p<0,001). The frequency of breastfeeding among the women in the study, percentage wise, was high in comparison to the overall population of Swedish women who breastfeed.   Conclusion: This study presented that breastfeeding programs during pregnancy can increase women’s confidence in their ability to breastfeed. It can also have a positive effect on the frequency of breastfeeding. This study also showed that mothers who breastfed to some extent had better confidence in their ability to breastfeed, compared with the mothers who didn’t breastfeed at all. Furthermore, the support that the mothers claimed as being most important in regards to breastfeeding was firstly the support received from her partner, then secondly the Sensus studieförbund and finally Amningshjälpen. / Sensus Amningskurs

Self-efficacy has consistently distinguished between highly successful and less successful athletes. Given this relationship there is demand in sport to have strategies to enhance self-efficacy. The use of motivational general-mastery (MG-M) imagery is an effective psychological technique to enhance self-efficacy. What moderates the effectiveness of this technique is the athlete’s ability to use MG-M imagery. A single-subject multiple baseline design was employed where inter-collegiate golfers (n = 3; male) completed baseline and post-intervention measures: Motivational Imagery Ability Measure for Sport and the Golf Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Participants completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory prior to each competition and the score recorded for each round of golf was used to evaluate performance. Participants engaged in six sessions of guided MG-M imagery training over a 3-week period. The results of the study demonstrated that the sport confidence and golf self-efficacy of Participants 2 and 3 improved, while Participant 1 remained at a relatively constant level. All participants showed improved imagery ability and Participants 1 and 3 demonstrated improved golf performance. Post-experimental interviews indicated all participants felt the imagery training program was effective and appropriate for their sport.

This thesis reports a series of nine inter-linked experiments examining the influence of different levels of verbal confidence on choice and interpersonal perceptions. Chapter 1 identifies the levels of confidence associated with some everyday expressions of confidence, expressions that are used as ‘confidence cues’ in subsequent experimental chapters. Chapter 2 examines the influence of confidence cues with different types of task, and Chapter 3 relates these influences to individual differences. Chapter 4 considers our perceptions of speakers who express different levels of confidence, then Chapters 5 and 6 examine whether these perceptions, and the subsequent use of their information, change when performance feedback is made available. Chapter 7 examines whether our own confidence level affects the extent to which a speaker’s confidence influences us then Chapter 8 determines if a speaker’s confidence exerts a positive or negative influence, while Chapter 9 investigates how the influence of confidence is influenced by the timing of the advice. The results indicate that confidence is an effective form of influence, providing evidence that a confidence heuristic is used, whereby a speaker’s confidence is taken as a cue to their accuracy, knowledge, and competency. The extent to which the confidence heuristic is used when making choices strongly depends on one’s own level of confidence, whether this was due to the type of task being tackled, the difficulty of the task, or the timing of the advice, with people relying more on the confidence heuristic as their own confidence decreased, although there were some individual differences mediating the extent of this. Increasing levels of speaker confidence lead to speakers being perceived more positively in terms of competency, but too much confidence was found to be detrimental in terms of how much a speaker was liked. Issues raised by this thesis, and directions for further research are considered in the Discussion.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 286-289).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, August, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.