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Spotlight on the link between imagery and empathy in sport

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Abstract

Background

Imagery and empathy are both important resources for athletes’ performance. Although the imagery is frequently used in sport psychology, its relationship with dispositional empathy remains largely unexplored.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between multidimensionally defined empathy and the ability to use the imagery in athletes, and more specifically whether empathy and general imagery ability (and their interaction) can predict the use of situational imagery components.

Methods

The study’s sample consisted of 279 athletes (including 98 women) with different levels of expertise: regional (n = 94), national (n = 94), and international (n = 91). The average age was approximately 20 years (M = 20.5, SD = 1.02, min. = 18, max. = 26). The Imagination in Sport Questionnaire and the Empathic Sensitiveness Scale were the instruments used in the study.

Results

The results indicated that there was a repeated interaction between personal distress and general imagery in the complementary impact on situational imagery.

Conclusions

Our study has applied implications and is relevant for illuminating the link between imagery and empathy.

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Abbreviations

ISQ:

The Imagination in Sport Questionnaire

EC:

Empathic concern

PT:

Perspective taking

PD:

Personal distress

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Funding

This research received no external funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland

    Dagmara Budnik-Przybylska & Maria Kaźmierczak

  2. Faculty of Humanities, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

    Karol Karasiewicz

  3. Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Via Polacchi, 11, Chieti, Italy

    Maurizio Bertollo

Authors
  1. Dagmara Budnik-Przybylska
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  2. Maria Kaźmierczak
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  3. Karol Karasiewicz
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  4. Maurizio Bertollo
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Contributions

DBP, MK participated in the design of the study, contributed to data collection and data analysis, interpretation of results; KK participated in data analysis and interpretation of results MB participated in interpretation of results. All authors contributed to the manuscript writing. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript, and agree with the order of presentation of the authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maurizio Bertollo.

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There are no conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Ethics Committee of University of Gdansk approved the protocol (11/2015) before the commencement of the study`

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Each athlete or guardian was asked to sign a written informed consent form before participating in the study. Consent for publication: all authors have approved the final version of this manuscript.

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Budnik-Przybylska, D., Kaźmierczak, M., Karasiewicz, K. et al. Spotlight on the link between imagery and empathy in sport. Sport Sci Health 17, 243–252 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00722-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00722-7

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