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Feedback, Sport-Confidence and Performance of Lacrosse Skills

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Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between sport-confidence and athletic performance. Fifty male lacrosse players competed against each other three times on three lacrosse skills. Sport-confidence was assessed before each trial using a modified version of the State Sport-Confidence Inventory (SSCI). Performance feedback was manipulated to boost confidence in some players and diminish it in others. Over trials, self-reported confidence increased with positive (winning) feedback and decreased with negative (losing) feedback, but lacrosse performance remained stable. When sport-confidence was treated as a subject variable, performance did not differ between players who were higher or lower in confidence. These results are inconsistent with the claim that confidence influences performance.

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Notes

  1. Following the suggestion of an anonymous reviewer, performance was compared for participants whose confidence scores were in the upper and lower 27% of the distribution. None of the effects involving confidence were significant for any of the three tasks.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participants for their time and effort to make this research possible. We also recognize Marc-André Pilon, Marc-Alexandre Piette and Alexandre Lacombe-Lavigne, who assisted in data collection. Finally, we acknowledge Chad Fairfoull, Robert Daoust, Alexandre Lacombe-Lavigne and the Ligue Provinciale d’Inter-Crosse for giving us access to their players and sharing practice time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de psychoéducation et de psychologie, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Pavillon Alexandre-Taché, 283, boulevard Alexandre-Taché, Gatineau, QC, J9A 1L8, Canada

    Alexis Gagnon-Dolbec

  2. Department of Psychology, Bishop’s University, 2600 College, Sherbrooke, QC, J1M 1T3, Canada

    Stuart J. McKelvie

  3. Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada

    Joseph Eastwood

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  1. Alexis Gagnon-Dolbec
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  2. Stuart J. McKelvie
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Correspondence to Stuart J. McKelvie.

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This study was conducted with human participants. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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All procedures were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the university where the research was conducted, of the Canadian Tri-Council Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research involving Human Participants (TCPS2 2014) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Gagnon-Dolbec, A., McKelvie, S.J. & Eastwood, J. Feedback, Sport-Confidence and Performance of Lacrosse Skills. Curr Psychol 38, 1622–1633 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9720-7

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