Goal-Directed and Spontaneous Self-Talk in Anger- and Anxiety-Eliciting Sport-Situations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore differences in the occurrence and in the content of spontaneous and goal-directed self-talk in anger- and anxiety-eliciting situations. A total of 62 male and 25 female athletes (M_age = 19.66, SD = 2.07) agreed to participate. The results showed that in anger-eliciting situations, spontaneous self-talk was generally negative and retrospective, whereas in anxiety-eliciting situations, spontaneous self-talk was positive and negative as well as anticipatory. Goal-directed self-talk generally aimed at creating activated states, regulating behavior and focusing on positive predictions, even though differences among both emotion-eliciting situations were also detected.