Effects of Self-Instructions on Sport Performance

This article describes an experiment that tested whether using self-instructions would improve sport performance. For the study, 100 adults, randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a control group, competed in a putting tournament. The intervention group members were asked to give themselves a self-instruction of their choice, e.g., 'body still,' before each putt. The control group members received instructions to putt as usual. The self-instruction golfers needed significantly fewer putts than the golfers in the control condition to complete 12 holes, each with a starting putt of about 12feet. The self-instruction golfers as a group reported that they thought they were putting better than normal, while the golfers in the control condition thought they were putting at about their usual level of performance. The results add to prior evidence that self-instructions can improve upon performance.