Abstract

In the world of athletics, confidence has been widely regarded as an important factor in an athlete's performance. Confidence is a complex role that involves many different things, and can be perceived differently by each athlete, team, and coach. Research has shown that confidence can be influenced by the athletes own mentality, their teammates feelings towards them, and what is physically going on in the game around them. Simply put, confidence is an everchanging feeling that is not either a yes or no answer. The purpose of this study is to see how performance can be affected by an athlete's confidence in themselves and their team. This study also examined if there is a relationship between these two constructs and if they together influence an individual's performance. Finally, the study experimentally manipulated participants’ confidence in an attempt to affect participants’ confidence and potentially impact participants’ performance. The study involved a total of 60 participants and involved two athletes on the same college team filling out a survey, then participating in an in person, sport specific activity. Results showed that there was not any significance in an athlete’s performance in relation to their confidence group, self-confidence, and team confidence. Results did not show that there was a significant relation to someone's self-confidence and performance in this task. Results also showed that the athletes manipulated confidence and did not affect their performance in the task. However, there was an interesting relation between someone's team confidence negatively impacting their performance ability.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how teams and athletes can improve their performance by having an improved state of mind in their confidence, and by improving their mental power can also help improve their physical abilities. While confidence is something that is different for each person, this study should help understand the extent that confidence can have on an athlete specifically, and that controlled confidence in an athlete is a great way for them to have better performance in their sport setting.

Advisor

Scheibe, Dan

Department

Psychology

Disciplines

Other Psychology | Social Psychology

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2026 Jack K. Spring