HPC · Science Deep Dive 18 June 2026 · revised 15 October 2026

Self-Talk and Performance: What the Evidence Shows About Your Inner Voice.

The words you use with yourself can change how you feel and perform, by modest amounts. Using your own name instead of "I" eased distress in lab experiments, and early brain studies from one lab suggest the shift works within about a second. Here is what the science actually says, and what to do with it.

Section: Identity & Inner Game · Confidence
Reading time: 22 min read
Sources: 36 · reviewed

THE VERDICT, IN BRIEF
The words you use with yourself can change how you feel and perform, by modest amounts and in specific situations. That is less than popular coverage suggests, and more useful. An older pooled analysis found that deliberate self-talk improved sport performance on average, most of all on precise tasks. A later analysis found strong signs of publication bias that leave that average uncertain. Using your own name instead of "I" eased distress in lab experiments. One lab's small brain studies suggest the shift works fast, but no independent lab has yet repeated that result. In daily life, distanced self-talk was associated with better mood only while people planned what to do or say, and only slightly. Repeated negative thinking was linked to depression and anxiety that persist or return, although adjusting for baseline demographic and clinical factors greatly weakened that link.^[25] One trial in junior sub-elite athletes found that an eight-week training package gave larger gains on several outcomes than a one-week course. Treat your inner voice as a skill worth practising, and expect modest gains. Read the full verdict →

01The Pronoun Shift

In the lab, one changed word eased distress

Does the way you talk to yourself change how you feel and perform? It can, by modest amounts and in specific moments. An older pooled analysis of controlled studies found that deliberate self-talk improved sport performance on average, most of all on precise tasks.^[17] A later analysis found strong signs of publication bias, the tendency for positive results to get published more often.^[35] Some of its corrected estimates could not rule out no effect.^[35] Using your own name instead of "I" eased distress in lab experiments.^[19]

Inner speech is common but not constant. In a small study that sampled random moments of the day, it showed up in about a quarter of them, and the amount varied widely between people.^[2] The idea that everyone runs a nonstop inner monologue does not hold.

A review of more than four decades of research concludes that self-talk does more than reflect your state of mind: it can also help manage that state.^[1] Studies link the words you use to brain activity, stress hormones, focus and performance, though the size of each link varies.

Self-talk also comes in four kinds. Instructional self-talk, short cue words such as "smooth" or "extend", steers attention during a task.^[17] In a study of young tennis players, motivational self-talk raised self-confidence and eased worry.^[21] Distanced self-talk, addressing yourself by name or in the third person, puts some distance between you and a feeling.^[19] The fourth kind, repeated negative thinking or brooding, is a risk, not a tool. It was linked to depression and anxiety that persist or return, though the link weakened greatly once other factors were taken into account.^[25]

The history

The best-known finding came from social psychology, not sport. A set of seven studies tested one change of wording, from "I" to your own name, and found that it helped people step back.^[19] In two social-stress experiments, such as giving a speech, it also eased distress and improved independently rated performance.^[19] It needed no training, meditation or therapy.

Third-person self-talk means thinking about yourself as "he", "she" or by name. Brain studies from one lab found early signs that it quiets the brain's emotional response quickly and without extra mental effort.^[13]

Hold that finding lightly. The brain samples were small, and no independent lab has yet repeated the brain-scan result.^[13] The behavioural effect has been observed in several lab experiments; the brain mechanism is promising but not settled.^[19]

Why would words matter at all? An influential theory of child development holds that inner speech grows out of speech with others. Children first talk aloud to guide what they do, then slowly take that talk inside as silent thought.^[3] Studies of children give the pattern qualified support. Private speech, talking aloud to yourself, often becomes quieter and more internal during childhood, though the pattern varies with age and task.^[6] Task-relevant self-guiding speech can support problem solving and self-control.^[6]

Belief in your own ability is one route by which words could affect performance, and two major theories of motivation deal with it. One holds that self-efficacy, your belief that you can do something, grows partly through verbal persuasion.^[8] Another treats feeling competent as one of three basic needs behind motivation.^[9] In one trial with junior sub-elite athletes, a self-talk training package improved measured general self-efficacy.^[30] More recent work has added brain scans, stress-hormone measures and daily-life sampling, which link self-talk to the body as well as the mind.

02The Mechanism

How Self-Talk Works on the Brain's Emotional and Attentional Systems

In a working-memory model, one role of inner speech, silent rehearsal, runs through the phonological loop, a short-term system for speech-based information.^[11] It has two parts. A passive phonological store holds that information for roughly 1 to 2 seconds unless rehearsal refreshes it.^[11] Silent repetition, called the articulatory rehearsal process, is the active part that refreshes it.^[11]

Brain imaging has also looked at inner speech. A major review of inner speech found that it runs mainly through language areas at the front and side of the brain.^[10] They include the left inferior frontal gyrus, which holds a classic speech region called Broca's area.^[10] No single region produces inner speech.^[10] A network does, combining speech production, listening and thinking about yourself.^[10]

That matters because these language circuits also connect to the brain's emotion systems. One small study, described just below, looked at the medial prefrontal cortex, an area tied to thinking about yourself. People recalling upsetting memories showed less activity there when they used their own name rather than "I".^[13]

In a working-memory model, silent rehearsal is one role of inner speech. In one lab's small studies, switching from the first to the third person lowered activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a self-focused area, and eased a brain-wave sign of emotion within about a second, with no sign of extra mental effort.

Diagram · HPC

The clearest test comes from one lab's two-part brain study.^[13] In the first part, a small group viewed upsetting images while thinking about themselves in either the first or the third person. Third-person self-talk lowered the late positive potential, a brain-wave sign of emotional reaction, within about a second.^[13] In the second part, a brain scan showed that third-person self-talk lowered activity in the medial prefrontal cortex while people recalled upsetting personal memories.^[13] It did so without raising activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or other areas used for effortful control.^[13]

The lack of any rise in measured signs of effortful control is the practical point. Common ways to manage emotion, such as rethinking a situation, holding feelings back or mindfulness, usually take deliberate mental effort. A review of this work suggests that the pronoun shift needs relatively little effort.^[32] The brain does not seem to work harder; it views the same experience from further away, and the feeling eases.

These are the small, one-lab studies flagged in the opening. The behaviour is better supported. Self-distancing means stepping back to view your own experience as an observer would. A review of this research describes one experiment.^[31] People prompted to reflect on an upsetting memory from a distance felt less distress about that memory a week later.^[31]

In one small scan study, people did a reasoning puzzle test before and after positive or negative self-talk. In scans taken after the puzzles, positive and negative self-talk went with different patterns of connection between brain networks.^[12] The networks studied included the default mode network, active when the mind turns inward, and the central executive network, used for focused control.^[12] Another study found that hearing your own voice during self-talk changed activity in hearing and memory areas.^[15] That change was stronger when the talk stepped back from thoughts than when it affirmed the self.^[15]

Choking under pressure is when high stakes make skilled people perform worse. A review of brain studies linked it to overactive reward and emotion areas, including the striatum, and weaker control from the prefrontal cortex.^[28] That fits the idea that negative self-focus crowds out control, but only as an inference. And negative self-talk does not reliably hurt short-term performance, as the evidence section shows.^[18]

Inner speech is also hard to measure. In a smartphone study, general questionnaire answers endorsed more inner speech than reports collected at random moments.^[7] Ratings of evaluative and motivational inner speech did not correlate across the two methods.^[7] So how you describe your inner speech in general may differ from what you report in the moment.

One theory holds that inner speech is the main route to self-awareness, the mind's way of stepping back to observe its own contents.^[14] A questionnaire study of young adults, not a clinical group, found at least four distinct dimensions of inner speech.^[5] One of them, dialogic inner speech, the sense of holding a conversation with yourself, was linked to a greater tendency toward auditory hallucination-like experiences.^[5] That is a questionnaire link in a nonclinical group. One book on the subject describes the inner voice not as a monologue but as a chorus.^[4]

03Evidence

The Five Strongest Studies on Self-Talk and Performance

01The claim

The single load-bearing finding

The hero study finds 0.48 average effect.

This ranking is an editorial judgement. The five studies were chosen for their relevance to this article's question and ranked by total score on a rubric that gives design the most weight. So a pooled analysis of randomised trials outranks a single brain-imaging study. The older pooled sport average was moderate.^[17] With some corrections for publication bias, even that average could be close to zero.^[35] The most dramatic findings, from brain imaging, come from the smallest samples. The brain-scan result for the pronoun shift has not been independently repeated.^[13]

Key study result

0.48 average effect

02How we measured

Grading the inner-voice trials

Studies scored on design, sample, rigour, causality, replication, citations.

The most dramatic self-talk findings come from small brain-imaging samples, and the pooled effects are modest. So the rubric gives design the most weight, and it also scores sample size and repeats, to separate sturdy findings from striking but preliminary ones.

Rubric weights

Design/30

Sample/20

Rigour/15

Causality/15

Replication/10

Citations/10

03The spread

Heterogeneity across 5 studies

Methodological quality across the ranked studies.

A pooled analysis of experiments in adults found only a small average benefit from reflecting on feelings from a distance.^[33] The low end of its likely range sits just above zero, so the real effect could be close to nothing.^[33] In a daily-life study, distanced self-talk was uncommon.^[34] Compared with "I", it was linked to a small rise in positive mood only in the preparatory context, when people were planning what to do or say.^[34] No significant difference was found in the other three: when people were self-critical, trying to feel better or pleased with themselves.^[34]

Rubric spread

→ 72 /100

Highest to lowest rubric score across the ranked studies.

04Beyond the top five

Wider evidence

What the wider evidence adds.

A later analysis checked the sport studies for publication bias, the tendency for positive results to get published more often.^[35] It found a similar uncorrected average, but strong signs of publication bias and of p-hacking, analysing data until a result looks significant.^[35] Some bias-corrected models were compatible with no effect.^[35] Negative self-talk is less clear-cut. A systematic review found that it did not reliably hurt short-term performance.^[18] The performance story is more complex than "positive good, negative bad."

The studies

5 studies, ranked.

Below: the anchor study in full; then every study's rubric score; then the supporting studies in ranked order.

01Anchor

Self-Talk and Sports Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Hatzigeorgiadis, Zourbanos & Galanis Perspectives on Psychological Science 2011 Meta-Analysis · 32 Controlled Studies · Moderator Analysis

In the controlled studies pooled here, deliberate self-talk improved sport performance on average, most of all in precise tasks that need focused attention. A later analysis found strong signs of publication bias, and some corrected estimates could not rule out no effect.^[35]

It pools controlled studies into one estimate. Its breakdown by task type shows where self-talk helped more and where it helped less. Its replication score credits a later analysis that found a similar uncorrected average.^[35] That analysis also found strong signs of publication bias and p-hacking.^[35]

Rubric breakdown

Design28/30

Sample18/20

Rigour13/15

Causality13/15

Replication10/10

Citations9/10

Total 91/100

The strongest studies, ranked by methodological weight.

Each scored 0 to 100 against a six-criterion rubric, tagged by design and year; the anchor leads.

Anchor (Rank 1) Supporting

Rank Authors & title Journal · Year Finding Score

Moser, Dougherty & Mattson

Third-Person Self-Talk Facilitates Emotion Regulation Without Engaging Cognitive Control

Scientific Reports · 2017

While people viewed upsetting images, third-person self-talk lowered a brain-wave sign of emotional reaction within about a second.^[13] Areas used for effortful control showed no rise in activity.^[13] In a brain scan, it also lowered activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a self-focused area, while people recalled upsetting personal memories.^[13]

83/100

Kross, Bruehlman-Senecal & Park

Self-Talk as a Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2014

Across seven studies, self-talk without "I", for example using your own name, helped people step back from their experience.^[19] In two social-stress experiments, it also reduced distress and improved independently rated performance.^[19] In the speech experiment, it cut unhelpful replaying of the event afterwards.^[19] The benefits extended to socially anxious people.^[19]

79/100

Orvell, Vickers & Drake

Does Distanced Self-Talk Facilitate Emotion Regulation Across a Range of Emotionally Intense Experiences?

Clinical Psychological Science · 2021

Distanced self-talk reduced emotional reactions at every level of intensity tested, including intense events.^[20] The benefit held for people who tend toward anxiety and negative moods.^[20]

76/100

Walter, Nikoleizig & Alfermann

Effects of Self-Talk Training on Competitive Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, Volitional Skills, and Performance

Sports · 2019

In junior sub-elite athletes, a trial compared an eight-week self-talk training package with a one-week course and with no training.^[30] The longer programme improved coach-rated skills, general self-efficacy, state confidence and the self-optimisation scale of willpower skills.^[30] Anxiety findings were mixed.^[30] The longer package gave larger gains on several outcomes, but it combined self-talk practice with education and relaxation.^[30]

72/100

04Stakes

The Cost of Unmanaged Self-Talk

The benefits above are modest. The costs below are mostly links found over time, not tested causes. They reach beyond mood: to stress hormones, to depression and anxiety, and to performance under pressure.

01 System 01

Clinical Risk

In a large cohort of adults followed for three years, repeated negative thinking was linked to depression and anxiety disorders that persisted or returned.^[25] Adjusting for baseline demographic and clinical factors greatly weakened that link.^[25] Earlier research linked brooding to longer and more severe episodes of depression.^[23]

In practice

thought loops that replay the same failure, waking in the early hours with the same sentence running, being unable to leave a conversation that ended hours ago

02 System 02

Endocrine Cost

In a diary study, young adults described as healthy gave saliva samples.^[26] On a more stressful day, more rumination about stress than usual was linked to higher waking levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone, the next morning.^[26] More rumination than usual on low-stress days was linked to a flatter cortisol slope across the next day.^[26] These are diary associations: the link showed up in a body measure the next day, not only in mood. In a lab exercise study, negative self-talk went with higher cortisol in saliva than positive self-talk or self-talk that steered attention away from the effort, at the same workload.^[27]

In practice

Illustrations, not effects measured in these studies: fatigue that sleep does not fix, a stress response that feels out of proportion, constant background tension

System 03

Choking Under Pressure

The choking review in the mechanism section linked choking under pressure to overactive reward and emotion areas and weaker control from the prefrontal cortex.^[28] That is a link from brain studies; the evidence section found that negative self-talk did not reliably hurt short-term performance.^[18] The DLPFC is a planning area at the front of the brain. The review describes a study in which weaker connectivity between the DLPFC and the motor cortex went with a greater tendency to choke.^[28] That connection is thought to guard against choking.^[28]

In practice

skill that disappears when people are watching, performance that slips the more the outcome matters, tightness that no warm-up loosens

04 System 04

Two-Way Link

A meta-analysis linked self-focused attention, attention turned inward on yourself, with negative mood, with stronger links for rumination; attention to positive aspects of yourself sometimes went with better mood.^[29] In a daily-life study, ruminative self-focus and negative mood each predicted the other.^[36] A major review of brooding argues that it wears down problem solving and social support.^[24]

In practice

knowing the self-criticism is unfair but being unable to stop it, feeling trapped inside your own head, pulling away from people out of exhaustion, not choice

05Protocol

A 4-Step Self-Talk Alignment Protocol

Each step applies one finding above to one moment in your day. The sequence is a synthesis of the cited studies; no study has tested the four steps together.

The protocol, as a sequence.

Moment of activation → Task execution → Post-event processing → Ongoing training

01 Step 01 · Moment of activation

Distanced Self-Talk

When emotion rises, refer to yourself by your own name instead of "I". If your name is Sam, say "Sam has prepared for this", not "I'm terrified." Change only the words.

Why

In two social-stress experiments from a set of seven lab studies, talking about yourself without "I" reduced distress and improved independently rated performance.^[19] One lab's small brain studies suggest it works fast and without extra effort.^[13] Later lab studies found that it held for intense emotions and for people who tend to be anxious.^[20] In daily life, it was associated with better mood only when people were planning what to do or say.^[34]

Common mistake

Making the shift elaborate. In the experiments, the only change was the words people used about themselves.

02 Step 02 · Task execution

Instructional Cue Words

For precise tasks, choose and rehearse short cue words tied to the movement, such as "smooth", "extend" or "through". Build them in practice before you use them in competition.

Why

For fine motor tasks, instructional self-talk worked better than motivational self-talk in one pooled analysis.^[17] A systematic review found mixed evidence for matching the type of self-talk to the task.^[18] The pooled benefit of self-talk was larger for fine than gross motor tasks.^[17] Cues practised in advance worked better than unpractised ones.^[17] An earlier study supported matching the type of self-talk to the task.^[22]

Common mistake

Using pep-talk phrases ("come on!") for precision work, where instructional cues have the better, though mixed, evidence.

03 Step 03 · Post-event processing

Rumination Interruption

When replaying an event turns into brooding, switch from "Why did I do that?" to "Why did Sam do that?", using your own name. Add distance in time as well as in words.

Why

Self-distancing means stepping back to view your experience as an observer would. A review of self-distancing research describes an experiment in which people prompted to reflect on an upsetting memory from that distance felt less distress about it a week later.^[31] In a diary study of young adults described as healthy, more rumination about stress than usual on a more stressful day was linked to higher stress-hormone levels the next morning.^[26] In a daily-life study, ruminative self-focus and negative mood each predicted the other.^[36]

Common mistake

Waiting for brooding to wear itself out. A major review describes brooding as a cycle that keeps itself going.^[24]

04 Step 04 · Ongoing training

Structured Self-Talk Practice

The trial's schedule was 8 weeks, with three sessions of about 20 minutes a week. Its course also included education and relaxation.^[30] The self-guided version here is this article's adaptation, not a tested equivalent. It keeps the self-talk practice and leaves out the education and relaxation. Pick cue words for your task, practise them when little is at stake, then use them when it counts.

Why

In a controlled trial with junior sub-elite athletes, the longer programme improved coach-rated skills, general self-efficacy, state confidence and the self-optimisation scale of willpower skills.^[30] Anxiety findings were mixed.^[30]

Common mistake

Using self-talk only in a crisis instead of training it as a skill.

Operational logic

Each step stays within what its studies found. In experiments, stepping back from a feeling gave a small benefit, and the quality of that evidence is uncertain.^[33] Self-talk helped most with fine, precise movements; for gross motor tasks the pooled gain was smaller.^[17] Bias checks leave the sport average uncertain.^[35] The eight-week course comes from a single trial in junior sub-elite athletes, and it has not been shown directly in adult professionals.^[30] These steps are everyday practice, not treatment for anxiety or depression. If low mood or anxiety persists, talk to a doctor or a qualified therapist.

This article proposes trying the same steps at work. A framework from workplace psychology also proposes that constructive self-talk, combined with mental imagery, can improve performance at work.^[16]

06Verdict

The verdict.

Bottom line

The voice in your head is not who you are. It is what you are building.

The argument

The words you use with yourself can change how you feel and perform, by modest amounts and in specific situations. That is less than popular coverage suggests, and more useful. An older pooled analysis found that deliberate self-talk improved sport performance on average, most of all on precise tasks. A later analysis found strong signs of publication bias that leave that average uncertain. Using your own name instead of "I" eased distress in lab experiments. One lab's small brain studies suggest the shift works fast, but no independent lab has yet repeated that result. In daily life, distanced self-talk was associated with better mood only while people planned what to do or say, and only slightly. Repeated negative thinking was linked to depression and anxiety that persist or return, although adjusting for baseline demographic and clinical factors greatly weakened that link.^[25] One trial in junior sub-elite athletes found that an eight-week training package gave larger gains on several outcomes than a one-week course. Treat your inner voice as a skill worth practising, and expect modest gains.

You do not need to become relentlessly positive. The evidence does not support that. It supports matching the form of self-talk to the moment. Use distanced language for strong emotion, instructional cues for skilled movement, interruption for brooding and steady practice to build the skill. There is no magic phrase, only a set of tools that each fit one job.

The deeper point is control. In the tasks studied here, the form of self-talk was partly a choice, and a skill people could practise. What you say to yourself is linked to emotional responses, coach-rated athletic skills and the course of depression and anxiety. Rumination about stress is linked to next-day stress hormones. That is reason enough to give it some of the attention you give to training, food and sleep.

Self-talk will not change your life overnight. Small, repeated changes in the words you use are where the evidence points.

Same technique. Two task types. Very different returns.

Self-Talk: Fine Motor vs Gross Motor Effect

01Claim

The inner voice can be used as a tool

Controlled studies show that the words you use with yourself can change how you feel and perform, by modest amounts. The sport average comes from older controlled studies, and a later bias check left it uncertain. The brain evidence is preliminary and comes from one lab's small samples.

02Consequence

Negative self-talk is linked to real costs

More rumination about stress than usual on a more stressful day was linked to higher stress hormones the next morning. Repeated negative thinking was also linked to depression and anxiety disorders that persist or return, a link that weakened greatly after adjustment. Choking under pressure goes with weaker prefrontal control in brain studies, though negative self-talk did not reliably hurt short-term performance. The cortisol link was found in a sample of young adults described as healthy.

03Lever

The form of self-talk is trainable and specific

The lever is precise wording, not general positivity: distanced self-talk for strong emotion, instructional cues for skilled movement, interruption for brooding, and structured practice. In one trial with junior sub-elite athletes, an eight-week training package gave larger gains on several outcomes than a one-week course, and the techniques cost nothing to try.

Put it to work

Where this science goes next on HPC

AssessmentConfidence AssessmentScore where you actually stand Protocol90-Day Confidence ProtocolTurn the mechanism into practice GlossarySelf-TalkThe definition, held to the evidence

07Bibliography

The bibliography.

36 sources · ~5h est. corpus read · 36 visible

Meta · 3 Review · 2 Cohort · 1 Journal · 25 Book · 5

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Daily rumination about stress, sleep, and diurnal cortisol activity

Cognition and Emotion188–200

doi: 10.1080/02699931.2019.1601617
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27 Journal

Basset, F. A., Kelly, L. P., Hohl, R., & Kaushal, N.2022

Type of self-talk matters: Its effects on perceived exertion, cardiorespiratory, and cortisol responses during an iso-metabolic endurance exercise

Psychophysiology59(3) · e13980

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28 Journal

Yu, R2015

Choking under pressure: The neuropsychological mechanisms of incentive-induced performance decrements

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

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29 Meta

Mor, N., & Winquist, J2002

Self-focused attention and negative affect: A meta-analysis

Psychological Bulletin638–662

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30 Journal

Rubric 72/100

Walter, N., Nikoleizig, L., & Alfermann, D.2019

Effects of self-talk training on competitive anxiety, self-efficacy, volitional skills, and performance: An intervention study with junior sub-elite athletes

Sports7(6) · 148

doi: 10.3390/sports7060148
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31 Book

Kross, E., & Ayduk, O2017

Self-distancing: Theory, research, and current directions

Advances in Experimental Social Psychology55 · 81-136

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32 Journal

Orvell, A., Ayduk, O., Moser, J. S., Gelman, S. A., & Kross, E2019

Linguistic shifts: A relatively effortless route to emotion regulation?

Current Directions in Psychological Science28(6) · 567-573

doi: 10.1177/0963721419861411
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33 Meta

Murdoch, E. M., Chapman, M. T., Crane, M., & Gucciardi, D. F.2023

The effectiveness of self‐distanced versus self‐immersed reflections among adults: Systematic review and meta‐analysis of experimental studies

Stress and Health39(2) · 255-271

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34 Journal

Schertz, K. E., Orvell, A., Chandhok, S., Vickers, B. D., Moser, J. S., Ayduk, O., & Kross, E2025

The frequency, form, and function of self-talk in everyday life

Scientific Reports

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35 Journal

Corcoran, H., & Steele, J2025

Cumulative evidence synthesis and consideration of "research waste" using Bayesian methods: An example updating a previous meta-analysis of self-talk interventions for sport/motor performance

Communications in Kinesiology1(6)

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36 Journal

Moberly, N. J., & Watkins, E. R2008

Ruminative self-focus and negative affect: An experience sampling study

Journal of Abnormal Psychology314–323

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