Date of Submission

Spring 2014

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Division of Social Studies; Psychology

Project Advisor 1

Stuart Levine

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Bard College male student-athletes were investigated to determine if collective efficacy and athletic performance are affected by the insertion of a manipulated high self-efficacy subject or a manipulated low self-efficacy subject into a team. The basic paradigm for collective efficacy laboratory studies is: random assignment into groups à testing of individual capabilities à manipulation of collective efficacy through bogus (false) feedback à examination of group behavior in mock competitions. By slightly altering the paradigm, the self-efficacy of an individual is manipulated through bogus feedback in response to an athletic task (catching a SKLZ reaction ball), and examines this affect on collective efficacy and team performance. Teams in the high efficacy condition performed significantly better than their baseline score (p = .015) and rated their collective efficacy significantly higher than low efficacy teams (p = .018). This study also evaluates the extent of the collective “hot-hand” phenomenon or, in other words, psychological momentum in this task. With the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyses, a dichotomy between the empirical and observational data is present. Qualitative data indicates the tendency to approach the catching task with the specific skill set of the sport the athlete played.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Download

This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.

Bard Off-campus Download

Bard College faculty, staff, and students can login from off-campus by clicking on the Off-campus Download button and entering their Bard username and password.

Share

COinS