ABSTRACT
Swimmers, back catchers, tennis players, weight lifters, runners, singers, actors and comedians share some commonalities: they are all performers; they all have desired goals; and they all have the ability to use imagery. In sport, imagery can increase athletes’ self-confidence, self-efficacy, collective efficacy, flow experiences, sport skills and attention. The imagery advocated by the practitioner may be quite different for a young elite gymnast than an older recreational soccer player given the differences in task demands, age and skill level. There are numerous factors impacting imagery use, including imagery ability, image perspective, age, and gender, and skill level, type of task, time of season, setting and image speed. In exercise settings, imagery enhances individuals’ self-efficacy, self-determined motivation, implicit attitudes towards exercise and self-reported and actual leisure-time behaviors. The pettlep model was developed as means to provide guidelines for imagery interventions in order to attain a higher level of functional equivalence between imagery and actual performance.
