ABSTRACT
A perspective on self-talk introduced in the literature distinguishes between organic self-talk and strategic self-talk. Based on this perspective, the purpose of the present scoping review was to (a) give a comprehensive overview of studies investigating the relationship between organic self-talk and affective processes and (b) review the effectiveness of strategic self-talk to regulate affective processes. A systematic search was conducted with the databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and SPORTDiscus. As a result, 44 articles with 46 relevant studies were included for an in-depth analysis. Thirty studies focused on organic self-talk and 15 on strategic self-talk, while one study focused on both. With regard to organic self-talk, the results indicate a relatively consistent concurrence of the valence of self-talk and affective processes. In addition, various functions of self-talk relate to emotion regulation. For strategic self-talk, intervention studies, which were limited to the regulation of anxiety, revealed mixed effects. Based on the results, we discuss how the integration of various established theories in sport psychology in the new self-talk perspective might facilitate a more systematic approach when studying the relationship between self-talk and affective processes.
ABSTRACT
In the field of sport and exercise psychology, the systematic review is still considered by many, to be the gold standard literature review. However, reviews like these, which judge whether an intervention works or not, can leave many unanswered questions. When it comes to complex social interventions, failing to suggest reasons for an intervention’s efficacy, often means practitioners struggle to successfully implement research findings in the real world. This lack of detail has led many to question the utility of systematic reviews when examining behaviour change interventions in complex social environments. Realist reviews are increasing in popularity because they go beyond asking if an intervention works, to look for theories as to why a programme worked, who it worked for and in what context it worked. However, despite the growing popularity of realist reviews, there is still limited application of this approach across the sport and exercise sciences. This paper aims to increase awareness regarding the utility of realist research by offering an introduction to realist review and an explanation of the steps involved.