Abstract/Details

The effects of imagery on the performance of a fine motor skill: Golf putting

Stevens, Donald Earl.   Spalding University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1994. 9509051.

Abstract (summary)

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of imagery on a fine motor skill: golf putting. Two research hypotheses were postulated for this project: (1) Individuals who experience imagery combined with practice will show more improvement in putting performance than those individuals who experience physical practice only. (2) Individuals who experience an imagery script that contains imagining a positive outcome will improve their putting performance to a greater degree than individuals who experience an imagery script that does not contain positive outcome or individuals who experience physical practice only. In addition, two research questions were posed: (1) Do high imagers appear to benefit from imagery more than low imagers? (2) To what degree did subjects manipulate their imagery scripts and did that manipulation affect putting performance? All subjects were from the Louisville, Kentucky, area which includes the surrounding Southern Indiana area. A total of 121 subjects participated in this research project, 77 females and 44 males. Previous research designs had included design limitations which included no imagery script manipulation checks, no measurement of subjects' imagery ability, poorly delineated imagery scripts and poorly defined performance measures. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups, three experimental groups and one control group to form matched groups on putting experience. The experimental design was a between groups design. The subjects were run through a five stage experimental design in maximum groups of four subjects. The five stages of the experimental design were a training session on the skill, putting a golf ball in a pretreatment measure, an imagery or physical practice control session, putting a golf ball in a post-treatment measure, and an imagery script manipulation check. The results were subject to parametric analysis using analysis of variance, analysis of covariance and Pearson Product Moment correlations. The results of the study indicated that imagery coupled with physical practice did not have a significant effect on putting performance as compared with physical practice only. In addition, when imagery ability was considered, the results indicated no significant effect, although there was a trend in the predicted direction. Furthermore, imagining a successful outcome had no significant effect on performance as compared to imagining no outcome.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Psychology;
Recreation;
Physiological psychology
Classification
0621: Psychology
0814: Recreation
0989: Physiological psychology
Identifier / keyword
Social sciences; Psychology
Title
The effects of imagery on the performance of a fine motor skill: Golf putting
Author
Stevens, Donald Earl
Number of pages
159
Degree date
1994
School code
0965
Source
DAI-A 81/1(E), Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
Country of publication
United States
ISBN
979-8-209-10659-3
Advisor
Titus, Thomas
University/institution
Spalding University
University location
United States -- Kentucky
Degree
Psy.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
9509051
ProQuest document ID
304187281
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/304187281