| The 2007 RQES Lecturer, Dr. Deborah L. Feltz, is a professor and chairperson in Kinesiology at Michigan State University. She has research interests in the interrelationships among efficacy beliefs, anxiety, and motivation in sport and physical activity contexts. Efficacy belief in sport is about the confidence that one can perform skillfully, cope with performance pressure, and sustain the hard work necessary to be successful. Bandura’s (1977, 1997) theory of self-efficacy (and its collective efficacy extension) has been applied in sport as a cognitive explanation for differences in the capabilities of athletes, teams, and coaches to carry out challenging tasks in the athletic arena. Research on efficacy beliefs in sports contexts has shown a consistently significant relationship with performance. Sport psychologists find self-efficacy theory appealing clinically because efficacy beliefs are modifiable and have great functional value. They can target strategies to strengthen efficacy beliefs for athletes, teams, and coaches rather than merely predict behavior based on personality traits. In this lecture, a program of research is presented based on self-efficacy theory as it applies to athletes, teams, and coaches. Measurement issues that researchers confront, sources of efficacy information unique to athletes, teams, and coaches, and relationships with motivation are addressed. |