This chapter originally appeared in Exercise and Sport Science Reviews, 1988, Vol. 16, 423-457. Self-confidence (SC) is one of the most cited factors thought to affect athletic performance. SC is said to play a critical role in athletes' success; in contrast, lack of SC seems to be closely associated with athletic failure. Thus, confidence is an important factor that distinguishes successful athletes from unsuccessful ones in terms of both their mental states and their performances. However, the precise nature of SC was quite unclear until the publication of Felts's seminal chapter on this issue. The term self-confidence refers to one's belief that he or she can successfully execute a desired behavior (i.e, his or her belief of" I'll get the job done"). Felts argued that the exact relationships of SC and performance in sport have not been scientifically clarified in a satisfactory manner. To promote our understanding of the precise nature of these relationships, she first presented several definitions of SC and briefly discussed them with reference to some related terms, such as perceived ability, self-concept, self-esteem, and performance expectancies. Felts presented three of the major theoretical approaches available at that time for studying these relationships: Bandura's self-efficacy theory, Harder's perceived competence model, and Healey's concept of sport confidence. She not only described the theoretical approaches, but also provided extensive research evidence in sport and reviewed some relevant criticisms. Felts summarized and compared these three approaches and derived some important conclusions, referring to the (at that time) updated scientific status of the relationships between SC and sport performance. This seminal chapter did not, of course, completely resolve the riddle of SC in sport. However, Felts organized and presented the theoretical knowledge relevant to SC in sport at that time and undoubtedly had a profound influence on many researchers in this area, which is theoretically intriguing and has a substantial practical importance for those actively involved in sport.(SIGINFO Database Record "(c)" 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Various terms such as "self-confidence," "self-efficacy," "perceived ability," and "perceived competence" have been used to describe one's perceived capability to accomplish a certain level of performance. Bandura [1] uses the term "self-efficacy" to describe the conviction one has to execute successfully the behavior (e.g., a sports performance) required to produce a certain outcome (e.g., a trophy or self-satisfaction) and, thus, can be considered as a situationally specific self-confidence. In addition, as Bandura [5] notes, self-efficacy is not concerned with the skills an individual has but with the judgments of what an individual can do with the skills he or she possesses. He also distinguishes between perceived self-efficacy and self-confidence. Self-confidence, for him, refers to the strength of the belief or conviction but does not specify the level of perceived competence. Bandura prefers to use the term "self-efficacy" to specify the level of perceived competence and the strength of that belief.
"Perceived competence" and "perceived ability" are terms that have been limited in use to the achievement
Sport is provided, and general criticisms are reviewed. Third, a summary and comparison of the approaches are provided and the status of the relationship of confidence to sport performance is summarized.
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