Self-Regulatory Processes Employed During Self-Modeling: A Qualitative Analysis.

Self-modeling involves the observation of oneself on an edited videotape to show a desired performance (Dowrick & Dove, 1980). While research has investigated the effects of self-modeling on physical performance and psychological mechanisms in relation to skill acquisition (e.g., Clark & Ste-Marie, 2007), no research to date has used a qualitative approach to examine the thought processes athletes engage in during the viewing of a self-modeling video in a competitive sport environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the self-regulatory processes of ten divers who viewed a self-modeling video during competitions. After competition, the divers were asked four questions relating to the self-modeling video. Zimmerman's (2000) self-regulation framework was adopted for deductive analysis of the responses to those questions. The results indicated that a number of self-regulatory processes were employed, and they were mainly those in the forethought (75%) and self-reflection (25%) phases of Zimmerman's model. Directions for future research in self-regulation and self-modeling are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]