Predicting and Understanding Mental Practice

Abstract The usefulness of the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein, 1980) for explaining and predicting mental practice was examined. Players on a U.S. college football team were asked, before the beginning of the regular season, about their intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and beliefs about mental practice. As the regular season progressed, they indicated, for each game, whether they had engaged in mental practice. In general, the validity of applying the theory to the domain of mental practice was well supported. Intentions to perform mental practice predicted actual mental practice for the first game, attitudes predicted intentions, and beliefs about mental practice predicted attitudes.