Question

Write a position paper (1,000-1,250 words) in which you discuss whether this practice of visualizing successful completion of physical activities is "pop psychology" and mysticism or whether the practice has research-supported underpinnings.

Using current research, make recommendations for improving the technique, or argue that it now is obsolete.

Answer 1

Visualization is the successful technique used in many domains of life such as to bring success in games, to fight any illness, etc majority aims in bringing the person in a state of relaxation.

As we are aware of sports is an universal activity involving physical and psychomotor ability to compete against one another. N number of sports are being played but to excel in any one of those sports activities one needs effective physical training and more to training is the practice of cognitive training in which the person use varieties to techniques to enhance performance level while blocking the effect of stress and other distractions. The term Cognition focuses on the form of mental thoughts and perception, for instance Sports Visualization is the technique of boosting athlete's confidence and intrinsic motivation to bring successful outcomes. It is designed to remove or to prevent negative factors while replacing them with positive beliefs which increases the focus of person's performance.

The purpose of mental visualization is to help the athletes to create an image of the athletic skills which he/she has received during his training with the objective of blocking distractions that may adversely influence the performance. Thus, it is suggested that with the help of visualizing an athlete actually see the game or play the game before it occurs.

Studies have also suggested that recreating a mental image or visualizing before the real game activated same neural pathways of many interconnected networks in the brain, conditioning of those neural pathways allows the action to feel more familiar when an athlete goes to perform it.

An example is presented of how visualizing in badminton helps in enhancement of performance, visualization can be used to rehearse simply like moving to the shuttle faster, skilled player practice each shot in their minds before taking it. Mental visualization helps in painting steady progress while other people ( audience) or any other external factor is distracting an athlete.

The most known technique used in sports visualization is Guided Imagery, a method of visualizing pleasant images and mindfulness which allows sports person to create more rich awareness of their body in relation to their environment while promoting calmness and self confidence which in turn leads to greater and rich sports performance. Further more the consistent use of these images help in learning and conditioning the positive beliefs and changes which diminishes effect of negative factors in the environment. Guided Imagery is slowly being acknowledged in the field of sports psychology.

Researches has put that visualization is not only used to enhance performance in sports but also to cope with various psychological problems like depression and anxiety.

Whether in therapy or in day to day life visualization has been used to improve and promote psychological as well as physical health.