Fake Confidence is better than No Confidence

Has it ever occurred to you that in any sort of game, if you start out with the mindset that you will lose you ultimately end up losing? For instance, if you're playing scrabble against someone who you know typically wins and you tell yourself 'ugh I'm probably going to lose,' usually you do end up losing. In a sense, this contradicts the Dunning-Kruger effect that we discussed in lecture. Dunning and Kruger might argue that the person who is overly confident in their scrabble abilities will eventually end up losing. I agree, that at times having too much confidence could be a bad thing. The bias argues that those who exude confidence overestimate their abilities, which can result in them never performing as well as those who underestimate their skills. Those who underestimate their skills will work harder to improve those skills and therefore outperform the people who are very confident; however, in the field of games, exuding confidence is an advantage. 

It is believed that in sports the star point guards, quarterbacks, and top ranked tennis players all must have outstanding confidence. How else could they rise to the top and be swept up by recruiters to play for some of the best teams in the country? However, according to the Dunning-Kruger bias, the player on the team with the most confidence is not necessarily the most talented. Actually it states the complete opposite. It supports the premise that those who believe they are very smart, and have undoubted confidence in their abilities are not as talented or bright as they believe. It is those who question their abilities who have the superior talent.  Or as Socrates would put it: "The only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing." In regards to games I don’t believe the Dunning-Kruger affect applies.

One summer I went to Bollettieri Tennis Academy in southern Florida where I stayed for about three weeks to improve my tennis ability but also my sports mentality. I was physically and mentally coached to become a better tennis player. My tennis ability was always changing; just like any other athlete I often had really good days and then some really awful ones where I’d question why I even tried to play tennis. I was always told I had the skills but lacked the confidence. During my ‘mental training’ sessions at the Tennis Academy I was told that I had to imagine myself winning the match in order to instill confidence, or in a sense trick my brain to believe that I could most definitely play like the girl I pictured. If I even uttered the words ‘I can’t,’ ‘I wish I could do this better,’ or ‘why isn’t my backhand as consistent as her’s’ I would be scolded. I was told that saying those phrases were the reason I was losing or couldn’t play as well as someone else. During a match if I kept hitting the ball into the net I couldn’t say ‘stop hitting it into the net’ because that would imply I had no confidence in my groundstrokes. Instead, I was told to say ‘aim higher’ or ‘swing up on the ball,’ which were supposed to instill confidence and to believe that I could perform as well as I wanted. One may think these small acts wouldn’t have any affect on one’s performance ability; however, instead of not saying negative comments, thinking confidently allowed me to excel.

Now I could be completely wrong in that putting on a false sense of confidence could not have an actual effect on everyone, but in my experience changing my mentality from critical to confident can allow me to play like the tennis player I think of when I close my eyes and prepare for a match. I think that believing in one’s abilities in athletics can make a tremendous difference. I think that the soccer players who lack confidence when they walk onto a soccer field don’t perform well. And even though the Dunning-Kruger theory states that people who critique themselves harshly are really the smart and talented ones, when I brush off my mistakes and tell myself I’m the best tennis player than I perform to the best of my ability. The more confidence a person has while playing a game, the better he will perform. 

Socrates quote: http://www.spring.org.uk/2012/06/the-dunning-kruger-effect-why-the-incompetent-dont-know-theyre-incompetent.php
Image1: http://vlsportysexycool.com/2012/02/25/kobe-bryants-short-list-of-nba-greats-and-where-he-ranks/
Image2: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-1105803/ALEX-KAY-TALKS-TENNIS-Nick-Bollettieri-Murray-Federer-Williams-sisters-Laura-Robson-decline-US-game.html
Image 3:http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/the-football-season-just-started/54557/page2/