Elaborating the Mastery State and the Confidence Frame

The role of the mastery metamotivational state and the antecedents of the confidence frame have, until now, been poorly defined in reversal theory (RT) research. The purpose of this theoretical manuscript is to provide an elaboration of RT’s mastery state and more clearly define its relationship with protective confidence frames, its interaction with other metamotivational states, and its antecedents. By exploiting the full theoretical range of the mastery state to consider the autocentric (striving against others) and intra-autic (striving with self), alloic (enabling others) and pro-autic (striving with others) states, we develop a series of propositions describing the relationship between mastery state combinations and sports performance. This more detailed elaboration of the confidence frame argues that it is primarily a function of the mastery state, which operates with either the telic or paratelic states to create a focused state of mind (compare to flow), that is conducive to sports performance. It has also been suggested that an individual’s level of risk tolerance is mediated by the interaction between mastery and telic/paratelic dominance. This offers a different perspective not only on participation in competitive sport, but also on how different individuals might appraise any form of risk.