The Use of Imagery in Climbing

As the popularity of climbing has grown, so has the interest in researching the psychological aspects of climbers. However, it is only recently that research has examined the use of imagery in climbing (see for example Barton, 1996; Hardy & Callow, 1999; Jones, Mace, Bray, MacRae & Stockbridge, 2002). The purpose of this study was twofold: first to examine the extent to which beginner and advanced climbers used the five functions of imagery (Cognitive Specific, Cognitive General, Motivational Specific, Motivational General-Arousal and Motivational General-Mastery), and second to examine if and how climbers’ use of imagery differed from track and field athletes. The Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ; Hall, Mack, Paivio, & Hausenblas, 1998) and the Climbing Imagery Questionnaire (CIQ; modified from Hall et al., 1998), was used to measure how often varsity track and field athletes (n = 38) and climbers (n = 48), used imagery. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) showed that track and field athletes used the motivational components (MS, MG-A and MG-M) of imagery significantly more than climbers. Advanced and beginner climbers displayed no significant differences in their imagery use patterns. The results of this study give us a greater understanding of how climbers use imagery and increase the body of research of the types of imagery used across various athletic situations.