Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Psychology (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Mark Terjesen

Second Advisor

William Chaplin

Third Advisor

Raymond DiGiuseppe

Abstract

Sports performance research demonstrates that growth mindsets and flexible belief systems enhance athletes’ performance, while studies on fixed mindsets and irrational beliefs reveal detrimental effects. How irrational beliefs may influence the relationship between fixed mindset and athletic performance has not been explored in high school aged athletes. This research seeks to understand the role of irrational beliefs in the relationship between fixed mindsets and objective and subjective athletic performance. Measures of irrational beliefs, fixed mindsets, perspective of performance and styles of evaluating performance were analyzed among 211 competitive high school aged track and field athletes with a mean age of 15.6 (SD=1.2). Self-reported personal bests and objective performance results from World Athletics and MilesplitUSA were used to assess this relationship. Results indicate that irrational beliefs such as depreciation and low frustration tolerance did not moderate the relationship between fixed mindset and actual performance but did significantly impact athletes’ perspectives of their performance. Fixed mindset, depreciation, and low frustration tolerance were not significantly correlated with objective performance. Depreciation had a small, significant relationship with fixed mindset but not with subjective perspectives of performance. Low frustration tolerance had a small, significant relationship to expectations, measuring athletes’ feelings related to failing or meeting expectations. Implications of this research are relevant to the field of mental performance and sports psychology and more broadly with school psychology as these beliefs and mindsets may be related to other areas of performance (e.g., academic).

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