The present study compared the effects of two types of modeling, self- and
other-modeling, on learning elementary swimming skills. Specifically, poten
tial differences between the two modeling conditions in swimming performanc
e, swimming self-efficacy, and state anxiety were investigated. Participant
s were adult volunteers from a college community. Ages ranged from 20 to 58
. Each participant took five individual swimming lessons. Results indicated
that participants in the self-modeling condition demonstrated better swimm
ing performance by the fourth swim session than participants in the other m
odeling condition. No differences were found between modeling conditions on
either swimming self-efficacy or state anxiety. Potential reasons for the
difference in performance are identified and discussed.