Confidence
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This article is about virtue. For other uses, see Confidence (disambiguation).
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Please improve this article if you can. (December 2006)
Confidence is a mental process that arises from considering if a person or thing is capable of something. Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself when considering a capability. Overconfidence is having unmerited confidence--believing something or someone is capable when they are not. Scientifically, a situation can only be judged after the aim has been achieved or not. It is incorrect to label someone overconfident unless that aim has been achieved or not, since one cannot know whether something is possible, only believe, which is confidence. Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as those without it may fail or not try because they lack it, and those with it may succeed because they have it, rather than because of an innate ability.
Choking refers to losing confidence, especially self-confidence, just at the moment when it is needed most and doing poorly as a result e.g. in sports. This is found as a common plot device in literature and film, and is usually devised to result in a total alteration of a character's life.
