The Psychology of Exercise

Josephine Perry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000203387
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Psicologia applicata

Why should we exercise? When should we exercise? Why don't we exercise?

The Psychology of Exercise separates fact from fiction, delving into key theories, ideas, and the impact of life stages on when, why, and how we exercise. It explores the barriers and motivators to exercise for children, teenagers, adults, and retirees as well as for those living with a chronic health condition. It shows how when we personalise activity programmes, exercise becomes a life-affirming, life-lengthening habit.

Using real-life case studies from those who work with exercisers at all levels, The Psychology of Exercise shows us the huge value that comes from exercising in every stage of our lives.

1

Theories and Models of Exercise Psychology

There are 7.7 billion people on the planet, and each of us is unique. No two people will enjoy exactly the same type of exercise, for the same reason, having overcome the same barriers or been motivated by the same passions. We each have different levels of self-efficacy and intention to exercise and support mechanisms around us. This means the ideal way to get someone motivated to exercise, to overcome each of the barriers in their way and to stick to their exercise long term, is to provide personalised support from an expert who can shape and tailor everything effectively. However, with the huge numbers of people not yet exercising to the levels needed for good physical and mental health, some shortcuts are needed, and theories and models of exercise psychology can help with that. When we study and try to understand exactly what is happening when someone is engaged (or not) in exercise, we can use these theories and models as a basis for interventions which are more effective for more people and that will have a much longer-lasting impact.

The theories that have been developed can be categorised into five areas: self-regulation and motivation, social cognitive, stage based, belief and body image. Within each area the key theories which are regularly used within exercise psychology are discussed. There are also a few more interconnected theories which we will consider.

Self-regulation and motivational models

Self-regulation and motivational frameworks have been developed to help us understand what inspires and influences us to take up and continue with physical activities. They highlight the key aspects of the processes which help us to become motivated and then regulate our behaviours. These will include feedback processes and emotional responses which can guide goal pursuit and progress. They also include goals which provide the cognitive links between motivations and specific behaviours. Tactics (such as self-monitoring, goal setting, reinforcement, and self-corrective actions) that are often found in models like this have been used successfully and with long-lasting effects.

Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000)

One of the most well-used motivational theories is the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The theory links personality, human motivation and optimal functioning, offering an insight as to why we adopt and maintain certain behaviours. It helps us consider the inherent and social-contextual conditions that influence how we think, feel and behave and suggests we will experience more self-determined forms of motivation when we experience greater feelings of autonomy (where we feel able to take control of our own destiny and behaviours), relatedness (our need to feel connected to our social surroundings and cared for by the people in them) and competence (our feelings of efficacy to perform or display our exercise skills to a high level). It has been used extensively to understand exercise and physical activity participation.

The theory suggests that if we satisfy these three psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness when we exercise, we will achieve optimal motivation, increased exercise engagement and positive wellbeing. When our three needs are frustrated, our motivation suffers.

In developing SDT, Deci and Ryan distinguished between different types of motivation based on the reasons or goals that give rise to the action. They suggest there are three types of motivation sitting on a continuum with non-self-determined (amotivated) through extrinsically motivated to self-determined (intrinsically motivated). When we have no interest in exercise, we will be considered amotivated and are unlikely to do very much physical activity.

When we are starting our exercise journey, we will often be extrinsically motivated, doing the exercise because it leads to a separate outcome (such as getting a reward or praise). In this mode we might be exercising because we feel guilty if we don’t, and while this works for a while, there is no self-determination and so no true personal endorsement. Over time this means we either stop or, more hopefully, we begin to internalise some of that motivation to exercise, and we move into a maintenance stage where we are now exercising with some intrinsic motivation.

When we feel competent and able to perform the skill or exercise we want to and have a choice over what we are doing, then our intrinsic motivation will be highest and the more likely we are to exercise. Over time, as we internalise and integrate exercise into our lives, we exercise because it matches our sense of self, and this gives us autonomous motivation. Here we spend the time and effort doing it purely for the pleasure of the movement, feelings or enjoyment. But even when we feel competent, if we don’t feel we have any choice about performing that exercise or skill, then intrinsic motivation is likely to fall. This state, when we have competence and relatedness but no autonomy, is known as controlled motivation. Here we have fewer self-determined reasons for our goals, and they are filtered through self-imposed sanctions such as guilt, shame or pride or through external regulation where behaviours are focused on achieving externally based rewards. When none of our needs are satisfied, it is unlikely we will willingly exercise.

Self-regulation for chronic disease control (Clark, Gong & Kaciroti, 2001)

The self-regulation for chronic disease control model can be a helpful framework for those working with people suffering from chronic conditions (Chapter 6) who are trying to increase their exercise levels. The model incorporates principles from the social cognitive theory (see the next section) to show the cognitive and behavioural processes involved in trying to achieve health-related goals. Within the model the individual will observe their current exercise behaviours, reflect on what this is telling them, try to make changes, and then reflect again on their cognitive reactions to these behavioural change attempts. It brings out the importance of self-awareness in our exercise journey and suggests that the reflection process influences our subsequent behaviour.

Broaden and Build Theory (Fredrickson, 2004)

The Broaden and Build Theory focuses on positive emotions. It describes how these positive emotions (such as joy, interest, contentment and love) move us away from the negative automatic and immediate responses we often have (often responding to threat or fear) and instead broaden our mindset. This can help us have a wider attention span (focusing on the good stuff) and process the things around us more positively. With this more positive mindset, we start to build our psychological resources which help us develop new skills or supportive relationships, the polar opposite of the narrowed mindset focus which comes from our threat responses. For exercise it means instead of trying to overcome the barriers we might have around threat within exercise, such as embarrassment of being seen in tight clothing or fear of failing to become competent in new skills, we focus on what we enjoy about the exercise and where it could take us. The theory suggests that once the positive mindset has been developed, our resilience and wellbeing improve. When tested with those with health conditions, self-awareness increases, resulting in wider behavioural repertoires, so they have more mental resources to cope and are able to improve their quality of life.

Social cognitive models and theories

Social cognitive models of health behaviour suggest that individual differences in our exercise behaviours are influenced by our attitudes and beliefs towards exercise. If we believe that the advantages of exercising outweigh the disadvantages, we will evaluate exercise as important to us and so have a more positive attitude towards it and be more likely to do it.

The stronger an individual’s beliefs and values are around a sport, then the more time they have been found to spend doing it (Eccles & Harold, 1991). A similar relationship has been found between parents’ beliefs and their children’s level of activity (Fredricks & Eccles, 2005). This could either be that they think highly of sport so spend a lot of time doing it, or they spend a lot of time doing it so think higher of sport. Either way, these models help us to understand the links between beliefs and behaviours.

When these social cognitive models are taken out into society and used with potential exercisers, they can provide a framework to help us understand how environmental and contextual cues (such as social support or norms from peers and family), cognitions (knowledge of the exercise, risk awareness or commitment required) and intrapersonal skills (such as self-efficacy or self-regulation strategies) lead us towards our exercise beliefs, leading us to exercise in the way we do. When we are aware of the variables that help us develop our beliefs, we know better what to consider when creating exercise programmes.

Expectancy-value model (Parsons, Adler, Futterman, et al., 1983)

The expectancy-value model assumes that our expectancies (our beliefs around our ability or whether we are likely to succeed) and task values (the attainment, intrinsic, utility and cost values that are needed to invest) affect both what exercise we decide to do and the effort and persistence we put into it. Using this algorithm, we can break the model down to understand why someone is exercising. If we took a female who has completed a couch to 5k programme and now runs regularly, the expectancy might be her belief that she is good at running. The values would be the importance she gives to being a decent runner (attainment), her enjoyment of running (intrinsic), the goals she achieves through her running (utility) and how tired it makes her (cost). The theory suggests it is these beliefs and values which impact whether she chooses to run or not, and as this example shows, it can be helpful to understand our choices around exercise and see where we may need to step in to boost motivation.

The model is suggesting that socialisation is an active social process in which values and norms are transmitted and that this will impact whether someone is likely to exercise. Here the socialising agents (such as teachers and parents for children, or peers and family for adults) become important as their values and expectations would have an influence on whether they start to exercise and are likely to continue. These values and expectations are built into an expectancy-value framework where our beliefs around our abilities and our expectations work alongside each other to influence our choices, effort levels and persistence.

Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1989)

Social Cognitive Theory proposed that our behaviours are the result of dynamic and reciprocal interactions between personal, behavioural and environmental factors. It suggests we can’t follow a process of X causes Y which impacts Z because relationships are too complex and too interactive. As a result, this theory is not really designed to help predict behaviour but instead to guide us through some grounding principles which can be used to develop behaviour change interventions. In doing so it suggests that we acquire skills and develop new behaviours because we see successful ones working for ourselves and for others. What we observe develops expectations about what should be possible, thus improving our self-efficacy and understanding of the positive or negative consequences of our behaviours.

Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954)

When we compare and evaluate ourselves against others, we allow our own social and personal worth to be based on how we rank ourselves against other people. It can initially occur as a way of fostering self-improvement, motivation or to develop a more positive self-image. Those doing it regularly, social comparison theory suggests, may end up feeling deep dissatisfaction, guilt or remorse and start to behave destructively. The judgemental nature of the evaluations will not only be riddled with bias but fails to take into account the myriad of elements which impact on our own exercise journey. Extracting yourself from this type of thinking requires a huge amount of work and a lot of emotional control for people to develop and stick to their own goals and value systems around exercise.

When social comparison has been used within exercise interventions, it has sometimes been used to place overweight people alongside normal weight people to highlight each group’s strengths (for example, someone who is overweight might see they are better at resistance exercises, which could increase their self-worth). However, there are so many elements to social comparison that many researchers feel it is actually likely to highlight negative differences, and this could harm autonomous motivation.

Problem-behaviour theory (Jessor & Jessor, 1977)

Problem-behaviour theory looks at both the risk and protective factors regulating how we behave and transgress against norms. It was developed for problem behaviours and has been adapted for use with health behaviours. The idea is that most health-enhancing behaviours (healthy eating habits, regular exercise, adequate sleep, dental care and safety practices) are encouraged and supported by agents and institutions (such as family or school), so we can look for variables explicitly used to account for the adherence or transgression of conventional norms in order to see if health behaviours are followed. The difficulty with using this model as a basis to increase exercise adherence is that in some environments the social norm is inactivity. In pushing exercise, we would need to be actively promoting transgression. Where exercise is the norm though, it can be used, at least in the initial stages, to get someone started on an exercise journey.

Stereotype embodiment theory (Levy, 2009)

Stereotypes are the shared beliefs we have about the behaviours and characteristics of a group of people with something in common. It has been proposed that stereotypes can come to reality when they are assimilated from the culture and that this process can influence how we function and how we consider our health. This assimilation can be particularly strong and unhelpful with vulnerable communities such as those with a health condition. The stereotype embodiment theory suggests that once these stereotypes have been assimilated, they can become a barrier to exercise engagement as the populations believe the stereotype suggesting they have low exercise capabilities. When we recognise this, we can look at each group and try to unselect the stereotypes which are focused on exercise capability to block internalisation of these beliefs, ensuring they no longer stay a barrier to exercise.

Stage-based models

A number of models flow from the idea that the process of behaviour change is neither linear nor one-dimensional; instead the process of becoming someone who exercises is made up of a number of stages from initial response, continued response, maintenance and, hopefully, habit.

Most stage models tend to see the initial response as the period when a person’s self-efficacy to try and start exercise and their motivation for doing so is really important. Ideally their self-efficacy will increase once the initial stage is complete as they have had an opportunity to become more competent in the required movements and master the skills of their chosen exercise. This helps them stick with it even when they face barriers or reduced motivation along the way. As someone transitions into the maintenance phase, most models suggest that the focus has moved away from whether someone is physically able to do the exercise and is more on how much they are valuing the exercise and recognising any benefits from it. Once they are in the habit phase, a self-sustaining pattern of behaviour should be in place, and it is only when large barriers or crises occur (such as a health condition or job loss) that their habitual intentions to exercise may be thwarted. Within a stages model, elements like self-efficacy, motivation and barriers may fluctuate to their importance or impact during different periods.

Transtheoretical model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983)

To understand the mechanisms involved in the process of behavioural change, the transtheoretical model has become one of the most commonly used models and is widely used in intervention programmes. Stemming from addiction studies, it assumes that behavioural change is a dynamic, non-continuous process and incorporates a host of theories each contributing to the explanation of the processes of intentional behavioural changes. Five elements are incorporated: stages of change, decisional balance, temptation, self-efficacy and processes of change. Within these it recognises elements from belief models and from self-regulation and motivation models. When the transtheoretical model has been applied, it has been found to explain a significant percentage of decision-making around exercise intention.

The theory begins with an assumption that behavioural change takes place in six discrete stages based on our readiness to change: pre-contemplation (not intending to change in the next six months), contemplation (intending to change in the next six months), preparation (intending to change during the next month), action (already started to change), maintenance (been engaged in exercise for over six months) and termination. The theory suggests the process is cyclical, and while some people remain in the same stage for a while, others will progress to a higher stage or drop to a lower stage over time.

The next dimension, decisional balance, is a multidimensional set of values perceived as the advantages and disadvantages that come with behavioural change. We then have temptation, which describes urges to engage in a specific habit in the midst of difficult situations. For exercise this will cover when we are likely to disengage and become inactive and what could prompt this. Being aware of this can help us to put in place coping strategies. Our self-efficacy is also an important dimension in this model as our judgement of our capability to organise and execute the required course of action to perform exercise will be based upon how confident we are to exercise and achieve our exercise goals.

Finally, the transtheoretical model d...