Theory: Explains why phenomenon or behavior occurred  and can be graphically  represented

Importance of Theories:

  •    Allow us to better understand and predict physical activity behavior
  •    Give us a scientifically validated blueprint from which to formulate effective  behavioral interventions
  •    Enable us to organize exercise behavior variables in a coherent manner

Model: Acts as a visual representation of a phenomenon or behavior, but does not always  indicate why the phenomenon occurred

 

Relapse   Habitual

Exercise                             No

exercise

Resumption of

Exercise

Motivation Defined

  •    Degree of determination, drive, or desire with which an individual approaches   or avoids  a behavior
  •    Direction and intensity of one’s effort
  • Origin:  o Intrinsic: Motivation from within  Fun, sense of challenge, personal  improvement, etc.

o Extrinsic: Motivation from a force outside the individual  Health, maybe  to prevent heart disease; social recognition-praise; tangible reinforcers,  such as money, t-shirts, etc.

Expectancy Value Theories

  •   Motivation  and thus behavior  is predicted on the following:
  • An individual’s expected behavioral outcome Note: When we start to look  at the outcome, it becomes more extrinsic motivation than intrinsic
  • The value or importance  that the individual places on that predicted  outcome

 

ExpectancyCValue Approach Applied to Exercise Behavior

Value – High:

  •     Expected Outcome – Inability to Maintain Exercise ! Failure to Adopt Exercise
  •     Expected Outcome – Ability to Maintain Exercise ! Successful Adoption

 

Value – Low:

  •     Expected Outcome – Ability to Maintain Exercise ! Failure to Adopt Exercise
  •     Expected Outcome – Inability to Maintain Exercise ! Failure to Adopt Exercise

 

Theories That Have Grown from ExpectancyCValue Approach

  •    Social Cognitive Theory  SCT
  •    Theory of Reasoned Action  TRA
  •    Theory of Planned Behavior  TPB
  •    Self-Determination Theory  SDT

Social Cognitive Theory-Self-Efficacy Theory

  •    Exercise behavior is influenced by both human cognition  expectations,  intentions, beliefs, attitudes  and external stimuli  social pressures,  experiences
  •    A person may intend to be physically active, but external forces may prevent  him-her from engaging in exercise

 

SelfCEfficacy

  •    Describes how individuals form perceptions about their capability to engage in  specific behaviors
  •    Focuses on the extend to which individuals feel they will be successful, given a  particular set of abilities and their unique situations
  •    A situationLspecific form of self-confidence

 

Sources of Self-Efficacy

  •     Past performance accomplishments
  • An individual’s perception of degree of success, having previously engaged in similar activities
  • Greatest influence on self-efficacy
  •    Vicarious experiences
  • Modeling and imagery
  •    Social persuasion
  • Verbal and nonverbal persuasive tactics
  • Physiological-affective states  least important   o Feelings of pain and fatigue; positive and negative emotions  o Least influence on self-efficacy

 

Measuring Self-Efficacy

Situation specific: Confidence high for short distance and low for long distance.

Rated on 100 point scale: 0- no confidence, 100 – full confidence

 

Self-Efficacy Research

  •    Researchers have identified different types of self-efficacy in exercise: task,  coping, and scheduling
  • Research has shown relationships between self-efficacy and a variety of  psychological, emotional, and behavioral responses to exercise  –    For example:

o Task self-efficacy ! Initiate Exercise  o Coping self-efficacy ! Self-Regulation  o Scheduling self-efficacy ! Maintaining Exercise

Note: When starting an exercise program, task-efficacy starts quite high, whereas coping  and scheduling self-efficacy start much lower. Usually over the course of an exercise  program, task self-efficacy remains the same, and coping self-efficacy and scheduling self- efficacy tend to go up.

 

Limitations of Self-Efficacy

  •        Theory is most predictive of behavior when the behavior is challenging or novel
  •    Influence is reduced as exercise becomes habitual or well-learned

 

Theory of Reasoned Action

  •     Originally designed to predict single-instance behavior
  • Related to intention:  o Attitude, or positive or negative thoughts, concerning the behavior  o Sense of subjective norm, or the degree to which an individual feels social  pressure to perform the behavior
  •    Strength of the relationship between intention and behavior weakens with  longer time periods

 

Exercise and the Theory of Reasoned Action

  •    Exercise interventions must focus on increasing the strength of one’s intention to  exercise
  • Techniques to improve intention do the following:  o Serve to improve one’s attitude toward exercise  o Cause the individual to feel external pressure to exercise

Theory of Planned Behavior

  •    Extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action
  • Perceived behavioral control  PBC :  o Refers to the degree of personal control the individual feels that he or she  has over the behavior

o Accounts for the many potential barriers to a behavior such as exercise

  •    Attitude and subjective norm  intention  plus PBC are all influential predictors of  behavior

Exercise and the Theory of Planned Behavior

  • Intervention techniques should be aimed at enhancing perceived behavioral  control  o Promote a sense of personal control over one’s exercise behavior  o Allow exercisers some input when designing their physical activity  program

o Teach exercisers some methods to approach perceived barriers to  physical activity

 

SelfCDetermination Theory

  • Individuals seek challenges that will satisfy at least one of three psychological  needs:  o For self-determination  autonomy   o To demonstrate competence  experience mastery
  • For relatedness or social interactions
  •    Three forms of motivation are capable of driving achievement behaviors:
  • Intrinsic motivation o Extrinsic motivation
  • Amotivation lack of motivation-intention

 

Extrinsic Motivation

  • Integrated regulation  o Engaging in behavior to confirm one’s sense of self  closely linked to the  idea of identity, similar to intrinsic motivation but not really the same  thing
  •    Identified regulation

o Motivated by personal goals  improved appearance, to get fitter, etc.

  • Introjected regulation  o Dictated by self-imposed pressure  hide, guilt
  • External regulation  o To obtain external reward  or praise  for behavior

 

Research Study  Based on SelfCDetermination Theory

Wilson, P.M., & Rodgers, W.M.  2004 . The relationship between perceived autonomy  support, exercise regulations and behavioral intentions in women. Psychology+of+Sport+and+ Exercise, 5, 229-242.

  •   Contexts perceived to be supportive of autonomy promote the development of  intrinsic and identified regulations. Conversely, contexts that rely upon social  coercion undermine the development of autonomous regulations and potentially  foster a reliance on controlling introjected or external regulations
  •    Purpose: To investigate whether perceptions of support received from friends  underpin different regulations that, in turn, predict behavioral intentions in  exercise
  •    Hypothesis: Greater perceptions of support would be positively associated with  more autonomous exercise regulations  ie. Intrinsic and identified , which  subsequently would predict greater intentions to continue to exercise

 

Method

 

– Participants: Regular female exercisers  n -232  at a university with a mean age  of 20.86 years  SD – 2.21
– Measures: Behavioral intention assessed using three items. Concerned about  plans to exercise for the next four months  ex. At least three times per week .  Rating scale: 1 – strongly disagree, 7 – strongly agree. They only measured  intention  o Behavior+Regulation+in+Exercise+Questionnaire+ BREQB2 : 19-item self- reported instrument containing 5 subscales  integrated regulation not  assessed . Each item was rated: 0 – not true for me, 4 – very true for me

o Perceived+Autonomy+SupportBFriends: 4-item self-report measure  assessing the extent to which friends are perceived to support exercise  decisions and behavior. Rating scale: 1 – not true, 7 – very true
– Procedure: Participants were informed about the study, gave their consent to  participate, and completed the questionnaires in small groups. The  questionnaires took about 15 minutes to complete

 

 

Results

  •    The descriptive results suggest that for females who are physically active,  perceived pressure to exercise is a less important source of motivation than  more volitionally endorsed reasons
  •    Overall, the specified model fits the data reasonable well

 

  •     Autonomy support: 
    •     Amotivation – -.36
    •    External: -.10
    •    Introjected: .09
    •    Identified: .56
    •    Intrinsic: .58
  •     Behavioral intention:
    •    Amotivation: -.08
    •    External: .12
    •    Introjected: .08
    •    Identified: .61
    •    Intrinsic: .13

 

Discussion

  •    The results supported most of SDT’s propositions
  •    Greater perceptions of support from friends were associated with more  autonomous regulations  i.e. identified and intrinsic
  •    More autonomous exercise regulations predicted intentions to exercise over the  next 4 months
  •    Identified regulation is an important predictor of motivational consequences in  domains where the target behavior may not be perceived as highly enjoyable