PSYC 3301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Correlation Does Not Imply Causation, Theory Of Reasoned Action, Theory Of Planned Behavior
Picking up on self-confidence from last week…
Causal attributions
•
• Important to focus on internal attributions
Psychological momentum
• Athletes, coaches, sports fans, will talk about momentum
o I.e. creating a change in momentum, how to arrest negative momentum
• Taylor and Demich, 1994
o “A positive or negative change in cognition, affect, physiology, and behaviour
caused by an event or series of events that will result in commensurate shift in
performance and competitive outcome”
o Developed the momentum chain
o
o Begins with precipitating event, i.e. turnover, change of weather, injury, etc
o This in turn changes our thoughts, affect, arousal
▪ Self-talk changes
▪ Change in arousal: energy level spikes up
o Further, change in behaviour and performance
▪ Maybe be a bit more aggressive
o Last, change in immediate outcome
▪ Positive momentum = good things happening for you, vice versa
o Intervening factors
▪ Opponent factors
▪ Experience level of athlete
• Experienced athlete may be less likely to allow the negative
momentum shifts to occur; recognize the symptoms of the
momentum going in the wrong direction
▪ These work hand-in-hand and can intervene at multiple points in the chain
(as illustrated in the image)
o This assumes that momentum exists
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o How do we identify a precipitating an event?
o When opportunities do arise, coaches should be helping to find optimal level of
arousal, focus on cognitions and positive emotions; essentially, focusing on
confidence
Motivation: exercise behaviour and adherence (this weeks lecture)
What is exercise?
• Physical activity– any body movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in
energy expenditure
o I.e. this is a very broad notion, can include grocery shopping to running a
marathon
• Exercise– subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive, and aimed
at improving or maintaining physical fitness
o Goals, you’re trying to achieve something
o More thought transforms physical activity into exercise
o Not unusual for these terms to be used interchangeably
Physical benefits of exercise
• Potential to reduce the level of cholesterol, percentage of body fat, weight of those above
healthy levels
o Not by societal standards, but individual health
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, numerous cancers, neurological
disorders, various chronic health issues
• “Four health lifestyle factors– never smoking, maintaining a healthy weight,
exercising regularly, and following a healthy diet– together appear to be associated
with as much as an 80% reduction in the risk of developing the most common and deadly
chronic diseases”
• Reduction in premature mortality
o WHO reports that physical inactivity is the 4th-leading risk factor of global
mortality, estimating that 3.2 million deaths globally attributable to inactivity. In
addition, there are societal costs, for example, the economic impact of physical
inactivity in Canada I terms of chronic disease, obesity, health care costs ~ $6.8
billion per annum
• “If exercise could be packed into a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and
beneficial medicine in the nation”
o Compelling, potential to accomplish so much, yet our society focuses on
pharmaceuticals
o Suggesting that exercise is a “magic pill” and can solve a handful of issues
• “Exercise is medicine”– Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology
o Physicians should be talking to patient about physical activity, not handing over
prescriptions
o At every appointment, not just for annual check-ups
Psychological benefits of exercise
• Improves psychological affect
• Reduces stress and anxiety
o Reducing frustration, taking energy and putting it somewhere else
o Endorphins, feelings of well-being
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• Improves cognitive functioning
• Enhances self-efficacy
o Experiencing success and mastery = enhance self-efficacy
• Provides opportunities to socialize
o I.e. groups getting together to exercise together, also provides support
o It can brings people together, “greases the social wheel,” gets someone out of the
house
• Enjoyment
o Keeps your schedule full, makes you feel great
• Promotes resilience; reduces vulnerability
o Helps buffer us from various risks, or in general can reduce our changes of getting
sick
Physical activity in Canada
• 48% of Canadians inactive during leisure time; less than equivalent of 30-minute
walking/day
• 25% report sitting for most of the day
• Activity levels decrease with age
o For every age category in Canada, we have seen increases in levels of physical
activity over the past several years, as depicted in the following graph:
o
o What could this be from?
o Changing social attitudes
o Messages pertaining the benefits of exercise
Why aren’t more people exercising?
• Meta-analysis of 47 studies investigating reasons people provide for not exercising
• (1) health issues
o Frequently cited among older adults
• (2) inconvenience
o Issues with facilities, i.e. busy, crowded, not well maintained
• (3) lacking motivation and energy
o “I’d like to, but I just don’t feel like it”
o Often stress related
o Importance of self-regulatory skills
• (4) insufficient time
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Motivation: exercise behaviour and adherence (this weeks lecture) Improves psychological affect: reduces stress and anxiety, reducing frustration, taking energy and putting it somewhere else, endorphins, feelings of well-being. New year"s resolutions: there are ample benefits, but there can be problems with adherence, 50% of those who start a structured program drop out within 6 months. Natural history of exercise: ensuring that it is evidence-based, sallis and hovell, 1990, transition from, sedentary to exercise adoption (t1, adoption to maintenance or dropout status (t2, dropout status to exercise resumption (t3) Health beliefs model (hochbaum, rosenstock, kegels, 1950s: started as understanding disease but can look at exercise too, approach decisions in our lives economically, as a cost-benefit analysis, the pros and cons. Theory of reasoned action (aizen and fishbein: trying to understand our attitudes, toward exercise. If you"re intending to exercise, that increases the likelihood of you actually exercising, and vice versa: how are our intentions formed, attitudes toward behaviour.
