Why/How of Exercise Psychology

Question 1

_______ leads to outcomes.

Answer 1

Exposures

Question 2

theories

Answer 2

provide frameworks for understanding human behavior

Question 3

How do we approach behavior change?

Answer 3

• Why do people do what they do?
• Why don’t people do things?

Question 4

Was the Healthy People Act of 2020 successful?

Answer 4

No!

Question 5

What were the results of the Healthy People 2020 act?

Answer 5

4 goals:
1. attain high quality longer disease-free life & injury
2. improve health
3. social and physical environments that promote health
4. improve quality of life
- physical activity was the focus!

Question 6

What are the main questions exercise psychology attempts to answer?

Answer 6

1. What predicts exercise engagement?
2. What does exercise engagement lead to?

Question 7

What predicts exercise engagement?

Answer 7

antecedents

Question 8

What does exercise engagement lead to?

Answer 8

consequences

Question 9

physical activity

Answer 9

any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure

Question 10

exercise

Answer 10

subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive that has a final or intermediate objective the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness

Question 11

sedentary behavior

Answer 11

any waking behavior that is characterize by a sitting or reclining position and low energy expenditure

Question 12

exercise psychology

Answer 12

focused on antecedents and consequences of movement
- applies to a larger population!

Question 13

sport psychology

Answer 13

concerned with psychological principles as they relate to athletes and a focus on athletic performance

Question 14

What are the three broad areas of exercise psych?

Answer 14

• exercise behavior promotion
• dynamic exercise psychology
• exercise and health psychology

Question 15

exercise behavior promotion

Answer 15

focus on constraints/facilitators to the initiation and adherence to lifelong physical activity

Question 16

dynamic exercise psychology

Answer 16

basic science of psychological phenomena related to engagement in physical activity
- as soon as you start moving, what is that doing to your body and brain

Question 17

exercise and health psychology

Answer 17

considers effects of physical activity on psychological development and health

Question 18

dualism

Answer 18

foundational assumption that what happens in the body is unrelated to what happens in the brain

Question 19

monism

Answer 19

foundational assumption that there is a mind-body connection (brain + body works together)
- body receives info + processes

Question 20

What are the 5 perspectives?

Answer 20

• affective
• biological
• cognitive
• personality
• social

Question 21

affect

Answer 21

the study of feeling states, with core affect how one feels at any given moment
- how you are feeling at any instance in time
- based on assumption that humans pursue pleasure and avoid displeasure
- exercise induces changes in core affect
- based on if your activated/unpleasant/pleasant wheel

Question 22

biological perspective

Answer 22

focus on physiological movements related to movement in living organisms
- ex. EEG

Question 23

cognitive perspective

Answer 23

understanding the mind and its processes
- executive function predicts exercise
- exercise improves executive function

Question 24

personality perspective

Answer 24

exploration of various psychological characteristics and traits with the goal of understanding how these traits relate to behavior; focused on individual variability
- consider “the Big Five”

Question 25

What are the Big Five?

Answer 25

openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

Question 26

social perspective

Answer 26

study of the social interaction and societies; stronger social networks and perceptions of support = greater physical activity behavior
- How do relationships/interaction alter likelihood of physical activity?

Question 27

Out of the 5 perspectives, which is the most important?

Answer 27

biological perspective

Question 28

psychobiology

Answer 28

mixture of both biological and psychological; combines all other approaches
- future integration will require people trained across different disciplines

Question 29

Psychologically, what are the benefits of exercise?

Answer 29

• improved cognition
• reduced risk of dementia
• improved quality of life
• reduced anxiety
• reduced risk of depression
• improved sleep

Question 30

Socially, what are the benefits of exercise? (absent in the US PA guidelines)

Answer 30

• provides opportunities to develop social contacts/relationships
• improves social functioning
• increases social inclusion and participation
• facilitates integration of the exerciser in their peer groups

Question 31

What are some trends in activity over time?

Answer 31

1. decreasing occupational and commuting activity
2. increasing leisure-time physical activity

Question 32

What happens as people age? Why?

Answer 32

physical activity levels go down! physical inactivity increases
Why:
- medically gets tougher; injuries take longer to heal
- family/occupation time increases

Question 33

What is the biopsychosocial approach?

Answer 33

this is an update from the psychobiological approach that includes social constructs

Question 34

Will people who start exercising keep doing it?

Answer 34

• 50% of people stop within 6 months
• 80-90% drop out after 12 months

Question 35

What are the problems with keeping people to exercise?

Answer 35

Starting:
- large barrier to entry
- not specific enough exercise programs
- not immediate gratification
Keeping up w/ it:
- not meeting goals
- plateau/soreness
- self-motivation
- lack of support
- etc!

Question 36

initation

Answer 36

beginning a new behavior when that behavior was previously absent
- focus: approaching a favorable end state, reducing the uncomfortable discrepancy between the current state and the desired end state

Question 37

self-regulatory focus

Answer 37

approach a more favorable health state

Question 38

maintenance/adherance

Answer 38

continuing a behavior at a similar/identical frequency and intensity over time
- focus: avoiding a less favorable alternative state, sustaining the comfortable discrepancy

Question 39

volition

Answer 39

making a conscious choice or decision