L17 - Exercise Motivation Part 3

• Understanding the ‘psychology’ behind behaviour change

  • Theory of planned behaviour to support intention 
  • Also talking a lot about motivation 
  • Will look at types that have an influence 
  • Can have it to help build motivation (intention), or for good motivation while exercising (maintenance)

  
• Build & Enhancing Appropriate Motivation - Self-Determination Theory

  • Focusing on the reasons behind PA & their consequences
  • Types of motivation 
  • Autonomous Motivation 
  • Love or enjoyment
  • Meaningful, value driven 
  • eg I want to exercise, it's fun 
  • eg It’s important to me to reduce my BP to feel healthier 
  • Controlled Motivation 
  • Also known as ego based reasons 
  • Societal pressure 
  • Guilt or fear 
  • Rewards or punishment 
• Build & Enhancing Appropriate Motivation - Self-Determination Theory

  • Autonomous Motivation 
  • Love or enjoyment 
  • Intrinsic 
  • Meaningful, value driven 
  • Role for children 
  • Or to be around to support family 
  • Good extrinsic, helps intrinsic 
  • eg I want to exercise, it's fun 
  • eg It’s important to me to reduce my BP to feel healthier 
• Build & Enhancing Appropriate Motivation - Self-Determination Theory

  • Controlled Motivation 
  •  Also known as ego based reasons 
  • Societal pressure 
  • Guilt or fear 
  • Can be powerful, but not great for long term motivation
  • Rewards or punishment 
  • Unless professional 
  • Often used in childhood 
  • Not great form for long term, as when take away external reward motivations falls off 
  • Got to be careful how use them 
  • All from external sources 
  • eg Summer’s coming up time to hit the gym 
  • eg GP has told me I need to decrease my BP so I don’t have a heart attack
• Building & Enacting Appropriate Motivation 

  • A specific motive can be associated w/ different forms of motivation 
  • Can have same motive but can have autonomous form or controlled form of motivation 
  • eg “I exercise to lose weight”
  • Autonomous = “It’s important to me to feel healthier”
  • Controlled = “The doc has told me I need to exercise to avoid diabetes”

  
• Building & Enacting Appropriate Motivation 

  • Goals can also have an autonomous or controlled focus 
  • “I will go to 3 exercise classes a week to improve my health…
  • Because I value good health” (autonomous)
  • Because my GP is pressuring me to do something about my BP” (controlled)
  • The specific content of goals & underlying reasons are important 
  • Why is more important than what

  
• The Importance of Why 

  • Autonomous Motivation 
  • I enjoy exercise 
  • I value the benefits 
  • → PA maintenance 
  • Want to be more autonomously motivated
  • Controlled Motivation 
  • I have been told to exercise 
  • I will feel guilty if I don’t 
  • → Short term adoption of PA 

  
• The Importance of Why 

  • The quality of motivation is more important than the quantity 
  • Don’t need more motivation, need the right motivation (quality) to keep them in the game
  • Want to be more autonomously motivated
  • Motivational types are also associated w/ different mental health outcomes…

  
• People who go to the gym to look good → Anxiety

  • If only source is to look good, brings in comparison element = anxiety
  • Shown to have poor mental health outcomes 
  • Correlational & experimental 
  • Injected motivation - motivation based on ego or guilt 
  • Those primed w/ exercise guilt had body anxiety afterwards
  • Exercise due to guilt, societal pressure, unattainable body norms → Increase chances of poor mental health outcomes (eg anxiety)
  • Constant comparisons not great for mental health 
  • Neg consequences 

  
• People who go to the gym to look good → Anxiety

  • As exercise professionals can influence this; get them to do more functional movements rather than just a bicep curl 
  • Functional exercise better than isolated

  
• Relationships w/ Motivational Quality & Nature Contexts 

  • Correlational study 
  • Exercising due to enjoyment &/or valued outcomes → Improved psych wellbeing 
  • Positive consequences

  
• Motivational Soup

  • Have more than one form of motivation 
  • Have intrinsic (enjoy it, value - is good for your health); extrinsic (keeps me in shape, to win)
  • Acknowledge many motivations 
  • Autonomous motivation = main ingredients 
  • Controlled motivation = condiments 
  • Don’t want it as base of soup or as dominant form of motivation 
  • Competition: can be powerful small motivators in short term & as long as isn’t main reason

  
• Creating Autonomous Motivation 

  • Autonomous motivation is increased if a person’s 3 basic psychological needs are met within the PA environment 

  1. Autonomy 
  2. Their actions are freely chosen 
  3. Help clients feel more involved 
  4. In their exercise programme design  
  5. If finding reasons why exercise is important to them 
  6. Competence
  7. Perceived ability & opportunity to be effective 
  8. Help them to realise they can do it (increase confidence)
  9. Relatedness 
  10. Social connection to the exercise environment 

  
• Creating Autonomous Motivation 

  • Autonomous motivation is increased if a person’s 3 basic psychological needs are met within the PA environment 

  1. Autonomy 
  2. Competence
  3. Relatedness

  • 3 needs met are more likely to be autonomously motivated 
  • It’s my choice
  • I’m good at this
  • I fit in here

  
• Creating Autonomous Motivation 

  • Autonomous motivation is increased if a person’s 3 basic psychological needs are met within the PA environment 
  • Want to be autonomously motivated 
  • Sub theory of self-determination theory - as long as 3 needs met, the person is more likely to be autonomously motivated 

  
• Creating Autonomous Motivation - Autonomy 

  • Their actions are freely chosen 
  • Help clients feel more involved 
  • In their exercise programme design 
  • Collaboration rather than prescription 
  • If finding reasons why exercise is important to them 
  • They are their own experts, have solutions for their problems, just help them solve them through motivational interviewing 
  • Important to find reasons to be PA - to understand what matters to them (small value system, understanding why PA is important to them)
  • If can’t provide choice, give strong rationale

  
• Creating Autonomous Motivation - Competence

  • Perceived ability & opportunity to be effective 
  • Help them to realise they can do it (increase confidence)
  • To be effective in environment 
  • Optimal goal setting w/ goals that are achievable (goldilocks goals)

  
• Creating Autonomous Motivation - Relatedness 

  •  Social connection to the exercise environment 
  • Provide support & encouragement 
  • As trainer, or anyone in environment, peers, dynamic in a group 
  • Support rather than pressure 

  
• Supporting someone to be more Autonomously Motivated - Autonomy Support & Rationale

  • Takes each of 3 psych needs & breaks them down to support someone to be more autonomously motivated 
  • Using non-controlling informational language 
  • You could instead of you should 
  • Explore life's aspirations & values 
  • & attaching reasons to be PA
  • Provide a meaningful rationale 

  
• Supporting someone to be more Autonomously Motivated - Competence Support & Rationale

  • Address obstacles 
  • & how to overcome them 
  • To help increase confidence & competence (for autonomous motivation)
  • Assist is setting optimal challenge 
  • Goals that are achievable but not too easy 
  • Provide self-monitoring 
  • Step count, objective measures (weight controversial, if is main focus = externalised - outcome goal)
  • Process goal is about the process, better than an outcome goal

  
• Supporting someone to be more Autonomously Motivated - Relatedness Support & Rationale

  • Use empathetic listening (relatedness)
  • Show that you care & are there to listen 
  • Rapport building - connection 1 on 1; or as a group 
  • Is a big/key component  

  
• Support or Thwart?

  • Does this exercise environment support autonomous motivation?
  • Crossfit: 
  • Autonomy - prescribed, find rationale for exercise
  • Competence - ways in which can adjust to suit their level; sense of progression - improvement 
  • Relatedness - opportunity for social connection; some competition 
  • Hot yoga:
  • Autonomy - led by yoga instructor 
  • Competence - different ways can approach movement, can see progression (distal outcomes = far away)
  • Relatedness - working w/ a group of people 

  
• Support or Thwart?

  • Does this exercise environment support autonomous motivation?
  • Bouldering/Rock climbing:
  • Autonomy - good can choose routes they follow, different ways of achieving 
  • Competence - good for overcoming barriers for competence
  • Relatedness - social aspect
  • Walking club/5k run:
  • Autonomy - democratic system, can suggest walks that they want to do 
  • Competence - challenge self, is a bit of a competition 
  • Relatedness - good at promoting community, is about social connection

  
• Support or Thwart?

  • It's less about the activity itself, more about the underlying social environment, an individual’s reasons for doing it, weather they have chosen to do it, weather they think they can do it 
  • Environment could be toxic or supporting 
  • Could still feel pressured 
  • Want to build a good social environment  

  
• Building & Enacting Appropriate Motivation 

  • Motivation to start comes from having outcome expectations
  • What will I achieve? Are expectations realistic?
  • When will I achieve it? - Proximal or distal
  • Outcome expectations are related to goals, which can also be proximal or distal 
  • Short term (proximal) vs long term (distal) goals 
  • Which is better for motivation?
  • Which is more common to hear people talk about?
  • What are the benefits of each type of outcome?

  
• Building & Enacting Appropriate Motivation

  • Proximal
  • Occurs during or shortly after exercise 
  • Affect
  • Distal
  • Expected days or months after continued exercise 
  • eg reduced anxiety or depression

  
• Creating the Intention

  • Distal outcomes 
  • Most people more likely to describe distal goals 
  • Because maybe feel more stable
  • Distal goals are aspirational & support long term motivation 
  • eg to run a marathon 
  • But, focusing only on distal outcomes may lead to controlled motivation 
  • Good to have a little but of distal but not as main or only motivation 
  • Alone has very little motivational value 
  • Take so long to get, need people to buy into proximal outcomes

  
• Creating the Intention

  • Proximal outcomes
  • Are immediate 
  • Can create positive affective attitudes 
  • Can lead to autonomous motivation in less active people 
  • Or intrinsic motivation 
  • Build momentum & perceived competence 
  • Good for habit building & increased confidence
  • Want more proximal outcome

  
• Creating the Intention

  • Distal outcomes 
  • Long term goals
  • Proximal outcomes
  • Are immediate 
  • Use both types &, where possible, connect them
  • Proximal goal completing 3 runs this week 
  • Distal goal - completing a 10km fun in 3 months
  • Look at both short & long term outcomes  

  
• Promoting Maintenance 

  • Motivation to continue comes from experiencing outcome expectations 
  • Did I achieve what I wanted to?
  • So I value those achievements? (autonomous motivation)
  • From reflecting & self-monitoring 
  • We can’t give people motivation, but we can create environments for them to create it for themselves 

  
• Promoting Maintenance 

  • It is important to support people to self-monitor their outcomes & make sense of their meaning
  • Scales say you have lost 5kg, well done 
  • How is your life different now that you have lost 5kg?
  • Rather than just giving objective measures 
  • Better to connect it to reasons in their life 
  • Reframe into a question & how it affects their lives & what they value 
  • Help connect their outcomes to their values & meanings 
  • Celebrate outcomes but making sure they are meaningful