Chapter 5: MOTIVATION THROUGH

FEELINGS OF COMPETENCE AND CONFIDENCEI think I can, I think I can,

I know I can …

Theories of Exercise Behaviour

Belief-AttitudeTheories

Competence-BasedTheories

Control-BasedTheories

Stage-BasedTheories

Example:Theory of

Planned Behaviour

Example:Self-Efficacy

Theory

Example:Self-Determination

Theory

Example:Transtheoretical

Model

HybridModels

Example:HAPA

Chapter 5: Aims

• review how people perceive competence in the physical domain

• outline achievement goal perspectives and related theories as viable ways to study motivation in exercise

• review Self-Efficacy Theory • present some alternative views on

confidence relevant to the study of physical activity

PHYSICAL SELF-PERCEPTIONS

Physical self-perception hierarchyproposed by Fox

SPO RTCOMPE TENCE

BO DYA TTRACTIV ENESS

PERCE IV EDS TRENG TH

PHYS ICA LCO ND ITIO N

PHYS ICA LS E LF -W O RTH

G LO BA LS E LF -

E S TE EM

GOAL PERSPECTIVES THEORY

"success and failure are not concrete events. They are psychological states consequent on perception of

reaching or not reaching goals......It follows that, if there is cultural variation in the personal qualities that are seen to be desirable, success and failure will be viewed differently in

different cultures" (Maehr and Nicholls, 1980)

Task and Ego Goal Orientations

• There are two main goal orientations: task and ego based on how people construe competence

• task orientation: ability and effort are less clearly differentiated cues used to assess competence are effort and task completion a self-referenced focus

• ego orientation: ability and effort are more clearly differentiated cues used to assess competence are outcomes and ability relative

to others An ‘other-referenced’ focus

Results from physical activity

• Research shows associations between a task orientation and:• beliefs that effort produces success (positive association: +)• motives of skill development and team membership (+)• beliefs that the purpose of sport and physical education is for mastery,

fitness, and self-esteem (+)• perceptions of competence (+)• positive affect (+)• negative affect (negative association: -)• parental task orientation (+)• various measures or markers of behaviour (+).

Biddle et al., 2003

Results from physical activity

• Research shows associations between an ego orientation and:

• beliefs that ability produces success (+)• motives of status/recognition and competition (+)• beliefs that the purpose of sport and physical

education is for social status and being a good citizen (+)

• perceptions of competence (+)• parental ego orientation (+).

Biddle et al., 2003

Task and ego goal orientation scores (Wang & Biddle, 2001)

• Task and ego goal orientation scores, expressed in Z scores, for 5 clusters, showing Clusters 1 and 2 with high task orientation.

• These clusters displayed the most positive motivational profiles on other variables. The least motivated groups was clusters 3 and 5

• Note: Z scores are standardised scores with mean=0 and SD=1, hence scores above 0 are higher than the overall average, and those below 0 are below average. Typically, scores deviating at least +/- 0.5 are considered ‘significant’.

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

Z s

core Task

Ego

Clusters

1

2

3

4

5

SELF-EFFICACY THEORY

Sonstroem and Morgan's (1989) exercise and self-esteem model

• Physical self-efficacy is a central construct in this model

• efficacy is a lower-order 'specific' construct in the model that represents …

• the "lowest generality level of the competence dimension. Self-conceptions at this level should be the most accurate and the most readily influenced by environmental interactions".

SELF-ESTEEM

PHYSICALCOMPETENCE

PHYSICALSELF-

EFFICACY

PHYSICALACCEPTANCE

Sonstroem and Morgan's (1989) exercise and self-esteem model

What is Self-efficacy?

• "people's judgements of their capabilities to organise and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances.

• It is concerned not with the skills one has but with judgements of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses" (Bandura, 1986, p. 391).

Efficacy and Outcome Expectations

• Efficacy expectations: beliefs related to the ability to carry-out a particular behaviour

• Outcome expectations: beliefs concerning whether the behaviour will produce a particular result (outcome)

Sources of information for self-efficacy beliefs

• prior success and performance attainment

• imitation and modelling

• verbal and social persuasion

• judgements of physiological states

Measurement of self-efficacy

• magnitude of self-efficacy: the ordering of tasks by difficulty

• strength of self-efficacy: assessment of ones' capabilities for performing a particular task

• generality of self-efficacy: the extent to which efficacy expectations from one situation generalise to other situations

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Walk

Run

Climb

Sex

Lift

Exertion

%SEChange

Increases in self-efficacy after treadmill running for post-MI men

(Ewart et al., 1983)

Studies on medical patients in exercise rehabilitation

• self-efficacy judgements can generalise but will be strongest for activities similar to the activity experienced

• self-efficacy in 'dissimilar' activities can be enhanced through counselling

• self-efficacy better predicts changes in exercise behaviour than generalised expectancies of locus of control

Exercise and self-efficacy responses of older adults

• SE can be increased through intervention

• SE will predict participation, particularly in the early stages of an exercise programme

• SE declines after a period of inactivity

Research by McAuley et al.

Self-efficacy and exercise: A summary (McAuley & Blissmer, 2000)

SELF-EFFICACY

Self-efficacy as adeterminant of

physical activity

Self-efficacy as an outcome of

physical activity

Self-efficacy interventions

Physical activityadoption

Physical activitymaintenance

Post-programmefollow-up

Acute physicalactivity

Chronic physicalactivity

Enhancement ofefficacy, affect,and adherence

Other approaches to confidence and physical activity: Performance estimation

• Confidence may be affected by:• the sex-typed nature of the task: confidence is

likely to be low in situations where the task is perceived as 'inappropriate'

• social evaluation: females may underestimate their ability when they are being evaluated or compared, such as in competition

• feedback: females may achieve better levels of performance when given objective and accurate feedback

Other approaches to confidence and physical activity: Self-Presentational

Processes • Self-presentational concerns may affect

physical activity choice, such as …

• when one perceives the activity to be incompatible with ones' image

• where anxiety is felt in displaying low levels of physical competence.

Chapter 5: Conclusions• that participation in physical activity is associated with perceptions of competence• more specific perceptions of competence/efficacy are likely to be better predictors of

specific behaviours than generalised beliefs in competence. • goal perspectives theory proposes that people can define competence and success in

different ways, the main ones being ego and task orientations. Research is consistent in showing the motivational benefits of a task orientation, either singly or in combination with an ego orientation

• research using self-efficacy with patient groups demonstrates that exercise self-efficacy can be developed; self-efficacy judgements can generalise but will be strongest for activities similar to the activity experienced; self-efficacy in 'dissimilar' activities can be enhanced through counselling; self-efficacy better predicts changes in exercise behaviour than generalised expectancies

• research with non-patient groups has shown that exercise self-efficacy can be increased through intervention, will predict participation, particularly in the early stages of an exercise programme, will decline after a period of inactivity, and is associated with positive exercise emotion.

• self-presentational processes offer additional understanding to physical activity confidence and anxiety