Relationships Between Self-Determined Motivation and Developmental Outcomes in Sport-Based Positive Youth Development

Building on self-determination theory, this study examined the relationships between self-determined motivation toward sport participation and developmental outcomes in sport-based positive youth development. One hundred twenty participants in a sport-based positive youth development program designed to engage youth through running completed a postprogram survey measuring their self-determined motivation toward running and achievement of developmental outcomes. The results of regression analyses indicated that participants with higher self-determined motivation toward running reported higher general self-efficacy, more positive attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle, and lower engagement in threatening behavior. On the other hand, self-determined motivation was unrelated to self-reported academic performance.     

Using implicit attitudes of exercise importance to predict explicit exercise dependence symptoms and exercise behaviors

Objectives“Fast” (i.e., implicit) processing is relatively automatic; “slow” (i.e., explicit) processing is relatively controlled and can override automatic processing. These different processing types often produce different responses that uniquely predict behaviors. In the present study, we tested if explicit, self-reported symptoms of exercise dependence and an implicit association of exercise as important predicted exercise behaviors and change in problematic exercise attitudes.DesignWe assessed implicit attitudes of exercise importance and self-reported symptoms of exercise dependence at Time 1. Participants reported daily exercise behaviors for approximately one month, and then completed a Time 2 assessment of self-reported exercise dependence symptoms.MethodUndergraduate males and females (Time 1, N = 93; Time 2, N = 74) tracked daily exercise behaviors for one month and completed an Implicit Association Test assessing implicit exercise importance and subscales of the Exercise Dependence Questionnaire (EDQ) assessing exercise dependence symptoms.ResultsImplicit attitudes of exercise importance and Time 1 EDQ scores predicted Time 2 EDQ scores. Further, implicit exercise importance and Time 1 EDQ scores predicted daily exercise intensity while Time 1 EDQ scores predicted the amount of days exercised.ConclusionImplicit and explicit processing appear to uniquely predict exercise behaviors and attitudes. Given that different implicit and explicit processes may drive certain exercise factors (e.g., intensity and frequency, respectively), these behaviors may contribute to different aspects of exercise dependence.     

Automatic and self-reported attitudes in romantic relationships

Two studies used response latency measures to assess automatic attitudes that individuals are unwilling or unable to reveal about their partners. In Study 1, participants (n = 51) in dating relationships completed two response latency measures (Time 1) and several relationship self-reports (Times 1 and 2). Participants who faced high barriers to exiting (BTE) their relationship generally showed a negative association between their relationship self-reports and automatic attitudes, and there was some evidence that automatic attitudes at Time 1 predicted relationship satisfaction at Time 2. Study 2 (n = 41 couples) replicated the BTE finding and showed that image-based response latency measures may assess automatic attitudes more effectively than word-based measures. A negative correlation between self-reported and automatic attitudes among high-BTE participants suggests that they may overreport relationship positivity to quell feelings of doubt about a relationship they cannot feasibly dissolve.     

Associations between visual attention,implicit and explicit attitude and behaviour for physical activity

The current study explored associations between previous physical activity and both implicit and explicit attitudes, as well as visual attention and activity motivation (intention). Analyses were performed on participants initially unaware of the physical activity focus of the study (N = 98). Higher levels of physical activity were associated with positive implicit attitudes and an attentional bias towards exercise cues. There was a quadratic (‘U’ shaped) relationship between implicit attitude and attention: the more extreme individuals’ implicit attitudes towards exercise (positive or negative) the greater their attentional bias to exercise cues. Furthermore, explicit attitude moderated the relationship between attentional bias and physical activity: attentional bias to exercise cues was associated with higher levels of physical activity only for those who had a strong positive explicit attitude. Findings suggested that implicit cognitions are linked with previous physical activity. Future research should consider strategies for strengthening positive implicit and explicit attitudes and directing attention to cues signalling healthy behaviour.     

A Cyberbullying Intervention for Hong Kong Chinese College Students

A cyberbullying intervention was developed and empirically tested with 137 Hong Kong Chinese College students. The intervention was designed to change students’ attitudes about cyberbullying behavior and increase their awareness of cyberbullying. Participants were assigned to an experimental or control group. They completed questionnaires before the intervention (Time 1; T1), immediately after the intervention (Time 2; T2), and again eight weeks later (Time 3; T3). The experimental group participated in a 1-h intervention where they were presented with a simulated Facebook page showing the helpless feelings of cyber-victims, watched video clips of the consequences of cyberbullying, and engaged in small group discussions and a self-reflection writing task. Results showed that participants who received the intervention experienced an increase in their awareness and had more negative attitudes toward cyberbullying (i.e., the perception that cyberbullying is unacceptable behavior) than did the control group. In addition, those who reported being highly engaged in the intervention maintained the positive effects at the 8-week follow-up. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of a short-term cyberbullying intervention for college students and that level of participant engagement contributes to its effectiveness.     

青少年时间态度与学业拖延的关系：成就动机的中介作用

采用青少年时间态度量表、成就动机量表和学业拖延问卷,对 733名中学生进行调查,旨在探究时间态度与学业拖延的关系,揭示成就动机在时间态度与学业拖延之间的中介作用机制。结果发现（1）过去消极、现在消极和未来消极与学业拖延呈显著正相关,过去积极、现在积极和未来积极与学业拖延呈显著负相关。（2）过去消极、现在消极和未来消极与成就动机呈显著负相关,过去积极、现在积极和未来积极与成就动机呈显著正相关;成就动机与学业拖延呈显著负相关。（3）成就动机在现在消极与学业拖延之间起部分中介作用,在未来积极、未来消极与学业拖延之间起完全中介作用。     

Mood Regulation and Memory: Repairing Sad Moods with Happy Memories

A total of 106 undergraduates participated in a study examining how individuals retrieve memories to repair negative moods. Participants first completed a measure of depression. Two weeks later, participants were assigned to either a sad or neutral mood induction. After mood induction, they recalled two memories, rated their affective responses to the memories, and indicated why they chose the valence and order of the memories. Consistent with mood-congruent recall, participants in the sad condition reported sadder memories than those in the neutral condition. However, participants with prior low depression scores tended to recall more positive second memories, whereas participants with higher prior depression scores recalled consecutive negative memories. Sixty-eight per cent of sad participants who retrieved a negative first and positive second memory mentioned mood repair as motivating the recruitment of the more positive second memory.     

Testing attitudes,social desirability and behavioral regulations as moderators of implicit-explicit exercise discrepancies: A replication study in Iranian students

IntroductionThere is mixed evidence regarding moderators of the relationship between implicitly and explicitly measured constructs. This study examined this issue with evaluations of exercise relative to health or appearance in a sample of Iranian adolescents. Investigaing automatic associations and reflective constructs might provide important implications for developing interventions targeting exercise behavior in a population with different cultural, social, and economic barriers to exercise than European or North American adolescents.MethodsParticipants were 471 students enrolled in grades 9 to 12, of whom 269 (54.9%) were female. Behavioral regulations, explicit attitudes, and social desirability were investigated as possible moderators. All students completed questionnaire measures of physical activity behavior, attitudes, social desieality and behavioral regulation. They also completed two Go/No Go Association tasks to measure automatic associations of exercise with health and apperarance.ResultsAttitude was a significant moderator of discrepancies between automatic associations of exercise with health and health motives. Interjected regulation moderated implicit-explicit appearance discrepancies. Participants with low social desirability and negative automatic appearance associations had the highest appearance motivation.ConclusionsParticipants focused on the potential of achieving positive health outcomes of exercise rather than physical appearance outcomes, which differs from research from other countries. It is possible that, health was strongly linked with exercise by the pervasive societal pressures in Iran to have a healthy body.     

Evaluation of a school-based intervention programme to promote physical activity: an application of the theory of planned behavior

The Theory of Planned Behavior provides a useful framework to study attitudes toward participation in physical activity. The objective of the study was to test the effectiveness of an intervention in manipulating the variables of the Theory of Planned Behavior and exercise habits with 366 high school students (M = 14.2 yr., SD = .7; 201 boys and 165 girls). The students were divided into intervention and control groups. A questionnaire to measure components of the theory, and the Baecke Questionnaire of Habitual Activity measuring exercise habits, were administered. The intervention lasted 12 wk. and included posters and lectures promoting participation in physical activity. Analyses showed the intervention was effective in improving attitudes towards physical activity, perceived behavioral control, intention, and self-reported actual behavior, but it was ineffective for improving attitude strength, subjective norms, and role identity. The results provide useful information for physical education teachers interested in promoting students' positive attitudes towards physical activity.     

Students' perceptions and reported use of their memories after a memory-improvement course

23 college students who had taken a memory-improvement course completed a questionnaire at three different times: the beginning of the course, the end of the course, and two months after the end of the course. The questionnaire assessed the students' perceptions of their memory abilities, e.g., how good their memories were and how confident they were in their memories and knowledge about their memories, and their reported use of the memory techniques; it did not assess actual memory performance or ability. The students' responses to the questionnaire were compared with those of 23 control students who completed the questionnaire at the same three times. The memory students reported more positive changes in how they perceived their memory abilities and knowledge, and these reported changes in perceptions were still evident two months later. The students also reported that they were still using their memory techniques two months later.     

The relationship between nonverbal immediacy, student motivation, and perceived cognitive learning among Japanese college students

Research in the United States has found a strong and consistent relationship between teacher behavior and learning. Data collected from American college students indicate that perceptions of teacher nonverbal immediacy (NVI) are associated with students' feelings toward learning and perceptions of cognitive learning. The purposes of this study were to accomplish the following: (1) develop standardized Japanese versions of the instruments used to measure teacher nonverbal immediacy, student motivation, and perceived cognitive learning (how much students think they have learned); and (2) assess the relationship between NVI, student motivation, and perceptions of cognitive learning among Japanese college students. Results note that Japanese students report (1) a positive relationship between reported levels of teacher NVI and student motivation; (2) a negative relationship between reported levels of teacher NVI and perceived learning loss; and (3) a negative relationship between student motivation (SM) and perceived learning loss (how much students think they did not learn with their teacher compared to an ideal teacher). Further, cross-cultural comparisons between Japanese and American students were conducted. Results from the cross-cultural comparison suggest that the relationships between reported teacher nonverbal immediacy, student motivation, and learning loss among Japanese college students are similar to those found among American college students, but the dimensional structure of the questionnaires was different.     

Positive and negative well-being among adolescents from theological and conventional schools in India

In this pilot study, we examined positive and negative well-being among 60 students from theological and conventional schools. Participants included 30 students (50% females) from each school, aged 16–18 years. Self-reported measures included life satisfaction and achievement motivation for positive well-being and stress and anxiety for negative well-being. Results indicated that theological school students reported much lower life satisfaction compared to students in conventional schools with a large effect size. Similar patterns were observed with stress and anxiety, although effects were small. There were no differences in achievement motivation between the two schools. Regarding gender, findings showed that males reported lower stress and anxiety than their female counterparts and these effects were large. Genders did not differ in life satisfaction and achievement motivation.     

The experience of positive emotion is associated with the automatic processing of positive emotional words

The current study examines the relationship between attention bias for positive emotional words and self-reported emotional experience. Previous research suggests that the experience of positive emotion momentarily broadens cognitive processes, potentially allowing individuals to build an array of enduring personal resources. However, it is unknown whether the experience of positive emotion also broadens emotional information processing. Participants included 60 healthy undergraduate students who completed measures of psychopathology, self-reported emotional experience, and an emotional Stroop task designed to measure attentional bias to positive and negative emotional information. Results indicate significant associations between reaction times for high-intensity happiness words and self-reported high levels of positive emotion and low levels of negative emotions. These associations were not present for low intensity happiness words. Findings suggest that individuals who experience high levels of positive emotion and low levels of negative emotion demonstrate an attention bias for positive information and, from an information processing perspective, provide insight into the manner in which positive emotions broaden cognitive processes.     

Cognitive failures,dysfunctional attitudes,and symptomatology: A longitudinal study

Abstract

A longitudinal study is presented in which a group of mature students were assessed at four months apart for their symptom levels, the occurrence of life events, and two putative cognitive vulnerability measures of dysfunctional attitudes, and of a proneness to cognitive failures. The results showed that although both the Time 1 cognitive measures were significantly correlated with symptom levels four months later, only the effect for cognitive failures remained significant when the initial symptom levels were taken into consideration. Speculations are presented about the possible nature of this vulnerability, and it is concluded that future studies of cognitive vulnerability should not limit themselves to self-reported negative thoughts or attitudes.     

Faculty attitudes about student evaluations and their relations to self-image as teacher

With the worldwide implementation of students’ evaluation of teaching (SET), faculty attitudes and trust in students’ feedback as well as possible defensive (i.e., self-protective) motivations seem most relevant to the facilitation of the primary organizational goal of SET, namely, teaching improvement. A questionnaire—administered to 2241 faculty members of all ranks in two dozen varied institutions—measured positive attitudes and trust, on the one hand, and beliefs in salient negative faculty SET myths, on the other hand. The most widely-held negative attitudes concerned student fallibilities: vindictiveness; lack of maturity; and negative evaluations of low-achieving students. Despite believing in myths, more than half of the respondents reported trusting SET, thought that it accurately reflected their teaching performance, and considered SET-based feedback useful. A derived index comparing self-evaluations to reported students’ evaluations demonstrated that more than a third of the participants rated their own quality of teaching higher than the ratings they reported typically receiving from their students. This ‘underestimated’ group believed more intensely in SET myths and mistrusted it, which suggests a possible self-protective motivation underlying faculty attitudes. A subgroup of 9% felt strongly underestimated by their students, and a series of comparisons gave clear indications that, for this group of hard-core disgruntled faculty members, the administration of SET questionnaires and the provision of SET feedback are counter-productive. Insights from this research might encourage academic administrations to improve the implementation of SET measurement to increase faculty receptiveness and trust.     

The role of affect in the decision to exercise: Does being happy lead to a more active lifestyle?

ObjectiveThis study investigated the influence of affect on individuals' intentions to engage in physical activities such as exercise. Behavior intentions were examined through the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB).MethodAn experimental survey was conducted among 153 undergraduates randomly assigned to three conditions – positive affect, neutral, and negative affect. Key variables from the TPB were assessed across these conditions.ResultsAnalyses showed that participants in the positive affect and the negative affect conditions reported lower intentions to exercise than those in the neutral condition. Participants in the negative affect condition also reported more unfavorable attitudes toward exercise than their positive or neutral counterparts. Other TPB measures remained stable across the three conditions. In particular, perceived behavioral control and attitude were significant predictors of behavior intention in the pooled sample.ConclusionThese results underline the important role that affect, especially negative affect, plays in individuals' decision to exercise. Rational models for health behavior change, such as the TPB, should take into account the impact of affect.     

College Students’ Attitudes Toward Blacks and Arabs Following a Terrorist Attack as a Function of Varying Levels of Media Exposure1

Attitudes toward Blacks and Arabs immediately following a terrorist attack on the United States, as well as 1 year later, were investigated. White undergraduate students completed a modified version of the Should‐Would Discrepancy Questionnaire (Monteith & Voils, 1998), assessing beliefs about what they should do in certain situations pertaining to race and what they would do in these situations. Additionally, daily self‐reported levels of news exposure were measured. The result was that the participants both believed that they should and would be more prejudiced toward Arabs than toward Blacks, at both Time 1 and Time 2. Furthermore, at Time 1, there was a trend for participants reporting high levels of daily news exposure (television, radio, Internet, and newspapers) to be more prejudiced toward Arabs than were participants who reported low levels. No effect of news exposure on attitudes toward Blacks was found at Time 1. At Time 2, however, participants reporting greater amounts of news exposure were more prejudiced toward Blacks than were participants reporting medium or low levels. Possible reasons for and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Approach motivation and cognitive resources combine to influence memory for positive emotional stimuli

Inspired by the elaborated intrusion theory of desire, the current research tested the hypothesis that persons higher in trait approach motivation process positive stimuli deeply, which enhances memory for them. Ninety-four undergraduates completed a measure of trait approach motivation, viewed positive or negative image slideshows in the presence or absence of a cognitive load, and one week later completed an image memory test. Higher trait approach motivation predicted better memory for the positive slideshow, but this memory boost disappeared under cognitive load. Approach motivation did not influence memory for the negative slideshow. The current findings support the idea that individuals higher in approach motivation spontaneously devote limited resources to processing positive stimuli.     

Walking before study enhances free recall but not judgement-of-learning magnitude

The authors investigated whether a brief bout of aerobic exercise can influence subsequent judgements of learning (JOLs) or memory performance. 80 college students (46 women and 34 men) completed 1 of 4 conditions using a 2×2 (encoding condition×retrieval condition) between-subjects factorial design. After a practice task, students either viewed an unrelated slide show while sedentary or completed a brisk 10-minute walk. Then, all students studied 30 English nouns and provided immediate JOLs. Finally, students again completed either the sedentary activity or exercised, followed by a free recall test. Exercise before encoding increased free recall scores by 25% compared with the sedentary condition; as a result, absolute metamemory accuracy also improved. Encoding condition did not influence mean JOLs, however, suggesting that students were unaware of the memory benefits from exercise. Overall, these results suggest that individuals can gain a memory advantage from a 10-minute walk before studying.     

Do students with different motives for physical education respond differently to autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching?

ObjectivesThis study examined whether the effects of autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching in physical education depend on students' motivation.DesignA preliminary, cross-sectional study relied on questionnaires administered to teachers. The main study involved an experimental design with students.MethodsIn the preliminary study, 95 teachers reported on their beliefs regarding the effectiveness of autonomy supportive and controlling teaching styles for students with different motivational profiles. In the main study, 320 students completed a questionnaire on motivation and were then randomly assigned to an experimental condition in which they watched video-based vignettes of either an autonomy-supportive or a controlling style. After the experimental induction, students completed questionnaires on need satisfaction, need frustration, engagement, and oppositional defiance.ResultsTeachers tend to believe that autonomy support and control work best for students scoring high on, respectively, autonomous and controlled motivation. The main study, however, showed that the moderating role of student motivation in the effect of teaching style was limited. The few interactions obtained suggested that even students with poor quality motivation report that they would benefit from an autonomy-supportive approach and suffer from a controlling approach. Students in the autonomy-supportive, relative to the controlling, condition reported more engagement and less oppositional defiance, effects that were mediated by need satisfaction and frustration.ConclusionsAll students, independent of their motivational regulations when entering the experiment, reported that they would be more engaged and would show less oppositional defiance when they would interact with an autonomy-supportive instead of a controlling teacher during PE.