The role of self‐determination in the relationship between social support and physical activity intentions

Using the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (HMIEM) and self‐determination theory as theoretical frameworks, the purpose of the present study was to assess the role of motivation‐related variables in the relationship between perceptions of social support and intentions to be physically active. Undergraduate students completed surveys assessing perceptions of social support, psychological needs satisfaction, self‐determination, and future exercise intentions. Model fit with the data was examined and was considered acceptable, indicating that social support was positively related to the satisfaction of psychological needs, which, in turn, was related positively to self‐determination and then to physical activity intentions.     

Adaptive Responses and the Contiguity Principle

Dynamic motivational traits identified by Cattell were factor analytically examined to determine more general underlying factors. Cattell's Motivational Analysis Test, which measures 10 dynamic structures was administered to 247 subjects. The intercorrelations of the dynamics were factor analyzed. Six general motivational factors were found: Long Term Growth and Satisfaction vs. Short Term Attainments with Frustrations, Social vs. Selfish Values, Masculinity vs. Femininity, People Orientation, Egocentric vs. Materialistic Orientation, Relaxed Materialism vs. Frustrated Insecurity. The factors represented an individual's general motivational orientation.     

Temporal Regularity of Tapping by the Left and Right Hands in Timed and Untimed Finger Tapping

The temporal characteristics of repetitive finger tapping by the left and right hands were examined in two experiments. In the first experiment, interresponse intervals (IRIs) were recorded while right-handed male subjects tapped in synchrony with an auditory timing pulse (the synchronization phase) and then attempted to maintain the same tapping rate without the timing pulses (the continuation phase). The left and right hands performed separately, at four different rates (interpulse intervals of 250, 500, 750, and 1500 ms). There was no asymmetry of the asynchronies of the timing pulses and the associated responses in the synchronization phase or of the IRIs in either phase, but there was an asymmetry in the temporal dispersion of the responses in both phases. In the second experiment, right-handed males tapped separately with each hand at three different speeds: as quickly as possible, at a fast but steady rate, and at a slow rhythmical rate. The speed asymmetry present when tapping as quickly as possible (with the preferred hand tapping more quickly) was reduced when tapping at the fast steady rate and was absent when tapping at the slow rhythmical rate. The temporal dispersion of the IRIs produced by the nonpreferred hand was greater than the temporal dispersion of those produced by the preferred hand in all speed conditions. These results show smaller temporal dispersion of tapping by the preferred hand in right-handed males under different conditions, including submaximal speeds at which both hands respond at the same rate. This suggests that the motor system controlling the preferred hand in right-handers has more precise timing of response output than that controlling the nonpreferred hand.     

Conflict,Functional Disruption,and Defense-Effectiveness

The concepts of conflict and defense are clarified, and a model of defense-effectiveness is reconstructed from psychoanalytic usage. Defenses are effective if underlying conflicts are kept from becoming overtly disruptive. Thematic and associative indices of drive-conflict are compared with questionnaire measures of drive-related functional disruption. Three drives are sampled: aggression, dependency, and achievement. Only the first two yield positive findings. Although the aim of the study, internal consistency, is achieved, an hypothesis for external validation is also proposed.