Is physical activity a part of who I am? A review and meta-analysis of identity, schema and physical activity

Rhodes (2016) · Health Psychology Review · Read the paper

Rhodes and colleagues reviewed the research on identity and self-schema in physical activity, asking whether seeing yourself as an active person adds anything to the standard social-cognitive account of intentions and confidence. Across sixty-two datasets, thirty-two of which could be combined statistically, the association between identity and actual activity was moderate to strong, and it held regardless of the study characteristics they tested. The thematic part is more interesting than the number. Identity was linked to commitment, perceived ability, how exercise felt, the more self-determined kinds of motivation and social comparison, and it predicted intentions, confidence in self-regulation and use of self-regulatory strategies. It reliably moderated the gap between intending to exercise and doing it, which is the practical claim: people with an athletic self-concept act on their intentions more often. It was also associated with faster processing of relevant information and with negative feeling when a situation contradicted the identity. The authors note the studies are mostly of modest quality and that interventions to build identity have barely been tried.

Rhodes and colleagues reviewed the research on identity and self-schema in physical activity, asking whether seeing yourself as an active person adds anything to the standard social-cognitive account of intentions and confidence. Across sixty-two datasets, thirty-two of which could be combined statistically, the association between identity and actual activity was moderate to strong, and it held regardless of the study characteristics they tested. The thematic part is more interesting than the number. Identity was linked to commitment, perceived ability, how exercise felt, the more self-determined kinds of motivation and social comparison, and it predicted intentions, confidence in self-regulation and use of self-regulatory strategies. It reliably moderated the gap between intending to exercise and doing it, which is the practical claim: people with an athletic self-concept act on their intentions more often. It was also associated with faster processing of relevant information and with negative feeling when a situation contradicted the identity. The authors note the studies are mostly of modest quality and that interventions to build identity have barely been tried.

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Rhodes, R. E., Kaushal, N. & Quinlan, A. (2016). "Is physical activity a part of who I am? A review and meta-analysis of identity, schema and physical activity." Health Psychology Review, 10(2), 204-225.

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  • Nobody Is Born Consistent, Why We Move

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The source

https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2016.1143334

DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2016.1143334