Exercise Is In! Implicit Exercise and Sedentary-Lifestyle Bias Held by In-Groups1

Abstract

This research examined implicit exercise‐related bias between exercising groups. Participants (N = 53) completed an Implicit Association Test with neutrally valenced exerciser or couch potato exemplars. Participants who explicitly identified as exercisers had greater positive bias toward exercisers and against couch potatoes than did participants who identified as nonexercisers. Similarly, participants who reported greater exercise had significantly greater positive bias toward exercisers than did participants who reported less exercise. Our results expand on existing research on anti‐fat and exercise‐related stereotypes by providing evidence of implicit biases for exercisers and against couch potatoes among those who are already active.

The association between implicit attitudes toward physical activity and physical activity behaviour: a systematic review and correlational meta-analysis

“…There was a moderate level of heterogeneity (I 2 = 51%). Two univariate outliers (Oliver & Kemps, 2018;Berry et al, 2011) were identified with the Grubbs tests performed on the 55 available effect sizes. In the aggregated analysis, one multivariate outlier (Oliver & Kemps, 2018) was identified (see in supplemental results [Insert Figure 2 about here]…”

Behavioral and neural evidence of the rewarding value of exercise behaviors: A systematic review

“…Sixteen studies were designed to investigate automatic affective processes. Six studies examined the differences in automatic affective reactions to stimuli associated with physical activity between physically active and inactive individuals [92][93][94][95][96][97]. Five of these studies showed the expected associations between automatic affective reactions and physical activity, but the effects sizes were highly variables (see table 1).…”

“…Results showed that physically active individuals were faster at categorizing positive target words after exercise primers, whereas inactive students were faster with negative words (d = 0.59). Using an IAT contrasting words associated with physical activity (e.g., workout, cross-train, run) and sedentary behaviors (sit, rest, snooze), a study revealed that individuals who were explicitly identified as exercisers had more positive automatic affective reactions toward exercise, as compared to non-exercisers (d = 0.81) [93]. Additionally, participants who reported greater habitual levels of physical activity also had more positive automatic affective reactions toward exercise compared to participants who reported less habitual physical activity levels.…”

“…Sixteen studies were designed to investigate automatic affective processes. Individuals with higher levels of physical activity showed more positive automatic affective reactions toward active behaviors compared to individuals with lower levels of physical activity [80][81][82][83][84][85][86]. For example, Bluemke and collaborators [82] used a priming task in which exercise (e.g., to swim, to jog) or control (e.g., to read, to eat) verbs were presented before participants had to quickly categorize positive (e.g., athletic, strong) and negative (e.g., exhausted, tense) target words.…”

The effects of implicit anxiety on the performance of skin self‐examinations

“…Additionally, a number of studies have linked health protective behaviors and implicit attitudes. For example, implicit attitudes have been related to condom use (Czopp, Monteith, & Zimmerman, 2004;Stacy, Ames, Ullman, Zogg, & Leigh, 2006), physical exercise (Berry, Spence, & Clark, 2011;Keatley, Clarke, & Hagger, 2009), and healthy eating (Papies, Stroebe, & Aarts, 2009).…”