The relationship between implicit and explicit believability of exercise-related messages and intentions.

Abstract

The results indicate that exercise-related health promotion messages are believable and that the initial reaction to them coincides with reflective attitudes. However, if appearance messages are believed (even if not explicitly), the effects may be detrimental. It is important to include implicit measures in messaging research as they allow for a more complete understanding of how health messages may influence related cognitions.

Whatever gets your heart pumping: the impact of implicitly selected reinforcer-focused statements on exercise intensity

“…Additional research has shown that both implicit and explicit motivation are relevant to exercise: implicit measures predict the preferred properties of exercise and intention to engage in physical activity, and explicit measures predict the likelihood that these intentions will result in a change in actual exercise behaviour and in the initiation of exercise (Hagger, 2012). Researchers in this area have called for greater attention to implicit measures while pointing out that we do not yet know much about how procedures based on these measures might have their effects (Berry, Jones, McLeod, & Spence, 2011).…”

Effects of Reading Health and Appearance Exercise Magazine Articles on Perceptions of Attractiveness and Reasons for Exercise

“…This sample size is similar to related research [15]–[16]. Further, according to guidelines provided by Cohen [26], a minimum of 97 participants are needed for a regression with six predictor variables with alpha set to.05 and power = .80 and a medium effect size.…”

“…These authors contend that the type of advertising seen in popular fitness magazines such as Shape can influence body image, but there is limited research examining this issue. There is also evidence some people implicitly believe that exercise will improve one’s appearance, even if they do not explicitly report such beliefs [16]. Although media representations of beauty can result in poor body image, Thompson and colleagues also point out that acceptance of these ideals is not universal and it is possible to reject them.…”

“…Therefore, the ELM is a useful lens to reflect on how exercise advertising is processed and allows for consideration of differences in how health and appearance messages are presented. For example, appearance messages are more prevalent than health messages and rely on attractive models to “sell” exercise [16], [18]. A traditional thought listing technique used in advertising research [17], [19] may capture message processing and thus give information on how the advertising messages may have been internalized and the valence of processing (i.e., acceptance versus rejection of societal ideals of beauty).…”

“…This hypothesis is based on sociocultural theory. It was also hypothesized that participants in the health condition would report health as an important reason to exercise because related research has shown that health messages result in more positive exercise-related attitudes and intentions to be active [16]. However, it was also hypothesized that these relationships would be moderated by exercise self-identity.…”