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A key barrier to achieving recommended intensity and duration of physical activity is motivation. We investigated whether a virtually present partner would influence participants' motivation (duration) during aerobic exercise. Fifty-eight females (M (age) = 20.54 ± 1.86) were randomly assigned to either a coactive condition (exercising alongside another person, independently), a conjunctive condition (performance determined by whichever partner stops exercising first) where they exercised with a superior partner, or to an individual condition. Participants exercised on a stationary bike at 65 % of heart rate reserve on six separate days. Across sessions, conjunctive condition participants exercised significantly longer (M = 21.89 min, SD = ±10.08 min) than those in coactive (M = 19.77 min, SD = ± 9.00 min) and individual (M = 10.6 min, SD = ±5.84 min) conditions (p < 0.05). Exercising with a virtually present partner can improve performance on an aerobic exercise task across multiple sessions.
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Aerobic Exercise Is Promoted when Individual Performance
Affects the Group: A Test of the Kohler Motivation Gain
Effect
Brandon C. Irwin, Ph.D. &Jennifer Scorniaenchi, M.S. &
Norbert L. Kerr, Ph.D. &Joey C. Eisenmann, Ph.D. &
Deborah L. Feltz, Ph.D.
Published online: 11 May 2012
#The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2012
Abstract
Background A key barrier to achieving recommended in-
tensity and duration of physical activity is motivation.
Purpose We investigated whether a virtually present partner
would influence participantsmotivation (duration) during
aerobic exercise.
Method Fifty-eight females (M
age
020.54±1.86) were ran-
domly assigned to either a coactive condition (exercising
alongside another person, independently), a conjunctive
condition (performance determined by whichever partner
stops exercising first) where they exercised with a superior
partner, or to an individual condition. Participants exercised
on a stationary bike at 65 % of heart rate reserve on six
separate days.
Results Across sessions, conjunctive condition participants ex-
ercised significantly longer (M021.89 min, SD0±10.08 min)
than those in coactive (M019.77 min, SD0±9.00min)
and individual (M010.6 min, SD0±5.84 min) conditions
(p<0.05).
Conclusion Exercising with a virtually present partner can
improve performance on an aerobic exercise task across
multiple sessions.
Keywords Group performance .Group exercise .
Exergame .Köhler effect .Motivation .Exercise partner
Introduction
Many people are physically inactive even though the links
between regular physical activity and health are well docu-
mented [15]. A number of psychological factors have been
proposed that influence motivation to exercise, including
enjoyment [6], self-efficacy [7], and social influence [8].
One promising but understudied factor is exercising in
groups. For example, group exercise programs have been
shown to lead to higher exercise adherence than individual-
ized programs [9]. However, group exercise programs may
not be helpful to people whose time conflicts with scheduled
exercise programs, those who do not have the resources, or
those who suffer from social physique anxiety [10]. Moreover,
few such programs make the group members interdependent
in any way. Considerable basic laboratory research has shown
that having people work together at a task can, under the right
conditions, reliably boost their task motivation [11,12]. The
best documentation of such group motivation gains is the
Köhler effect [13,14]compared to working individually,
the weaker member of the group tends to be more motivated
when working together with a moderately more capable part-
ner, especially when the groups final level of performance
depends primarily upon the weaker member (i.e., when the
group task has conjunctive task demands [15]). This motiva-
tion gain appears to arise from two processesatendencyto
strive to match or exceed the performance of ones more
capable partner (via social comparison process [16]) and a
tendency to work harder when the groups outcome (and/or
ones evaluation by the group) hinges crucially on onesown
level of effort (via an indispensability process) [17].
One particularly promising way in which these processes
might be harnessed to boost motivation to exercise is with
virtually present exercise partners. With a virtually present
partner, one could avoid certain limitations of face-to-face
B. C. Irwin (*):J. Scorniaenchi :N. L. Kerr :J. C. Eisenmann :
D. L. Feltz
Kinesiology, Michigan State University,
IM Sports-Circle,
East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
e-mail: irwinbra@msu.edu
ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159
DOI 10.1007/s12160-012-9367-4
group exercise programs (e.g., for scheduling, for finding
the optimal exercise partner) and social anxiety about ones
physique. Moreover, when ones partner is only virtually
present, one need not risk losses in motivation for a real,
more capable partner via the same processes that boost
motivation for the less capable partner. Recently, Feltz and
colleagues [18] reported the first empirical attempt to dem-
onstrate a Köhler motivation gain in exercise groups with
virtually present partners. They reported a 24 % increase
(d0.99) in performance at a series of five isometric exercises
by people working with a more capable, virtually present
partner compared to controls exercising individually. This
impressive motivation gain was achieved without any observ-
able increase in subjective effort, decrease in interest in the
task, or intention to exercise in the future.
The present study seeks to extend these promising results
in a couple of ways. First, although isometric exercise can
be effective at improving muscular strength, continuous
aerobic exercise is more functional for promoting health
(e.g., weight loss, cardiopulmonary function) [19]. Thus,
in the present study, an aerobic exercise task was used
(viz., peddling an exercise bike). Second, unlike previous
laboratory studies [13], Feltz et al. [18] found that motiva-
tion gain was entirely due to social comparisonthat is,
making the task into a conjunctive group task did not boost
effort above that level obtained with coacting but otherwise
independent exercisers. They speculated that this may have
been because their one-time exercise session was
approached by their participants as an inherently competi-
tivenot as a collaborativetask setting. They suggested
that repeated opportunities to exercise with a teammate
might boost the relative importance of being an indispensi-
ble, weak linkin the group, perhaps by strengthening
ones concern for and identification with ones group [20].
Of course, to be effective, any intervention designed to
boost motivation to exercise must do so not just once, but
repeatedly. Therefore, in the present study, we examined
exercise groups that worked out together repeatedly (over
five sessions). Following the reasoning of Feltz et al., we
hypothesized that the more often one exercised conjunctive-
ly with a partner, the more important ones indispensability
to that group would become, and the larger the resultant
Köhler motivation gain.
Methods
Participants
Participants were recruited from university-based physical
activity courses. Participants were screened for physical
fitness and habitual physical activity levels, which were
assessed with two self-report items, respectively: self-
reported fitness, (How would you rate your personal fitness
level?on a 5-point scale, 1 0poor, 30average, and 50
excellent) and self-reported physical activity (How many
times per week do you exercise for 30 continuous minutes
or more at a moderate to high intensity?on a scale from 0
to 7 or more). The majority of the participants rated their
current fitness level as average (44.8 %) or good (32.9 %).
Seven students who were self-categorized as highly active
(at least 30 continuous minutes or more of exercise at a
moderate to high intensity more than seven times a week)
were excluded from the study because it was assumed that if
they were highly active individuals, it was likely that they
were highly motivated in regards to exercise, which was not
the specific target group for this study.
From the initial screening, 60 female college students
were selected for participation in the study. Two people
dropped out before their first appointment, resulting in a
final sample of 58 (M
age
020.54, SD0±1.86). Females were
used for several reasons. First, Feltz et al. [18] found no
gender differences in their initial study of the Köhler effect
in exercise groups (although see Kerr et al. [17] for possible
exceptions to this rule). Second, there were many more
females than males in our participant pool. Third, there is
evidence that women exercise at less vigorous intensities
compared to men [21] and therefore may warrant specific
study on motivation to exercise.
All participants either received an excused absence as an
incentive to participate (n049) or course credit (n09). No
one participated without one of these incentives. Sample
size was determined from a power analysis conducted by
the researchers, which followed f index recommendations
and suggested that a moderate (f0.30) Köhler effect would
be observed with a probability >.80 with this sample size.
Participants were screened using the Physical Activity
Readiness Questionnaire and asked to provide some basic
demographic information. Prior to data collection, all par-
ticipants signed a written consent form. The study was
approved by the Michigan State University Institutional
Review Board.
Finally, prior to their first session, participants were pro-
vided instructions on how to calculate their resting heart rate
(i.e., after they wake up in the morning while still in bed, and
preferably the average of two different days). Resting heart
rate and age were used to calculate 65 % of individual partic-
ipant heart rate reserve using the Karvonen formula: heartrate
reserve ¼220 ageðÞresting heart rate½intensity % þ
resting heart rate.
Research Design and Procedures
There were two experimental conditions (coactive and con-
junctive) and an individual control condition. Participants
were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions after
152 ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159
an initial baseline pretrial. The core research design was a
3×5 (groups×trial) factorial design with repeated measures
on the second factor. There were relatively equal numb-
ers in all conditions (coactive018, conjunctive 20, and
individual020).
Participants were asked to ride a video-game exercise
bike for as long as they felt comfortable. We used the
Expresso fitness bike, which has a computer-supported dis-
play that enables participants to ride on outdoor terrain
virtually. The bike monitor displayed information on ride
duration, power output, and heart rate. All participants rode
the same course for all trials. For all three conditions
individual control, conjunctive, and coactiveeach individu-
al riders intensity level was predetermined on the Expresso
fitness bike based on the bike gear they were able to ride at and
reach 65 % heart rate reserve (HRR) while maintaining
70 rpm for 3 min.
Procedure
Those who were eligible to participate signed up for six 60-min
sessions within a 4-week time frame with a maximum of three
sessions per week and a minimum of 24 h between sessions.
The initial session (trial 1) was used to obtain baseline data for
all participants. Participants first completed the Intention to
Exercise scale (these and other measures are described in more
detail below). Participants were then shown how to properly
wear the heart rate monitor (Polar E600) and then fastened and
secured the measuring transmitter around the chest. The bike
was then adjusted (viz., seat height, distance from handlebar);
this same position was used on all subsequent trials. Partici-
pants were given 2 min to warm up at the lowest gear and were
told to keep the cadence between 66 and 74 rpm and ideally at
70, using the metronome to help keep pace; they could also
monitor their revolutions per minute on the bike screen. At the
end of the 2-min warm-up, the participantsheart rate was
checked. If they had not achieved 65 % HRR, the experimenter
increased the gear by one level every 10 s, for up to 3 min, until
the participant reached 65 % HRR. If the participantsheart rate
rose above 65 % HRR during the 3-min period, the gear was
decreased by one level every 10 s until they achieved steady
state at 65 % HRR. Participants were told that they must
attempt to stay within the interval of 6674 rpm at all times.
The gear that the participant ended with was recorded and
represented their intensity level or working gearthat would
remain the same for all trials.
Participants were then given a 3-min rest period during
which the experimenter gave a description of the next phase
of the session in which they would ride the bike for as long
as they could at 65 % HRR using the working gear while
maintaining between 66 and 74 rpm. If the participant
dropped below 66 rpm for longer than 5 s, she would be
notified Strike One.If it happened a second time, the
participant would hear Strike Two,and if it happened a
third time, she would be notified Strike Three, Your Trial Is
Over.Participants were also told that they could choose to
stop riding at any point during their trial, regardless of
whether or not they had any strikes at all, by saying Im
done.The metronome was then turned on, and the time was
started. Subjective effort (Ratings of Perceived Exertion)
was obtained every 3 min. At the end of the ride, the time,
average heart rate, average power output, and the method of
stoppage (Strike Out or Quit) were recorded. The participant
removed the heart rate monitor and completed the intention
to exercise scale and a self-efficacy scale.
After the initial pretest trial was completed, participants
were randomly assigned to the individual, conjunctive, or
the coactive conditions where they remained for the subse-
quent five trials. In all remaining trials, those who were
assigned to be in the individual group rode the bike under
the same conditions and instructions as they did during the
pretest trial, except they were given a 5-min warm-up at half
of their working gear before the start of the trial.
In all remaining trials, participants assigned to the con-
junctive or coactive condition were assigned a virtually
present partneras their teammate for the ride and were told
that their partner was scheduled to ride at the same time as
they were, on another Expresso fitness bike in another lab.
At that point, one of two randomly assigned female confed-
erates (Stacey or Laura) was introducedto the participant
through a brief video-chat (Skype) session that was osten-
sibly live but was, in fact, prerecorded using a confederate;
the protocol was the same as in previous studies using a
similar apparatus [18]. The participant sat in front of a
laptop computer where she saw the image of her unspeaking
partner in a Skype window. The experimenter gave some
brief instructions for how the interaction would proceed,
instructing the participant and partner to share her year in
school, major, career plans, and favorite TV show. As the
experimenter distracted the participant by saying Stacy/
Laura, why dont you go first?,the experimenter, using a
remote control in his/her pocket, also started the video clip
in which the partner spoke. The partners responses were
unexceptionable (viz., s/he was a sophomore, undecided on
a major, not sure about career plans, and liked to watch
American Idol and reruns of Friends). Once the partner was
done, the participant was instructed to share the same infor-
mation. The interaction was thus highly structured, and
deviations from the scripted procedure were rare. After both
had spoken, the experimenter instructed both the participant
and partner to go sit in a chair that was positioned away
from the Skype laptop in their respective laboratories.
Participants were then given false feedback regarding her
partners performance on the pretest trial 1. The pretest trial
1 performance of the partner was fabricated to always be
moderately better than the participants, whereby the
ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159 153
research assistant told the participant that her partner rode a
duration between 8 and 12 min longer than she (e.g., Your
partner rode 9.5 min longer than you). During the actual
trial, participants were able to track their partners progress
by watching the partner ride on an ostensibly live video
feed. Actually, this video was previously recorded and
looped so that the virtual partner never stopped riding until
the participant quit.
Participants in the conjunctive condition had the same
virtual partner (recorded in several different clothing outfits
and hairstyles) for all five trials. The procedures and stimu-
lus materials were exactly the same for the coactive and
conjunctive condition, except that participants in the con-
junctive condition were told that the teams score would be
the time of the partner who stopped riding first (either
because she chose to stop or because she accumulated 3
strikesdue to letting her heart rate drop), at which point the
trial would end for both partners. In the coactive condition,
the two riders were not on a team (i.e., no task interdepen-
dence), there was no team score, and participants were told
that each of the partners could continue for as long as they
could, regardless of the others performance.
Participants in both the conjunctive and coactive condi-
tions were not provided with any means to communicate
with their partners, other than the initial video-chat introduc-
tion. Self-efficacy for all groups was assessed both at the
beginning and end of trials 26 (as well as the baseline mea-
surement taken at the end of trial 1). Intention to exercise was
assessed at the beginning of trial 1 and at the end of the trial 6.
Outcome Measures
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy was measured following Banduras[22] guide-
lines and consisted of 12 items that asked participants to
assess the degree of confidence they have in their ability to
cycle at the predetermined intensity for 10 hierarchically
ordered number of minutes. In order to avoid floor and
ceiling effects, intervals were 5-min increments as deter-
mined from pilot testing. Baseline self-efficacy was assessed
prior to trial 1 and included the stem, Rate your confidence
right now that you can cycle for…” and then again after
each trial with the stem, Rate your confidence that the next
time you cycle, you could cycle for…” Responses were
made on an 11-point scale, ranging from 0 (not at all
confident) to 10 (completely confident). Efficacy scores
for each session were computed by averaging the 12 items.
Intention to Exercise
Intention, adapted from the scale used by Mohiyeddini,
Pauli, and Bauer [23], was measured with two items: My
goal is to exercise tomorrow for at least 20 minand I
intend to exercise tomorrow for at least 20 min.Ratings
were made on a 7-point scale, from 3 (not at all true for
me) to +3 (completely true for me). The two items were
averaged for an intention score.
Ratings of Perceived Exertion
Perceived exertion was measured using the Borg Ratings of
Perceived Exertion scale during each cycling trial [24]. The
rating category scale used in this study was a 110 scale
(very easy to extremely hard). Every 3 min, the participants
were prompted to say which number corresponded with
their level of exertion. If the participant did not ride for at
least 3 min, they were asked to rate their perceived exertion
for the last 30 s that they were riding the bike. The average
of all ratings within each trial was computed for a perceived
exertion score.
Power Output
After each trial was completed, the participantspower
output was recorded from the reading on the Expresso
fitness bike screen. The recorded power output was the
average of the instantaneous power output throughout the
session. The power output gave researchers a measure of the
actual intensity of the task, which, given the equating of task
difficulty and maintenance of heart rate in a narrow range,
should have remained constant across participants and
hence across conditions.
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Two participants were excluded from analysis; one sus-
tained an injury outside of the study, and the other raised
concerns about the confederate being too young and an
unrealistic match. A one-way ANOVA with self-reported
fitness showed no significant differences between condi-
tions. However, a second one-way ANOVA with self-
reported physical activity revealed a significant condition
effect, F(2, 55)03.22, p0.048, η2
p¼:105; NewmanKeuls
post hoc tests showed that the conjunctive mean was signif-
icantly higher than that for the coactive condition (see
Table 1). Thus, it is possible that despite random assign-
ment, there were condition differences in initial physical
activity, although the weak validity coefficients for self-
reported fitness measures [25,26] argue against this. In
any case, in the primary analyses, baseline performance
measure at trial 1which should capture any individual or
154 ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159
condition differences in initial fitnesswas used as a cova-
riate; it is also noteworthy that there were no between-
condition differences in this variable, F(2, 55)01.88.
Adherence to Exercise Protocol and Potential Training Effects
The gears were set so that the difficulty of the task was
equated across participants. Therefore, as long the pre-
scribed revolutions per minute range, heart rate, and instan-
taneous power intensity level were maintained, the difficulty
of the task should have been comparable across participants,
and hence, there should also have been no between-
condition effects for these variables. Moreover, unless par-
ticipants systematically altered where in the prescribed
range they pedaled or actually became more or less fit as
trials progressed, these variables should also have been
steady across successive trials. To explore this possibility,
separate 3 (condition)×5 (trial: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) ANCOVAs
(where the latter was a within-Ss factor) were run on both
the power output and heart rate data. Since there still could
be individual differences within-condition in how high or
low within the prescribed range a participant chronically
persisted, baseline (trial 1) power output and heart rate were
used as covariates in these analyses.
Neither condition (p0.83) nor trial (p0.25), nor their
interaction (p0.50) significantly affected average power
output. As expected, participants displayed a constant level
of work intensity across the sequence of trials and across the
three experimental conditions. For heart rate, the only sig-
nificant effect was a trial main effect, F(4, 216)02.45,
p0.047, η2
p¼0:043. The biggest change in heart rate oc-
curred between trial 2 (the first regular trial, after the pretest
at trial 1) and trial 3, after which mean heart rate remained
fairly steady.
Exercise Performance
Fig. 1 Performance means across trials between conditions controlling
for trial 1 performance (s)
Table 1 Means of primary measures by condition
Individual Coactive Conjunctive
M(SD) M(SD) M(SD)
Fitness and physical activity
SRPA
(days/week)
3.0 (1.6) 2.7 (1.1) 3.9 (1.6)
SRF 3.3 (1.1) 3.4 (0.6) 3.3 (0.7)
Adjusted performance means (s)
a
Trial 2 785.1 1,104.7 1,224.8
Trial 3 776.3 1,201.2 1,442.9
Trial 4 779.1 1,067.0 1,468.1
Trial 5 696.1 1,081.3 1,547.9
Trial 6 622.6 998.7 1721.6
Total 731.9 1,090.6 1,481.1
Raw score performance means (s)
Trial 1 633.1 (399.9) 910.1 (626.6) 689.9 (324.4)
Trial 2 682.1 (447.6) 1,272.1 (649.5) 1,177.2 (486.2)
Trial 3 670.8 (409.8) 1,372.6 (564.1) 1,394.1 (673.8)
Trial 4 686.5 (417.3) 1,217.8 (568.2) 1,425.3 (847.9)
Trial 5 608.1 (347.9) 1,224.2 (546.9) 1,507.3 (744.8)
Trial 6 548.0 (326.3) 1,119.9 (541.1) 1,687.2 (889.0)
Total 638.1 (350.4) 1,186.1 (539.8) 1,313.5 (604.6)
SRPA self-reported physical activity; SRF self-reported fitness
a
Adjusted means using trial 1 as covariate (T1 0738.6 s)
ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159 155
The proportion of subjects who quitvs. those who struck
outwas 75 and 25 %, respectively. There were an equal
number of subjects across conditions who quit, χ
2
(12)0
11.93, p0.45, V00.32, and who struck out, χ
2
(12)010.35,
p0.59, V00.30. A 3 (condition: individual, coactive, con-
junctive)×5 (trials 26) mixed ANCOVA of performance
was conducted with trial as a within-subjects factor and trial
1 baseline performance as a covariate. First, there was a
significant condition main effect, F(2, 54) 022.07, p< .001,
η2
p¼:45. Participants persisted longer when working along-
side a more capable coactor (adjusted mean 01,090.59 s)
than when working alone (adjusted mean0731.87 s),
t(54)03.01, p<.01). This differences represents a robust
(d0.45) 49 % improvement over individual performance.
This gain in motivation to exercise was even greater
(adjusted mean 01,481.06 s, significantly higher than the
coactive mean, t(54)03.31, p<.01) among those exercising
with a more capable partner under conjunctive group task
demands, compared to individual controls, t(54)06.64,
p<.001. This represents an improvement of 102 %
(d0.94). This main effect was qualified by a significant
condition×trial interaction effect, F(8, 216)05.47, p<.001,
η2
p¼:168. Figure 1shows that, in every trial, participants in
the coactive condition persisted 300 s longer than the
individual controls. This was verified in a follow-up analy-
sis that dropped the conjunctive condition and found a
significant coactive vs. individuals main effect, F(1, 35)0
29.48, p<.001, η2
p¼:457, but no trial× condition interaction
(F<1). However, as hypothesized, the difference between
the individual controls and participants in the conjunctive
condition widened steadily from trial 2 (439.6 s) to trial 6
(1,099.0 s); a follow-up analysis that dropped the coactive
condition resulted in not only a strong conjunctive vs.
individual main effect, F(1, 37)034.78, p<.001, η2
p¼:485
but also a robust interaction effect, F(4, 148) 08.06, p< .001,
η2
p¼:179 . Planned contrasts within trial-by-trial analyses
also revealed that at trial 2, both the conjunctive (1,224.8 s)
and coactive (1,104.7 s) conditions were significantly
(ps< .002) higher than the individual controls (785.1 s),
but did not differ from one another. However, from trial 3
on, the gain in performance observed in the conjunctive
condition was significantly (ps<.025) and increasingly
larger than that observed in the coactive condition. By the
6th and final trial, participants in the conjunctive condition
were pedaling 1,721.6 s (28.7 min), which was 177 %
longer than the individual controls (622.6 s), an effect size
of d01.38.
Ratings of Perceived Exertion
To assess differences in subjective effort, a 3 (condition)× 5
(trial:2,3,4,5,and6)ANCOVAwasrunwithtrial1
baseline perceived exertion as a covariate. A significant trial
effect was found, F(4, 212)02.835, p00.025, η2
p¼0:051;
subjective effort ratings tended to decline across trials (only
the linear trend was significant, p< .02, among the polyno-
mial trend contrasts). However, there was neither a condi-
tion main effect nor condition × trial interaction (ps>.52).
Task Self-efficacy
A 3 (condition)×5 (trial) ANCOVA was run with baseline
self-efficacy as the covariate and post-trial self-efficacy as
the dependent variable. First, there was a significant trial
effect, F(4, 196)02.809, p0.027, η2
p¼:054: Self-efficacy
tended to increase across trials. There was also a condition
effect, F(2, 54)03.21, p0.049, η2
p¼0:12); self-efficacy was
lowest in the individual control condition (4.66), intermedi-
ate in the coactive condition (5.33), and highest in the
conjunctive condition (5.84). Only the individual and con-
junctive conditions differed significantly (p0.015).
Intention to Exercise
A one-way ANOVA using pretrial intention showed that
participants expressed a moderately positive intention
(M01.75, SD01.62) that did not differ between conditions
(F<1). A prepost-change score was computed and
analyzed to see whether the performance differences we
observed across conditions were accompanied by changes
in intention to continue to exercise. A one-way ANOVA on
these change scores revealed a significant condition effect,
F(2, 55)09.47, p<.001, η2
p¼:256. Participants in the indi-
vidual control condition, who had exercised the least vigor-
ously of all three conditions, showed a marked and
significant decline in their intent to exercise (M02.15,
SD01.98). In contrast, the participants in the two conditions
with partners showed little decline (M
coactive
0.056,
SD01.43; M
conjunctive
0.100, SD01.68); neither was sig-
nificantly different than zero or from one another, but both
were significantly larger (ps< .01) than the individual con-
trols (M02.15, SD01.98).
Discussion
The primary aim of this study was to determine whether the
Köhler motivation gain effect could be harnessed to enhance
continuous aerobic exercise on repeated sessions using a
virtually present partner. Additionally, the study compared
the relative strength of effects attributable to each of the two
underlying mechanisms of the Köhler effect (social compar-
ison and indispensability) on an aerobic exercise task over
multiple sessions. The results showed that those who cycled
with a more capable virtually present partner under coactive
task demands persisted 548.1 s longer on average across
sessions (raw score M01,186.1 s) than individuals cycling
alone (raw score M0638.1 s). (Note that we are focusing on
raw performance scores here, which produces slightly dif-
ferent estimates of effect size than for the analyses of per-
formance scores corrected for baseline performance, as
presented in Results.) This represents more than a 9.14-
min (86 %) increase in individual exercise. Furthermore,
those who cycled with a partner under conjunctive condi-
tions (raw score M01,313.46 s) persisted 675.4 s longer
than individual controls and 127.34 s longer than those
under coactive conditions. This represents an additional
2.1-min increase beyond those in the coactive condition,
and a 100 % improvement on individual exercise. These
results indicate the overall gain; the effect of working con-
junctively was observed to increase across trials. If we focus
on the final trial when that effect was at its maximum, the
conjunctive participants were pedaling 19 min (208 %) longer
than those exercising individually.
To equate task difficulty, all participants exercised at a
minimum intensity of 65 % of heart rate reserve and 70 ±
4 rpm. Although all participants were able to maintain these
intensities, we observed a significant decrease in heart rate
across sessions, for which there are at least two explana-
tions. The first and most plausible explanation is that with a
156 ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159
little practice, participants learned how to maintain the bottom
of the prescribed revolution per minute range without strik-
ing out.A second possibility is that this was a genuine
training effectwith accumulated training on the bike, one
might get fitter, making it easier to maintain what had been
ones 65 % heart rate reserve at pretest. However, it is implau-
sible that such a training effect would emerge after a single
trial (which, for the average participant, only lasted 17.4 min)
and that further training would show no additional benefit.
Even if this drop in heart rate did reflect a genuine training
effect, the more important point for us isthat there was no such
effect for experimental condition (overall nor moderated by
trial). Hence, any effects of condition on exercise per-
formanceour primary interestcannot be plausibly
attributed to the task being or becoming noticeably
easier (due to enhanced fitness) in any one condition
vs. another, but rather were attributable to greater effort
in the coactive and conjunctive conditions.
It is one strategy to create conditions that enhance a
willingness to exercise. However, such a gain might be
difficult to sustain if those who showed the gain also felt
wholly exhausted by their efforts and/or developed an aver-
sion to either the particular exercise task or to exercising
more generally. This was not the case in this study. Even
though participants were exercising much longer in the
experimental conditions, the perceived exertion values were
no higher than those provided by the individual controls.
This is important, given the demonstrated negative relation-
ship between subjective intensity effort and motivation to
exercise [27]. Moreover, participantsconfidence that they
could persist at the immediate cycling task mirrored their
actual performancethe conjunctive task conditions, which
produced the greatest gains in effort, also boosted such
confidence significantly (relevant to the individual controls).
Finally, self-reports of intention to exercise in the future were
significantly higher in both experimental conditions than
among controls. These results are encouraging and suggest
that the gains we observed over a half-dozen hour-long ses-
sions could be sustained in a longer-term program of exercise.
Being able to more than double ones performance is a
substantial gain for those trying to increase their physical
activity. The observed effect sizes (over all trials, conjunc-
tive d0.66, coactive d0.50; at trial 6, conjunctive d01.80,
coactive d0.90) compare very favorably with other inter-
ventions designed to increase physical activity (e.g., Wil-
liams and French [28] report an average effect size of d0.21
in a recent meta-analysis of 27 physical activity intervention
studies). Thus, the findings of the current study may be of
particular value in future efforts to help people meet phys-
ical activity recommendations.
In most respects, the present findings corroborate the
patterns observed in prior research. In particular, the ulti-
mate superiority of the conjunctive task condition to either
coactive or individual conditions corroborates a number of
prior studies that have shown a significant indispensability
effect [14,17]. However, there are a few intriguing differ-
ences. First, there was no such indispensability effect at first
i.e., conjunctive0coactive at an initial session of group exer-
cisein the present study and in a previous exercise study
[18].Feltzetal.[18] speculated that (a) exercising with others
might be inherently competitive, bolstering social comparison
and undermining concerns about the indispensability of ones
efforts, but (b) the relative importance of these two processes
might reverse with repeated experience in an exercise group.
The current findings are consistent with these speculations.
Second, Lount et al. [20] found that the combined motivation-
enhancing effect of the social comparison and indispensability
mechanisms attenuated across multiple trials with the same
partner, whereas we observed the opposite pattern (the com-
bined effect grew with repeated trials). Lount et al. [20]
speculated that repeated comparisons with a consistently more
capable partner would be discouraging and convince one that
successful matching of that partners performance was an
unattainable goal, but that even if there were little or no reason
to strive in order to compare favorably with onespartner,
under conjunctive conditions, one would always feel some
degree of indispensability. However, in the present study, we
found no attenuation of the social comparison effect with
repeated trials and observed not a constant but an enlarging
indispensability effect.
We believe that these apparent anomalies can be attributed
to three distinctive aspects of the present experiment. First, in
most of the prior Köhler studies, including Lount et al. [20],
participants persisted at laboratory tasks that were of no spe-
cial interest or importance to them (e.g., holding a weight as
long as possible; working at a repetitive business simulation).
In the present study, by contrast, participants were students
enrolled in physical activity courses who probably wanted to
maintain or improve their level of activity or fitness. It seems
likely that you would persist in trying to match a superior
coactor for longer at a task that was important to you (e.g., of
greater intrinsic interest, of greater relevance to salient per-
sonal goals or to self esteem) than one that was unimportant to
you. Second, unlike prior studies, via the calibration of bike
gear to heart rate in trial 1, we functionally equated task
difficulty for all participants. This meant that differences in
performance between ones self and ones partner could not be
readily attributed to differences in abilitythose differences
had been controlled for by making the task more difficult for
those who were in better shapebut could more readily be
attributed to differences in effort. Essentially, in the present
study, the apparent superiority of ones partner was probably
not due to differences in stable, uncontrollable ability, but in
unstable, controllable effort [29]. It seems more likely that one
would stop trying to keep up with a more superior coactor
after repeated failures to do so if that coactorssuperiority
ann. behav. med. (2012) 44:151159 157
were attributed to greater ability [20] than to greater effort
(as we speculate occurred here). Third, in most prior studies
[20], participants were strangers to one another and interacted
minimally. By contrast, in the present study, participants in the
experimental conditions mettheir partner at the initial ses-
sion, exchanged personal information (that established simi-
larities in age, education, and general interests), and then
observed her striving in every subsequent session. The indis-
pensability effect shows that it is motivating to be the weak
linkin a team working at a conjunctive task. It seems likely
that repeated collaborations over a span of days with a known
partner (as in the present study) would bolster this indispens-
ability effect more than collaborations with an anonymous
partner over a span of minutes (as in Lount et al. [20]and
most prior studies). Thus, we speculate that the Köhler effect
is likely to be stronger when (a) task difficulty is equated
between group members, (b) group members care more about
good task performance, and (c) group members care more
about their group, and suggest that these features may help
explain the particularly large motivation gain observed here
(d0.94) compared to the typical Köhler effect study (meta-
analytic estimate of mean d0.60) [14]. There is now some
empirical support for the importance of group member relations
[17,30,31], but little direct evidence bearing on the first two
proposed moderating variables. Besides these factors, Feltz et
al. [18] suggest that additional promising areas for investigation
include (a) the effects of encouragement from the partner, (b)
similarity in appearance and age of the partner, and (c) the
degree to which the partner is live vs. completely virtual.
One limitation of this study was the lack of evidence that
the subjects believed in the authenticity of their virtual
partner. While previous research in our lab has found this
manipulation to be highly successful [18], there is indeed a
significant limitation in not having evidence of the effectiveness
of the manipulation. The strongest evidence we have is that (a)
we observed the anticipated pattern of behavior (i.e., perfor-
mance) across trials and between conditions and (b) that the
subjects did not raise any concerns towards the authenticity of
the partner during the actual laboratory exercise sessions. Sec-
ondly, while nine participants received an excused absence in
their one-credit activity class as an incentive for their participa-
tion, this tally was not linked to specific participants, and thus, it
is not clear that they were evenly distributed across conditions,
but still their assignment was random.
Lastly, the current study was conducted in a laboratory
setting. While researchers have recently observed motiva-
tion gains in sequential group tasks in the field using archival
data (e.g., swimming relays [32]), there are no known studies
or interventions that intentionally harness the Köhler effect to
increase motivation in real world tasks and environments.
Although research in this area is relatively young, future
research should examine the utility and feasibility of imple-
menting such strategies.
Conclusion
The current study provides encouraging results regarding
the utility of the Köhler motivation gain phenomenon in task
groups. Whereas much prior work has examined how to
reduce motivation losses in groups [12], the current findings
contribute to a growing body of research on the existence
and performance of motivation gains in experimental
groups, and the likely utility of these gains, in this case, in
aerobic exercise tasks. These findings lend support to the
notion that group motivation gain effects can influence
exercise performance (most potently under conjunctive task
demands with a moderately more capable partner) over
several trials. Finally, the current study lends support for
the use of virtually present partners to achieve such motiva-
tion and performance gains, and encourages further research
on group exercise in video health games.
Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Sara Sherman and
Kaitlynn Osborn and for their contributions in the execution of this
study. All human studies have been approved by the MSU IRB and
have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards
laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. All persons gave their
informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.
Conflictofintereststatement The authors have no conflict of
interest to disclose.
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The human body is designed for activity. For most of our history, physical activity was required for survival, but technological advances have eliminated much of the need for hard physical labor. As our activity levels have dropped, it has become clear that a physically inactive lifestyle can lead to a host of health problems. Physical Activity and Health, Second Edition, provides a comprehensive treatment of the research on the benefits of a physically active lifestyle in comparison with the harmful consequences of physical inactivity.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on new research that explores the effect of co‐worker friendship and performance norms on the Köhler motivation gain effect. Design/methodology/approach Females worked at a motor persistence task with either a more capable coactor or with a more capable team‐mate (where the group's task had conjunctive task demands; i.e. the performance of the weaker team‐mate defined the group's score). The co‐workers (coactors or team‐mates) were either friends or strangers. Participants were also led to believe that their co‐workers and peers endorsed social norms prescribing either high or low level of effort at the task. Findings Compared to comparable individual control workers, the inferior‐ability coactors showed a significant motivation gain (attributable to social‐comparison processes); this gain was not moderated by either friendship or performance norms. Inferior‐ability members of the collaborative teams worked significantly harder than the coactors (attributable to the indispensability of their efforts under these work conditions), but only when their partners were friends or the performance norms prescribed high effort. Research limitations/implications The research focuses on short‐term laboratory groups of females working together for a very brief period. The applicability of the findings to more typical work teams will require further research. Practical implications The research suggests that the task motivation of particular team members (namely, those with the least ability) can be increased by strengthening social ties between team‐mates and promoting high effort social norms. Originality/value The research adds to a growing literature that identifies when and why members of work groups will work harder than comparable individual workers.
Article
ProblemPsychological models of sports participation frequently draw on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in order to predict health-behaviour-related intentions. While these models commonly show high predictive power with respect to intention, they often fall short in the prediction of behaviour (the ‘intention–behaviour gap’). The present study contends that integrating emotional processes into TPB can substantially improve the model's predictive power over and above traditional cognitive predictors.