Getting the message
Watch any of the weight-loss reality shows on television, and you're likely to see workouts that involve trainers screaming and people crying. These shows are a guilty pleasure for Dr. Tanya Berry, a physical education professor and sports psychologist at the University of Alberta, but also are a source of concern.
"If the message is that exercise is about pain and exhaustion, then we're going to have a hard time convincing people to exercise," she says. "There's also confusion around appearance and physical activity. When you see a supermodel on the cover of Shape magazine, the message is that, if you exercise, you'll look like that. I'm suspicious that people internalize these messages, which can set them up for failure. My research is aimed at getting a handle on what people think about exercise."
Dr. Berry uses laboratory studies to find out how people process information unconsciously. She is interested in "gut reactions," which are emotional responses that happen spontaneously and are separate from the conscious processing that occurs when we think about what we're saying. One example of this kind of research is her recent study of stereotypes about exercise. Participants were shown four pictures: an overweight man sitting on a couch holding a TV remote, a thin man in the same pose, a men's fitness model playing volleyball with his shirt off, and a normal, middle-aged man out running. Participants' reactions were recorded to see which photos brought out stereotypes of fitness or laziness.
"Only the overweight couch potato activated the stereotype of lazy and unmotivated," reports Dr. Berry. "The thin guy on the couch did not. I think this represents an internalization of the idea that, if I'm thin, I don't need to exercise. Problem is, study after study has shown that being thin doesn't equate to being fit. But people don't believe it."
Dr. Berry's ultimate goal is to have her research contribute to the design of health promotion advertisements that really work, ones that reach beyond people who already exercise. "It's imperative that we counteract the messages about exercise that people get from TV and advertisements," she says. "We need to develop the 'magic message' that says you don't have to kill yourself with exercise but points out that an evening stroll is not enough. Knowing how people interpret these messages is crucial so that we can design effective messages."