Exercise self-schemata: cognitive and behavioral correlates.

Presents two studies exploring the links between self-schemata and exercise behavior. Study 1 was designed to study information processing in individuals with exercise self-schemata. Study 2 was designed to assess, in a prospective design, the relationship between exercise self-schema and subsequent exercise behavior. The results revealed that individuals with exercise self-schemata (a) endorsed as self-descriptive more words and phrases related to exercising and fewer related to not exercising, (b) tended to take less time to make schema-consistent judgments, (c) recalled more specific instances of past exerciser behavior and fewer specific instances of nonexerciser behavior, and (d) predicted that they were more likely to engage in future pro-exercise behavior. Moreover, individuals who thought of themselves as exercisers were more likely to report that they had adopted an exercise program than were individuals without such a self-schema.