Exercise Psychology

Final Grades: Grading Scale:

Article Reviews: 40 points A 94 - 100 C 70 - 79
Exercise Enjoyment Presentation: 40 points A- 90 - 93 D 60 - 79
Exercise Self-Efficacy Presentation: 30 points B 84 - 89 F 0 - 59
Exercise Adherence Presentation: 50 points B- 80 - 83
Exercise Adherence Paper: 100 points
Attendance: 27 points
Total: 287 points
Detailed Syllabus
Please note that specific activities may be subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.
Date Topic

March 31, 2016 Cesar Chavez Holiday, Campus Closed

April 7, 2016 Introduction and Exercise Enjoyment

April 14, 2016 Exercise & Motivation and Exercise Self-Efficacy

April 21, 2016 Exercise Enjoyment Presentations (Self-Efficacy Example Given)

April 28, 2016 No Class Meeting Complete self-efficacy intervention in the field.

May 5, 2016 Exercise Self-Efficacy Presentations

May 12, 2016 Exercise Adherence

May 19, 2016 Exercise & Mood

May 26, 2016 Exercise & Stress/Anxiety

June 2, 2016 Exercise & Gender or Exercise & Age (Children and Older Adults)
Exercise Adherence Papers Due

June 9, 2016 “Final” (7:30 – 10:00 PM) Exercise Adherence Project Presentations

Statement of Reasonable Accommodation

The School of Kinesiology and Nutritional Science faculty members fully support the 1990 American with
Disabilities Act (ADA). The members of the faculty will provide reasonable accommodation to any student with a
disability who is registered with the Office of Students with Disabilities (OSD) who needs and requests
accommodation. The faculty may wish to contact OSD to verify the presence of a disability and confirm that
accommodation is necessary. The OSD will arrange and provide for the accommodation. Reasonable
accommodation may involve allowing a student to use an interpreter, note taker, or reader, accommodation may be
needed during class sessions and for administration for examinations. The intent of the ADA is requiring
consideration of reasonable accommodation is not to give a particular student an unfair advantage over other
students, but simply to allow a student with disability to have an equal opportunity to be successful.

Cheating, plagiarizing, misrepresentation and/or collusion in this course will result in a zero score and will
seriously affect your grade. Please refer to the University’s Academic Honesty policy at
www.calstatela.edu/univ/stuaffrs/jao Additional explanations of these terms and policies can be found on the
following page of this syllabus.
 Academic Honesty
The University in its quest for truth and knowledge embraces honesty and integrity. These fundamental
values must not be compromised. The trust and respect among professors, students and the society need
to be vigilantly protected. Cheating and plagiarism can be neither justified nor condoned as this would
destroy the ideals and purposes of higher education. Students enter the University to gain the knowledge
and tools necessary for participation in society. Academic integrity is one foundation for a society based
on trust and honesty. Therefore, the University takes seriously its responsibility for academic honesty.
The following are included as violations of the Academic Honesty Policy (See Appendix D in the
University Catalog):
Cheating-the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic work through the use of any
dishonest, deceptive, or fraudulent means.
Plagiarism-the act of using ideas, words, or work of another person or persons as if they were one’s own,
without giving proper credit to the original sources.
Misrepresentation-Knowingly furnishing false academic information to a University official, faculty
member, or campus office.
Collusion-Any student who intentionally helps another student perform any of the above acts of cheating,
plagiarism or misrepresentation.
Academic Consequences
Faculty have the right to establish the standards by which the academic performance of students will be
evaluated, including the consequences of students not meeting some portion or all of the academic
requirements of a course through acts of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation or collusion. These
consequences may include but are not limited to assigning a lowered grade, zero or “F” on an individual
assignment, or lowering the student’s grade or assigning an “F” in the course. Faculty may alternatively
permit the student to repeat an assignment/test or complete and submit additional assignments.

Guidelines for Article Review

A PDF of the article should be sent to the instructor no later than the Tuesday before the class
meeting of the relevant topic. (Schedule decided in class.) This will allow the instructor time to post the
PDF of the article on Moodle.

Article review should contain the following components:

1. Reference for the article listed in APA format (1 point)

2. Purpose of the article (3 points)
3. Basic explanation of the methods (3 points)
4. Summary of the results (3 points)
(Refrain from listing statistical findings. Give specifics that assist in the understanding of the
study.)
5. Discussion (3 points)
(summarize the author(s)’ discussion as it is relevant to the topic we are studying.)
6. Limitations (3 points)
7. Implications (4 points)
(How do these findings impact future research or practitioners’ work?)

Total Points: 20 points

Guidelines for the Exercise Enjoyment PowerPoint Presentation

 Students will find a subject who currently exercises, but does not enjoy their current exercise
routine. Students will administer the “Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale” (PACES) to their subject at the
start of the project. Students will then assist the subject in determining factors that will increase exercise
enjoyment. Once changes have been made the subject will complete the PACES again. Students will
present the findings during class time.

Slide 1: Subject (5 points)

Include age, gender, occupation and physical activity history

Slide 2: Exercise(s) performed (5 points)

Describe the activity and intensity performed
Level of competency of current physical activity

Slide 3: Qualitative “pre-intervention” exercise enjoyment (5 points)

Present brief quotes from initial subject interview.
Why do they exercise? How do they feel before, during and after?

Slide 4: Changes made (5 points)

Outline changes made to the exercise regimen

Slide 5: Pre and Post PACES scores (10 points)

Slide 6: Qualitative “post-intervention” exercise enjoyment (5 points)

Present brief quotes from subject following new exercise routine

Slide 7: Conclusions (5 points)

Did intervention improve exercise enjoyment?
Subject’s opinion.
Researcher’s opinion.

Total Points: 40

Guidelines for Self-Efficacy PowerPoint Presentation

Students will choose 3 separate real life applications of situations that altered self-
efficacy. Students should choose examples with clear connections to alterations in self-
efficacy.

Types of Examples:
At least one of the examples should illustrate the improvement of self-efficacy
At least one example should demonstrate the lowering of self-efficacy
At least one example of someone else altering your self-efficacy
At least one example of you altering someone else’s self-efficacy

Each situation must contain the following information:

Slide One: (3 points)
 Explain the background of the subject and the situation where alteration of self-
efficacy took place.
Slide Two: (4 points)
Describe which method(s) of altering self-efficacy was/were used. (Specifically use
the terms found in your notes.
Slide Three: (3 points)
Describe the observable behavior change that took place due the alteration of
self-efficacy.

Total Points: 3 x 10 = 30

Guidelines for Exercise Adherence Project Written Paper

Paper should be typed, double-spaced with a font size of 12. Body of the paper should be no more than 4
pages in length. Material exceeding the 4 page limit will not be read (excluding References & Appendix).

Introduction (20 points)

Brief description of the problem of adherence. (Give a brief explanation of why the
transtheoretical model was developed.) (5)
Review the literature. Describe the concept behind the transtheoretical model. Describe each of
the five stages of the model. (The termination stage may need to be discussed if the subject feels that
he/she is in the termination stage.) Everything must be referenced. (10)
The purpose of the project should be in the last paragraph. (5)

Methods (20 points)

Subject
Give a brief description of the subject. Include the subject’s gender, age, and occupation. Describe the
subject’s past physical activity experiences as well as competency in the activity being performed for this
study. (5)
Physical Activity
List and briefly describe the physical activities that the subject has participated in over the past 8 weeks.
Describe the mode and intensity. (The frequency and duration will be reported in the Results section.) (5)
Criterion Behavior
Example: The criterion behavior was three bouts of activity per week lasting at least thirty minutes. The
subject will be considered in the action or maintenance stage when he/she averages three, thirty-minute
sessions of physical activity per week. (Include if necessary: Subject’s data was dropped for the third
week due to an illness.) (5)
Procedure
Explain how the physical activity was recorded. Who recorded the physical activity? Review general
observations of the physical activity. Did the subject appear to enjoy the activity? Did the subject’s
intensity appear to be hard, moderate or light? Is the subject’s classification of the intensity similar to the
researcher’s classification? (5)

Results (10 points)

Give a concise report on how the subject did over the past 8 weeks. Example:

Overall this subject participated in physical activity an average of 2.9 days per week, for an
average of 31.25 minutes. See Table 1. The subject failed to meet the behavior criterion set for the action
stage.
 The subject’s baseline exercise self-efficacy score was 67. The score raised to 72 and 75 following
the intervention.

Table 1: Average Duration and Frequency of Physical Activity

Duration/Day Frequency/Week
Weeks 1-4 25 minutes/day 3 days/week
Weeks 5-8 30 minutes/day 2.8 days/week
Overall Average 27.5 minutes/day 2.9 days/week

Table 2: Exercise Self-Efficacy Scores

Baseline (Pre-Intervention) Mid-Point (Post Intervention) Final
67 72 75

Guidelines for Exercise Adherence Project Written Paper (cont.)

Discussion (20)
What was the stage at the start of the project? Explain the rationale. What was the stage at the
completion of the project? Explain the rationale. (4)

Discuss the subject’s progress. Describe any factors that may have assisted the subject in attaining
the action stage or remaining in the maintenance stage. Describe any factors that may have prevented the
subject from reaching the action stage. Also discuss any changes in self-efficacy as it pertains to progress.
(6)

Discuss which processes the subject may have used during the eight-week period. (5)

Discuss both the subject’s and the researcher’s prediction of future exercise behavior. (5)

References (5 points)
List all references in APA format.

Appendix (5 points)
Include completed data collection sheets.

Overall Clarity (20 points)

Writing must be clear and concise, yet thorough. This will be evaluated at the instructor’s
discretion. Additionally, one point will be deducted for each grammatical error.
Total Points: 100
Guidelines for Exercise Adherence PowerPoint Presentation
Methods:
Slide 1: Subject (5 points)
Include age, gender, occupation and physical activity history
Slide 2: Exercise(s) performed (5 points)
Describe the activity and intensity performed
 Level of competency of current physical activity
Slide 3: Procedure (5 points)
Describe how data was recorded
Multiple activities require multiple descriptions
(Frequency and Duration will be reported in the results section)

Results:
Slide 4: Summary of results should fit into 1 table. (10 points)

Table 1: Average Duration and Frequency of Physical Activity

Duration/Bout Frequency/Week
Weeks 1-4 25 minutes/bout 3 days/week
Weeks 5-8 30 minutes/bout 2.8 days/week
Average 27.5 minutes/bout 2.9 days/week

Table 2: Exercise Self-Efficacy Scores

Baseline (Pre-Intervention) Mid-Point (Post Intervention) Final
67 72 75

Discussion:
Slide 5: Stage Classification
Stage at Start (5 points)
Stage at Finish (5 points)

Slide 6: Progress (5 points)

Slide 7: Processes Used (5 points)
Slide 8: Predictions (5 points)

Total Points: 50