10.3: Other Types of Social Influences

Social support is just one of the ways that social relationships may influence physical activity. Several other common social influences include social norms and social control. These are described below.

10.3.1. Social Norms

Social norms reflect perceptions surrounding what is appropriate behavior (i.e., either typical or desired behavior; Cialdini et al., 1991). There are two primary types of social norms that have been investigated relative to physical activity behavior. Descriptive norms are based on what other people do (Cialdini et al., 1991). For example, if a person’s friends are all going on a hike, they likely would feel pressure to go with them. Injunctive norms are norms that are based on what is viewed as desirable behavior by others (i.e., what behavior is acceptable; Cialdini et al., 1991). An example of this would be engaging in physical activity because someone thinks it is what their family thinks they should do. Previously an overlooked type of social influence, social norms seem to influence physical activity behaviors more than previously thought (Priebe & Spink, 2011). When asked reasons for being active, people typically report health- or appearance-related reasons and are less likely to report being active because others are too (Priebe & Spink, 2011). However, perceiving others to be active was related to physical activity participation; this leads the suggestion that descriptive norms are important for influencing physical activity behaviors (Priebe & Spink, 2011).

The evidence for the effects of norms on our physical activity behavior has continued to grow. In a study looking at social norms for using the stairs among university students, both descriptive and injunctive norms were related to stair use (Crozier, 2019). Using data from an online exercise-focused database, people were more active when they had more friends in the database and their friends reported more physical activity (Carpenter & Amaravadi, 2019). In efforts to predict physical activity and healthy eating in a sample of African American church members, researchers found that a descriptive norm for physical activity was positively associated with physical activity engagement, even after controlling for individual variables (e.g., sex, employment status, risk perceptions) and neighborhood variables (e.g., access to parks, presence of sidewalks; Heredia et al., 2020). These three studies illustrate the potential influence of descriptive norms on physical activity behavior.

In addition to being related to physical activity behavior, social norms have been related to other important outcomes. Researchers have reported that performance on a muscular endurance task (i.e., a maximal plank hold task) was greater when people were provided information that others held the second plank for longer (Priebe & Spink, 2014). With this descriptive normative message, people also felt more confident that they could hold their second plank longer (Priebe & Spink, 2014). Another study showed that participants receiving normative information (e.g., “97% of those tested improved their balance”) had better standing balance than those who received no information (Spink et al, 2019). Studies such as these have used experimental designs and manipulated the normative messaging,leading to changes in perceptions and behavior. With the potential to manipulate norms, others have examined the effects of using norms to promote physical activity on a larger scale.

Using norms to promote physical activity is receiving increasing attention. For example,messages that focused on norms have been used to prompt stair usage (e.g. “We’re doing it! Are you? Join staff and students in taking the stairs today” and “Most staff and students think we should increase stair use”; Crozier, 2019, p. 103). During the period when the norm messages were displayed, stair use increased by 3.1%. To examine the effects of changing physical activity norms in a care center for older adults (age range: 80–95 years), researchers used a news report that highlighted a descriptive norm: “Increasing numbers of exercising older adults in the local community” versus a control story that just referred to “older adults in the local community” (Koeneman et al., 2017). Compared to the control group, older adults exposed to the normative message reported greater intention to take part in the physical activities offered at the care center and reported participating in more physical activity three months later (Koeneman et al., 2017). In another study, pedometers were used to provide descriptive norms by giving information about the group average step count for participants, along with indicating if the person was above or below the average (Wally & Cameron, 2017). Compared to the no-message control group, the group that received this messaging reported more steps (Wally & Cameron, 2017). The potential impact of norms such as what others are doing has been shown to be related to physical activity across a wide variety of populations (e.g., University students, general population, African American church members, and older adults) and a wide variety of behaviors (e.g., stair use, step counts, muscular endurance and balance tasks). While people may not recognize the role of norms in their own behavior, the research suggests that perceptions of norms (i.e., number of people active) and normative messaging are related to physical activity behaviors.

Learning Exercise Three

Describe the descriptive norms and injunctive norms that you see from your family and friends as they relate to physical activity behaviors,such as exercise or active choices (e.g., taking the stairs).

10.3.2. Social Control

Another way that social relationships influence physical activity is through the provision of social control, which reflects the efforts by one person to monitor, prompt, or persuade another to engage in a desired behavior (Craddock et al., 2015). Social control is viewed as a more active influence where the person providing the influence is attempting to change or control the behavior of the recipient. Much of the research on social control in the physical activity domain has been with older adult populations (e.g., Newsom et al., 2018) or adults at risk or with chronic conditions such as obesity (Scholz et al., 2021) and diabetes (Kahn et al., 2013).

While social control has not received as much attention as social support with respect to physical activity behaviors, it does appear to have the potential to exert both a positive and negative impact depending on the type and other contextual factors surrounding the influence (Craddock et al., 2015; Scholz et al., 2021). Factors such as social support (Kahn et al., 2013) or experiences of emotions (Newsom et al., 2018) may lead to different responses to social control. Positive types of social control (e.g., more encouraging forms that prompt the behavior) appear to be related to positive outcomes(Craddock et al., 2015; Scholz et al., 2021). In contrast, the more pressuring form of social control, often called negative social control, may have a negative or no effect on the behavior (Craddock et al., 2015; Newsom et al., 2018). In a sample of couples who were overweight and intending to become more active, positive social control was associated with more physical activity and feeling more positively while negative social control was related to feeling more negatively and reporting doing the opposite behavior or hiding that they were not active (Scholz et al., 2021). Behavioral reactance is a common negative response in which an individual performs the opposite behavior or hides the unwanted behavior in response the pressuring type of social control (Scholz et al., 2021).

Another relationship where social control has been examined is the parent–child relationship (e.g., Wilson & Spink, 2011). Parents have been identified as key influences for children’s physical activity (Gustafson & Rhodes, 2006). As parents guide their child’s physical activity behavior, they may exert social control. In a qualitative study, parents and adolescents described parents using social control to regulate their child’s physical activity level during a physical activity lapse (Wilson et al., 2014).When parents viewed their child spending too much time in front of a screen or when parents viewed a lack of motivation for physical activity, they described acting to prompt their child to engage in physical activity through the use of social control strategies. This indicates that parents may use social control as a type of regulation to prompt children to be active when they are perceived as not meeting the desired amount of physical activity (Wilson et al., 2014). In another study, adolescents (age 12–18 years old) reported an increase in their physical activity after an activity lapse when they perceived their family exerting more collaborative social control (e.g., offering to be active with them; Wilson & Spink, 2011).