Perception is reality: why perceived competence matters
A few weeks ago Sport England released results from their Active Lives Children and Young People Survey (1) which showed that enjoyment was the biggest driver of regular participation for children and young people. Last week they released results from their Active Lives Adult Survey (2) and, low and behold, it turns out us grown-ups like to enjoy ourselves too. For those of us who are getting active, enjoyment holds the key to why we do it. On the flip side, for those of us who aren't active, perceived ability has the biggest impact on how much activity we do.
We don't like doing things we think we're no good at
Recognition of these two points and what they mean for increasing physical activity is profound. Firstly, it underscores the fact that people only do things when they enjoy them. Secondly, people really don't like doing things that they think they are no good at. The word "think" is a critical one in that sentence however and the reason why is something that starts from a very early age.
In one study (3) children between the ages of 10 and 12 were asked to take part in a balancing game. The children were randomly told that they had “won” or “lost”, regardless of their actual performance. The children never actually saw their competitors, so never saw how other children had performed. They were simply told that they were the best (i.e. they had "won") or they were not the best (i.e. they had "lost").
Can't play, won't play
When told they had “won”, children were left with much higher levels of perceived competence and were more intrinsically motivated to take part in the game again. Conversely, if they were told they had lost, they judged themselves to be no good at the game and they didn't want to play any more. Irrespective of their actual performance, the binary nature of the experiment had the effect of making kids who "won" feel good about the activity and kids who "lost" feel like they weren't good enough.
Hitting the target, missing the point
This is just one of many studies which show that the way we frame sport and physical activity for participants is completely crucial, particularly when we introduce competition into the mix. With so much emphasis placed on goals, results and achievements it can be hard to cut through and get back to what, it turns out, is most important to people - that they enjoy it.
Being nice to people, being positive and being supportive are really undervalued skills in the sporting workforce. They can really shift the emphasis away from long-term distant goals and back to enjoying the moment. Positive qualities are infectious; they help us to celebrate small wins and refocus on the experience we're in right now. This means that the priority shifts away from being "good" and instead onto everyone having a great time, regardless of ability.
To talk about getting more people active, regardless of ability, get in touch with Proper Active.
#properactive #ifyourehavingfunyouredoingitright
(3) Vallerand, R. J., Gauvin, L. I., & Halliwell, W. R. (1986). Effects of Zero-Sum Competition on Children’s Intrinsic Motivation and Perceived Competence. Journal of Social Psychology, 126(4), 465-472.