Motivating People to be Physically Active: Self‐Persuasion vs. Balanced Decision Making1

Female members of an adult physical fitness club, who had been inactive for a period of at least one month, were assigned to one of four treatment groups. A control group received no treatment while the other three groups underwent different treatments during a telephone interview. A regular call‐up group received a standard club telephone interview advocating greater participation in the club's activities; a decision‐balance‐sheet group completed a list of anticipated gains and losses for attending the club's activities; a positive‐outcomes‐only group (i.e., self‐persuasion condition) completed a list of anticipated gains for attending the club's activities. Attendance rates for both the decision balance‐sheet group and the self‐persuasion group were better than for the control group. Also, attendance for the self‐persuasion group was significantly better than for the regular club call‐up group, Results are discussed in terms of self‐persuasion and emotional inoculation processes with respect to behavioral change and behavioral maintenance.