Is silence really golden? Effect of encouragement from a partner or trainer on active video game play

Recent research on exercise with virtually present partners found that encouragement attenuated the Köhler effect, which boosts task motivation for weaker group members in conjunctive tasks. The current study replicated and extended previous research, comparing exclusive (e.g. “you can do it”) and inclusive encouragement (e.g. “we can do it”) as potential moderators of the Köhler effect. Female and male college students (n = 280) were randomly assigned to one of five conditions (individual-control, individual-with-encouragement from trainer, partner-no-encouragement, partner-inclusive-encouragement, partner-exclusive-encouragement) and performed two blocks of isometric abdominal exercises while playing an active video game. A significant motivation gain was observed in all partnered conditions compared to the control, and exclusive encouragement from a virtually present partner attenuated motivation gains. However, inclusive encouragement did not, and encouragement from an audible trainer boosted exercise motivation over the control group.