Selected Topics in Sports Science - Talks with Panteleimon (“Paddy”) Ekkekakis

Who will present?

We are happy that Panteleimon ("Paddy") Ekkekakis accepted our invitation to give several talks online and on site at the University of Basel and the University of Bern.
Paddy is a Professor of exercise psychology. After a 22-year career at Iowa State University, he now serves as Professor and Chair at the Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University. He is an elected Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Academy of Kinesiology of the United States. His research examines pleasure and displeasure responses to exercise, including their underlying cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms, and their implications for exercise behavior. He has developed the Dual-Mode Theory of affective responses to exercise and the Affective-Reflective Theory of physical inactivity and exercise with Prof. Ralf Brand.

When and where is the event take place?

Monday, 15.05.2023 in Bern
16:15-17:45: Presentation online (and on-site as part of “Berner Gespräche zur Sportwissenschaft”)
Kinesiology and the replication crisis: The ostrich effect

Tuesday, 16.05.2023 in Basel
10:00-12:00: Presentation on-site and online: People intend to exercise but do not: The long-overdue recognition of the role of affective experiences
14:00-16:00: Workshop on-site: The measurement of affect

Hosts of the Event?

Vivien Hohberg (University of Basel), Robyn Cody (University of Basel), Claudio R. Nigg (University of Bern), Markus Gerber (University of Basel), Oliver Faude (University of Basel)

How to register?

To register please send an email to webinar-dsbg@unibas.ch with your name, the name of the event you want to participate in, and if you want to participate on-site or online. Deadline for registration is May 8.

Abstracts of the talks

Kinesiology and the replication crisis: The ostrich effect

A crisis of confidence, stemming from accumulating evidence that many published research results cannot be replicated, is sweeping the scientific landscape, from psychology to epidemiology to immune-biology to neuroscience to genetics. These developments have led not only to growing debate but also to proliferating initiatives aimed at strengthening the replicability and credibility of science (Baker, 2016). As these tectonic shifts are unfolding, the science of kinesiology has remained seemingly indifferent, with no relevant special issues appearing in its journals or roundtable discussions being organized at its conferences. Research results may fail to replicate for several reasons, including misconduct (fabrication, falsification, plagiarism), bias emerging from conflicts of interest, and the highly prevalent "grey zone" of questionable research practices (including such neologisms as p-hacking and HARKing, see for example:  Mesquida et al., 2022). This presentation will review examples of these problems from the field of kinesiology, with emphasis on questionable research practices and statistical methods.

People intend to exercise but do not: The long-overdue recognition of the role of affective experiences

Population surveys have established that physical activity represents a unique case in the domain of public health: nearly all adults in western countries report being aware that physical activity is an important contributor to health and nearly all adults perform less than the minimum recommended amount of physical activity according to objectively collected (accelerometry) data (Martin et al., 2000). This striking incongruity challenges fundamental assumptions underpinning current theories and interventions designed to promote physical activity participation and adherence. A new theory, the Affective-Reflective Theory (ART) proposes that this incongruity may be explained by a conflict between reflective (cognitive-appraisal-based) processes, which are presumed to be mostly positive, and affective processes (i.e., past experiences of pleasure and displeasure from the context of physical activity) (Brand & Ekkekakis, 2018). For many people, the idea of "exercise" has been paired with various forms of displeasure, including guilt, embarrassment, shame, physical pain, exhaustion, and breathlessness (Ekkekakis et al., 2011). The ART presents new opportunities for interventions by recasting negative affective experiences as preventable occurrences and underscoring the importance of promoting pleasant and enjoyable experiences associated with physical activity. Ultimately, the ART calls for supplementing the current armamentarium of behavior-change techniques (e.g., enhancing attitudes, seeking social support, boosting self-efficacy) with methods focused on improving affective experiences (Brand & Ekkekakis, 2021).