This study examined more possible mechanisms through which exercise-related media may affect people’s exercise intention. There were no significant relationships in the women’s study with the exception that explicit attitudes were negatively related to believability. Previous researchers found that a factually incorrect blog post about how women’s appearance can change with exercise was rated as more believable than a factually correct blog post (Ori et al., 2021 (link)). However, the current study found no difference in believability between the Fitspiration compared to control media even though the control messages were largely about exercising for positive mental health and happiness, whereas the Fitspiration messages implied that the featured bodies could be achieved through exercise. It may be that both messages are equally palatable to women.
In the men’s models, higher ECEs were negatively related to believability regardless of which condition the men were in. This is a consistent finding in this research across both studies (albeit with small correlations) and is opposite to the hypothesized relationship. Locke and Brawley (2016) (link) found that participants who made more ECEs focused on the vignette aspects that would hinder exercise. Thus, it is possible that ECEs were negatively related to Fitspiration believability because the text included was about success and effort, which may have seemed unattainable for someone predisposed to worrying about being tired or being made fun of when exercising. FCEs were not related to believability among women or men.
There were no relationships between ECEs or FCEs and implicit associations which corroborates other research finding no relationship between ECEs and automatic affective evaluations of exercise (Locke and Berry, 2021 (link)). Further, none of the constructs tested were related to intention. Fitspiration targeting men and women, including the media used in the current research, tends to feature idealized bodies and highlight appearance as the reason to exercise (Boepple et al., 2016 (link)). Researchers have found that viewing such media was related to greater inspiration to exercise (Tiggemann and Zaccardo, 2015 (link)), but the current research did not find a relationship between Fitspiration and exercise intention. Other researchers also report that Fitspiration media featuring an athletic ideal may have influenced exercise motivation, but the motivation did not translate to short-term exercise behavior (measured as distance covered during a 10-min treadmill test; Robinson et al., 2017 (link)). Thus, this research again shows that it is unlikely that “fitspiration” inspires many people to exercise.
In the men’s models, higher ECEs were negatively related to believability regardless of which condition the men were in. This is a consistent finding in this research across both studies (albeit with small correlations) and is opposite to the hypothesized relationship. Locke and Brawley (2016) (link) found that participants who made more ECEs focused on the vignette aspects that would hinder exercise. Thus, it is possible that ECEs were negatively related to Fitspiration believability because the text included was about success and effort, which may have seemed unattainable for someone predisposed to worrying about being tired or being made fun of when exercising. FCEs were not related to believability among women or men.
There were no relationships between ECEs or FCEs and implicit associations which corroborates other research finding no relationship between ECEs and automatic affective evaluations of exercise (Locke and Berry, 2021 (link)). Further, none of the constructs tested were related to intention. Fitspiration targeting men and women, including the media used in the current research, tends to feature idealized bodies and highlight appearance as the reason to exercise (Boepple et al., 2016 (link)). Researchers have found that viewing such media was related to greater inspiration to exercise (Tiggemann and Zaccardo, 2015 (link)), but the current research did not find a relationship between Fitspiration and exercise intention. Other researchers also report that Fitspiration media featuring an athletic ideal may have influenced exercise motivation, but the motivation did not translate to short-term exercise behavior (measured as distance covered during a 10-min treadmill test; Robinson et al., 2017 (link)). Thus, this research again shows that it is unlikely that “fitspiration” inspires many people to exercise.
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