Groups in Physical Activity

Catalog description

During involvement in this course, students will be acquainted with how exercisers and athletes interact with the others within small group environments. Notably, athletes and exercisers are commonly structured into tight-knit, interactive, and interdependent groups such as teams, fitness classes, family units, peer groups, neighborhoods, and training groups. These small groups are fundamental to sport and exercise experiences, while also influencing whether or not youth and adults derive value from physical activity. Therefore, identifying and promoting optimal small group environments is a central goal for researchers studying the social psychology of sport. Whereas the construct of group cohesion is the most widely-studied aspect of small groups in this context, rich and emerging lines of research reveal a great deal about group structures (e.g., norms), emergent states (e.g., social identities), and group processes (e.g., teamwork), as well as the outcomes of involvement in groups. This area of research is of general theoretical interest, but is also critical to establish an enhanced practical understanding for fields ranging from coaching to health promotion, education, and psychology. To explore these group processes, the goal of the course entails establishing a foundational understanding of small group dynamics. From this foundation, class members will explore contemporary research and theory about optimizing sport groups (i.e., sport adherence and performance) and physical activity groups (i.e., physical activity maintenance, positive psychosocial perceptions). This exploration will demand that students read and discuss empirical research - demonstrating the capacity to interpret and understand this literature, along with the capacity to critically appraise empirical findings. Students' learning related to group dynamics will be cemented through discussions and activities focused on real-life groups, as well as demonstrations of group processes using group tasks. By the completion of the course, students will have acquired strategies to optimize small group environments and developed skills to communicate group dynamics constructs and theories. Regarding communication, a critical outcome of this writing-intensive course is the capacity to interpret writing from group dynamics experts and communicating these themes through one's own effective writing.