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Psychological research concerning sport attributions has devoted much attention to motivational explanations of egocentric bias phenomena. Some theoretical explanations suggest bias is intentional in order to fulfill certain self-oriented needs. However, there is also evidence that cognitive processes such as memory can contribute to unintended egocentric biases. Two studies were conducted to investigate biases (a) in the available information used to make attributions, and (b) in the attributions of responsibility for actions or events. The subject samples examined were 12 men's doubles tennis teams and 32 coach-athlete pairs. Subjects responded to questions requiring recall of either important events and turning points during tennis matches (Study 1) or examples of joint interaction inputs (Study 2). Estimates of perceived responsibility for both dyad members were gathered from each subject. The data provided evidence for egocentric biases in available information and in responsibility attributions. A subject's own inputs to team efforts or to a two-person interaction were more easily and frequently remembered. Subjects consistently remembered more of their personal contributions than those of others, and accepted more responsibility for joint efforts than granted them by others regardless of event outcomes. Failure to include others' inputs in the recall of joint endeavors is explained by processes affecting memory. Implications for future research are discussed as well as the problems these unintended biases create for participant interaction.

This experiment examined if a general expectancy for male superiority biased subjective evaluation of motor performance. Alternatively, sex bias could be specific to tasks involving muscular work. If the former, rather than the latter explanation is viable, a bias favoring males would be generalized to a task not obviously sex typed: motor accuracy. Observers, 22 of each sex, watched the softball pitching accuracy of performers of both sexes. Performer accuracy was trained and tested to ensure equality. Observers estimated preperformance accuracy, then observed three throws, estimating postperformance after each. Unlike the muscular endurance experiments, neither preperformance nor postperformance analysis revealed a sex bias. Thus a task-specific expectancy rather than general expectancy for male superiority was suggested to explain evaluation sex bias of previous muscular endurance experiments. Surprisingly, mean error magnitude of postperformance estimates was significantly greater for performers observed second than those viewed first, although actual performer accuracy was not different. This finding appears analogous to psychophysical judgment results in which successive stimulus judgments were conditions sufficient to cause estimation error. Suggestions are made for future research.

The purpose of this paper was fourfold. The first purpose was to demonstrate the need to develop an instrument to assess group cohesion while the second was to outline a conceptual model of group cohesion upon which such an instrument could be based. This model reflected four related constructs which were the a priori basis for developing a large item pool and initial versions of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). The third purpose was to outline the four projects conducted to obtain construct-related information and to develop an initial version of the GEQ. The final purpose was to outline the two reliability and validity studies conducted with two different sport team samples. The results of these studies revealed that an 18-item version of the GEQ was internally consistent, reliable across studies, and content valid. Factor analyses with oblique rotation revealed preliminary evidence for construct validity. The GEQ is comprised of four scales reflecting the constructs of group integration-task, group integration-social, individual attractions to group-task, and individual attractions to group-social.

In this paper, we argue that the social influence of the group is a supportive medium for older adult thriving. To promote the physical well-being aspect of thriving, we discuss groups as one means of offering social support. We present a specific model of physical activity intervention (i.e., group-mediated cognitive behavioral intervention) that uses deliberately-formed interactive groups to help motivate older adults to engage in and sustain physical activity. Our article includes four sections that concern the GMCB intervention model. The first serves as background as to why groups can be powerful behavior change agents and describes the basic model of group motivated intervention. The second section provides a generic description of the intervention structure and how the GMCB intervention is conducted. The third section presents a meta-analytic summary of results of older adult GMCB physical activity interventions across three levels of outcomes: adherence to physical activity, functional and physiological, and social cognitive. The fourth section concludes with commentary about the translational perspective for the GMCB in the future.

Given the positive influence of action planning on physical activity, persuasive messages could be designed to promote action planning. The purpose of this paper was to test action planning messages in two studies. Participants were allocated to one of two message groups, reading either a physical activity only or physical activity plus action planning message (Study 1) and either a gain-framed or loss-framed action planning message (Study 2). The percent of individuals who created an action plan and the quality of the plans were evaluated. In Study 1, individuals in the physical activity plus action planning group created as many action plans as the physical activity only group, but their plans were higher quality. In Study 2, Week 2 differences between the gain- and loss-framed message groups were found for action planning. To our knowledge, these studies were the first to investigate message-induced action planning as a behavior. More research is needed to optimize these messages.

Among older adults, preserving community mobility (CM) is important for maintaining independent living. We explored whether perceptions of the environment and self-efficacy for CM (SE-CM) would predict walking performance for tasks reflecting CM. We hypothesized that perceptions of the environment and SE-CM would be additive predictors of walking performance on tasks reflecting the complexity of CM. Independent living older adults (N = 60) aged 64-85 completed six complex walking tasks (CWTs), SE-CM, and the environmental analysis of mobility questionnaire (EAMQ). Multiple regression analyses indicated that for each CWT, the EAMQ scales predicted walking performance (range: model R²Adj. = .078 to .139, p < .04). However, when SE-CM was added to the models, it was the sole significant predictor (p < .05). Contrary to our hypotheses, SE-CM was the best predictor in the additive models. SE-CM may be more correspondent to walking tests and thus a more sensitive predictor of CM walking performance.