that NC contributed to the formulation of impression on interpersonal communication more significantly than other communication channels ( Dobrescu, 2014 ; Mehrabian & Wiener, 1967 ). In coaching, verbal instructions with body language facilitate improved performance, according to the observational
Search Results
Gender- and Age-Group Differences in the Effect of Perceived Nonverbal Communication on Communication Ability and Coaching Evaluation in Japanese Student Athletes
Takashi Shimazaki, Hiroaki Taniguchi, and Masao Kikkawa
Rituals, First Impressions, and the Opening Day Home Advantage
Jr. Russell E. Ward
Durkheim’s discussion on ritual and Goffman’s theoretical work on first impressions are used to predict superior performance among home teams on opening day. Information on opening day game outcomes is compiled and compared with the results of regular season and championship play. The analysis reveals a greater home advantage for teams playing in opening day games than for home teams competing in regular season or championship games. When controlling for the effect of stadium attendance on the home advantage, the opening day home advantage exceeds that of championship competition. The results suggest that ritual activity and concerns for first impression management may be factors that condition home team performance, offering support for the assertion that performance is partly a social product. Further home advantage research can direct attention to cross-cultural differences in the opening day home advantage and focus on qualitative data collection to supplement the current abundance of archival data.
Development and Initial Validation of the Impression Motivation in Sport Questionnaire–Team
Simon Mark Payne, Joanne Hudson, Sally Akehurst, and Nikos Ntoumanis
Impression motivation is an important individual difference variable that has been under-researched in sport psychology, partly due to having no appropriate measure. This study was conducted to design a measure of impression motivation in team-sport athletes. Construct validity checks decreased the initial pool of items, factor analysis (n = 310) revealed the structure of the newly developed scale, and exploratory structural equation modeling procedures (n = 406) resulted in a modified scale that retained theoretical integrity and psychometric parsimony. This process produced a 15-item, 4-factor model; the Impression Motivation in Sport Questionnaire–Team (IMSQ-T) is forwarded as a valid measure of the respondent’s dispositional strength of motivation to use self-presentation in striving for four distinct interpersonal objectives: self-development, social identity development, avoidance of negative outcomes, and avoidance of damaging impressions. The availability of this measure has contributed to theoretical development, will facilitate research, and offers a tool for use in applied settings.
Impact of Opponents’ Clothing and Body Language on Impression Formation and Outcome Expectations
Iain Greenlees, Richard Buscombe, Richard Thelwell, Tim Holder, and Matthew Rimmer
The aim of this study was to examine the impact of a tennis player’s body language and clothing (general vs. sport-specific) on the impressions observers form of them. Forty male tennis players viewed videos of a target tennis player warming up. Each participant viewed the target player displaying one of four combinations of body language and clothing (positive body language/tennis-specific clothing; positive body language/general sportswear; negative body language/tennis-specific clothing; negative body language/general sportswear). After viewing the target player, participants rated their impressions of the model’s episodic states and dispositions and gave their perceptions of the likely outcome of a tennis match with the target player. Analyses of variance revealed that positive body language led to favorable episodic impressions and low outcome expectations. Analysis also indicated that clothing and body language had an interactive effect on dispositional judgments. The study supports the contention that nonverbal communication can influence sporting interactions.
Moving beyond the Stigma: The Impression Formation Benefits of Exercise for Individuals with a Physical Disability
Kelly P. Arbour, Amy E. Latimer, Kathleen A. Martin Ginis, and Mary E. Jung
This study examined whether the positive impressions formed of able-bodied exercisers extend to people with a physical disability. Participants (226 women and 220 men) read a description of a man or woman with a spinal cord injury who was described as an exerciser, nonexerciser, or control, and then rated the target (i.e., the person being described in the vignette) on 17 personality and 9 physical dimensions. Results revealed significantly more favorable ratings for the exerciser than both the nonexerciser and control on almost all dimensions. Additionally, the male control target was rated more favorably than the female counterpart on three personality and two physical attributes. Evidently, the exerciser stereotype may undermine negative impressions of people with physical disabilities.
Inactivity May Be Hazardous to Your Image: The Effects of Exercise Participation on Impression Formation
Kathleen A. Martin, Adrienne R. Sinden, and Julie C. Fleming
This study examined whether information about an individual’s exercise habits influences the impressions that others form of the individual. Using a 2 (target’s gender) × 3 (target’s exercise status) design, 627 men and women participants read a description of a young man or woman who was described as an exerciser, nonexerciser, or control. Participants then rated the target on 12 personality and 8 appearance dimensions. Analyses revealed significant main effects for both independent variables (p < .05). Nonexercisers received lower ratings than the exercisers and/or controls did on virtually all the dimensions (p < .05), and female targets were rated more favorably than male targets were on several dimensions (p < .05). The interaction between a target’s exercise status and gender was not significant. The results suggest that for women, as well as men, there are self-presentational benefits associated with being an exerciser and self-presentational liabilities for those who are nonexercisers.
Integrated Impression Management in Athletics: A Qualitative Study of How NCAA Division I Athletics Directors Understand Public Relations
Angela N. Pratt
Intercollegiate athletics directors (ADs) in the United States are high-profile representatives of their departments and universities. Their publics include media, sponsors, donors, fans, faculty, students, and government officials. However, few studies have explored ADs from a public relations perspective, especially regarding their understandings of public relations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to learn how ADs understand public relations in the context of their athletics departments. A phenomenological approach was used to pursue this purpose. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ADs. Their transcripts were analyzed using comparative-analysis procedures. The findings show that the participants understand public relations as integrated impression management: a combination of image, message, and action/interaction. Integrated impression management ties into ideas from Goffman (1959), as well as systems theories of public relations. However, the results also imply that ADs do not necessarily separate public relations from other disciplines such as marketing.
Athletes’ Perceived Use of Information Sources When Forming Initial Impressions and Expectancies of a Coach: An Explorative Study
Andrew J. Manley, Iain Greenlees, Jan Graydon, Richard Thelwell, William C.D. Filby, and Matthew J. Smith
The study aimed to identify the sources of information that athletes perceive as influential during their initial evaluation of coaching ability. University athletes (N = 538) were asked to indicate the influence of 31 informational cues (e.g., gender, body language or gestures, reputation) on the initial impression formed of a coach. Following exploratory factor analysis, a 3-factor model (i.e., static cues, dynamic cues, and third-party reports) was extracted. Mean scores revealed that although static cues (e.g., gender, race or ethnicity) were rated as relatively unimportant during impression formation, dynamic cues (e.g., facial expressions, body language or gestures) and third-party reports (e.g., coaching qualifications, reputation) were viewed by athletes as influential factors in the formation of expectancies about coaches. Such findings have implications for the occurrence of expectancy effects in coach-athlete relationships and the way in which coaches seek to present themselves.
Nonverbal Behavior in Soccer: The Influence of Dominant and Submissive Body Language on the Impression Formation and Expectancy of Success of Soccer Players
Philip Furley, Matt Dicks, and Daniel Memmert
In the present article, we investigate the effects of specific nonverbal behaviors signaling dominance and submissiveness on impression formation and outcome expectation in the soccer penalty kick situation. In Experiment 1, results indicated that penalty takers with dominant body language are perceived more positively by soccer goalkeepers and players and are expected to perform better than players with a submissive body language. This effect was similar for both video and point-light displays. Moreover, in contrast to previous studies, we found no effect of clothing (red vs. white) in the video condition. In Experiment 2, we used the implicit association test to demonstrate that dominant body language is implicitly associated with a positive soccer player schema whereas submissive body language is implicitly associated with a negative soccer player schema. The implications of our findings are discussed with reference to future implications for theory and research in the study of person perception in sport.
