Want to Impress People? All it Takes Is Exercise!

I’m sure many of you have heard, time and time again, about the numerous health benefits that exercise can provide for you, such as protection against cancer, heart disease and obesity. However, did you also consider the benefits exercise can have on your image? That’s right, being active can also help to bolster the impressions that others form of you (a fact that may have come in handy for this past Valentine’s Day).

Self-presentation is a term that refers to processes by which people attempt to monitor and control the impressions others form of them. At work, one may laugh at a colleague’s joke that is not funny at all, while on a first date one may skip dessert to avoid seeming overindulgent. These are all examples where self-presentation comes into play. Exercise is not an exception.

Many studies have shown the self-presentational benefits of exercise (known as the ‘exerciser stereotype’). A recent study conducted at two Canadian universities (University of Alberta and University of Western Ontario) illustrates the exerciser stereotype among 470 respondents. In this study, participants were instructed to “think of people who do not exercise regularly” and were then asked to rate them on a series of personality (e.g., motivated, happy, undisciplined) and physical (e.g., healthy, fat, energetic) characteristics. They were then asked to “think of people who exercise regularly” and to rate them on the same list of characteristics.

Who do you suppose had the better rating?