Department of Biobehavioral Sciences
Program in Movement Sciences and Education
FALL SESSION, 2025
BBSR 4070: Introduction to Psychosocial Aspects of Sports / Exercise (2-3 credits)
Syllabus
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the psychological and social processes in physical activity, exercise and sport (in that order). The focus is on the key theoretical psychosocial principles that are well known to govern exercise and sport behavior, including the physical, affective (emotional), and cognitive aspects.
The course explores theoretical, methodological, and applied approaches to a variety of topics including: stress, motivation, cognition, mood, emotion, perceptions of the self, mental illness, exercise adherence, self-regulation and self-control, goal setting, arousal and performance, group dynamics, coaching, and burnout. My research foci are stress (see our classic article here) and motivation (here), two major areas of inquiry; consequently, there will be a particular emphasis on these topics.
Prerequisites – none, but all students should know how to use a software program similar to Excel or Sheets.
Major learning objectives
A. Understand processes of behavior. change to promote physically active lifestyles.
B. Differentiate between sport, exercise, and physical activity psychologies (collectively, movement psychology).
C. Apply movement psychology knowledge for their own condition or for another person, like a friend, family member or client (students must have a strong personal stake in the course content).
D. Be able to refine and articulate a publishable research question (RQ) within the movement psychologies.
E. Collect data that is research, or close to research, quality. Be able to enter data, organize, data reduce, tabulate, analyze, diagram, and interpret this data.
F. Produce content that is publishable or could be publishable, in other words, can be shared with others (but may not, it is your discretion)
G. Master content required for the American College of Sports Medicine exercise physiologist (EP-C) credentialing examination in the section “Exercise Counseling and Behavior. Modification” (25% of exam).
H. Through all experiences and with multiple sources of evidence (see below), answer the chosen movement psychology RQ.
Points: 2 or 3 (2 less requirements for those taking 2 points, including the conceptual model and article rankings assignments)
Course Format: The course will consist of lecture, discussion (over Zoom and the discussion board) and some interactive activities. Personal experience will be emphasized substantially, and projects will be completed based on such experiences. Students should complete the scientific reading assignments (“lead”, “key” or “featured” articles) posted on Canvas before each class, and be prepared to discuss the material in class, on the discussion board or in a separate Word document submitted to the professor.
Typical nightly schedule
5:10 – 6:00: Topic 1
6:10 – 7:00: Topic 2 and/or Activity
Class dismissed
Optional - 7:00 – 8:00: 1-on-1 meeting time (office hours)
Please, understand that I am an Associate Adjunct and not a tenure-track faculty member. There are different requirements for office hours for adjuncts. Per state statutes and TC policy - “Adjuncts/Instructors must hold office hours of one hour for every class which they teach.”
Course Resources
Reading assignments will be articles selected from the scientific literature and reputable (e.g., NY Times) news media reports covering these articles. Reading assignments will be posted on Canvas. Students are responsible for all information presented in class, and other highlighted course materials - whether or not discussed in class.
I typically divide these resources into 4 types. How I approach these is very flexible and will vary week to week.
A. Lead/key/featured articles – Each week a few articles (or book chapters) will be selected as “featured” publications. All students are expected to know this material for an engaging in-class discussion (or later write-up if not in class).
B. Secondary articles - These are articles I expect you to read the abstract and be familiar with some of the tables and figures.
C. Ancillary articles - Other articles you might be interested in, or we might touch on in class, but I do not expect you to read them in their entirety.
D. Other supporting documents - Might even be from magazines, newspapers or social media. Relevant to the topic, but not necessarily endorsed! These often highlight misconceptions broadcasted in popular culture.