Can Cancellara Really be a ? Ethno-Cultural Identity Representation Predicts Regional Exclusivity of a Historically Contested Cycling Term.

In Flanders the term refers to cyclists who display a strong work ethic, great perseverance, are powerful and who perform best in adverse weather conditions. Until the 1960s, only leading cyclists originating from the province of West- and East-Flanders were considered as . After 1960, the media extended the use of this term to Belgian cyclists in general and even to international cyclists.

Acting One's Age in Physical Exercise: Do Perceived Age Norms Explain Autonomous Motivation Among Older Adults?

Background: The social identity approach proposes that the more older adults identify with the social group of "older adults," the more they will conform to what they perceive as being normative exercising for their group. However, so far, it remains unclear why older adults adhere to these norms.

Objective: This study evaluated whether perceived exercise norms are associated with higher levels of autonomous motivation according to the self-determination theory and actual exercise participation.

The effect of descriptive age norms on the motivation to exercise among older adults.

Based on the principles of the Social Identity Approach (SIA), the present experiment aimed to examine the impact of communicating descriptive age norms on older adults' autonomous motivation to exercise. Under the cover of a marketing study, older adults (n = 120; age = 65-70 years) participated in a newly created exercise activity, 'Pattern Stepping'. This activity was framed as an activity that was descriptively normative either for older adults, for younger adults, for both groups, or for none.

An examination of the relationship between athlete leadership and cohesion using social network analysis.

Two studies investigated the structure of different athlete leadership networks and its relationship to cohesion using social network analysis. In Study 1, we examined the relationship between a general leadership quality network and task and social cohesion as measured by the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). In Study 2, we investigated the leadership networks for four different athlete leadership roles (task, motivational, social and external) and their association with task and social cohesion networks.

The Art of Athlete Leadership: Identifying High-Quality Athlete Leadership at the Individual and Team Level Through Social Network Analysis.

This research aimed to introduce social network analysis as a novel technique in sports teams to identify the attributes of high-quality athlete leadership, both at the individual and at the team level. Study 1 included 25 sports teams (N = 308 athletes) and focused on athletes' general leadership quality. Study 2 comprised 21 sports teams (N = 267 athletes) and focused on athletes' specific leadership quality as a task, motivational, social, and external leader.

Believing in "us": exploring leaders' capacity to enhance team confidence and performance by building a sense of shared social identity.

The present study examined the impact of athlete leaders' perceived confidence on their teammates' confidence and performance. Male basketball players (N = 102) participated in groups of 4. To manipulate leaders' team confidence, the appointed athlete leader of each newly formed basketball team (a confederate) expressed either high or low team confidence.

Perceived Sources of Team Confidence in Soccer and Basketball.

Purpose: Although it is generally accepted that team confidence is beneficial for optimal team functioning and performance, little is known about the predictors of team confidence. The present study was aimed to shed light on the precursors of both high and low team confidence in two different sports. A distinction is made between sources of process-oriented team confidence (i.

Is team confidence the key to success? The reciprocal relation between collective efficacy, team outcome confidence, and perceptions of team performance during soccer games.

The present manuscript extends previous research on the reciprocal relation between team confidence and perceived team performance in two ways. First, we distinguished between two types of team confidence; process-oriented collective efficacy and outcome-oriented team outcome confidence. Second, we assessed both types not only before and after the game, but for the first time also during half-time, thereby providing deeper insight into their dynamic relation with perceived team performance.

The myth of the team captain as principal leader: extending the athlete leadership classification within sport teams.

Although coaches and players recognise the importance of leaders within the team, research on athlete leadership is sparse. The present study expands knowledge of athlete leadership by extending the current leadership classification and exploring the importance of the team captain as formal leader of the team. An online survey was completed by 4,451 participants (31% females and 69% males) within nine different team sports in Flanders (Belgium).

"Yes, we can!": Perceptions of collective efficacy sources in volleyball.

Collective efficacy can be defined as a group's shared confidence that they will successfully achieve their goal. We examined which behaviours and events are perceived as sources of collective efficacy beliefs in a volleyball context. In study 1, volleyball coaches from the highest volleyball leagues (n = 33) in Belgium indicated the most important sources of collective efficacy.

The role of national identity representation in the relation between in-group identification and out-group derogation: ethnic versus civic representation.

Two studies investigated whether the content of in-group identity affects the relation between in-group identification and ethnic prejudice. The first study among university students, tested whether national identity representations (i.e.

The Janus face of power in intergroup contexts: a further exploration of the noblesse oblige effect.

The authors examined the impact of power on in-group bias by manipulating group members' power over the in-group and power over the out-group as orthogonal factors. Each factor had 3 levels: 0%, 50%, and 100%. Participants were 216 male pupils (12-13 years old).

Behavioral consequences of fluctuating group success: an internet study of soccer-team fans.

The authors tested the hypothesis that fans of a sports team avoid private contact with their team when it is unsuccessful (cutting off reflected failure, or CORF), whereas fans actively seek private contact with their team when it is successful (basking in reflected glory, or BIRG). During the 2nd half of the 1999-2000 soccer season, the authors registered the number of visitors who had surfed the Web sites of 16 Belgian and 18 Dutch 1st-division teams on the 1st working day following a championship game. The authors obtained 586 valid measurements, which were transformed into z scores for each team separately.