- Amazing Reasons You Should Run Streak Right Now new study Katie Mehr, Ph.D.c Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, copying someone’s workout routine Give A Gift.
- Participants in the study who copied another person’s routine exercised for a total of 55 more minutes than those who didn’t copy anyone else’s routine.
Let’s say some of your friends are grooving on the Runner’s World run streak—Lets say some of your friends are grooving on the strength program Other Hearst Subscriptions quarantine fatigue and haven’t been able to motivate yourself to exercise much. Could your acquaintances’ efforts really help you get over your coronavirus downshift?
Absolutely, new research suggests. Plus, you could also motivate others to join in.
The study, Katie Mehr, Ph.D.c Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, highlights the role of what are called “copy-paste prompts,” when you essentially copy what someone else is doing, paste it into your life, and modify accordingly.
Just over 1,000 people were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The copy-paste group was asked to pay attention to how people they know get themselves to work out, and offered the option of asking those people directly for motivational tips and strategies. They also needed to tell researchers how they planned to exercise in the next week.
The second group was given an exercise hack or strategy that had motivated other people to exercise. An example is “for every hour that you exercise, allow yourself 15 minutes on social media.”
The third group, as a control, did not receive any information—only surveys related to how much they exercised.
After 10 days, those in the copy-paste group reported spending significantly more time exercising than the other two groups—55 more total minutes than the control group and 32 more total minutes than the exercise hack group. Additionally, the copy-paste group had more overall motivation to exercise, even though all the participants had noted at the start that they were interested in exercising more.
“This suggests finding and mimicking strategies that work well for others pursuing that same goal can be useful,” said lead study author Katie Mehr, Ph.D.(c)., of the University of Pennsylvania’s Operations, Information, and Decisions Department. She told Runner’s World that researchers specifically chose exercise for the study because so many people want to achieve fitness goals, but then struggle with their motivation and following through.
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Why do copy-paste prompts work so well? There are two important reasons, and together, they add up to a compelling strategy.
First, previous studies have found that people tend to favor observation when learning new skills, especially when that means watching people in their social networks. Second, they can “copy” whatever behaviors they want to emulate, which gives them feelings of choice and control—two important aspects of habit change. That is much more powerful than receiving the same advice passively, researchers noted.
In terms of who you’re copying, it does help to seek out people you can connect with directly, as opposed to fitness influencers putting up the latest workout.
“One of the reasons copy-paste prompts seem to be successful is that they increase social interaction with the person whose strategy you’ve copied,” said Mehr. “So, it may be useful to ask people instead of following them on social media. But, if there really isn’t anyone whose strategies you could mimic, those social media examples could be helpful, as our study shows finding—instead of receiving—a strategy is particularly useful.”
Looking for someone to copy-paste right now? We suggest joining the lively and supportive team of streakers on the Runner’s World Run Streak Facebook group.
