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Can exercise change the stereotypes associated with individuals with cancer?
Author(s) -
ClémentGuillotin C.,
Falzon C.,
d'ArripeLongueville F.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/sms.12272
Subject(s) - cancer , medicine , competence (human resources) , psychology , physical therapy , clinical psychology , social psychology
The purpose of this study was to examine whether exercising can positively influence the stereotypes associated with individuals with cancer and, more specifically, have an effect on the impression formation related to warmth and competence. A total of 193 F rench college students ( M age = 21.08, SD = 1.44 years; 88 females and 105 males) were randomly assigned to one of the conditions of a 2 (participant sex) × 2 (target health status: cancer vs no information) × 3 (target exercise status: exerciser vs non‐exerciser vs no information) experimental design. Results indicated that exercising target with cancer was perceived as the most competent compared with targets with cancer and those without information about cancer. These results suggest that exercising could be an effective way to undermine cancer stereotypes and reduce discrimination against people with cancer.