My research interests are primarily in Motivation & Emotion within the contexts of exercise, sport, and education. I also have interests in Measurement with regards to classroom assessment and examination of the psychometric properties of measures.

My main interest in Sport and Exercise Psychology has always been exercise adherence. Research has repeatedly demonstrated people's inability to adhere to exercise programs. Identifying means for making the exercise experience more enjoyable and less aversive will increase exercise adherence and has important public health implications. Over the course of the last decade I have examined the following independent variables on exercise adherence: group cohesion, class leader characteristics, music, self-efficacy, autonomy, perceived competence, exercise intensity, expectations, temperature, goal orientations, achievement motivation, attributions, and attentional focus.

Recently my exercise psychology research focus has narrowed to attentional focus. What one thinks about while exercising directly affects the intensity at which one exercises, as well as psychological perceptions about the exercise bout such as rate of perceived exertion (RPE), affect, enjoyment, and pain.

In terms of educational psychology, currently, I am focusing on performance feedback for teachers and coaches. How and how often do they get feedback? Is the feedback reliable and valid to a degree for which they can extract meaning from it and subsequently improve their teaching/coaching? I have also examined teachers' exposure to formative assessment, college faculty assessment practices, and means of providing exam feedback.

Dr. Steve Wininger
Director, Motivation Lab