Social Bonds and Exercise: Evidence for a Reciprocal Relationship (Study 2)

Included here are data from Study 2 of a research article submitted to PLOS One for publication. The title of the article is: "Social Bonds and Exercise: Evidence for a Reciprocal Relationship" and the authors are Arran Davis, Jacob Taylor, and Emma Cohen. Abstract: In two experimental studies, we investigated mechanisms hypothesized to underpin two pervasive and interrelated phenomena: that certain forms of group movement and exercise lead to social bonding and that social bonding can lead to enhanced exercise performance. In Study 1 we manipulated synchrony and exercise intensity among rowers and found that, compared with low-intensity exercise, moderate-intensity exercise led to significantly higher levels of cooperation in an economic game; no effect of synchrony vs. non-synchrony was found. In Study 2, an elite, highly bonded team of rugby players participated in solo, synchronized and non-synchronized warm-up sessions; participants' anaerobic performance significantly improved after the brief synchronous warm-up relative to a non-synchronous warm-up. The findings substantiate claims concerning the reciprocal links between group exercise and social bonding, and may help to explain the ubiquity of collective physical activity across cultural domains as varied as play, ritual, sport, and dance. Please see research article for a description of the methods used in Study 2. Data Labels – Study 2: Participant #: The number assigned to each participant for consent forms, bookkeeping, analysis, etc. Condition: This is the participant’s experimental condition. 1 represents solo warm-up manipulation, 2 represents asynchronous warm-up manipulation, and 3 represents synchronous warm-up manipulation. In all conditions, warm-up manipulations were immediately followed by the EAET Performance test EAET Performance: this is the performance in the England Anaerobic Endurance Test, measured in time (seconds). HR Max: this denotes participant’s maximum heart rate in beats per minute (BPM) for each condition. RPE: this is the participant’s score on the Borg Scale for Rating Perceived Exertion (with 1 being “nothing at all” and 10 being “impossible”. FAT: this is the participant’s score on the “fatigue” component of the Subjective Exercise Experience Scale. PD: this is the participant’s score on the “psychological distress” component of the Subjective Exercise Experience Scale. PWB: this is the participant’s score on the “psychological well-being” component of the Subjective Exercise Experience Scale. Condition Order: this is the order in which the participants performed each condition. Pain Change – Pre: this is the change in pain threshold after the warm-up manipulation and before the EAET, calculated against a baseline pain threshold measure recorded before exercise. Pain Change – Post: this is the change in pain threshold after the EAET performance test, calculated against a baseline pain threshold measure recorded before exercise.