The Psychology of Movement

Stage 1

Movement changes everything. When we move our body it changes the way we think, feel, behave and learn.

Discover how movement enhances the human experience and think about how this can be applied in education, health and business.

Movement changes everything

My name is Dr Peter Lovatt and I am an academic Psychologist with a special interest in movement. I have spent the last twenty years working in university research labs trying to understand the science of what happens to people when they move their body. What I discovered is that movement changes us fundamentally in four different ways. Movement changes our relationships with other people, movement changes how we think and solve problems, movement changes our emotions and how we feel, and movement changes us physically, from the chemicals we produce in our brain to the way our heart beats. Movement changes everything.

When you move, you improve

We have been using movement with organisations from different sectors, for example, in the banking, tech, creative, education, health and automotive industries, to help people find new ways of moving. Although each of these sectors is unique, in terms of their goals and methods of working, there are many similarities with regards to the challenges people and organisations face regarding human movement.

It’s time to change the way you move

What I have found is that once people change the way they move, for example by breaking up long periods of sitting, standing or walking, and by changing their movement repertoire, this then leads to many positive changes in the way people interact and communicate with others, how they think and solve problems, how they feel and how their bodies work. All of these benefits lead to positive consequences in the workplace.

Four-STEP

The Psychology of Movement introduces students to a four-STEP approach to thinking about movement and its application in different settings. The four STEPS are Social, Thinking, Emotions, Physical. This course has been written and developed by Peter and Lindsey Lovatt. Lindsey is an Occupational Therapist.

Social

We know that when people coordinate their movements, it changes how much they like each other, it leads to higher levels of trust and increases the amount of helping behaviour they are prepared to show one another. Movement is great for social bonding and communication.

Thinking

We know that the way people think and solve problems is related to the way they move their body. Different types of body movement can help with different types of thinking. For example, if you want to think more creatively then you might benefit from shaking out your body and moving it in a way you have never moved it before. Movement is great for creative thinking.

Emotions

We know that the way people feel is related to their movements. We can all tell how a friend is feeling by the way they walk and move. We embody our feelings. It is also the case that moving our body can change the way we feel. Certain types of body movement are great for reducing feelings of stress, anxiety and depression and there is a relationship between occupational burnout and movement. Movement is great for changing how we feel.

Physical

We know that the way our body works is related to movement. Sedentary lifestyles can be fatal. Physical activity has been found to decrease all-cause mortality. Movement is great for our heart, lungs, brain and our immune system. Movement is great for our body.

Varied Learning Activities

Peter delivers the content online through a series of short videos and accompanying slides. Pause & Reflect Activities, which give learners the opportunity to think about how the content applies to their own experience, are interleaved between the videos. In addition, Active Learning Exercises are included to help students dive deeper into some of the course content areas. The course includes suggested readings and the Learning Outcomes are assessed by a Multiple-Choice Quiz (MCQ).

Dance Breaks

And there are Dance Breaks too. Simple, short dances are woven through the learning materials to help students stay physically active during the learning experience. After all, our moto is “when you move, you improve”.

For You

The Psychology of Movement an Introduction is designed for anyone with an interest in the use of movement to enhance the human experience in education, health and business.