Affect and Exercise: Positive Affective Expectations Can Increase Post-Exercise Mood and Exercise Intentions

Background Prior research has found affect to predict exercise. Little research has examined the causal influence of exercise-related affect on exercise intentions. Purpose The purpose of this study was to test whether expectations about post-exercise affect can be successfully manipulated to produc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of behavioral medicine 2015-04, Vol.49 (2), p.269-279
Main Authors: Helfer, Suzanne G., Elhai, Jon D., Geers, Andrew L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Affect
Anticipation, Psychological
Causality
Emotions
Exercise
Exercise - psychology
Family Medicine
Female
General Practice
Health Psychology
Humans
Intention
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original Article
Physical fitness
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background Prior research has found affect to predict exercise. Little research has examined the causal influence of exercise-related affect on exercise intentions. Purpose The purpose of this study was to test whether expectations about post-exercise affect can be successfully manipulated to produce changes in post-exercise affect and exercise intentions. We also tested whether cognitively elaborating on the expectation would increase the duration of the expectation effect. Methods Participants (59 men, 89 women) were exposed to an affective expectation manipulation as well as an elaboration manipulation and then completed 10 min of light-intensity exercise on a stationary bicycle in the laboratory. Participants also completed a 2-week follow-up. Results Affective expectation participants displayed more positive post-exercise affect and exercise intentions than no-expectation participants ( p s 
ISSN:0883-6612
1532-4796
DOI:10.1007/s12160-014-9656-1