Exercise Is a Many-Splendored Thing, but for Some It Does Not Feel So Splendid: Staging a Resurgence of Hedonistic Ideas in the Quest to Understand Exercise Behavior

Abstract

Ah~the truth about exercise? ... The real ualue ofit is not in terms ofabstract health benefits like longevity-an extra few hours or maybe months-but becauseitfeels good when you do it or when it's over. To hell with Hygeia, the truth lies in the pleasure.

Affective–Reflective Theory of physical inactivity and exercise

“…This article refines earlier work on the significance of exercise-related affect for exercise motivation (e. g., Ekkekakis & Dafermos, 2012) and the role that automatic evaluations of exercise play in exercise-related decision-making and behavior (e. g., Brand & Schweizer, 2015). The article then introduces the Affective-Reflective Theory (ART) of physical inactivity and exercise, which focuses on the implications of momentary affective evaluations for exercise-related actions and choices.…”

“…In the past few years, the voices arguing that the role of affect in exercise motivation might be substantially underestimated in contemporary theoretical work have grown louder (e. g., Ekkekakis & Dafermos, 2012;Sudeck, Schmid, & Conzelmann, 2016;Wienke & Jekauc, 2016). Affect is a broader concept than mood and emotion, and core affect is defined as a "neuro-physiological state consciously accessible as a simple, primitive, nonreflective feeling most evident in mood and emotion but always available to consciousness" (Russel & Feldman Barrett, 2009, p. 104).…”

“…This must not be misunderstood as implying that seeking pleasure and avoiding displeasure is postulated to be the one and only ultimate source of all human motivation (Ekkekakis & Dafermos, 2012). Nevertheless, hedonistic theories differ significantly from most theories presently used in the study of exercise motivation, which are based on a cognitive core and assert that, once enough information is available (e. g., about the health benefits of exercise and personal relevance of goals), individuals will inevitably make the rational decision to change their behavior and will be motivated to do so,…”

“…Numerous studies have investigated self-reported affective responses to exercise and shown that negative affect during exercise is associated with exercise avoidance, especially in sedentary populations (e. g., Ekkekakis & Dafermos, 2012;Rhodes & Kates, 2015). Likewise, there are several reports of positive correlations between automatic affective evaluations (we will use "evaluation" in all cases where this term was used in the original study) and self-reported exercise volume (Bluemke et al, 2010;Chevance, Caudroit, Romain, & Boiché, 2017), as well as one prospective longitudinal study, in which more positive automatic evaluations predicted objectively monitored attendance at an exercise course (Antoniewicz & Brand, 2016b).…”

Process evaluation and proximal impact of an affect-based exercise intervention among adolescents

“…After a considerable period of time during which most research in this area was restricted primarily to testing alternative socialcognitive models of exercise behavior, an appreciation for the role of affect has emerged. As thoroughly documented by Ekkekakis and Dafermos [8], this apparent shift in the field is actually a re-emergence of a theme present throughout philosophical and psychosocial writings for many hundreds of years, going back as far as the time of Plato, and including numerous well-known names such as Thomas Hobbes, Henry James, and Sigmund Freud. All of these historical figures affirmed the dominance of hedonism as a primary motivator of behavior.…”