Leisure walks modulate the cognitive and affective representation of the corona pandemic: Employing Cognitive‐Affective Maps within a randomized experimental design

Abstract

In response to the corona pandemic, many leisure activities have been restricted while walking has been explicitly endorsed by health authorities. We investigated how leisure walking affects individuals' attitudes to the pandemic. We used Cognitive ‐ Affective Maps (CAMs) to measure individual's cognitive and affective attitudes toward the corona pandemic and related issues. In a controlled randomized experiment, we asked ( N = 66) participants to draw a CAM before and after a walk. Participants in a control group drew CAMs before and after any self‐chosen activity at home. We found that walking led to a more negative evaluation of the pandemic itself, likely due to a more intense reflection, while in everyday routines one has already adapted to it. In further qualitative post hoc assessments of the CAMs, we observed that negative concepts other than corona disappeared after walking. We conclude that leisure walks have complex effects on individuals' cognitive and affective conceptualization of the corona pandemic. Hence, the exact mechanisms of these effects need to be examined in future research. Our study has also shown that CAMs are a promising tool for measuring experimental interventions in health psychology.

Direct assessment of individual connotation and experience

“…Analogous to usual approaches (e.g., Mayring, 2014), CAMs can be coded inductively and deductively; that is, researchers look at the individual CAMs and rate them according to specific categories. In the earlier example study by Reuter et al (2021), the pre-and post-CAMs were also examined qualitatively by having two raters independently form categories to rate the within-subjects CAM changes; example categories are positive development or similar to before. The ratings of each CAM were summarized separately for the experimental and control group, and then compared.…”

“…Such a thematic analysis can be implemented, for example, by automatically creating a list of all concepts mentioned in the CAMs and then categorizing these concepts. An example approach can also be found in Reuter et al (2021), An introduction to cognitive-affective mapping POLITICS AND THE LIFE SCIENCES • 2022 • where the authors first performed an automated categorization (e.g., using word databases) and then manually completed the remaining categorization to create a frequency list for the most emerging topics. However, as the tabular data include the information recorded in each node, the process can be implemented using existing research tools like LegislatoR, Lexicoder, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), or Python.…”

“…Because individual CAMs have the potential to vary significantly in both emotional and latent structures, researchers may wish to consider implementing a within-subjects design. For example, Reuter et al (2021) had participants draw a CAM on the topic of the coronavirus pandemic. After completing this task, participants in the experimental group were instructed to go for a one-hour walk, while the control group pursued any activity at home for one hour.…”

“…To test correlations inferentially, classical significance tests, especially correlation and regression analysis, can be used. Mansell, Reuter, et al (2021) collected CAMs on the topic of the coronavirus pandemic and, at the same time, questionnaires on attitudes toward the pandemic. A central questionnaire scale was the perceived threat of the coronavirus.…”

“…Furthermore, the Valence software allows for flexible project planning in that participants can be presented with a list of predefined concepts, which can be arranged into a CAM (as in Reuter et al, 2021) or asked to generate and relate their own unique set of concepts (as in Mansell, Reuter, et al 2021).…”