Mschwelitze, Georg (2024) Cognitive Reappraisal of Exercise Discomfort: The Moderating Role of Experience. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Physical inactivity remains a significant public health challenge. Recent studies cite discomfort during exercise as a significant barrier to exercise maintenance. Cognitive reappraisal, a technique that helps individuals reinterpret negative experiences, has been successfully used in emotional regulation, but its potential to reduce discomfort-related barriers in exercise is underexplored. The current study investigated whether cognitive reappraisal could mitigate pain intensity and the negative affective response (pain valence and negative affective valence) associated with a wall-sit exercise, whether this would lead to more favourable affective attitudes, and whether these effects would be moderated by prior exercise experience. Further, the study investigated whether these changes would translate to greater exercise adherence over 14 days. Participants were randomly assigned to a control (n= 30) or reappraisal condition (n = 28), with the manipulation involving a video reframing discomfort as a sign of muscle growth. The results indicated that cognitive reappraisal did not significantly influence pain intensity, pain valence, affective valence, affective attitudes, or exercise adherence (all p's > .05). However, the moderation analysis showed a significant interaction effect (p = .048), showing that participants with low prior exercise experience in the cognitive reappraisal condition reported lower pain intensity after the exercise compared to the control group (p = .058). While these findings suggest that cognitive reappraisal may reframe discomfort and potentially reduce perceived pain intensity, particularly in individuals who are new to exercise, its impact on broader affective responses and long-term adherence warrants further exploration. intensity, its impact on broader affective responses and long-term adherence warrants further exploration.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Dijkstra, A. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Dec 2024 15:58 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Dec 2024 15:58 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4461 |
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