Trial reportHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2017
What to expect when you're exercising: An experimental test of the anticipated affect-exercise relationship.
Trial report in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Modeling longitudinal variation in affective response to exercise across a 16-week randomized control trial (RCT).Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2021Trial
- Mindfulness Versus Distraction to Improve Affective Response and Promote Cardiovascular Exercise Behavior.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2020Trial
- Unravelling the relationship between exercise-induced affective responses and daily physical activity in people with chronic diseases: Spillover or confounding effect?British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Studying exercise-induced affect in older adults: how the circumplex model could enhance theoretical and practical advances in the field.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- The hedonic expectancy gap: a framework for understanding intention failure in precontemplation.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Examining the role of anticipated enjoyment and intention in predicting attendance in exercise classes.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The impact of sports preferences on physical activity participation among college students: the mediating role of sports achievement emotions and exercise motivation.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Do you truly feel pleasant? The effect of question formulations on affective responses to acute exercise.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Unpacking differences in post-exercise affective experiences between physically underactive and active individuals.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- The Motivation MAP: an exercise-message framework to foster positive affect, challenge all-or-nothing thinking, and prioritize self-care.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Placebo Effect in Exercise and Mental Health Research.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- A Text Messaging Intervention for Priming the Affective Rewards of Exercise in Adults: Protocol for a Microrandomized Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of a Single Prolonged Aerobic Exercise Session on Executive Function Task Performance in Physically Active Adults (21-70 Years of Age).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Guidelines for assessment of affect-related constructs.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- Understanding physical activity declines during COVID-19: The affective repercussions of disruption to exercise routines.Psychology of sport and exercise · 2023Article
- A systematic narrative review of extrinsic strategies to improve affective responses to exercise.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Review
- Daily Instrumental and Affective Attitudes About Exercise: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2022Article
- Subjective experiences of physical activity and forecasting bias during behavioral weight loss.Obesity science & practice · 2022Article
- Changes in cognitive control and mood across repeated exercise sessions.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2021Article
- Momentary affective response to bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity predicts changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior during behavioral weight loss.Psychology of sport and exercise · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAnticipated affect may influence exercise behavior via experienced affective responses and intentions. Cognitive manipulations of anticipated affect may inform exercise intervention design. The purpose of this study was to experimentally test the effects of an expectation-based manipulation of affective responses to exercise on anticipated, experienced, and remembered affect and adherence to a 7-day exercise prescription.
methodParticipants (N = 98) were randomly assigned to a positive anticipated affect manipulation, a negative anticipated affect manipulation, or a no affect manipulation control. They reported anticipated, experienced, and remembered affect during and after a standardized 30-min bout of treadmill exercise at an intensity just below ventilatory threshold. Participants were asked to try to complete the prescribed exercise daily for 1 week. Differences in affect and exercise behavior were examined across conditions, as were relationships between affect measures, intentions and behavior.
resultsThe manipulation influenced anticipated and experienced affective responses, but not behavior. Participants generally expected exercise to be less pleasant and more fatiguing that it actually was. Anticipated, experienced, and remembered affect were associated with intentions to exercise. Intentions and remembered affect were both directly associated with exercise behavior.
conclusionsModerate-to-vigorous exercise can be more pleasant than people expect it to be. Additionally, encouraging exercisers to focus on the positive affective outcomes of exercise can yield a more positive affective experience than those who focus on negative affective outcomes or do not focus on affective outcomes at all. The role of affect in both reflective and automatic motivation to exercise is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
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