Exercising for the Pleasure and for the Pain of It: The Implications of Different Forms of Hedonistic Thinking in Theories of Physical Activity Behavior

Stephen L. Murphy, Daniel Eaves

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

“They [pleasure and pain] govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think” (Bentham, 1780, p.1)

Physical inactivity is one of the most widely reported risk-factors associated with many non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, cancer, obesity, hypertension, stroke, osteoporosis, and depression (Warburton et al., 2006; Bravata et al., 2007), as well as overall global mortality (World Health Organization, 2010). Interventions that increase physical activity can reliably reduce the impact of these undesired outcomes. However, the key question facing research and theory is how best to conceptualize the associated psychological factors, which ultimately determine adherence to behavioral change. Social-Cognitive models of behavior, including the Theory of Planned Behavior, Transtheoretical Model, and Social-Cognitive Theory, represent popular explanatory frameworks, which can help practitioners understand how best to improve physical activity behavior.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)-
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume7
Issue number843
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. For full details see http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00843/full [Accessed 02.06.16]

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