Objective: The present research tested whether incidental positive affect promotes pursuit of physical activity goals. Four key features of goal pursuit were examined - setting physical activity goals (Study 1), goal activation (Study 2), and goal prioritization and goal attainment (Study 3).
Design: Participants (Ns = 80, 81, and 59, in Studies 1-3, respectively) were randomized to positive affect (joy, hope) or neutral affect (control) conditions in each study.
Main outcome measures: Questionnaire measures of goal level, goal commitment, and means selection (Study 1); a lexical decision task indexed goal activation (Study 2), a choice task captured goal prioritization and MET minutes quantified goal attainment (Study 3).
Results: Study 1 showed that positive affect led to a greater number of intended physical activities, and that joy engendered greater willingness to try activities. In Study 2, a positive affect induction led to heightened activation of the physical activity goal compared to the control condition. The joy induction in Study 3 led to greater physical activity, and a trend towards greater goal prioritization.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that positive affect enhances the pursuit of physical activity goals. Implications for health behavior theories and interventions are outlined.
Keywords: exercise; goals; joy; physical activity; positive affect.