Most current models in health psychology assume that stress adversely affects physical health. We re-examined this assumption by reviewing extensive data from the literature and from six samples of our own, in which we collected measures of personality, health and fitness, stress, and current emotional functioning. Results indicate that self-report health measures reflect a pervasive mood disposition of negative affectivity (NA); self-report stress scales also contain a substantial NA component. However, although NA is correlated with health compliant scales, it is not strongly or consistently related to actual, long-term health status, and thus will act as a general nuisance factor in health research. Because self-report measures of stress and health both contain a significant NA component, correlations between such measures likely overestimate the true association between stress and health. Results demonstrate the importance of including different types of health measures in health psychology research.

Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity.

This review highlights consistent patterns in the literature associating positive affect (PA) and physical health. However, it also raises serious conceptual and methodological reservations. Evidence suggests an association of trait PA and lower morbidity and of state and trait PA and decreased symptoms and pain. Trait PA is also associated with increased longevity among older community-dwelling individuals. The literature on PA and surviving serious illness is inconsistent. Experimentally inducing intense bouts of activated state PA triggers short-term rises in physiological arousal and associated (potentially harmful) effects on immune, cardiovascular, and pulmonary function. However, arousing effects of state PA are not generally found in naturalistic ambulatory studies in which bouts of PA are typically less intense and often associated with health protective responses. A theoretical framework to guide further study is proposed.

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Does Positive Affect Influence Health

The literature related to Borg's ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) scale has revealed inconsistencies about the strength of the relationship between ratings of perceived exertion and various physiological criterion measures, such as heart rate, blood lactate concentration, percent maximal oxygen uptake (% V O 2max ), oxygen uptake ( V O 2 ), ventilation and respiration rate. Using sex of participants, fitness, type of RPE scale used, type of exercise, exercise protocol, RPE mode and study quality, we undertook a meta-analysis to determine the strength of the relationship between RPE scores and the six aforementioned physiological measures. The weighted mean validity coefficients were 0.62 for heart rate, 0.57 for blood lactate, 0.64 for % V O 2max , 0.63 for V O 2 , 0.61 for ventilation and 0.72 for respiration rate. Analysis of moderator variables revealed that the following study features could account for the variation of results across studies: heart rate - fitness, type of exercise, protocol and RP...

Criterion-related validity of the Borg ratings of perceived exertion scale in healthy individuals: a meta-analysis.

The meaning people assign to physical sensations can have profound implications for their physical and psychological health. A predominant research question in somatic interpretation asks if it is more adaptive to distract one's attention away from a potentially unpleasant sensation or to focus one's attention on it. This question, however, has yielded equivocal answers. Many apparent ambiguities in this research can be traced to a failure to distinguish the content of a person's attention from its mere direction or degree. A model of somatic interpretation is discussed, incorporating not only perceptual focus but also the attributions, goals, coping strategies, and prior hypotheses of the perceiver, thus delineating the psychobiological conditions under which various attentional strategies should be adaptive. In contrast to the prevailing concern with when and why somatic distraction doesn't "work," this conceptual analysis also considers when and why somatic attention does. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed, as is the potential utility of somatic attention in cardiac rehabilitation and multiple sclerosis.

Beyond attentional strategies : a cognitive-perceptual model of somatic interpretation

The present study comprised two meta-analyses of published studies that used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to investigate relationships between mood and athletic achievement (n = 13) and between mood and performance outcome (n = 16). Results showed that effect sizes (ESs) for the level of achievement metaanalysis were minimal (Weighted Mean ES = .10, SD = .07), a finding consistent with a previous meta-analysis by Rowley, Landers, Kyllo, and Etnier (1995). Larger effects were found for the performance outcome meta-analysis (Weighted Mean ES = .31, SD = .12). Effects were moderate for vigor, confusion, and depression, small for anger and tension, and very small for fatigue. All effects were in the direction predicted by Morgan's (1985) Mental Health Model. Effects were larger in sports of short duration, in sports involving open skills, and where performance was judged using self-referenced criteria. Findings suggest that the POMS has utility in the prediction of performance outcome but not in...

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The profile of mood states and athletic performance: Two meta-analyses

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the efficacy of a dissociative cognitive strategy in facilitation of endurance performance. A pilot study of endurance performance was conducted in which 15 subjects ran to exhaustion on a motor-driven treadmill at 80% of maximal aerobic power (MAP). These subjects were randomly assigned to a cognitive strategy (dissociation), placebo, or control group and retested. The group employing the cognitive strategy was superior (+19%) to the control and placebo groups. In the second experiment control (N = 13) and dissociation (N = 14) groups were tested at 80% of MAP under baseline conditions, and again at the same metabolic demand with the exception that subjects in the experimental group employed the dissociative cognitive strategy used in the pilot study. The two groups were found to be remarkably similar on all physiological measures, but the dissociation group experienced a significant performance gain. The exercise metabolite, blood lactate, was similar in the two groups, and plasma catecholamine levels were higher in the dissociation group. This implies that distraction of sensory discomfort enabled subjects in the dissociation group to tolerate a greater amount of discomfort for a longer period of time. These findings suggest that a cognitive strategy based upon dissociation of sensory input can facilitate endurance performance on tasks of the type employed in the current investigation.

Facilitation of physical performance by means of a cognitive strategy.

The purpose of this study was to describe the pattern of change in effort sense and the value of this pattern in predicting work end-point at relatively high work intensity (80% VO2 max). The patt...

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Perception of Effort during Constant Work to Self-Imposed Exhaustion

A series of psychological concepts are developed in this paper for use by coaches, trainers, physical educators, and physicians in the field of sports medicine. The concepts which are advanced deal with (1) the psychological characteristics of selected athletic sport groups, (2) the psychological characterization of successful and less-successful athletes, (3) tension states and the necessity to handle athletes on a personalized basis, (4) the role of mental health in sport, and (5) the importance of looking beyond conscious verbalizations in attempting to understand the athlete's behavior. These concepts have been specified and elaborated upon, implications delineated, and conclusions presented.

Selected Psychological Considerations in Sport

There is disagreement in the literature as to whether responsivity to painful stimuli possesses psychometric correlates. A series of methodological and statistical factors are specified in this pap...

Psychometric correlates of pain perception.

The purpose of this study was to compare the rating of perceived exertion (PRE) and heart rate (HR) in two groups of 60 military personnel who differed in their level of fitness as determined by maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max). At an initial testing period (T1), Group I represented a sample of personnel not participating in a training program while Group II had engaged in an endurance program (2--4 mile run/day) for 5 months. Six months later (T2), Groups I and II were retested after having participated in the program for 6 and 11 months, respectively. RPE and HR were measured at the end of each min of a 6 min run at an absolute workload of 6 mph, 0% grade on the treadmill. At T1, Group II had a significantly lower HR at each min of work but no difference existed in RPE between groups at any time during the run. At T2, both groups showed a significant decrease in HR and RPE during each min when compared lobgitudinally. The data suggest that the perception of the intensity of absolute work does not differ in groups differing in their level of fitness when studied cross-sectionally. However, significant reductions in perceived exertion occur following physical training.

William P. Morgan

Papers

Facilitation of physical performance by means of a cognitive strategy.

Perception of Effort during Constant Work to Self-Imposed Exhaustion

Selected Psychological Considerations in Sport

Psychometric correlates of pain perception.

Perceived exertion of absolute work during a military physical training program.