The Dual-Mode Theory of affective responses to exercise in metatheoretical context: I. Initial impetus, basic postulates, and philosophical framework

Abstract

The exercise psychology literature is replete with assertions that ‘exercise makes people feel better’. However, this appears to be inconsistent with the high prevalence of physical inactivity and drop-out rates. Recent empirical findings, based on a new methodological platform, have demonstrated that the exercise-affect relationship is complex, exhibiting both a dose-response pattern and substantial inter-individual variability. The Dual-Mode Theory was developed to (a) bridge mind-focused and body-focused approaches for explaining the exercise-affect relationship, (b) provide a fit to extant data by accounting for patterns of dose-response and inter-individual variability, and (c) be consistent with information from exercise physiology and emerging evidence on the neural basis of affect. Investigations based on the Dual-Mode Theory could inform the ongoing debate on the role of somatic influences in generating affective responses and guide interventions designed to improve the affective responses of exercisers. A selective review of phenomenological accounts that served as the philosophical basis of the theory supports the thesis that affect has a dual basis, being driven by cognition in many circumstances but by direct somatic cues when homeostasis is challenged.