The Dual-Mode Theory of affective responses to exercise in metatheoretical context: II. Bodiless heads, ethereal cognitive schemata, and other improbable dualistic creatures, exercising

Abstract

According to the Dual-Mode Theory, affective responses to exercise are influenced by the continuous interplay of cortically mediated cognitive processes (e.g., self-efficacy, self-presentational concerns, goals, attributions) and ascending interoceptive cues (e.g., ventilation, acidosis, core temperature). The relative importance of these two factors is hypothesized to shift systematically as a function of exercise intensity, with cognitive factors being the dominant determinants at intensities proximal to the lactate or ventilatory thresholds and interoceptive factors gaining salience at intensities that preclude the maintenance of a physiological steady state. The present review retraces the antecedents of the dual-mode notion in psychological theory. Emphasis is placed on variants of dualistic thought that focus on the ‘mind’ (cognition) as the chief determinant of affect and specifically on the theories of Schachter and Singer, Lazarus, Bandura, Neisser, and Leventhal and Everhart. The applications of these ideas within exercise psychology (i.e., the ‘mind over muscle’ assumption) are critically analyzed, laying the conceptual foundation for the necessity of dual-mode integrative models.