Affect Balance Research Articles

Thriving, not just surviving: Using positive psychology to build psychological wellbeing in pre-tertiary students

The significance of psychological wellbeing for student success is under-investigated, particularly for pre-tertiary Enabling students (those traditionally under-represented in higher education). Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) have proven effective in enhancing wellbeing but are rarely integrated into university courses. This study explored a PPI, Be Positive, a 12-week program, designed to teach students strategies and techniques to help them re-frame their thinking about themselves and their academic pursuits. The program was evaluated with 37 Enabling students who completed weekly wellbeing questionnaires alongside self-reports about their study-related wellbeing. Results indicated fluctuating but generally positive levels of wellbeing throughout the program, with the highest levels recorded in the final weeks. A significant number of participants (79%) reported positive wellbeing by the program end, contrasting typical declines in student wellbeing during university terms. Thematic analysis of student reflections on how the program supported their wellbeing identified four key areas: affective balance, adaptive psychological resources, self-regulation, and positive implications for both academic and personal life. The findings suggest that PPIs like Be Positive can offer a proactive approach to mental health, equipping students with tools for resilience and emotional regulation, thereby enhancing wellbeing and potentially subsequent academic performance.

ПСИХОЕМОЦІЙНЕ ВИГОРАННЯ ОСОБИСТОСТІ : ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ПРОБЛЕМИ

Purpose. The objective is to conduct an analytical review of multidirectional studies on psychoemotional burnout of personality as a phenomenon that negatively impacts and significantly complicates its professional activity and interpersonal communication. Methods. To achieve this objective, the following scientific-theoretical methods were applied: analysis, synthesis, generalization, which allowed for the revelation of substantive and functional parameters of psychoemotional burnout. Results. A range of studies explains the cause-and-effect essence of psychoemotional burnout by the specifics of a person's professional activity. Burnout leads to the appearance of psychological and/or psychosomatic changes, adversely affects affective balance, generates increased stress, heightened anxiety, oppressive frustration, and other depressive feelings, experiences, and behavioral modalities. Monotonous and emotionally exhausting as well as physically amortizing professional activity in a specific field, along with permanent pressure from administration, may stimulate feelings of mental discomfort, increase the frequency of intra- and interpersonal conflicts, stimulate social withdrawal, loneliness, and experiences of disappointment in life values. Conclusions. Psychoemotional burnout is regarded as a complex and branching phenomenon that exerts an unfavorable influence on a person's life and complicates their communicative relationships within the family and at work. Manifestations of psychoemotional burnout and psychophysical exhaustion have been studied extensively with diverse samples (students, police officers, medical professionals, firefighters, athletes, deprived children, etc.). A common feature of the analyzed studies is the recognition of the uncomfortable and destructive pressure of psychoemotional burnout on the affective-cognitive behavioral tactics and strategies of the individual.

Florence Marryat’s Sensational Ecologies of Empire, 1865–1897: Imaginary Tropics, White Proto-Feminism, and a Comforting Plantationocene

Abstract Among Florence Marryat’s vast canon of work, scholars have mostly focused on her spiritualism, her alleged proto-feminism, and, not least, the racial politics of her most famous novel, The Blood of the Vampire (1897). Little attention, however, has been paid to the role of her abundant nature imaginations that infuse most of her colonial fictions. Among these, Marryat’s decades-spanning engagement with ‘the tropics’ stands out, ranging from the miasmic and deceitful Caribbean in Too Good for Him (1865), the lush Brazilian jungles of Her Father’s Name (1876), the glimpses of post-revolutionary Haitian Voodoo in A Daughter of the Tropics (1887) to the plantation settings of A Crown of Shame (1888) and The Blood of the Vampire. With attention to Marryat’s ecological fictions, I argue that these novels’ allegedly liberatory rhetoric marks the tropics of the Caribbean and the Americas as a distinct epistemic problem for the imperial project, in that they confound the affective balance of white, English perception, and colonial desire. As a result, charting, understanding, and thereby re-mastering ‘nature’ are framed as foundational processes for white – often specifically female – self-awareness. Written in the wake of the brutally curbed 1865 Jamaican Morant Bay Rebellion, Marryat’s tropics thus lament not women’s social exclusion per se but specifically white women’s exclusion from the imperial project. Ultimately, the nature encounter in Marryat’s tropics offers proto-feminist empire fictions as a remedy for the perceived erosion of the late nineteenth-century plantation ecologies.

Grit and Second Language Learning Engagement: The Mediating Role of Affect Balance.

The study of the relationship between key psychological attributes of learners and their engagement in second language (L2) learning helps to understand the critical personality mechanisms influencing language learning. The present study examined the L2 learning engagement from the perspectives of grit (i.e., consistent efforts and interests devoted to a long-term goal) and affect balance (a notion that takes into account both positive and negative emotions concurrently, assessing and evaluating which side holds more significance or influence). A cohort of English L2 learners (N = 394) participated in an online survey aimed at gauging their levels of grit, affect balance, and engagement in L2 learning. The results indicated that grit and affect balance were significantly correlated with behavioral engagement and affective engagement in L2 learning. However, among the two components of grit, namely consistency of interest, showed no significant relationship with L2 learning engagement, while perseverance of effort was significantly positively correlated with L2 learning engagement. Affect balance played a partially mediating and full mediating role between perseverance of effort and behavioral engagement as well as affective engagement respectively. These findings confirm the crucial role of perseverance of effort in second language learning and reveal the unique role of affect balance in their relationship.

Does sleep quality affect balance? The perspective from the somatosensory, vestibular, and visual systems

ObjectivePrevious studies have focused on the balance system's involvement in sleep deprivation or disorders. This study investigated how daily routine sleep quality affects the balance system of people without sleep deprivation or diagnosed sleep disorders. MethodsThe study included 45 participants with a BMI score of <25. The PSQI was used to determine sleep quality. The SOT, HS-SOT, and ADT evaluated the vestibular system's functionality. ResultsIn SOT, condition 3, 4, 5, and 6 composite scores, VIS and VEST composite balance scores, and HS-SOT 5 scores were lower in the HPSQI group. At the same time, there is a statistically significant negative correlation between these scores and PSQI scores. ConclusionPoor sleep quality may be a factor influencing the balance system. Sleep quality affects the visual and vestibular systems rather than the somatosensory system. The population should be made aware of this issue, and clinicians should consider the potential impact of sleep quality when evaluating the balance system.

Practice and proficiency of Isha Yoga for better mental health outcomes: insights from a COVID-19 survey.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unparalleled suffering on a global scale, affecting both physical and mental well-being. In such challenging times, it becomes crucial to identify interventions that can alleviate negative mental health outcomes, such as stress, while promoting positive mental health outcomes, like well-being. We report the effectiveness of a mind-body practise, Isha Yoga, in promoting well-being. We conducted an online survey, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Yoga practitioners (n = 1,352) from the Isha Yoga tradition in Karnataka, India. We evaluated stress and well-being attributes using conventional psychometric questionnaires. Subsequently, we requested the Isha Yoga practitioners to share another survey with their friends and family members, assessing similar outcomes. From the respondents of this shared survey (n = 221), we identified individuals who currently did not engage in any form of Yoga or meditation, constituting the non-Yoga control group (n = 110). To enhance the reliability and validity of our study and minimize the limitations commonly associated with online surveys, we adhered to the CHERRIES guidelines for reporting survey studies. Isha Yoga practitioners had significantly lower levels of stress (p < 0.001, gHedges = 0.94) and mental distress (p < 0.001, gHedges = 0.75) while reporting significantly higher levels of well-being (p < 0.001, gHedges = 0.78) and affective balance (p < 0.001, gHedges = 0.80) compared to the control group. Furthermore, expertise-related improvements were observed in these outcomes, and a dose-response relationship was found between regularity of Isha Yoga practice and outcome changes. A minimum 3-4 days of weekly practice showed significant differences with the control group. In addition, we investigated the effect of Isha Yoga on stress and well-being among the healthcare workers (HCWs) in our sample and observed better mental health outcomes. These findings collectively underscore the benefits of Mind and Body practices like Isha Yoga on various aspects of mental health and well-being, emphasizing its potential as an effective and holistic approach for promoting a healthy lifestyle among diverse populations, including healthcare workers, even in difficult circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effects of negative social media connotations on subjective wellbeing of an ageing population: A stressor-strain-outcome perspective.

In recent years, users' privacy concerns and reluctance to use have posed a challenge for the social media and wellbeing of its users. There is a paucity of research on elderly users' negative connotations of social media and the way these connotations contribute to developing passive behaviour towards social media use, which, in turn, affects subjective wellbeing. To address this research vacuum we employed the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) approach to describe the evolution of passive social media use behaviour from the perspective of communication overload, complexity, and privacy. We conceptualized subjective wellbeing as a combination of three components-negative feelings, positive feelings, and life satisfaction. Negative and positive feelings were used to derive an overall affect balance score that fluctuates between 'unhappiest possible' and 'happiest possible'. The proposed research framework was empirically validated through 399 valid responses from elderly social media users. Our findings reveal that communication overload and complexity raise privacy concerns among social media users, which leads to passive usage of social media. This passive social media use improved the subjective wellbeing favourably by lowering negative feelings and raising positive feelings and life satisfaction. The findings also revealed that respondents' overall affect balance leans towards positive feelings as a consequence of passive social media use. This study contributes to the field of technostress by illuminating how the SSO perspective aid the comprehension of the way passive social media use influences the subjective wellbeing of its users.

Gender, psychological distress, and subjective well-being two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

This study aimed to examine gender differences in distress and well-being two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing risk and protective factors for psychological distress and subjective well-being. It is a repeated cross-sectional study with a sample of 1,588 women (50%) and men (50%) from the general Spanish population aged 18-74 years who were assessed online by seven questionnaires and scales. Descriptive, variance, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed. From February to April 2022, 57.4% of women and 38.7% of men had psychological distress, percentages that totaled 50.5% and 41.5%, respectively, from October 2022 to February 2023. Women also had greater perceived vulnerability to diseases, more negative feelings, and lower affect balance, resilience, and self-esteem than men. The most important predictors of greater psychological distress refer to lower self-esteem, resilience, and social support and higher perceived vulnerability to diseases. Other statistically significant predictors included lower educational level in women and neither being married nor living with a partner in men. Lower self-esteem also best predicted lower subjective well-being, with lower social support and lower resilience also constituting significant predictors. Moreover, lower educational level and higher perceived vulnerability to diseases statistically and significantly predicted lower subjective well-being in women, as did not being a student in men. We conclude that psychological distress remains greatly prevalent in Spain two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in women.

RESILIENCE AMONG BLACK FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA

Abstract Black family caregivers of persons with dementia often experience elevated levels of stress related to lower incomes, chronic health conditions, and care recipient behaviors. Resilience theory suggests that stress may be moderated by various resources and processes, however, few studies have examined factors that may influence emotional resilience among Black family caregivers. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationships between adaptive coping, caregiving self-efficacy, and positive affect within a sample of current caregivers (n=20). Self-efficacy in obtaining respite care was significantly correlated with both positive affect (p=.041) and adaptive coping (p=.022). Self-efficacy for managing difficult behaviors was also correlated with positive affect (p=.001). Finally, we identified a significant correlation between body mass index and self-efficacy for controlling upsetting thoughts. Caregiver resilience may be enhanced by providing increased access to respite services and culturally responsive support programs aimed at enhancing positive emotions and affective balance.

Resilience, Stress and Subjective Well-Being among Medical Co-Assistants during COVID-19 Pandemic

Medical co-assistants are at significant risk during the COVID-19 pandemic due to exposure to more substantial stressors, including handling patients, academic pressure, and reduced rest times. Moreover, their continuous exposure to disease during the COVID-19 pandemic places them in significant psychological distress. These challenges can potentially affect their subjective well-being. Effective stress management strategies are imperative to reduce susceptibility to adverse consequences. Resilience has been identified as a key protective factor against the detrimental impact of stress. A study involving 102 medical students who became co-assistants during the COVID-19 pandemic investigated the relationship between resilience, stress, and subjective well-being among medical co-assistants. The study found that resilience among medical co-assistants in Indonesia was negatively correlated with stress and negative affect, and positively correlated with life satisfaction, positive affect, and affective balance in subjective well-being. Resilience plays a crucial role in helping individuals recover from challenges and failures, viewing these setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning. This positive outlook contributes to increased positive affect and enhances their subjective well-being. Ultimately, this lowers their stress levels and reduces negative aspects that may impede their performance as medical co-assistants.

Does an outdoor virtual environment projected in a head-mounted display affect balance in healthy young adults?

BackgroundVirtual reality head-mounted display (VR-HMD) is increasingly used for balance evaluation and rehabilitation. However, more studies must be conducted on virtual environments (VE) effects. This study aimed to assess the impact of an outdoor VE projected in a high-quality VR-HMD and of the VR-HMD mass on postural stability, postural control and leaning. MethodsThis study involved ten healthy young men who performed five 30-s stabilometric trials. Four experimental conditions were randomly performed: eyes open (EO) or eyes closed (EC), with (VR) or without (No VR) VR-HMD. Postural stability (antero-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) ranges of the center of pressure (CoP), 90% confidence ellipse area), postural control (CoP velocity (global, AP and ML)) and standard deviation of the CoP mean position), and postural leaning (AP/ML CoP mean position) were assessed. The comparisons between EO VR and EO No VR were used to analyze the VE effects and comparisons between EC VR and EC No VR for the VR-HMD mass effects. ResultsSpatiotemporal parameters that characterised postural stability and postural control, except ML velocity (p > 0.05), were significantly influenced by the simulated VE with higher values in EO VR than EO No VR (p < 0.05), but not by the VR-HMD mass. The mean position of the CoP showed no significant differences between conditions. SignificancePostural stability and postural control modification due to the VE used in this study revealed that this VE could be interesting for VR-HMD rehabilitation and assessment. VR-HMD is not a factor to be considered for stabilometric analysis.

Sense of danger, sense of country's mastery, and sense of personal mastery as concomitants of psychological distress and subjective well-being in a sample of Poles following Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Prospective analyses.

This study investigated psychological toll of the ongoing war in neighboring Ukraine in a sample of adult Poles (N= 1245). Data were collected online in early February and August 2022. Prospective analyses that accounted for psychological health status assessed before the Russian invasion showed that higher levels of sense of danger due to the war predicted higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of affect balance close to 6 months after Russia attacked Ukraine. Sense of country's mastery (i.e. beliefs that government, its major institutions, and citizens would effectively cope with various emergencies and crises) served as a protective factor. Likewise, Poles who had confidence in their personal mastery (e.g., beliefs in ability to exercise control over life challenges) exhibited less distress and more subjective well-being. These findings emerged after controlling for sociodemographic factors, the presence of stressful experiences associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and other life events. Wars dramatically reverberate beyond the borders of the countries involved. People's own sense of mastery and their trust in the resilience of their governmental and public institutions are critical in times of coping with existential security threats and wars.

The Invisible Battle: Investigating the Relationship Between Coronavirus Stress, Affective Balance, Mindfulness, and Psychological Health in University Students During the Pandemic

The Invisible Battle: Investigating the Relationship Between Coronavirus Stress, Affective Balance, Mindfulness, and Psychological Health in University Students During the Pandemic

Impact of fluoxetine preexposure on MDMA-induced taste avoidance in male and female rats.

The use of both prescription and illicit drugs creates the potential for drug interactions as a function of both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes. One such interaction is that of fluoxetine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in which fluoxetine attenuates the positive-like effects of MDMA. The present work extends the analysis of their interaction by examining the impact of fluoxetine on the aversive effects of MDMA which in balance with its rewarding effects may mediate its abuse potential. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were given fluoxetine (10 mg/kg every 4th day for five injections) prior to taste avoidance training with MDMA (3.2 mg/kg). MDMA induced taste avoidance in males and females (faster acquisition in females). Fluoxetine preexposure attenuated this avoidance in males, but not females. For males, the attenuation was partial as MDMA-conditioned animals with fluoxetine preexposure still displayed a significant reduction in fluid intake compared to controls. Consistent with prior work assessing the interaction of fluoxetine and MDMA, fluoxetine preexposure impacted the ability of MDMA to support taste avoidance learning, specifically attenuating the aversive effect of the drug. Prior work has shown that fluoxetine attenuates MDMA's positive effects which might lead to reduced intake of the drug; however, the concurrent reduction in the drug's aversive effects may still shift the overall affective balance of these two affective properties toward continued use and abuse. The fact that the attenuation was only evident in males needs further study to investigate the sex-dependent effects of drug history. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The Moderating Role of Inhibition on Irrelevant Emotional Information in the Relation of Cognitive Reappraisal and Affect Balance: Evidence from a Negative Affective Priming Task

AbstractThis study tested the role of inhibitory control as a moderator in the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and affect balance. We employed moderation analyses with data collected from 201 participants (mean age = 22.07 years, 76.1% female). We measured their affect balance in the last 4 weeks (with the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience [SPANE]), their habitual use of cognitive reappraisal (ERQ Scale), and their performance in inhibiting irrelevant positive and negative information by means of an online negative affective priming task. Results indicated that cognitive reappraisal was a significant and positive predictor for affect balance. As predicted, inhibition of irrelevant positive and negative stimuli significantly moderated the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and affect balance. Specifically, moderate to weak inhibition of irrelevant positive stimuli and moderate to strong inhibition of irrelevant negative stimuli were found to strengthen this relationship. Thus, our findings suggest that individuals can strengthen the positive impact of cognitive reappraisal on affect balance by strongly inhibiting irrelevant negative stimuli while allowing irrelevant positive stimuli to be processed in the working memory.

(063) Why Core Emotions Matter: Understanding the role of the emotional brain in the treatment of sexual and affective disorders

Abstract Introduction Evolution has hard-wired mammals with seven primary subcortical emotional operating systems with overlapping but distinct circuits buried in the deep, ancient parts of the brain. When experimentally stimulated (chemically, or by weak electrical current), these circuits evoke specific emotions (responses that move organisms into the world) in order to meet survival needs. These core emotional systems — SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, PANIC/GRIEF, LUST, CARE, and PLAY — serve as the “primary colors” of our basic emotions, which, in concert with higher cortical brain regions drive our emotional lives. By understanding the basic wiring of these subcortical emotional systems, clinicians can more directly address how imbalances in these systems can contribute to sexual and affective disorders. New therapeutic strategies, known as affective balance therapies, which target the embodied experience of these core emotions, represent a promising new approach to effective treatment. Objectives Background: Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, credited with coining the term “affective neuroscience” conducted extensive experimental research in which he documented cross-species commonalities for the primary emotions of fear, anger, grief, lust, and play that are anatomically, neurochemically, and functionally homologous in all mammals studied. These core emotional operating systems, although empirically validated by experimental mapping, inclusive of the identification of brain circuits and specific neuromodulators, have not yet been integrated into most clinical models of psychotherapy, likely due to resistance to what could be viewed as an anthropomorphic approach to emotion. Methods Three-Level Brain/Mind Panksepp identifies three levels of emotional experience (the “three-level brain/mind).” The first is made up of “primary process” psychological experiences that are the instinctual emotional responses generating “raw” affects or core emotions built into our brains by evolution. These “raw” emotions, wired into the subcortical brain, are experienced quickly and vividly, even in instances where there is no capacity to “reflect” upon the emotions. The next level of emotional experience, the “secondary processes,” associated with upper limbic regions, are built upon the foundation of the “raw” emotions and involve learning and memory processes. In contrast with “core emotions,” which are always experienced, secondary processes largely occur non- consciously. The “tertiary processes,” which are largely neocortical, are higher-order “affective-cognitions" that distinguishes us from nonhuman animals. These include cognitive executive functions involving thoughts and planning which permit reflection on what we have learned experientially, our ability to be aware of our experience (such that we can reflect on our emotions as opposed to simply experiencing them), and our ability to choose our paths and intentions. Results Treating Imbalances in Core Emotional Systems Psychiatric disorders have been postulated to have roots in affective imbalances within the brain. It is proposed by the author that some sexual disorders, likewise, can be conceptualized as resulting from imbalances in the core emotional systems that can block sexual desire and impair sexual responsivity and experience. Given the significant power of imbalances in the core emotional systems to create ongoing dysphoria and distress, Affective Balance Therapies which attempt to address the embodied experience of these imbalances are suggested to be key to a comprehensive Biopsychosocial approach to treatment. Conclusions Affective Balance Therapies which attempt to address the embodied experience of these imbalances are suggested to be key to a comprehensive Biopsychosocial approach to treatment. Disclosure No.

Social cure in the time of COVID-19: Social identity and belongingness predict greater well-being and academic motivation in university students

Social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic increased negative affect and feelings of loneliness among university students. Objective Given that identifying as a member of a social group, like a university student, serves as a protective factor against diminished well-being, we examined whether students’ social identity might offer a “social cure” during COVID-related remote learning. Participants Three hundred fifty-six students from a large, public university that was fully remote in 2021. Results Students with a stronger social identity as a member of their university reported lower loneliness and greater positive affect balance during remote learning. Social identification was also associated with greater academic motivation, whereas two well-established predictors of positive student outcomes – perceived social support and academic performance – were not. Nonetheless, academic performance, but not social identification, predicted lower general stress and COVID-related worry. Conclusions Social identity may be a potential social cure for university students who are learning remotely.

Predicting Satisfaction With Life and Affect Balance Using Trait Interactions

There is robust support for the finding that subjective well-being (SWB) relates positively to extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness; and negatively to neuroticism (Soto, 2015), but little research has examined how SWB can be predicted from interactions between traits. It was hypothesized that conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness would moderate the relationship between neuroticism and SWB, as measured by satisfaction with life (SWL) and affect balance (AB). In Study 1, self-reports of the Big Five personality traits, SWL, and AB were collected via MTurk (N=1035). Hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict SWL and AB from interactions between traits. The relationship between neuroticism and SWL was moderated by conscientiousness (b=.15, p=.02) and extraversion (b=11, p=.03), while the relationship between neuroticism and AB was moderated by conscientiousness (b=.09, p=.02) and agreeableness (b=.09, p=.03). Positive personality traits (defined as extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness within this study) were positively related to SWB at high levels of neuroticism, but unrelated to SWB at low levels of neuroticism. This was explored further using a student population in Study 2 (N=151), and the results were partially replicated. This study highlights the importance of considering more than one trait at a time when predicting important outcomes such as SWB.

Older Adults, Well-Being, and Affect: Music Sessions Vis-à-Vis Music-With-Meditation Sessions

ABSTRACT This article reports a study on the impact of music sessions compared with music-with-meditation sessions for older adults’ well-being and affect balance. Participants who attended music-with-meditation sessions over a period of 6 months, reported significant improvements in scores on measures of affect balance, psychological resources and strengths, and satisfaction with life. Gains were higher for female older adults, participants who had a college or postgraduate degree, retired or homemakers, currently married or widowed, and older adults who lived with spouse and family including adult children or with adult children alone. Program compliance indicated through regular attendance at the music-with-meditation sessions and completion of corresponding homework sessions were strongest predictors of improvements in older adults’ wellbeing and affect balance. An augmented and improvised music intervention, embellished with meditation sessions, is effective in bolstering psychological resources for older adults. Some program refinements would be needed for male older adults, participants with lower formal education or those who have professional degrees, in-service or self-employed, ever-single or divorced/separated older adults, and those living with other kith-kin, alone, or in institutions/assisted living facilities.

Pacing strategy in trail running: A cognitive subtractive model of the affective balance between effort and pleasure?

The objective of the present study was to undercover the cognitive rules developed by athletes in pacing strategy during a trail running competition. Fifty participants completed a questionnaire on how decisions were made around pacing. Each questionnaire consisted of 12 scenarios that featured the two components of affective balance (effort and pleasure) as information cues. We applied repeated-measures analyses of variance and Tukey’s post hoc tests to the data. The results showed that pleasure and effort had a significant effect on deciding to reduce the pace and deciding to maintain the pace. The type of cognitive rule depended on the pacing outcome, with a subtractive integration rule when deciding to maintain the pace and a conjunction integration rule when deciding to reduce the pace. The presence of two different cognitive rules emphasized the importance of information integration in pacing strategy.