Negative Emotional Responses Research Articles

Novel five-phase model for understanding the nature of misophonia, a conditioned aversive reflex disorder

Background: Misophonia is a recently identified condition in which a person perceives a subtle stimulus (e.g., eating sounds, hair twirling) and has an intense, negative emotional response. Misophonia cannot be classified with established nosological systems. Methods: We present a novel five-phase model of misophonia from a cognitive-behavioral framework. This model identifies a learned reflex of the autonomic nervous system as the primary etiology and maintenance of misophonia. Phase one is anticipatory anxiety and avoidance. Phase two is a conditioned physical reflex (for example, the tensing of calf muscles) that develops through stimulus-response Pavlovian conditioning. Phase three includes intense negative emotional responses and accompanying physiological distress, thoughts, urges, and emotion-driven behavior. Phase four is the individual’s coping responses to emotional distress, and phase five is the environmental response and resulting internal and external consequences of the coping behaviors. Each phase helps explain the maintenance of the response and the individual’s impairment. Results: Anticipatory anxiety and avoidance of phase one contributes to an increased arousal and awareness of triggers, resulting in increased severity of the trigger experience. Both the Pavlovian-conditioned physical reflex of phase two and the emotion-driven behavior caused by the conditioned emotional response of phase three increase with in vivo exposure to triggers. Phase four includes internal and external coping behaviors to the intense emotions and distress, and phase 5 includes the consequences of those behaviors. Internal consequences include beliefs and new emotions based on environmental responses to anger and panic. For example, the development of emotions such as shame and guilt, and beliefs regarding how ‘intolerable’ the trigger is. Conclusions: We assert misophonia is a multi-sensory condition and includes anticipatory anxiety, conditioned physical reflexes, intense emotional and physical distress, subsequent internal and external responses, and environmental consequences.

“What about me?”: veteran organizational members’ negative emotional responses to newcomers

ABSTRACT Uncertainty is a pervasive feature of organizational membership, exasperated by the presence of newcomers. Using uncertainty management theory (UMT), this study explored how veteran organizational members emotionally respond to the presence of new coworkers. Results revealed that veteran organizational members’ perceptions of new coworkers’ work, social, and relational performance associated with veteran members’ jealousy, envy, and job insecurity. This study progresses knowledge of how organizational members emotionally respond to uncertainty. Considering the “Great Resignation,” managers should clarify newcomers’ roles while veterans and newcomers should acquaint themselves with one another and find common ground for themselves and their organizations.

Acceptability of a Chinese version of volitional help sheet to prevent self-harm repetition: qualitative study.

Individuals who self-harm have increased suicide rates. Brief interventions are associated with reduced repeated suicide attempts. However, very few previous studies investigated the acceptability of brief interventions before implementing new trials. We aimed to explore the perceptions of individuals who self-harm toward a brief intervention, the Chinese version of the volitional help sheet (VHS-C), which encourages people to link a critical situation with an appropriate response. Fourteen participants who presented to hospitals with self-harm were interviewed about their perspectives regarding the acceptability of the paper- and web-based VHS-C. Data were analysed with the framework method. The participants could understand the intended goal of the VHS-C by reading the written instructions, but indicated that having verbal instructions would also help. They shared the reasons why they felt the VHS-C was helpful (e.g. relatable contents, useful coping strategies and appropriate instructions that made them feel understood) or unhelpful (e.g., being not specific enough, not useful during the crisis and triggering negative emotional responses). Some indicated that the VHS-C might not be applicable to people experiencing ongoing distress in emergency departments. Most participants preferred the web-based to the paper-based VHS-C, and suggested that the format and frequency of follow-up reminders could leave the patient to decide. The contents of the VHS-C were acceptable for people who presented to hospitals with self-harm. The VHS-C may be more helpful before individuals encounter suicidal thoughts than when they have an ongoing crisis.

Information sharing and political polarisation on social media: The role of falsehood and partisanship

AbstractWe explore if misinformation from political elites (i.e., members of the US Congress) and extreme partisan information from media outlets generate greater engagement than accurate information and non‐extreme partisan information. We also investigate how exposure to these information types leads to negative emotions (e.g., anger) in individuals and its association with attitude polarisation. To this end, we analysed fact‐checked tweets from political elites, tweets from media outlets and replies to those tweets. Together, these tweets received more than 100 000 replies and were shared more than two million times. We also conducted two online experiments. Our field studies reveal that misinformation and extreme partisan information are associated with higher levels of negative emotions and greater engagement than accurate information and non‐extreme partisan information. Our data also show that—while negative emotions in response to extreme partisan information are higher among social media users at the ideological extreme than those at the ideological centre—there is no difference in the two groups' level of negative emotions in response to misinformation. The online experiments demonstrate that exposure to misinformation and extreme partisan information elicits stronger negative emotions than exposure to accurate information and non‐extreme partisan information. These negative emotions, in turn, contribute to attitude polarisation. Our work makes practical and theoretical contributions concerning social media information sharing, negativity and political polarisation. We also provide future research avenues with associated research questions.

Niveles de burnout y de exposición a conflicto ético de los profesionales de enfermería de cuidados intensivos

BackgroundNursing professionals working in intensive care units (ICU) are at high risk of developing negative emotional responses as well as emotional and spiritual problems related to ethical issues. The design of effective strategies that improve these aspects is determined by knowing the levels of burnout and ethical conflict of these professionals, as well as the influence that the practice environment might have on them. ObjectivesTo analyze the relationship between levels of burnout, the exposure to ethical conflicts and the perception of the practice environment among themselves and with sociodemographic variables of the different intensive care nursing professionals. MethodsDescriptive, correlational, cross-sectional, observational study in an ICU of a tertiary level university hospital. The level of burnout was evaluated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey scale; the level of ethical conflict with the Ethical Conflict Questionnaire for Nurses; and the perception of the environment with the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. The association between categorical variables was analyzed using Fisher's exact chi-square test (χ2) Results31 nurses and 8 nursing assistants were evaluated, which meant a participation rate of 82.93%. 31.10% of the nursing professionals presented signs of burnout, 14.89% considered that they work in an unfavorable environment and 87.23% presented a medium-high index of exposure to ethical conflict.The educational level (χ2=11.084, P=.011) and the professional category (χ2=5.007, P=.025) influenced the level of burnout: nursing assistants presented higher levels of this.When comparing the level of burnout with the environment and the index of ethical conflict, there were no statistically significant differences. ConclusionsThe absence of association found in the study between burnout and ethical conflict with the perception of the practice environment suggests that personal factors may influence its development.

Cognitive and Affective Impacts of Antistigma Interventions Surrounding People with a Sexual Interest in Children

Prevalent conflation between having a sexual interest in children and engaging in sexually abusive behavior contributes greatly to elevated levels of stigma directed at people living with a sexual interest in children. Contemporary quantitative research employing stigma intervention techniques has produced promising results in decreasing stigmatizing attitudes toward this population. This study aims to expand on this research by qualitatively analyzing the impact of two antistigma interventions. Content and thematic analysis were used to examine N = 460 responses to two open-ended questions featured in an anonymous online survey, which explored the cognitive and emotional impact of the interventions, respectively. A total of nine themes were identified. Four themes pertained to positive/supportive views and emotional responses reflecting the challenging of stereotypes, gaining new perspective, personalized reflections, and recognizing the impacts of stigma. Three themes reflected negative views and emotional responses, which concerned minimization and normalization, adverse personal experiences, and disbelief and mistrust. Finally, two themes reflected mixed views and emotional responses, specifically the difficulty in reconciling emotional and cognitive responses. The data indicated that both interventions showed potential to impact participants’ viewpoints positively. Findings offer insights into how future research can be designed and interventions can be developed more effectively.

Wounding pride and infusing affect: the ambivalent emotional experience of checkout charity

Purpose This study aims to apply the Wounded Pride/Spite model (integral emotions which occur during the donation request) and the Affect Infusion model (incidental emotions primed before encountering the checkout charity request) to check out charity to understand the interactive effects of positive and negative emotional responses. Furthermore, the moderating role of a positive or negative shopping experience is examined. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, 518 customers participated in an online survey using a controlled scenario describing checkout charity exchanges. In Study 2, 274 students participated in a similar online scenario but were primed with a positive or negative shopping experience. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling using Mplus v8. Findings Checkout charity is laden with affective experiences that simultaneously produce positive and negative emotions. Customers who are involved with charities and perceive it acceptable for companies to elicit charitable support are more likely to experience feelings of pride and joy during a point-of-sale donation request. However, negative affective responses are more complicated, as personal support of nonprofits was not enough to reduce feelings of guilt and anger during a donation request. Furthermore, in Study 2, the authors discover that as integral emotions influence customers’ affective states during a checkout charity encounter, incidental emotions garnered from the customer’s shopping experience serve as a moderating role in increasing positive affect and mitigating negative affect, highlighting the importance of the holistic shopping experience. Finally, in Study 2, the incongruent reaction of high positive and high negative affect was linked to decreased donation intentions, further emphasizing the importance of creating positive shopping experiences and identifying customers who perceive it to be acceptable for companies to elicit charitable support. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to apply these dual theoretical explanations to checkout charity, contributing an affective and customer-based understanding to complement prior work on marketing strategy. The findings both uphold and extend research in this area, providing novel support for the role of the customer in determining the success of checkout charity.

Measuring negative emotional responses to climate change among young people in survey research: A systematic review

BackgroundClimate change is a threat to the mental and emotional wellbeing of all humans, but young people are particularly vulnerable. Emerging evidence has found that young people's awareness of climate change and the danger it poses to the planet can lead to negative emotions. To increase our understanding about this, survey instruments are needed that measure the negative emotions young people experience about climate change. Research questions(1) What survey instruments are used to measure negative emotional responses to climate change in young people? (2) Do survey instruments measuring young people's negative emotional responses to climate change have evidence of reliability and validity? (3) What factors are associated with young people's negative emotional responses to climate change? MethodsA systematic review was conducted by searching seven academic databases on November 30, 2021, with an update on March 31, 2022. The search strategy was structured to capture three elements through various keywords and search terms: (1) negative emotions, (2) climate change, and (3) surveys. ResultsA total of 43 manuscripts met the study inclusion criteria. Among the 43 manuscripts, 28% focused specifically on young people, while the other studies included young people in the sample but did not focus exclusively on this population. The number of studies using surveys to examine negative emotional responses to climate change among young people has increased substantially since 2020. Survey instruments that examined worry or concern about climate change were the most common. ConclusionDespite growing interest in climate change emotions among young people, there is a lack of research on the validity of measures of such emotions. Further efforts to develop survey instruments geared to operationalize the emotions that young people are experiencing in relation to climate change are needed.

One body, two faces: How double standards influence body evaluation in women with binge-eating disorder compared to mentally healthy women with higher weight and average weight.

Research has found evidence that women with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) apply different standards for themselves than for others when evaluating bodies, an aspect of a disturbed body image. This study investigates whether women with binge-eating disorder (BED) likewise show self-deprecating double standards (DS). Women with BED (n = 40), women with higher weight (n = 40) and women with average weight (n = 40) viewed a presentation of different builds, including their individual ideal body, which were presented once with participants' own and once with an unknown woman's face. After each presentation, participants rated their emotional response regarding arousal and valence, and evaluated the body's attractiveness, body fat and muscle mass. DS were defined as the difference in ratings of the same body with one's own and the unknown face. Women with BED showed a higher degree of negative emotions in response to a thin and a high-weight build, rated lower levels of body attractiveness for an athletic build, and displayed more arousal for almost all builds presented with their own compared to with another face. While women with BED showed a higher burden on measures of eating pathology and body image than the other groups, DS were not more pronounced in women with BED. The findings contradict DS as a characteristic feature of BED, but underline "normative" DS for higher-weight/high-weight builds, reflecting weight stigmatization. Psychoeducation on these DS might complement cognitive-behavioral therapy in BED in order to reduce negative emotions. A bias in body evaluation has been proven in women with anorexia and BN, but no research has examined this in women with BED. This study provides evidence of DS in body evaluation in women with BED, compares the extent of DS between women with BED, higher weight, and average weight, and investigates individual body ideals in women with BED and higher weight.

Publishing in the International Journal of Music in Early Childhood: Key processes and considerations

Research shows that several factors often impede potential authors from engaging in the publishing process. These include negative emotions stemming from unpleasant reviewer feedback and/or a lack of specific knowledge regarding the various stages of writing and publishing. In this article, based on a session we presented at the 2022 ISME Early Childhood Commission Seminar, we aim to counter such negative emotional responses by providing writing and publishing information for readers who seek to disseminate their work through International Journal of Music in Early Childhood (IJMEC). We draw upon Kwan’s Research Publishing Competence Framework, which consists of five domains related to comprehensively supporting authors: conceiving and designing publishable projects, output planning and management, manuscript writing, thesis–publication conversion and handling reviews.

Dealing with Complications: First Address the Emotional Response.

Medical complications often leave the responsible physicians with strong negative emotional responses. Through self-compassion, physicians can overcome these negative emotions and continue to improve.

A daily diary investigation of self-regulation in gambling.

Limit-setting strategies have the potential to assist in reducing problem gambling, but there is little research on self-imposed gambling limits and factors that restrain self-regulation once gambling has been initiated. Using daily diary approach, we investigated individual difference and proximal factors associated with gambling limit violations. Participants were 103 individuals who gambled regularly and had set a goal to limit their gambling. Participants completed a baseline measure of trait self-control and questions about gambling and limit violations over 21 days. We examined factors associated with setting and maintaining limits across episodes of gambling as well as within-person factors associated with limit violations, including the moderating role of trait self-control. We found that episodes of gambling where limits were set and violated were associated with riskier gambling and more negative emotional responses. In addition, gambling limits were more likely to be violated on days when temptations to violate limits were high and by people with low trait self-control, whereas urges to gamble were associated with a reduced likelihood of limit violations. Trait self-control moderated the relationship between daily stress/tension and limit violations. Low stress/tension was associated with greater limit violations for those with lower trait self-control, but the likelihood of violating limits increased on high stress days for those with higher trait self-control. Individuals may benefit from greater awareness of temptations to violate gambling limits and the impact of daily stressors, particularly for those with high trait self-control who are most successful when stress/tension is low. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

호텔이용고객의 회복적 서비스 스케이프가 가치공동창출에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 : 긍정적·부정적 감정의 매개효과를 중심으로

This study tests the effects of restorativeness servicescapes at hotel customer(je-ju, bu-san) on value co-creation based on the mediating effects of the positive and negative emotional responses of customers. Data was collected for an empirical analysis through a survey with 303 consumers that used a hotel invited. The research hypotheses were tested in a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The analysis results were as follows: restorativeness servicescapes had effects on positive and negative emotional responses; first, restorativeness servicescape had effects on emotional responses; second, positive emotional responses had impacts on value co-creation; and third, value co-creation played a mediating role between restorativenes servicescape and positive emotional responses. Negative emotional responses had no impacts on value co-creation, thus havig no mediating effects between restorativenes servicescape and value co-creation.

Coping strategies used by healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic in Dubai: A descriptive cross-sectional study

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected physical, social, and psychological well-being of all people, especially healthcare professionals (HCP), who are vulnerable to work-related stress. The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of coping strategies practiced by HCPs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mediclinic Welcare Hospital in Dubai during the pandemic between March 2020 and April 2021. The questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and validated Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief-COPE) scales instrument was used to measure the coping strategies. A total 112 respondents were included in the final analysis consisting of physicians (11.6 %), nurses (60.7%), other clinical HCPs (24.1%), and non-clinical staff (7.2%). The common and effective coping strategies used by HCPs were within the problem-focused category. The female HCPs used multiple coping strategies to help them to manage their stress during COVID-19 pandemic. The nurses were more likely to report using emotional support as a coping strategy than doctors or other hospital staff members. Among 48.21% of the respondents that venting helped them release their feelings and distracted themselves through watching movies or television, reading, sleeping, or shopping. Moreover, 42.86% respondents found comfort in practicing religion and spiritual beliefs. Interestingly, the use of alcohol or other drugs was used as a coping mechanism during the pandemic, whereas emotional support and actions as well as taking other advice, were common strategies. Based on these data, healthcare institutions should consider a variety of support measures and programs for the mitigation of stress and negative emotional responses among HCPs during any future outbreaks or pandemics, such as providing access to mental health services, regular check-ins with colleagues or supervisors, peer support groups, educational resources on coping strategies, and paid time off for rest and recovery. Counseling and executive support services also could help staff to manage the mental health during future disasters.

Event-related potentials during the ultimatum game in people with symptoms of depression and/or social anxiety.

Depression and social anxiety are common disorders that have a profound impact on social functioning. The need for studying the neural substrates of social interactions in mental disorders using interactive tasks has been emphasized. The field of neuroeconomics, which combines neuroscience techniques and behavioral economics multiplayer tasks such as the Ultimatum Game (UG), can contribute in this direction. We assessed emotions, behavior, and Event-Related Potentials in participants with depression and/or social anxiety symptoms (MD/SA, n = 63, 57 females) and healthy controls (n = 72, 67 females), while they played the UG. In this task, participants received fair, mid-value, and unfair offers from other players. Mixed linear models were implemented to assess trial level changes in neural activity. The MD/SA group reported higher levels of sadness in response to mid-value and unfair offers compared to controls. In controls, the Medial Frontal Negativity associated with fair offers increased over time, while this dynamic was not observed in the MD/SA group. The MD/SA group showed a decreased P3/LPP in all offers, compared to controls. These results indicate an enhanced negative emotional response to unfairness in the MD/SA group. Neural results reveal a blunted response over time to positive social stimuli in the MD/SA group. Moreover, between-group differences in P3/LPP may relate to a reduced saliency of offers and/or to a reduced availability of resources for processing incoming stimuli in the MD/SA group. Findings may shed light into the neural substrates of social difficulties in these disorders.

“This Image Haunts Me to This Day”: Exploring the Psychological Impacts of Wildlife Loss on Conservation Professionals Through Photovoice

This study builds on the concept of “psychoterratic” conditions, an array of mental health experiences related to global environmental change. Among these conditions are those referring to emotional distress caused by changing of familiar landscapes due to anthropogenic factors. This study asks, if humans can experience psychological distress due to changing familiar landscapes, can they also experience distress from the loss of cherished other-than-human neighbors? Little research has looked at the biodiversity crisis nor wildlife declines and psychological impacts on wildlife professionals. This study used photovoice methodology as a reflective process to communicate a message using retrospective photography. Participants (n = 6) shared their stories by selecting and describing career photographs that answered research questions about negative emotional responses from their work and their personal contributions to conservation. Participants then shared their photographs in a focus group. Major themes identified are areas of risk and areas of resilience. Conservation professionals were profoundly affected by grief from the losses of individual animals, as well as by the extinction of species, which were caused by anthropogenic harms. Findings also showed that conservation professionals were ill prepared to cope with the emotional toll of their work and were forced to build resilience in the face of the unprecedented extinction crisis.

News Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media and the Public's Negative Emotions: Computational Study.

Social media has become an increasingly popular and critical tool for users to digest diverse information and express their perceptions and attitudes. While most studies endeavor to delineate the emotional responses of social media users, there is limited research exploring the factors associated with the emergence of emotions, particularly negative ones, during news consumption. We aim to first depict the web coverage by news organizations on social media and then explore the crucial elements of news coverage that trigger the public's negative emotions. Our findings can act as a reference for responsible parties and news organizations in times of crisis. We collected 23,705 Facebook posts with 1,019,317 comments from the public pages of representative news organizations in Hong Kong. We used text mining techniques, such as topic models and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, to analyze news components and public reactions. Beyond descriptive analysis, we used regression models to shed light on how news coverage on social media is associated with the public's negative emotional responses. Our results suggest that occurrences of issues regarding pandemic situations, antipandemic measures, and supportive actions are likely to reduce the public's negative emotions, while comments on the posts mentioning the central government and the Government of Hong Kong reveal more negativeness. Negative and neutral media tones can alleviate the rage and interact with the subjects and issues in the news to affect users' negative emotions. Post length is found to have a curvilinear relationship with users' negative emotions. This study sheds light on the impacts of various components of news coverage (issues, subjects, media tone, and length) on social media on the public's negative emotions (anger, fear, and sadness). Our comprehensive analysis provides a reference framework for efficient crisis communication for similar pandemics at present or in the future. This research, although first extending the analysis between the components of news coverage and negative user emotions to the scenario of social media, echoes previous studies drawn from traditional media and its derivatives, such as web newspapers. Although the era of COVID-19 pandemic gradually brings down the curtain, the commonality of this research and previous studies also contributes to establishing a clearer territory in the field of health crises.

Racism as a social determinant of health: Link to school-related psychosocial stressors in a population-based sample of African adolescents in Canada.

Racism is a social determinant of health that links to the health and well-being of racial/ethnic marginalized populations. However, perceived racism among African Canadian adolescents has not been adequately addressed, especially the link between racism and psychosocial stressors in school settings. The aim of the current study was to assess racism and the link to school-related psychosocial stressors in a population-based sample of African Canadian adolescents. Secondary analysis of the population-based 2018 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey dataset. Logistic regression and generalized linear models tested the link between racism and psychosocial stressors among African Canadian adolescents (n = 942), adjusting for sociodemographic factors. More than 38% of the adolescents reported racism in the year preceding the survey. Regardless of gender and birthplace, and controlling for covariates, those who experienced racism were significantly more likely to report peer victimization, which includes teasing, social exclusion, cyberbullying and sexual harassment, and they felt less safe and connected to their schools compared to those who did not experience racism. With gender and birthplace differences, those who reported racism had higher odds of having been physically assaulted, stayed away from school, reported negative emotional responses and used avoidant behaviours to evade racism. African Canadian adolescents are a visible racialized ethnic group in British Columbia, who are at heightened risk of racism and the associated psychosocial stressors. These findings demonstrate the influences of racism on psychosocial stressors and related emotional responses among African Canadian adolescents. Nurses and other healthcare providers should be cognizant of racism and the psychological impacts when providing care to "at-risk" populations. Promoting positive and inclusive school climates and addressing racism at all levels of the society will foster better social integration, as well as improve the health and academic achievement of African Canadian adolescents. We presented the research and preliminary results of the data analysis to the African community (parents and adolescents who self-identify as African). The African community who attended the gathering corroborated the link between racism and health and reiterated that addressing these psychosocial stressors can promote adolescent health and well-being. The attendees accepted all the variables that we included in the analysis. However, they emphasized the need for more African representation among school staff and teachers to foster trust, feelings of safety and connectedness, and to promote African students' academic achievement and well-being. They stressed the need to train and build the capacities of the school staff and teachers so that they can assist students regardless of race. They emphasized the need to promote cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity among all healthcare providers. We included the recommendations in the appropriate sections of the manuscript.

The Gap Between Us: Income Inequality Reduces Social Affiliation in Dyadic Interactions.

In this investigation, we tested the hypothesis that increased income inequality between individuals will reduce social affiliation within dyadic interactions. In three experiments, we examined the effects of income inequality on key indices of affiliation using semi-structured interactions. In the first two experiments, a participant and confederate were randomly assigned to a low- or high-power role and compensated mildly or extremely unequally. In Experiment 3, inequality and inequity were orthogonally manipulated to determine whether inequality's social consequences are moderated by the fairness of the income distribution. We demonstrated that greater inequality produced more negative emotional responses, reduced desire for closeness, and harsher evaluations of one's partner, regardless of one's power role and the equitability of the income distribution. We also obtained evidence that greater inequality reduces behavioral warmth, although this effect was less consistent. Our results begin to unpack the psychological processes through which income inequality worsens societal well-being.

Affective Responses to Fitness Testing in College-Aged Women

Physical inactivity is common among women and a quarter of college-aged women are classified as overweight or obese, making this population an important target for obesity prevention. Fitness testing is commonplace, and practitioners can hold an underlying belief that discrepancies will promote positive responses. However, little research has examined the affective responses to fitness testing in adults. The purpose of this study was to assess the affective responses to common fitness testing, while examining relationships to physical self to help elucidate why some respond to such testing and others do not. Forty-eight college-aged women were presented with their discrepancy from a normative standard across six fitness tests. Findings support previous conceptualizations on discrepancies and affective responses, in that greater negative discrepancies from normative standards were associated with greater changes in negative feeling states. In addition, the results suggest that only certain discrepancies pose a threat to perceived satisfaction with one’s physical self (i.e., self-concept)—mainly though subdomains related to body appearance and aerobic fitness. In other words, the greater the perceived satisfaction of self, the greater negative emotional response was experienced to the specific test discrepancy. The notation of “threats” to important domains of self-concept might help explain why fitness testing that alerts individuals where they are discrepant produce behavioral changes in some but not others. Professionals should consider the impact of providing fitness test discrepancies on negative affective responses, with the possible impact on motivation and future behavior choices to reduce the discrepancy.