Earlier research suggests that some exercise intensities are more beneficial to enhance creativity than others. However, if and why specific exercise intensities are related to better creativity is...Show moreEarlier research suggests that some exercise intensities are more beneficial to enhance creativity than others. However, if and why specific exercise intensities are related to better creativity is not exactly clear yet. This study aimed to gain insight into which exercise intensity is best for improving creativity and to explore the possible role of physical fitness in the relationship between exercise intensity and creativity. This is the first study in which participants were given a more objective individually-tailored instruction with regard to exercise intensity and in which four conditions (low intensity exercise, moderate-intensity exercise, high-intensity exercise and a control condition) were compared with respect to the enhancement of divergent creativity (including fluency and originality). First, it was expected that moderate-intensity is best to enhance creativity compared to low intensity exercise, highintensity exercise and no exercise. Second, it was expected that creativity is enhanced more after someone exercises at an intensity level that matches his/her level of physical fitness compared to someone exercising at an intensity level that does not match his/her physical fitness. A total of N = 73 students were studied. A between-subjects design was used in which participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. The participants had to visit the lab of Leiden University twice. First they had to perform a physical fitness test and then they were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions and they had to do a task that measured divergent creativity. For the first hypothesis, the Two-Way ANOVA indicated that neither the fluency (η² = .009, p = .88) nor the originality scores (η² = .006, p = .94) differed between conditions. For the second hypothesis, the Two-Way ANOVA indicated that neither the fluency (η² = .024, p = .19) nor the originality scores (η² = .008, p = .45) differed between participants who had a match or non-match between their physical fitness level and the assigned exercise intensity. The results suggest that changing exercise intensity and matching exercise intensity to physical fitness level do not make a difference in the improvement of creativity.Show less
Dit onderzoek onderzocht de effecten van sporten zonder podcast versus het sporten met podcast op de cognitieve emotieregulatie (het op een cognitieve manier omgaan met emotionele input (Garnefski...Show moreDit onderzoek onderzocht de effecten van sporten zonder podcast versus het sporten met podcast op de cognitieve emotieregulatie (het op een cognitieve manier omgaan met emotionele input (Garnefski en Kraaij, 2007)) bij deelnemers met verschillende stressniveaus. Omdat veel mensen last hebben van stress, is het belangrijk om te weten hoe mensen beter met stress kunnen omgaan door middel van sporten. Deelnemers aan het huidige onderzoek waren 89 jongvolwassenen (leeftijd 18-35 jaar) zonder gezondheidsklachten. De deelnemers moesten een recente negatieve ervaring ophalen, waarna ze willekeurig werden ingedeeld in drie condities: sporten zonder podcast (Ex), sporten met podcast (ExPod) en een controle conditie (Rust). In dit onderzoek werd gekeken of (1) deelnemers die sporten na het ophalen van een negatieve ervaring meer adaptieve cognitieve emotieregulatie lieten zien dan deelnemers die rusten?; (2) Laten deelnemers die een podcast luisteren tijdens het sporten na het ophalen van een negatieve ervaring minder cognitieve emotieregulatie zien dan deelnemers die geen podcast luisteren tijdens het sporten?; (3) Maken deelnemers met een hoog stressniveau na het ophalen van een stressvolle situatie minder adaptief gebruik van cognitieve emotieregulatie strategieën tijdens het sporten?; En (4) maken deelnemers met een hoog stressniveau in de ExPod conditie minder adaptief gebruik van cognitieve emotieregulatie dan deelnemers met een hoog stressniveau in de Ex conditie, oftewel is er een modererend effect van stress? De resultaten konden niet aantonen dat sporten met en zonder het luisteren naar een podcast zorgt voor meer adaptieve cognitieve emotieregulatie dan rust. Ook kon niet worden aangetoond dat een hoog stressniveau hier een modererende rol in speelt. Deze bevindingen konden eerder onderzoek, dat aantoonde dat er een relatie bestaat tussen sporten en cognitieve emotieregulatie, niet ondersteunen. Vervolgonderzoek zou kunnen kijken naar het effect van lichte intensieve sport en de relatie tussen het fitness niveau van deelnemers en sporten op de cognitieve emotieregulatie.Show less
If employees are not able to deal effectively with their emotions, negative consequences may occur such as absenteeism, turnover, and poorer physical and mental health. Therefore this study aimed...Show moreIf employees are not able to deal effectively with their emotions, negative consequences may occur such as absenteeism, turnover, and poorer physical and mental health. Therefore this study aimed to investigate if exercise fosters emotion regulation. It was hypothesized that 1) exercise would lead to less negative emotions; 2) this relationship is mediated by adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and 3) this effect would be greater for individuals high versus low in sensory processing sensitivity. To investigate this, an experimental, between-subjects design was used. A total of 134 students were recruited from Dutch universities, who were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exercise, active control (making a puzzle), or passive control (rest). During the experiment, all participants filled out a questionnaire measuring background variables, negative state emotions, and trait sensory processing sensitivity. After this, participants underwent a negative emotion induction task to elicit negative emotions and create a need to regulate emotions. They then spent thirty minutes on a cycle ergometer, doing a puzzle, or resting in a chair, after which adaptive emotion regulation strategies and negative emotions were measured. A mixed ANCOVA was conducted to test whether participants in the exercise condition experienced less negative emotions after cycling for thirty minutes than the participants in the control conditions, which was not supported by the data. The SPSS extension ,,PROCESS” was used to test the second (model 4) and third (model 7) hypothesis. Support was found for the expectation that participants in the exercise condition make more use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies after cycling for thirty minutes, and therefore experience less negative emotions than the participants in the puzzle or rest condition (significant full mediation effect). Lastly, the hypothesis that the effect of exercise on negative emotions via emotion regulation would be greater for those scoring higher on sensory processing sensitivity than for those scoring lower on this trait, was not supported. These findings further our knowledge on the interdependence of these variables, since inconsistencies found in the literature may be explained by the indirect effect found in this study. The role of adaptive emotion regulation may be key to understanding the underlying mechanisms of how exercise influences emotions. This could potentially impact the development of creating (workplace) interventions, where combining an exercise intervention with increasing the knowledge of the employees about adaptive emotion regulation strategies might be most effective. However, more research in this area is needed to test how generalizable this effect is, since there is reason to believe gender differences and natural preferences (versus lab imposed conditions) may influence these findings.Show less
Aangezien de helft van de Nederlanders onvoldoende beweegt, is het van belang om nieuwe manieren te vinden om plezier te vinden in het sporten, waardoor de sportmotivatie vergroot. Het gebruik van...Show moreAangezien de helft van de Nederlanders onvoldoende beweegt, is het van belang om nieuwe manieren te vinden om plezier te vinden in het sporten, waardoor de sportmotivatie vergroot. Het gebruik van Playful Sport Design (PSD) (Verwijmeren et al., 2023) biedt nieuwe mogelijkheden in het speels inrichten van sporttrainingen, en het gebruik van fantasie tijdens sporten is een belangrijk element van PSD waar nog nauwelijks onderzoek naar gedaan is. In dit onderzoek werd daarom gekeken naar (1) of er onderliggende thema’s te vinden zijn in het gebruik van fantasie tijdens sporten, (2) of het gebruik van fantasie het sportplezier en hierdoor de motivatie vergroot, en (3) of het gebruik van fantasie voor meer sportplezier en -motivatie zorgt wanneer iemand al fantasievol is vergeleken met iemand die niet fantasievol is. Dit werd gedaan met behulp van een dagboekstudie, waarbij door de respondenten (die minstens twee keer per week sportten) gedurende één maand elke week een vragenlijst over hun sportervaringen ingevuld diende te worden. De onderliggende thema´s werden geanalyseerd met behulp van inductieve analyse, en uit de resultaten bleek dat variatie/creativiteit, visualisatie met competitieve elementen en visualisatie van doelen de grootste thema’s waren in het gebruik van fantasie. Verder werd het voorgestelde gemodereerde mediatiemodel (gebruikt voor het testen van hypothese 2 en 3) door regressieanalyses in PROCESS (model 7) (Hayes, 2013) niet bevestigd, maar er werd wel aangetoond dat het gebruik van fantasie (1) direct leidt tot meer sportmotivatie en (2) leidt tot meer trainingsplezier wanneer iemand fantasievol is. Het speels gebruik maken van fantasie binnen sporttrainingen is daarom een mogelijke manier om plezier en sportmotivatie te vergroten. Binnen de sportpsychologie heeft dit onderwerp veel potentie, en meer onderzoek zou moeten volgen.Show less
Based on the recovery paradox (RP) paradigm, the present study investigated a bi-directional (i.e., “typical” and “reverse”) relationship between employees’ job stressors appraised as threatening,...Show moreBased on the recovery paradox (RP) paradigm, the present study investigated a bi-directional (i.e., “typical” and “reverse”) relationship between employees’ job stressors appraised as threatening, strain reactions, and engagement in recovery activities. Namely, it was expected that there would be a positive relationship between one’s appraisal of workload as a threat stressor and one’s level of anxiety, and a negative relationship between one’s level of anxiety and one’s engagement in physical activity. Furthermore, the present study investigated the potential of job resources to alleviate the RP. Namely, it was expected that the “typical” relationship of the RP would be weaker for individuals who have higher levels of social (i.e., supervisor) support. These expectations were tested in a sample of 227 Dutch-speaking employees by using a weekly longitudinal study design consisting of an intake survey administered once and a subsequent questionnaire administered three times with a one-week time interval. Longitudinal effects were examined by using (moderated) mediation statistical analyses performed with the SPSS-extension PROCESS. Contrary to the expectations, analyses showed that although the relationships between the study’s variables trended in the expected directions, no significant bi-directional relationship was found between one’s appraisal of workload as a threat stressor, level of anxiety, and engagement in physical activity. In addition, no significant influence of supervisor support on the “typical” relationship between the variables was shown. Nevertheless, according to the expectations, analyses showed a significant effect of one’s level of anxiety on one’s appraisal of workload as a threat stressor (p = .012). This finding suggests that employee strain reaction impacts employee perception of their job stressors. With the present study being among the first ones to examine the complete indirect relationships between the RP components and the alleviating effect of supervisor support on the “typical” relationship of the RP, I discuss the contributions of the study’s findings to the existing literature and how it can encourage further investigation of the RP and its alleviation to promote employee well-being.Show less
