For this research, researchers checked out two motivations for escapism in operating: self-expansion and self-suppression.
They requested the research’s members to weigh in on varied views by choosing the place they fall on a five-point scale from “completely disagree” to “completely agree.” Examples included “When I’m operating… I attempt to be taught new issues about myself” and “I open up for experiences that enrich my life.” Additionally they included “When I’m operating… I attempt to overlook the troublesome issues in my life” and “I attempt to suppress my issues.”
Runners motivated by self-expansion, who run as a result of they wish to promote constructive feelings, would seemingly agree with the primary two examples, whereas runners motivated by self-suppression, who run as a result of they wish to “forestall, or suppress, troublesome ideas or feelings,” would seemingly agree with the final two examples.
The research discovered that these motivated by self-expansion have been extra prone to really feel constructive feelings throughout their runs and obtain extra long-term advantages after they completed operating. They have been additionally extra prone to settle right into a “stream state” throughout their runs, which the research defines as transcending “the calls for of the exercise, which results in intense cognitive focus, alertness, and a sense of mastery and pleasure.”
In the meantime, runners motivated by self-suppression, who ran to distract themselves from uncomfortable ideas, future challenges, or previous upsetting experiences, have been discovered to have fewer constructive results from the exercise.
“People develop into triggered to suppress and/or alleviate [negative emotions], and a typical response is to dim these troublesome ideas by pursuing experiences that will outshine them, at the very least momentarily,” researchers stated within the research.
However the research discovered that suppressing adverse feelings really “dampens” constructive ones, too. The researchers observed that this form of self-suppression can relate to decrease self-control, procrastination, and worse well-being general.
