Self-Control, Pain and the Motivation Influence: Analytical Essay

Referring to Boat and Taylor study that explores a self-control and perception of pain before physically demanding tasks that affects performance and perceptions of pain, shows how different levels of self-control exertion before a physically challenging task affects the outcome and impairs performance with tasks also requiring self-control, and how it could be seen with different perceptions of pain. (Boat, R., Taylor, I.M., 2017).

The Study included 63 individuals (21 males and 42 females) aged between 18-34 that were considered healthy when assessed the study to ensure the accurate reading (mean ± SD: age= 22 ± 3, exercise per week = 4 ± 2). They took part in research by completing two experimental sessions. All participants have signed the university approval and consent form. It was also clarified that involvement was anonymous and voluntary. The participants spent, on average, four days (SD 2 days) per week exercising, amongst them, 56 participants reported that they had completed a wall-sit previously (Boat, R., Taylor, I.M., 2017).

Participants were asked to complete questionnaires to control the influence of daily stress and physical lassitude. They were all introduced to the wall-sit procedure as well as exercise instruction were scripted so that they remained the same for every participant. Participants were instructed to practiced wall-sit once to ensure that they understood what was required to execute. The second task was to take part in the Stroop exercise. Participants were presented a computerized version of the Stroop task. They had to complete the congruent Stroop task on the other one incongruent Stroop task. Participants sat in a quiet room and were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. The Stroop task was 4 minutes in duration and words were presented on the screen at 1500 ms intervals. After this exercise participants performed the wall-sit. Perception of pain was recorded and sessions were counterbalanced and 24h separated.

Results from this study showed that after completing the incongruent Stroop task, participants quit the wall-sit sooner. The measurement in that research showed that participants at the end of the wall-sit exercise had a greater perception of pain than at the beginning of the wall-sit. “The results revealed that there was a significant main effect for experimental trial on wall sit performance. Participants gave up quicker in the self-control experimental condition, compared to the non-self-control condition” (Boat and Taylor, 2017).

Another significant research was the comparison between self-control and a muscle. It was indicated that self-control performance is lower after initial exertion just as a muscle gets tired of exertion. As exercise can strengthen muscles, there are signs that regular self-control exercises will boost the strength of will. Such gains usually take the form of resistance to degradation in the sense that, at a slower rate, self-control performance is lower. (Baumeister et al., 2007).

It is very important to mention that Boat and Taylor (2017.) did not measure the motivational mechanisms which may have an impact on wall-sit performance time, but the pain factor and self-control.

The main aim of this research is to determine how in what extend self-control influences motivation at end of the wall-sit task.

From proven researches, we can deliver three hypotheses. Based on previous studies on self-control effects, at the beginning of the wall-sit, it was assumed that the more challenging the Stroop task was, the lower performance time would be (hypothesis 1), the pain sensitivity is higher (hypothesis 2) and the motivation was lower (hypothesis 3)

1. Methods:

1.1 Participants

The participants included in the process were 53 male and female at a similar sporting level, all in good health and condition with a Mean age of 18.64 and the Standard Deviance (SD) of 0.80. The Nottingham Trent Ethics Committee approved them all. Since the protocol is rigorous, all participants had to complete a questionnaire before testing to ensure that they were eligible to participate and to give their consent by signing a form.

1.2 Design

Two study sessions were attended by each participant. At the first session, participants were given instructions on how to do the wall-sit. Participants had to stand against a wall with their back, shoulder width of feet, and 90° angle of knees and hips. After properly conducted exercise, they did not have to persist in doing it.

At the second session, participants were introduced to the Stroop task. They were given a learning sample lasting 30 seconds in which they had to read the color of the ink in which the color name was written. Only if the word was written in the red ink, they had to read it. Stoop tasks were divided into two sessions, “Hard” that requires a self-control and “Easy” that does not require a self-control. On a Hard Stroop session, color and printed text were not the same. For instance, when the word ‘green’ was written in yellow ink, yellow would be the correct response. On Easy Stroop mission colors and printed ink were matched. Term red in red ink, term yellow in yellow ink and so on. Participants were asked to complete a conditioning test after the Stroop task which we used to interpret during that task as their mental exertion.

After the induction, the wall-sit post Stroop assignment was performed by the participants. Participants were asked to hold the position up to exhaustion as much as they could. During the wall-sit exercise, participants were registered with pain and motivation. At each session, participants completed 1 wall-sit, one session after the easy Stroop task, and one after the Hard Stroop task.

1.3 Procedure

Participants perception of pain and motivation was measured every __ (30) seconds during the task. Participants had to rate their mental exertion during the Stroop task using Borg’s single-item CR-10 scale (Borg, 1998) as 0=no pain; 10= great pain). After the participant finished the Stroop task and began wall-sit, a calculation of the performers current levels of pain and motivation was taken every __30 seconds while they pointed to the line on the scale from 1 to 10, these measurements were performed and recorded every __30 seconds until the performer stopped.

2. Results

Wall-sit performance showed a statistically significant difference between performance time of wall-sit after completing CR10 Hard Stroop task (M=131,92, SD=71,31) and CR10 Easy stroop task (M=140,5, SD=67,91). The result of this measure is that after completing Hard Stroop Task performers held wall-sit shorter. Please refer to Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Figure 1. Mean wall sit performance time (s) and its Standard Deviation (SD) after completing easy and hard Stroop task

The manipulation check confirmed that participants confirmed significantly higher mental exertion after completing Hard Stroop (M=5,68, SD=1,62) than after completing Easy Stroop task (M=2,44, SD=2,35). Please refer to Table 1.

Table 1.

Descriptive statistics for given variables

Self-control

(HARD Stroop task) Non-Self-control

(EASY Stroop task)

Mean SD Mean SD

Wall-sit performance (seconds) 131,92 71,31 140,5 67,91

Mental Exertion (CR10) 5,68 1,62 2,44 2,35

Motivation after stroop 5,07 2,34 5,03 2,44

At the beginning of the wall-sit, motivation no significant differences between Hard Stroop (M=5,07 , SD=2,31) and Easy Stroop Task (M=5,03 , SD=2,44) haven’t been noticed. Results showed very little Mean deviation of 0,04 in the favor of Easy Stroop). Refer to Table 1.

3. Discussion

The aim of this research was to test whether self-control influences pain and motivation perceptions. The data we obtained indicated that self-control has an influence on success time, pain sensitivity, but not motivation. Therefore, 2 out of 3 results supported our hypothesis. The more demanding the Stroop task, the lower performance time (hypothesis 1), the pain sensitivity is higher (hypothesis 2). Participants left the wall sitting earlier after the task had been completed, they had a higher sense of pain at the end of the task, but the motivation during the task had not improved. Our research findings validated Boat and Taylor (2017), as they also claimed that self-control has an effect on response time and pain perception. After hard Stroop, output may have been lowered due to the mental exertion that contributed to an increase in pain perception. The results showed that following the hard Stroop task participant had increased perception of pain. The data presents the results through significant change as visible in Table 1. Where Easy Stroop task (M=2,44) had a lower results in mean than Hard Stroop task (M=5,68) Due to the given results the outcome is that our hypothesis was supported.

Third hypothesis on motivation shows that after completing Hard Stroop task (M=5,07 , SD=2,31) and after completing Easy Stroop task (M=5,03 , SD=2,44) there was no significant difference in motivation of participants. There is no significant difference in Means nor in Standard Deviation (SD)

Please see Table 1.

There is to consider that some limitations to this study of the analysis with both my group and the recommended research paper, one of which is that there is an aspect of physical flexibility while completing a wall-sit task. Certain individuals may be far more suited to maintain a wall-sit for longer, giving them an advantage that may cause results to fluctuate or become invalid. To improve validity for future research, individuals with similar physical characteristics should be considered, and some muscle endurance tests could be conducted to ensure that participants are comparable in strength and size. Also, the duration of the self-exertion task (Stroop task) could be considered to increase the chance for more accurate results.

The other aspect of a future research may use different aged and physically ready population. As this research was based on young, active population (mostly students) it is to consider to include population of a different age and physical readiness to compare AB testing results for more accurate measurement. One more action my be included, to compare the difference between mala and female results as a scientific measurement and comparison for an improvement.

4. References

1. Boat, R., & Taylor, I. (2017). Prior self-control exertion and perceptions of pain during a physically demanding task. Psychology Of Sport And Exercise, 33, 1-6. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.07.005
2. Roy F. Baumeister, KathleenD. Vohs,and Dianne M. Tice(2007) The Strength Model of Self-Control https://www.academia.edu/4227503/The_Strength_Model_of_Self_Control