Fear is a Great Motivator when Trying to Stay Fit

Scientists at the University of Bath in Bath, United Kingdom, determined that the fear of looking unattractive is a great motivator to keep people going to the gym. This type of fear is a greater motivator than hope of good looks. The study was conducted under the lead of Professor Brett Martin, of the University of Bath's School of Management, and Dr Rana Sobh of Qatar University.

The researchers surveyed 281 male and female students at the University of Bath. Half of the students were asked to imagine a physically unattractive version of themselves, one they were afraid of turning into. Then the scientists asked these students to either envision that they radically failed to maintain their fitness routine, or to envision that they were greatly successful with their exercise routine.

As a result, those students, who envisioned themselves failing to maintain a fitness routine, were motivated to work harder to maintain their body in order to avoid looking unattractive. Contrarily, those, who envisioned themselves as being greatly successful with their exercise routine, turned out to be less motivated to keep up with their fitness regimen. They did not fear to look unattractive. Thus, imagining success actually de-motivates people from more proactively pursuing their fitness goals.

The second half of the 281 students participating in the study was asked to imagine a physically attractive version of themselves. This group, too, was told to either envision that they radically failed to maintain their fitness routine, or to envision that they were greatly successful with their exercise routine.

The results for this group differed from the results for the first group. Those students envisioning success with their fitness routine were more motivated to keep up with it, while those, who envisioned failure, were de-motivated.

These findings are relevant for marketing purposes in the area of fitness and beauty products. For people with a negative attitude toward their body, the fear of failure is an encouragement to proactively pursue avenues to avoid the dreaded failure. This is even truer, when people think they are already noticing signs of failure.

However, people with a positive attitude towards their body will lose motivation, when they notice signs of failure. They become discouraged, if they do not see success in their fitness or beauty regimen.

Therefore, in order to successfully market fitness or beauty products, companies have to find a good balance between both types of consumers. Consumers with a negative attitude towards their body will have to be made aware of a possible failure in order to keep up with a fitness or beauty regimen, while those with a positive attitude towards their body will have to be shown that they can improve their body even more. In order to ensure that marketers achieve the optimal balance in their marketing strategies towards both consumer groups, companies have to put proper performance measures in place, which Professor Martin and Dr Sobh have developed.