Affective messages increase leisure walking only among conscientious individuals

Walking is a way to encourage regular physical exercise among sedentary individuals. Research suggests that highly conscientious individuals are more likely to engage in health behaviours, particularly when they are also motivated to do so. We examine the impact of a brief intervention using an affective (enjoyable) message, an instrumental (beneficial) message and a control condition on leisure walking among individuals high and low in Conscientiousness. Our results indicated that highly conscientious participants who read the affective message engaged in significantly more leisure walking post-intervention when compared to the instrumental condition, control condition and individuals low in Conscientiousness. Results suggest that affective beliefs are an influential source of motivation among highly conscientious individuals for the initiation of physical activity.