BATH, England, Nov. 28 The fear of looking ugly is a more powerful motivator than the hope that working out will result in a more attractive body, a British study found.
Researchers at the University of Bath interviewed 281 male and female undergraduates and had half imagine themselves as a much more physically unattractive version of themselves.
Brett Martin of the University of Bath and Rana Sobh of Qatar University then asked some in the group to imagine a scenario in which they dramatically failed to keep to a fitness program, and others to imagine one in which they dramatically succeeded.
The study found that those who had been asked to think about a dramatic failure in fitness were motivated to keep training because they were fearful of not looking good, while those who were asked to imagine they were succeeding in getting fit became less motivated to continue at the gym because they no longer had the fear of not looking good.
The study shows that fear of failure motivates people more than gaining some success, which detracts from their motivation, said Martin.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
