Stress, Emotions, and Motivational States Among ...

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Stress, Emotions, and Motivational States Among Traditional Dancers in New Zealand and Japan

Psychological Reports 0(0) 1–19 ! The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0033294117711130 journals.sagepub.com/home/prx

Y. Kuroda School of Sport and Exercise, College of Health, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

G. Geisler Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

P. C. H. Morel Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, College of Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

J. Hapeta School of Sport and Exercise, College of Health, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract This study used a reversal theory framework to examine motivational dominance and changes in motivational state, arousal, stress, and emotions among members of traditional Japanese (Nihon Odori Sports Science (NOSS)) and New Zealand (Kapa Haka) dance groups. Eighty-four participants (50 in Japan and 34 in New Zealand) completed questionnaires on each variable before and after a dance class. The findings indicated that the Kapa Haka dancers were significantly more playful and arousalseeking than the NOSS dancers. They also reported higher overall arousal, preferred arousal, and effort during performance while the NOSS dancers became more serious afterward. Data on emotions matched those of arousal in that the Kapa Haka dancers felt significantly more excited and provocative after the session. The NOSS dancers were more relaxed and placid, both overall and after dancing. These patterns were consistent with the dancers’ respective motivational states and motivational dominance, and suggest that both dances can be effective in reducing negative affect.

Corresponding Author: Y. Kuroda, School of Sport and Exercise, College of Health, Massey University, Palmerston North, 4410, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]

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Psychological Reports 0(0)

They also suggest that psychological effects are dependent upon performers’ personal and cultural affiliation with the two dance forms. Keywords reversal theory, arousal, emotion, metamotivational state, dance

Various studies in the psychology of physical activity have examined the effects of different types of exercise on affect and well-being, with an abundance of evidence for psychological benefits such as positive affective states alongside reductions in stress and negative emotions (e.g., Biddle & Mutrie, 2001; McAuley, Mihalko, & Bane, 1996; Reed & Ones, 2006; Zajenkowski, Jankowski, & Kolata, 2015). That being said, situational context is an important consideration when explaining such effects (Zajenkowski et al., 2015), and an effective means of examining acute situational changes is reversal theory (Apter, 1984, 2001). Reversal theory provides a perspective on personality that explains individual experiences of arousal and motivation together with patterns of stress, coping, and affect. The main underlying premise is that people move or ‘‘reverse’’ frequently between ends of four metamotivational state pairs (hereafter described simply as motivational states) in response to situational or environmental determinants. The first two sets of motivational states are telic-paratelic (seriousplayful) and negativity-conformity (rebellious-compliant). Both are functions of perceived/felt arousal and make up the somatic states. The other two sets are the sympathy-mastery (cooperative-competitive) and autic-alloic (egoisticaltruistic) motivational states, which are tied to interactions with others and referred to as transactional states. Only one polarity of each pairing is operative at a given time. Moreover, though people are generally dominant in one particular state (usually telic or paratelic)—a tendency termed ‘‘metamotivational dominance’’ (Apter, 1984)—none should be seen as traits or enduring dispositions (Apter, 1984, 2001; Kerr, 1985). The determinants or causes of psychological reversals include contingent events (such as a sudden change in the tone or nature of a situation), frustration (when one’s needs are not being met by the current circumstances), and satiation (spending a long time in a particular state). Any one of these can lead to stress, which is broken down into tension stress and effort stress in reversal theory terms. Tension stress is accompanied by unpleasant emotions and can be equated with common interpretations of ‘‘stress’’ in the extant psychology literature. Effort stress denotes one’s need to reduce tension stress and is generally akin to coping effort. There is also a range of 16 pleasant and unpleasant emotions that comprise reversal theory’s affective framework. Eight of these emotions are categorized as somatic emotions while the other eight are transactional, and when combined with the four sets of motivational states and variations in

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arousal, they can characterize an individual’s experience at different moments in time. For example, a person in the telic state with a low arousal level should generally be relaxed, whereas high felt arousal in this serious mindset is likely to result in anxiety. In the more playful paratelic state, however, low felt arousal usually leads to boredom while a high level of arousal will trigger feelings of excitement. The experience of unpleasant emotions like anxiety and boredom is also expected to coincide with an increase in tension stress. Thus, the interaction between constructs should be apparent, and it is important to address each one when investigating patterns of stress, arousal, motivational states, and/or emotions. Reversal theory has been applied extensively to sport and exercise studies (e.g., Bindarwish & Tenenbaum, 2006; Frith, Kerr, & Wilson, 2011; Geisler & Kerr, 2007; Kerr, Fujiyama, & Campano, 2002; Kerr et al., 2006; Kerr, Kawaguchi, Oiwa, Terayama, & Zukawa, 2000; Kerr & Kuk, 2001; Kerr, Wilson, Bowling, & Sheahan, 2005; Kuroda, Thatcher, & Thatcher, 2011; Legrand & Thatcher, 2010; Thatcher, Kuroda, Legrand, & Thatcher, 2011). Within the exercise domain specifically, research has examined different types (Kerr & Svebak, 1994; Frith et al., 2011), intensities (Kerr & Kuk, 2001), and locations of exercise (Kerr et al., 2006) as well as differences in motivational dominance (Kerr et al., 2002). Regardless of variation in these variables, exercise participation has been shown to reduce unpleasant emotions and tension stress while increasing pleasant emotions and arousal. However, no studies to date have compared such effects when traditional and culturally unique forms of dance are the selected mode of activity. Dance has existed for roughly 1.8 million years and typically consists of movements in rhythmical patterns, often to express social circumstances within different world cultures (Sevdalis & Keller, 2011). Consequently, traditional forms of dance may be effective in improving overall affect and reducing stress (much like other types of exercise), but with the additional possibility of optimizing arousal, emotions, and motivational states through one’s unique and personal affiliation with the culture and identity of those dances. In other words, it is conceivable that the psychological effects of any given dance may differ in accordance with the culturally derived characteristics of the people performing that dance. This is elaborated upon below. The ‘‘Nihon Odori Sports Science’’ (NOSS) is a form of dance that uses traditional Japanese movements called Nihonbuyo. Nihonbuyo date back to the 15th century and express human emotions through a combination of Mai (circular movements, sliding foot movements, and poses called ‘‘Furi’’) and Odori (mainly jumping movements). These movement patterns are used to express joy and promote well-being, but they are also seen in Japan as a way of inspiring wisdom (Saito, 2006). NOSS instruction is readily available in Japan through community classes. Participants can simply wear exercise clothing, but

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instructors tend to wear traditional kimono. Alongside the aforesaid culturally oriented movements, NOSS contains a mixture of Japanese vocals, Japanese shamisen, and Chinese fiddle, but at times, there is a modern touch through the use of electronic synthesizers. It is also interesting to note that on the one hand, NOSS is similar to yoga in that it can be used as a form of relaxation (Nishikawa Company Classical Japanese Dance, 2013). At the same time, NOSS movements can be adopted into exercise with moderate aerobic intensity, as they incorporate various skeletal muscles and are said to expend 1.3 times more calories than a typical walking exercise (Yagi, Misono, & Goto, 2012). Due to the physical intensity of NOSS and the cognitive stimulation of learning the dance’s movements, it is promoted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare as an effective activity for senior citizens (Nishikawa Company Classical Japanese Dance, 2013). ‘‘Kapa Haka’’ is a traditional Maori dance form of Aotearoa, New Zealand, which also makes use of traditional movements. The Raupo dictionary of modern Maori defines Kapa Haka as a group of people ‘‘performing Maori songs’’ (Ryan, 2008, p. 103), but this is an oversimplification insofar as Kapa (group) Haka (performance) encompasses many varieties of traditional and contemporary Maori movements, called ‘‘Te Ao Kori’’ (the World of Maori movement). Within Te Ao Kori, types of performance include Waiata (songs), Waiata-a-ringa (action songs), Kanikani (contemporary and traditional dance forms), Mau rakau (the art of using a single pointed spear), Tititorea (short sticks used for stick games), and Haka (traditional dance). Therefore, Kapa Haka group performances usually involve a combination of all of the above, and since they are defined by Maori, with Maori, for Maori as per ‘‘Kaupapa Maori’’ principles, they draw on fundamental Maori values, experiences, and worldviews (Pihama, 2001, p. 102). With regard to broader benefits, Te Manatu Taonga (the Ministry of Culture and Heritage) in Aotearoa (New Zealand) recently commissioned a research report (called Nga Hua a Tane Rore) to develop a better understanding of the positive contribution that Kapa Haka makes to Aotearoa/New Zealand society (Pihama, Tipene, & Skipper, 2014). The descriptions above draw attention to the fact that NOSS is relatively calm, despite its moderate aerobic quality, while Kapa Haka has a more activating nature. As a result, one might expect differences between the two dance forms with respect to participants’ motivational states (telic-paratelic, negativity-conformity, mastery-sympathy, autic-alloic) and motivational dominance (the preference an individual has for one particular state within each pair) through their concordant levels of stress, arousal, and emotions. Differences might also be expected in participants’ changes from pre- to postactivity, with a reasonable likelihood that this divergence can be attributed at least in part to personal affiliation with cultural features of the dances. Unlike most social dances, which typically involve partnering and interaction between people, NOSS and Kapa Haka are dance forms with limited interactions between

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participants (though Kapa Haka does incorporate the use of voice and call/ recall within its movement patterns). In cases like these, with few transactions, reversal theory typically focuses on the somatic motivational states and somatic emotions. This entails an emphasis on the telic-paratelic (serious-playful) pairing and the pleasant emotions of relaxation, excitement, placidity, and provocativeness. The corresponding unpleasant somatic emotions are anxiety, boredom, anger, and sullenness. Thus, drawing from the psychological effects of exercise, the cultural significance of dance, and the utility of reversal theory in delineating individual experience, this study used a reversal theory framework to compare Japanese (NOSS) and New Zealand (Kapa Haka) dancers on motivational dominance and changes in motivational state, arousal, stress, and somatic emotions that stem from participation in the respective dance forms. The findings should prove useful in outlining the role of cultural nuance and variation—as experienced by dancers representing both cultures—in the psychological benefits of dancebased exercise while helping to inform best practice in the design of exercise therapies for specific groups and populations. To date, there is a lack of extant empirical evidence regarding the overall health-related benefits of NOSS and Kapa Haka (Pihama et al., 2014).

Methods Participants Eighty-four dance class participants (14 males and 70 females; M age ¼ 48.66 years; SD ¼ 18.68) took part in the study. One group consisted of 50 participants from a NOSS class in Japan (3 males and 47 females; M age ¼ 60.37, SD ¼ 12.77) and the other group comprised 34 participants from a Kapa Haka class in New Zealand (11 males and 23 females; M age ¼ 31.79, SD ¼ 11.52). The NOSS class was predominantly female because traditional Japanese dance is considered an ‘‘okeikogoto’’ (practice art), which is popular among housewives (Hahn, 2007). The mean amount of experience in the respective dances was 217.19 months (SD ¼ 109.34) for Kapa Haka and 20.98 months (SD ¼ 11.40) for NOSS. The Kapa Haka group met once a week for 90 minutes per session. The NOSS group also met once per week, but the length of each session was 30 to 60 minutes in accordance with the participants’ fitness levels. Both the NOSS and Kapa Haka classes could be considered recreational in nature.

Measures The Paratelic Dominance Scale (PDS; Cook & Gerkovich, 1993) was used to assess participants’ motivational dominance. The PDS contains 30 items in a true/false format and is broken down into three subscales of serious-playful,

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spontaneous-planning, and arousal-seeking (10 items each). Alpha coefficients of .87 and .86 were found for odd and even numbered items, respectively. The Telic State Measure (TSM; Svebak & Murgatroyd, 1985) assessed the motivational states of participants. The five items on the TSM are serious-playful, planning-spontaneous, felt arousal, preferred arousal, and effort invested in the task. A 6-point rating scale is used to separate each item into low scores (1 to 3) and high scores (4 to 6). The Tension and Effort Stress Inventory (TESI; Svebak, 1993) addressed stress and somatic emotions. The TESI has a 7-point rating scale to measure four stress items (internal and external tension stress and effort stress) and 16 emotions in total. However, due to the somatic focus here, only the eight somatic emotions related to the telic and paratelic states were used. Alpha coefficients of .88 and .75 were determined for pleasant and unpleasant emotions, respectively. All three questionnaires were administered in English to the Kapa Haka group and in Japanese to the NOSS group. The Japanese versions of the PDS, TSM, and TESI have been validated for Japanese by Kerr et al. (2000) and used in studies with Japanese modern dancers, field hockey players (Kerr et al., 2005), futsal players (Geisler & Kerr, 2007), archers (Kerr, Yoshida, Hirata, Takai, & Yamazaki, 1997), and various leisure sport participants (Kerr et al., 2002).

Procedure The study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee at the first author’s university. Participants were recruited by NOSS and Kapa Haka dance instructors or leaders in the two nations and provided with a research information document. They then completed the PDS in order to identify their motivational dominance. They were also administered the TSM and TESI just before the dance session to assess motivational state, stress level, arousal, and somatic emotions prior to taking the class. After the dance session, they completed the TSM and TESI once more to examine possible changes in these measures. The NOSS group performed a sequence of standard Nihonbuyo movements (i.e., Mai and Odori) during the session in which the data were gathered. The Kapa Haka group performed a combination of Waiata, Kanikani, and Haka. It also bears noting that an important consideration was taken into account during the data collection process in New Zealand. That is, in the spirit of Kaupapa Maori principles, the study was undertaken with Maori (the Kapa Haka group), by Maori (one of the research team is Maori and experienced in Kaupapa Maori research), and for Maori (Smith, 1997, 1999). This type of cultural sensibility is important as it provides an assurance of trust to participants and accessibility to those conducting the research. Provisions of a similar nature were not necessary in Japan.

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Data Analysis An independent samples t test was used to examine any differences in age, dance experience, and PDS scores between the two dance groups (NOSS and Kapa Haka). All possible main effects and interactions of means for motivational states (measured by the TSM) as well as stress and both positive and negative somatic emotions (measured by the TESI) were compared across the two groups and across two times (pre- and postexercise). A mixed linear model was also used in the analysis (via Proc Mixed, SAS v.9.3), with group and time serving as fixed effects and as the variant, and participant nested within group as a random effect fitted to the data. Age and dance experience were fixed as covariates in the model, and were found not to be significant; therefore, they were deleted from the model. The significance level was set at a ¼ .05.

Results Participants Although not direct factors of interest, it must be acknowledged that there were significant differences between the two groups in age and dance experience. The NOSS group was significantly older, t(81) ¼ 10.43, p < 0.001, while the Kapa Haka group was significantly more experienced in dance, t(80) ¼ 12.63, p < 0.001. This in itself illustrates a cultural difference with respect to the time or age at which people take up each dance form and/or how long they continue.

Motivational dominance Paratelic Dominance Scale. Table 1 contains the means (M) and standard error of the mean (SEM) for motivational dominance. There were significant differences Table 1. Paratelic Dominance Scale (PDS) scores for the Japanese (NOSS) and New Zealand (Kapa Haka) dance groups.

Playful-serious Spontaneous-planning Arousal-seeking Total PDS

Group

Mean

SEM

NOSS Kapa Haka NOSS Kapa Haka NOSS Kapa Haka NOSS Kapa Haka

3.94 5.76 3.74 6.91 4.14 5.12 11.82 17.79

0.30 0.28 0.25 0.17 0.24 0.28 0.62 0.55

PDS: Paratelic Dominance Scale; NOSS: Nihon Odori Sports Science.

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between the NOSS and Kapa Haka dance groups in serious-playful orientation, arousal-seeking, and total PDS scores. However, no significant difference emerged in spontaneous-planning orientation. On the serious-playful dimension, the Kapa Haka group scored significantly higher than the NOSS group, which suggests that the New Zealanders were more playful than the Japanese, t(82) ¼ 4.27, p < 0.001. With regard to arousal-seeking, the Kapa Haka group scored significantly higher than the NOSS group again, suggesting that the New Zealanders also tended to seek more arousal than the Japanese dancers, t(82) ¼ 2.65, p < 0.10. For total PDS score, which provides an overall index of how playful (higher score) or serious (lower score) one is, the Kapa Haka group scored significantly higher than the NOSS group. This is consistent with the first finding above, indicating once more that the New Zealanders were more playful and the Japanese more serious, t(82) ¼ 6.79, p < 0.001.

Motivational state Telic State Measure. Table 2 presents mean scores and SEM on the TSM (pre- and postexercise session) for the NOSS and Kapa Haka groups. Mixed linear model analyses were performed on the individual measures, and significant main effects and interactions were observed for group time on the serious-playful item, F(1, 80) ¼ 4.10, p ¼ 0.046. For the NOSS group, there was a significant decrease in the serious-playful score, t(80) ¼ 2.68, p ¼ 0.009, which showed that the Japanese NOSS participants were more serious after the dance exercise sessions than before. The Kapa Haka group showed no significant change in the seriousplayful state. There was also a group main effect for felt arousal, F(1, 80) ¼ 7.77, p ¼ 0.007, which indicated that the Kapa Haka dancers experienced a significantly higher arousal level than the NOSS group, t(80) ¼ 2.79, p ¼ 0.007. A group main effect was seen for preferred arousal as well, F(1, 80) ¼ 21.03, p < 0.001. In keeping with their actual experience of arousal, the Kapa Haka participants preferred a significantly higher level of arousal than the NOSS group, t(80) ¼ 4.59, p < 0.001. Finally, the effort item was measured at postsession only as no effort was required preexercise, and this item indicated that the Kapa Haka dancers gave significantly more effort than the NOSS group, t(81) ¼ 2.06, p ¼ 0.027.

Emotions and stress Tension and Effort Stress Inventory. Tables 3–5 present TESI mean scores and SEM for the Japanese and New Zealanders, both pre- and postexercise. For relaxation, there was a significant group time interaction, F(1,78) ¼ 12.33, p < 0.001, as well as a group main effect, F(1, 78) ¼ 10.99, p < 0.001. Specifically, the NOSS group’s relaxation increased significantly from pre- to postexercise, t(78) ¼ 2.38, p ¼ 0.02, whereas the Kapa Haka group’s relaxation

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Time

Group

Group Time GroupTime

NOSS Kapa Haka Preexercise Postexercise NOSSPreexercise NOSSPostexercise Kapa HakaPreexercise Kapa HakaPostexercise

0.17 0.20 0.16 0.16 0.21 0.21 0.25 0.25 F values 3.20 2.05 4.1

P values 0.08 0.16 0.05

SEM

2.30 2.76 2.68 2.39 2.65 1.96 2.71 2.82

Mean

Serious-playful

P values 0.62 0.47 0.3125

2.57 2.71 2.71 2.57 2.75 2.40 2.68 2.74

Mean

F values 0.25 0.53 1.03

0.17 0.21 0.17 0.17 0.22 0.22 0.26 0.26

SEM

Planning-spontaneous

P values 0.01 0.20 0.11

3.74 4.47 3.99 4.22 3.77 3.71 4.21 4.74

Mean

F values 7.77 1.64 2.64

0.17 0.20 0.16 0.16 0.21 0.21 0.24 0.24

SEM

Felt arousal

P values