Areas for Future Research
Further research is needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying AAMs. This will advance our theoretical understanding of mindsets and facilitate the design of interventions that target the most critical pathways in a given context. We theorize that AAMs induce a range of affective, behavioral, and physiological processes, which in turn shape health and well-being (as shown by an extensive evidence base; see the In addition, the relationship between AAM and actual physical activity merits further study. We did not find robust evidence that more adequate activity mindsets lead to higher physical activity levels. Perhaps mindset does not in fact shape physical activity. Alternatively, there may be counteracting forces. For example, an adequate activity mindset may Moreover, future research could shed light on how individuals interpret step count. For example, a possible reason why the inflated step count condition failed to induce more adequate activity mindsets (compared with accurate step count) is that people may be less sensitive to changes in step count beyond a certain threshold. Participants reached approximately 7000 steps per day on average, which translates into a deflated step count of 4200 and an inflated step count of 9800. Participants may have perceived 7000 and 9800 steps as qualitatively similar (ie, in the high thousands but below the common 10,000-step target), whereas 4200 may have seemed qualitatively different (ie, <5000 steps and, thus, relatively low). This is consistent with previous findings that mindsets are a subjective interpretation of reality, which can be influenced by factors such as social comparison, guidelines, and targets [Finally, future research could examine the role of mindsets in predicting wearable tracker adoption, abandonment, and user engagement, which are major obstacles to trackers’ effectiveness as well as their systematic evaluation [