Many theories argue that goal striving is more intense when people have optimistic expectancies f... more Many theories argue that goal striving is more intense when people have optimistic expectancies for achieving the goal and when attention is self-focused. Brehm's motivational intensity theory, however, predicts that the intensity of motivation is only as high as necessary, so people will try harder for difficult tasks than for easy tasks, all else equal. The present experiment compared these two approaches by manipulating two levels of self-focused attention (low and high selfawareness, via a mirror) and two levels of task difficulty (easy and difficult). Effort was assessed as cardiovascular reactivity, particularly change in systolic blood pressure. Neither high selffocus nor an easy task per se caused increased effort; instead, high self-focus significantly increased systolic reactivity when the task was difficult. Effort was thus higher despite less optimistic goal expectancies, a finding that is predicted by Brehm's motivational intensity theory but not by traditional self-regulation models.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Jul 1, 1999
The present experiment tested the assumption that mood effects in evaluative online judgments are... more The present experiment tested the assumption that mood effects in evaluative online judgments are influenced by two processes. The integration of mood as one piece of information into the overall judgment produces assimilation. The comparison of a judgmental issue with a meaningful standard of reference produces contrast. The standard of reference that produces the contrast effect can sometimes be the same thing that produces the mood state, which in turn, produces the assimilation effect. Participants were induced into a positive or negative mood and then rated their satisfaction with three life domains that were differently related to the mood-inducing event. The data revealed a crossover interaction reflecting a mood assimilation effect when no similarity between mood-inducing event and judgmental domain existed, no observable effect in the case of moderate similarity, and a mood-inducing event contrast effect in high similarity conditions. The within-cell correlations between mood and judgments were all positive.
x/full ***Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permis... more x/full ***Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permission from Wiley-Blackwell. This version of the document is not the version of record. Figures and/or pictures may be missing from this format of the document.
This article presents a quasi‐experiment (N = 79 university students) testing whether individual ... more This article presents a quasi‐experiment (N = 79 university students) testing whether individual differences in action‐state orientation moderate primed cognitive conflict's effects on sympathetically mediated cardiac response during task performance reflecting effort. Action control theory posits that action‐oriented individuals are less receptive to distracting affective stimuli during goal pursuit than state‐oriented individuals because action‐orientation is related to higher volitional skills. Therefore, we expected that action‐oriented individuals should be shielded against conflict primes' effect on effort‐related responses in the cardiovascular system. By contrast, state‐oriented individuals should be more sensitive to irrelevant negative affective stimulation and therefore mobilize higher resources under such conditions. Responses of the cardiac pre‐ejection period (PEP) during a moderately difficult short‐term memory task corroborated these predictions. The present findings provide the first evidence that individual differences in action‐state orientation indeed moderate previously demonstrated cognitive conflict priming effects on effort‐related cardiac response and extend recent findings on action shielding.
Memorializes Robert A. Wicklund (1941-2020). Wicklund was born in Seattle, WA, December 1, 1941. ... more Memorializes Robert A. Wicklund (1941-2020). Wicklund was born in Seattle, WA, December 1, 1941. At the time of his death on December 12, 2020, he maintained residences in Bainbridge Island, WA, and Bielefeld, Germany. Bob earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington and his doctorate at Duke University in 1968. He held primary faculty positions at the University of Texas at Austin, Universität Bielefeld, and the Università di Trieste, and secondary appointments at numerous institutions, including the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, University of Bergen, Universität Mannheim, and Università di Palermo. Bob was a scholar's scholar who dedicated his entire life to understanding psychological phenomena, and to sharing his ideas with others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
International Journal of Psychophysiology, Sep 1, 2009
This study investigated whether a pleasant task with high potential for mood regulation could eli... more This study investigated whether a pleasant task with high potential for mood regulation could eliminate the motivational deficit of people facing a difficult task in a negative mood. Cardiovascular and facial EMG reactivity of 88 University students were measured during habituation, mood inductions, and an either pleasant or unpleasant scenario completion task that was either easy or difficult. In the unpleasant condition cardiovascular reactivity was modest, particularly in the negative-mood/difficult condition. But when the task was pleasant, cardiovascular reactivity in the negative-mood/difficult condition was stronger than in all other conditions, reflecting the elimination of the motivational deficit. Moreover, facial EMG reactivity indicated efficient mood manipulations. In summary, the findings are interpreted as further support for the mood-behavior-model [Gendolla, G.H.E., 2000. On the impact of mood on behavior: an integrative theory and a review. Rev. Gen. Psychol. 4, 378-408].
Gendolla GH. Motivationale Erregung und statisches Denken. Berichte aus der Psychologie. Aachen: ... more Gendolla GH. Motivationale Erregung und statisches Denken. Berichte aus der Psychologie. Aachen: Shaker; 1995
A laboratory experiment examined a cognitive response (static thinking) to the stressful experien... more A laboratory experiment examined a cognitive response (static thinking) to the stressful experience of a shortcoming. Psychology freshmen performed a memory task that was manipulated in terms of its psychological relevance and ditliculty. Additionally. experienced press to succeed was quantified in terms of the specificity of participants' professional goal in the area of psychology. A control condition performed no task. Dependent measures were personal characteristics ascribed to professional psychologists. The results indicated a strong general tendency to use dispositions to describe others. But in accordance with theoretical predictions by Wicklund (1986a, I986b). the orientation to traits and external qualities of professional psychologists (i.e.. experts) after failure on a psychologically relevant task was correlated with the level of specificity of participants' professional goal in the area of psychology. These findings suggest that the general orientation to dispositions when describing others is replaced by the process of static thinking after the stressful experience ofpersonal incompetence and when the persons to be described are experts. 'I would like to thank Bob Wicklund, Jack Brehm.
Two experiments tested the combined effect of pain and monetary incentive on effort-related cardi... more Two experiments tested the combined effect of pain and monetary incentive on effort-related cardiovascular response during cognitive performance. Healthy volunteers received individually adjusted painful or nonpainful thermal stimulations during a difficult cognitive task and expected high or low monetary incentive for successful performance. Our primary cardiovascular effort measure were responses of cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) during task performance. Based on the pain literature suggesting that pain adds supplementary demand in cognitive functioning, we predicted pain to increase subjective task difficulty. Moreover, based on motivational intensity theory, we expected this to increase effort only when high effort was justified by high monetary incentive. Correspondingly, we predicted pain to lead to low effort due to disengagement when monetary incentive was low. Effort in the nonpainful conditions was expected to fall in between these conditions. The results of both studies offered support to our predictions. Our findings provide the first evidence for the moderating effect of monetary incentive on physical pain's impact on effort. This suggests that motivational incentives can counteract effort deficits associated with pain. Clinical implications are discussed.
De quelle maniere et dans quelle mesure notre humeur influence-t-elle notre motivation a realiser... more De quelle maniere et dans quelle mesure notre humeur influence-t-elle notre motivation a realiser une tâche ? Afin de repondre a ces questions, ce chapitre presente un modele permettant de faire des predictions sur l’influence de l’humeur sur la mobilisation de l’effort : le « mood-behavior-model » (MBM ; Gendolla, 2000). Tout d’abord, ce modele postule que les humeurs n’ont pas d’implications stables et specifiques mais que leurs effets dependent plutot du contexte dans lequel elles interviennent. Ainsi, dans des contextes demandant un effort, par exemple pendant une tâche cognitive, il est predit que les humeurs influencent l’evaluation de la difficulte subjective de la tâche qui determine a son tour la mobilisation des ressources (voir Brehm et Self, 1989). En plus de cet impact informationnel de l’humeur, le modele predit egalement un impact directif sur les preferences comportementales pour des actions permettant une regulation de l’humeur. Selon le MBM, ces deux impacts, informationnel et directif, interagissent entre eux pour determiner le niveau d’effort mobilise dans une tâche. Apres une presentation theorique des concepts utilises et du MBM, la suite de ce chapitre decrit des etudes empiriques illustrant et supportant les predictions du modele. Des recherches recentes sur l’influence des affects implicites sur la mobilisation de l’effort sont presentees a la fin du chapitre.
Adaptive human behavior and physiology, Aug 11, 2017
Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model and evidence that aging is associated with cogni... more Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model and evidence that aging is associated with cognitive difficulties, this experiment investigated the effect of masked age primes on young adults' effort-related cardiovascular response during a mental arithmetic task. We predicted that elderly primes should activate the aging stereotype and thus render the performance difficulty concept accessible, while youth primes should activate the performance ease concept-similarly, as affect primes do. The accessible difficulty or ease concepts, in turn, should influence experienced demand and thus effort-related cardiovascular response during cognitive performance. A neutral prime control condition should fall into these conditions. We found the expected effects on performance-related responses of heart rate (HR) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP): For both measures, the elderly primes led to the strongest reactivity, the youth primes led to the weakest reactivity, and the neutral-prime control condition fell in between these conditions.
Many theories argue that goal striving is more intense when people have optimistic expectancies f... more Many theories argue that goal striving is more intense when people have optimistic expectancies for achieving the goal and when attention is self-focused. Brehm's motivational intensity theory, however, predicts that the intensity of motivation is only as high as necessary, so people will try harder for difficult tasks than for easy tasks, all else equal. The present experiment compared these two approaches by manipulating two levels of self-focused attention (low and high selfawareness, via a mirror) and two levels of task difficulty (easy and difficult). Effort was assessed as cardiovascular reactivity, particularly change in systolic blood pressure. Neither high selffocus nor an easy task per se caused increased effort; instead, high self-focus significantly increased systolic reactivity when the task was difficult. Effort was thus higher despite less optimistic goal expectancies, a finding that is predicted by Brehm's motivational intensity theory but not by traditional self-regulation models.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Jul 1, 1999
The present experiment tested the assumption that mood effects in evaluative online judgments are... more The present experiment tested the assumption that mood effects in evaluative online judgments are influenced by two processes. The integration of mood as one piece of information into the overall judgment produces assimilation. The comparison of a judgmental issue with a meaningful standard of reference produces contrast. The standard of reference that produces the contrast effect can sometimes be the same thing that produces the mood state, which in turn, produces the assimilation effect. Participants were induced into a positive or negative mood and then rated their satisfaction with three life domains that were differently related to the mood-inducing event. The data revealed a crossover interaction reflecting a mood assimilation effect when no similarity between mood-inducing event and judgmental domain existed, no observable effect in the case of moderate similarity, and a mood-inducing event contrast effect in high similarity conditions. The within-cell correlations between mood and judgments were all positive.
x/full ***Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permis... more x/full ***Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permission from Wiley-Blackwell. This version of the document is not the version of record. Figures and/or pictures may be missing from this format of the document.
This article presents a quasi‐experiment (N = 79 university students) testing whether individual ... more This article presents a quasi‐experiment (N = 79 university students) testing whether individual differences in action‐state orientation moderate primed cognitive conflict's effects on sympathetically mediated cardiac response during task performance reflecting effort. Action control theory posits that action‐oriented individuals are less receptive to distracting affective stimuli during goal pursuit than state‐oriented individuals because action‐orientation is related to higher volitional skills. Therefore, we expected that action‐oriented individuals should be shielded against conflict primes' effect on effort‐related responses in the cardiovascular system. By contrast, state‐oriented individuals should be more sensitive to irrelevant negative affective stimulation and therefore mobilize higher resources under such conditions. Responses of the cardiac pre‐ejection period (PEP) during a moderately difficult short‐term memory task corroborated these predictions. The present findings provide the first evidence that individual differences in action‐state orientation indeed moderate previously demonstrated cognitive conflict priming effects on effort‐related cardiac response and extend recent findings on action shielding.
Memorializes Robert A. Wicklund (1941-2020). Wicklund was born in Seattle, WA, December 1, 1941. ... more Memorializes Robert A. Wicklund (1941-2020). Wicklund was born in Seattle, WA, December 1, 1941. At the time of his death on December 12, 2020, he maintained residences in Bainbridge Island, WA, and Bielefeld, Germany. Bob earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington and his doctorate at Duke University in 1968. He held primary faculty positions at the University of Texas at Austin, Universität Bielefeld, and the Università di Trieste, and secondary appointments at numerous institutions, including the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, University of Bergen, Universität Mannheim, and Università di Palermo. Bob was a scholar's scholar who dedicated his entire life to understanding psychological phenomena, and to sharing his ideas with others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
International Journal of Psychophysiology, Sep 1, 2009
This study investigated whether a pleasant task with high potential for mood regulation could eli... more This study investigated whether a pleasant task with high potential for mood regulation could eliminate the motivational deficit of people facing a difficult task in a negative mood. Cardiovascular and facial EMG reactivity of 88 University students were measured during habituation, mood inductions, and an either pleasant or unpleasant scenario completion task that was either easy or difficult. In the unpleasant condition cardiovascular reactivity was modest, particularly in the negative-mood/difficult condition. But when the task was pleasant, cardiovascular reactivity in the negative-mood/difficult condition was stronger than in all other conditions, reflecting the elimination of the motivational deficit. Moreover, facial EMG reactivity indicated efficient mood manipulations. In summary, the findings are interpreted as further support for the mood-behavior-model [Gendolla, G.H.E., 2000. On the impact of mood on behavior: an integrative theory and a review. Rev. Gen. Psychol. 4, 378-408].
Gendolla GH. Motivationale Erregung und statisches Denken. Berichte aus der Psychologie. Aachen: ... more Gendolla GH. Motivationale Erregung und statisches Denken. Berichte aus der Psychologie. Aachen: Shaker; 1995
A laboratory experiment examined a cognitive response (static thinking) to the stressful experien... more A laboratory experiment examined a cognitive response (static thinking) to the stressful experience of a shortcoming. Psychology freshmen performed a memory task that was manipulated in terms of its psychological relevance and ditliculty. Additionally. experienced press to succeed was quantified in terms of the specificity of participants' professional goal in the area of psychology. A control condition performed no task. Dependent measures were personal characteristics ascribed to professional psychologists. The results indicated a strong general tendency to use dispositions to describe others. But in accordance with theoretical predictions by Wicklund (1986a, I986b). the orientation to traits and external qualities of professional psychologists (i.e.. experts) after failure on a psychologically relevant task was correlated with the level of specificity of participants' professional goal in the area of psychology. These findings suggest that the general orientation to dispositions when describing others is replaced by the process of static thinking after the stressful experience ofpersonal incompetence and when the persons to be described are experts. 'I would like to thank Bob Wicklund, Jack Brehm.
Two experiments tested the combined effect of pain and monetary incentive on effort-related cardi... more Two experiments tested the combined effect of pain and monetary incentive on effort-related cardiovascular response during cognitive performance. Healthy volunteers received individually adjusted painful or nonpainful thermal stimulations during a difficult cognitive task and expected high or low monetary incentive for successful performance. Our primary cardiovascular effort measure were responses of cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) during task performance. Based on the pain literature suggesting that pain adds supplementary demand in cognitive functioning, we predicted pain to increase subjective task difficulty. Moreover, based on motivational intensity theory, we expected this to increase effort only when high effort was justified by high monetary incentive. Correspondingly, we predicted pain to lead to low effort due to disengagement when monetary incentive was low. Effort in the nonpainful conditions was expected to fall in between these conditions. The results of both studies offered support to our predictions. Our findings provide the first evidence for the moderating effect of monetary incentive on physical pain's impact on effort. This suggests that motivational incentives can counteract effort deficits associated with pain. Clinical implications are discussed.
De quelle maniere et dans quelle mesure notre humeur influence-t-elle notre motivation a realiser... more De quelle maniere et dans quelle mesure notre humeur influence-t-elle notre motivation a realiser une tâche ? Afin de repondre a ces questions, ce chapitre presente un modele permettant de faire des predictions sur l’influence de l’humeur sur la mobilisation de l’effort : le « mood-behavior-model » (MBM ; Gendolla, 2000). Tout d’abord, ce modele postule que les humeurs n’ont pas d’implications stables et specifiques mais que leurs effets dependent plutot du contexte dans lequel elles interviennent. Ainsi, dans des contextes demandant un effort, par exemple pendant une tâche cognitive, il est predit que les humeurs influencent l’evaluation de la difficulte subjective de la tâche qui determine a son tour la mobilisation des ressources (voir Brehm et Self, 1989). En plus de cet impact informationnel de l’humeur, le modele predit egalement un impact directif sur les preferences comportementales pour des actions permettant une regulation de l’humeur. Selon le MBM, ces deux impacts, informationnel et directif, interagissent entre eux pour determiner le niveau d’effort mobilise dans une tâche. Apres une presentation theorique des concepts utilises et du MBM, la suite de ce chapitre decrit des etudes empiriques illustrant et supportant les predictions du modele. Des recherches recentes sur l’influence des affects implicites sur la mobilisation de l’effort sont presentees a la fin du chapitre.
Adaptive human behavior and physiology, Aug 11, 2017
Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model and evidence that aging is associated with cogni... more Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model and evidence that aging is associated with cognitive difficulties, this experiment investigated the effect of masked age primes on young adults' effort-related cardiovascular response during a mental arithmetic task. We predicted that elderly primes should activate the aging stereotype and thus render the performance difficulty concept accessible, while youth primes should activate the performance ease concept-similarly, as affect primes do. The accessible difficulty or ease concepts, in turn, should influence experienced demand and thus effort-related cardiovascular response during cognitive performance. A neutral prime control condition should fall into these conditions. We found the expected effects on performance-related responses of heart rate (HR) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP): For both measures, the elderly primes led to the strongest reactivity, the youth primes led to the weakest reactivity, and the neutral-prime control condition fell in between these conditions.
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