A moderate financial incentive can increase effort, but not intelligence test performance in adult volunteers

Abstract

A positive correlation between self-reported test-taking motivation and intelligence test performance has been reported. Additionally, some financial incentive experimental evidence suggests that intelligence test performance can be improved, based on the provision of financial incentives. However, only a small percentage of the experimental research has been conducted with adults. Furthermore, virtually none of the intelligence experimental research has measured the impact of financial incentives on test-taking motivation. Consequently, we conducted an experiment with 99 adult volunteers who completed a battery of intelligence tests under two conditions: no financial incentive and financial incentive (counterbalanced). We also measured self-reported test-taking importance and effort at time 1 and time 2. The financial incentive was observed to impact test-taking effort statistically significantly. By contrast, no statistically significant effects were observed for the intelligence test performance scores. Finally, the intelligence test scores were found to correlate positively with both test-taking importance (r = .28) and effort (r = .37), although only effort correlated uniquely with intelligence (partial r = .26). In conjunction with other empirical research, it is concluded that a financial incentive can increase test-taking effort. However, the potential effects on intelligence test performance in adult volunteers seem limited.

Cognitive Ability and Bidding Behavior in Second Price Auctions: An Experimental Study

“…It is common not to provide monetary incentives during the RSPM test in the psychology and psychometric studies (Gill and Prowse ). Furthermore, previous studies observed no significant effect of financial incentives on performance of intelligence test (Borghans, Meijers, and Ter Weel ; Gignac ).…”

A Psychometric Examination of the Anagram Persistence Task: More Than Two Unsolvable Anagrams May Not Be Better

“…A number of nonintellective factors (e.g., competitiveness, compliance with authority), and in particular test-taking motivation, have been theorized and/or shown empirically to be related to psychometric intelligence (Revelle, 1993; Wechsler, 1943; Wise, 2009). In the areas of educational and industrial psychology, a nonnegligible amount of research has substantiated a positive association (≈.20 to .25) between individual differences in test-taking motivation/effort and psychometric intelligence (Duckworth, Quinn, Lynam, Loeber, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2011; Gignac, 2018; Hopfenbeck & Kjærnsli, 2016; Schiel, 1996; Thelk, Sundre, Horst, & Finney, 2009). Consequently, researchers and practitioners have expressed concerns about the possibility that intelligence test scores may be contaminated by individual differences in test-taking motivation (Wise, 2009).…”

Tracking the pressure: The effect of monetary incentives on effort, emotions, and performance.

“…Consistent with the theory above, most of these studies have found that monetary incentives trigger more effort. However, several have found that this effort has failed to translate into better performance (see, e.g., Chowdhury & Karakostas, 2020; Cole et al, 2018; Etchart-Vincent, 2006; Gignac, 2018; Huillery & Seban, 2021; Mohd-Sanusi and Mohd-Iskandar, 2007).…”

“…Studies have measured cognitive effort in different ways. Some studies use measures that are closely related to the performance of the individual (e.g., the amount of time spent in the task; see, for example, Konheim-Kalkstein and van den Broek, 2008; Meloy et al, 2006; Mohd-Sanusi and Mohd-Iskandar, 2007) or self-reported scales (Belle & Cantarelli, 2015; Cole et al, 2018; Gignac, 2018). Other studies rely on pupillometry measures as these indicate increases in short-term memory demand (Eckstein et al, 2017; Piquado et al, 2010; van der Wel & van Steenbergen, 2018).…”

“…A large body of empirical and theoretical literature has analyzed the relation between incentives, cognitive effort, and task performance. On the empirical front, several studies have found that monetary incentives are effective in triggering more effort but do not necessarily improve performance (Chowdhury & Karakostas, 2020; Cole et al, 2018; Etchart-Vincent, 2006; Gignac, 2018; Huillery & Seban, 2021; Mohd-Sanusi and Mohd-Iskandar, 2007). Explanations for this lack of effect on performance refer to tasks that require enormous amounts of effort (Westbrook & Braver, 2015) or individuals with large skill deficits (Bonner & Sprinkle, 2002).…”