2020
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00287
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Losses Motivate Cognitive Effort More Than Gains in Effort-Based Decision Making and Performance

Abstract: Human behavior is more strongly driven by the motivation to avoid losses than to pursue gains (loss aversion). However, there is little research on how losses influence the motivation to exert effort. We compared the effects of loss and gain incentives on cognitive task performance and effort-based decision making. In three experiments, participants performed a cognitively effortful task under gain and loss conditions and made choices about effort expenditure in a decision-making task. Results consistently sho… Show more

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Cited by 25 publications
(37 citation statements)
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“…Our main prediction was that the loss incentive would increase motivation for young adults, but decrease it for older adults. We did not expect to find incentive effects on measures more closely related to perceived mental demand, effort, frustration, and similar constructs, as the relatively open-ended nature of the working memory task used here allows participants to adjust their level of effort according to their level of motivation (see Jang et al, 2020 for earlier discussion of this hypothesis and Zhang et al, 2021 for related data; Massar et al, 2020 for evidence that task parameters may determine whether performance and subjective measures align).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 95%
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“…Our main prediction was that the loss incentive would increase motivation for young adults, but decrease it for older adults. We did not expect to find incentive effects on measures more closely related to perceived mental demand, effort, frustration, and similar constructs, as the relatively open-ended nature of the working memory task used here allows participants to adjust their level of effort according to their level of motivation (see Jang et al, 2020 for earlier discussion of this hypothesis and Zhang et al, 2021 for related data; Massar et al, 2020 for evidence that task parameters may determine whether performance and subjective measures align).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 95%
“…Likewise, in recognition memory situations, including probe-recognition working memory tasks like the one used here, older adults often show a liberal biasi.e., a bias towards incorrectly saying that unstudied items were members of the memory set (Huh et al, 2006). To our knowledge, the Thurm et al, (2018) study is the only incentiveworking memory study to examine potential age differences in incentive effects on bias; young but not older adults showed increased conservatism in response to gain incentive (see also young adult data in Massar et al, 2020). As noted earlier, this study used a trialwise incentive manipulation and the authors speculated that the lack of incentive effects for older adults could reflect difficulties in switching reward context.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 96%
“…Ao realizar uma tarefa, a justificativa do esforço dá-se quando há uma ligação proporcional com uma recompensa clara, pois, quando esta não depende exclusivamente do esforço, tende a ser pouco valorizada e o esforço, superestimado (Harmon-Jones et al, 2020). Além disso, a busca por evitar perdas possui maior influência na disposição em empenhar esforço do que a obtenção de ganhos (Massar, Pu, Chen, & Chee, 2020). Assim, pode-se inferir que atividades com foco em ganhos tendem a ser mais procrastinadas.…”
Section: Esforço Percebidounclassified
“…Apesar de pesquisas anteriores sinalizarem uma relação positiva entre o comportamento de procrastinar e o desperdício de alimentos, a exemplo dos estudos de Blichfeldt et al (2015) e de Porpino et al (2016), o resultado da primeira hipótese (H1) mostra-se contraintuitivo, visto que não foi suportada. Isso possivelmente é explicado devido à existência de um engajamento maior dos indivíduos em atividades com foco em evitar resultados negativos, ao invés de obtenção de ganhos (Massar et al, 2020). Assim, mesmo que possuam uma maior tendência à procrastinação, eles estão propensos a esforçar-se para aproveitar os alimentos em sua totalidade e procurar meios de prolongar seu tempo de vida útil, porquanto o desperdício resultaria na necessidade de dedicar mais tempo ao preparo de novas refeições e à realização de compras, e, conforme apontam Langan e Kumar (2019), a dedicação de tempo representa um alto custo.…”
Section: Análises Das Hipótesesunclassified
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