(Un)Locking self-motivation: Action versus state orientation moderates the effect of demanding conditions on self-regulatory performance

From intentions to action: An integrative review of action control theory and research

“…A second distinctive problem for action-oriented people is that they need a certain amount of challenge to bring out the best in themselves. A consistent finding in action-From Intentions to Action 79 theoretical research is that action-oriented people show their best performance when dealing with more (rather than less) demanding tasks and in more (rather than less) demanding situations Waldenmeier et al, 2023). This pattern resonates Ach's (1910) classic law of difficulty, which states that volition is selectively engaged when people encounter difficulties in their goal pursuits.…”

“…As a case in point, such difficulty avoidance has been observed among unemployed German academics, who were found to refrain from forming explicit intentions for difficult tasks, as indicated by objective tests (Kazén & Kuhl, 2005). Difficulty avoidance may explain why, in recent decades, growing numbers of young men underperform in work and education settings (Baumeister, 2010;Bertocchi & Bozzano, 2020;David & Melanie, 2013; for preliminary evidence linking this sex difference to actionstate orientation, see Waldenmeier et al, 2023).…”