Humans are often termed “cognitive misers” for their aversion to mental effort. Both in and outside the laboratory people often show preferences for low-effort tasks and are willing to forgo ...financial reward to avoid more demanding alternatives. Mental effort, however, does not seem to be ubiquitously avoided: people play crosswords, board games, and read novels, all as forms of leisure. While such activities undoubtedly require effort, the type of cognitive demands they impose appear markedly different from the tasks typically used in psychological research on mental effort (e.g., N-Back, Stroop Task, vigilance tasks). We investigate the effect disparate demands, such as tasks which require problem solving (e.g., solve the missing number: 1, 3, 7, 15, 31,?) compared to those which require rule-implementation (e.g., N-Back task), have on people's aversion to or preference for increased mental effort. Across four experiments using three different tasks, and a mixture of online and lab-based settings, we find that aversion to effort remains largely stable regardless of the types of cognitive demands a task imposes. The results are discussed in terms of other factors that might induce the pursuit of mental effort over and above the type of cognitive demands imposed by a task.
When observing human behavior, one of the key factors determining choice is effort. It is often assumed that people prefer an easier course of action when the alternative yields the same benefits. ...However, recent research demonstrates that this is not always the case: effort is not always costly and can also add value. A promising avenue to study effort-based choice is to utilize formal decision models that enable quantitative modeling. In this paper, we aim to present an overview of the current approaches to modeling effort-based choice and discuss some considerations that stem from theoretical and practical issues (present and previous) in studies on the role of effort, focusing on the connections and discrepancies between formal models and the findings from the body of empirical research. Considering that effort can, in some circumstances, act as a cost and as a benefit, reconciling these discrepancies is a practical and theoretical challenge that can ultimately lead to better predictions and increased model validity. Our review identifies and discusses these discrepancies providing direction for future empirical research.
•A considerable body of research considers effort as a decision cost.•The emerging view highlights that exerting effort can also add value.•Models of effort-based choice should account for theory and empirical evidence.
Background Mental effort plays a critical role in regulating cognition. However, the experience of mental effort may differ for individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a ...disorder for which sustained mental effort ‘avoidance’ or ‘dislike’ is a criterion in the DSM. We conducted a scoping review to characterize the literature on the experiences of effort in ADHD. Methods This systematic scoping review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews and Joanna Briggs Methodology. PsycINFO (OVID), PsycINFO (ProQuest) and PubMed were searched for studies published in English before February 14, 2023. Studies must have included an ADHD population or a measure of ADHD symptomatology, in addition to a self-report measure of the experience of effort or the use of an effort preference paradigm. Two researchers reviewed all abstracts, and one researcher reviewed full-text articles. Results Only 12 studies met the inclusion criteria. Several gaps and inconsistencies in the research were identified in terms of method, definitions of effort, measurements of ADHD, and sample characteristics. Moreover, the pattern of results on the experience of effort was mixed. Conclusion Despite its diagnostic and conceptual significance, the experience of mental effort in ADHD is not well studied. Critical gaps were identified in the existing literature. A three-facet conceptualization of effort is proposed–specifically, task-elicited effort, volitionally exerted effort, and the affect associated with engaging in effort – to guide future explorations of the experience of effort in ADHD.
Several studies found a low correlation between two measures of test-taking effort: self-reported effort (SRE) and response time effort (RTE). This study examined test-taking motivation in low-stake ...cognitive ability testing (n = 1614) by applying expectancy-value theory as the framework. We investigated the complex relationship between test performance and test-taking motivation aspects (expectancy, importance, interest, test anxiety, time cost, and test-taking effort). Furthermore, we used both SRE and RTE, allowing us to examine whether the two measures of effort relied on the same underlying mechanism of test-taking motivation. Our finding showed that SRE and RTE simultaneously explained more than half of test performance variance, with the predictive power of RTE being higher. RTE and SRE were correlated lower than expected (r = 0.28). SRE is best predicted by expectancy, while RTE is best predicted by test anxiety. In practice, if motivation-filtering procedures are needed, it is better to use RTE.
•Studies often found a low correlation between self-reported effort (SRE) and response time effort (RTE).•We found that SRE and RTE simultaneously explained more than half of test performance variance.•Test-taking effort has a stronger relationship with expectancy than with value.•SRE is best predicted by expectancy, while RTE is best predicted by test anxiety.•SRE and RTE have different mechanisms of test-taking motivation.
There are situations where the rewards associated with an outcome differ based on whether a certain threshold is exceeded. This paper examines how the threshold affects individual effort levels and ...the performance distribution. When performance uncertainty is small, only individuals near the threshold increase their effort. In contrast, large performance uncertainty increases the likelihood of exceeding the threshold, motivating more people to exert costly efforts. Consequently, the distribution can be either unimodal or bimodal. These findings suggest that examiners can effectively enhance the overall performance of an assessed population by appropriately setting the threshold and managing score uncertainty.
•Low score uncertainty motivates only those near the threshold to improve their scores.•High score uncertainty motivates more people to make an effort as the chance to exceed the threshold increases.•The shape of the score distribution can be unimodal or bimodal.•Examiners can improve the average score by setting the threshold appropriately.
The willingness to exert effort for reward is essential but comes at the cost of fatigue. Theories suggest fatigue increases after both physical and cognitive exertion, subsequently reducing the ...motivation to exert effort. Yet a mechanistic understanding of how this happens on a moment-to-moment basis, and whether mechanisms are common to both mental and physical effort, is lacking. In two studies, participants reported momentary (trial-by-trial) ratings of fatigue during an effort-based decision-making task requiring either physical (grip-force) or cognitive (mental arithmetic) effort. Using a novel computational model, we show that fatigue fluctuates from trial-to-trial as a function of exerted effort and predicts subsequent choices. This mechanism was shared across the domains. Selective to the cognitive domain, committing errors also induced momentary increases in feelings of fatigue. These findings provide insight into the computations underlying the influence of effortful exertion on fatigue and motivation, in both physical and cognitive domains.
The main purpose of this study is to identify the underlying dimensions of consumer complaining and recovery effort and to develop a multidimensional scale to measure this construct. Literature ...suggests that the consumer complaining and recovery effort is a four-dimensional construct consisting of procedural, cognitive, time-related, and affective components. Using data collected from hotel guests, a measurement scale is developed to assess this four-dimensional construct. First, a factor analysis is conducted on one set of data. Afterward, the underlying dimensions identified by the exploratory factor analysis are confirmed by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis on a separate set of data. Findings suggest that the scale developed in this study presents substantial convergent validity, discriminant validity, predictive validity, and reliability.
“Tang-Ping” (TP), referring to “lying flat” literally, has been a buzzword in China web media since 2021. As the opponent of effort-making (EM) behaviors which have both instrumental and purpose ...values in Confucian culture, TP has a negative moral implication in China and has been criticized by the state-owned media. Meanwhile, the meaning of TP also contains a negative form of resistance toward social and organizational inequality, which may be acceptable under unfair circumstances. This study employed the imagined-scenario method to investigate the public’s moral evaluations of TP and EM behaviors under conditions of different return expectations. An online questionnaire with 2 (TP vs. EM) by 2 (low vs. high return expectation) between-participants designed scenarios were employed, along with the measurements of obligation belief of effort (OBE) and improvement belief of effort (IBE) scales (
N
= 210). The results found that (1) TP behaviors were evaluated as morally wrong in general, while EM behaviors were morally right; (2) the return expectation of the scenario moderated the behavior type’s effect on moral evaluation, that EM behaviors were evaluated positively regardless of return expectation, while TP behaviors became acceptable with a neutral score under the low return expectation; (3) both OBE and IBE correlated positively with evaluations of EM while negatively with evaluations of TP. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
Display omitted
•I did two studies to examine the origins of the feeling of effort.•I found that the feeling of effort was correlated with physiological effort.•However, this relationship seemed ...spurious, not causal.
The feeling of effort is familiar to most, if not all, humans. Prior research shows that the feeling of effort shapes judgments (e.g., of agency) and decisions (e.g., to quit the current task) in various ways, but the proximal causes of the feeling of effort are not well understood. In this research, I address these proximal causes. In particular, I conducted two preregistered experiments in which participants performed a difficult vs. easy cognitive task, while I measured effort-related phenomenology (feeling of effort) and physiology (pupil dilation) on a moment-to-moment basis. In both experiments, difficult tasks increased the feeling of effort; however, this effect could not be explained by concurrent increases in physiological effort. To explain these findings, I suggest that the feeling of effort during mental activity stems from the decision to exert physiological effort, rather than from physiological effort itself.
PDF
