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Goal pursuit and energy conservation: energy investment increases with task demand but does not equal it

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Abstract

According to motivational intensity theory, energy investment in goal pursuit is determined by the motivation to avoid wasting energy. Two experiments tested this hypothesis by manipulating the difficulty of an isometric hand grip task across four levels in a between-persons (Study 1) and a within-persons (Study 2) design. Supporting motivational intensity theory’s prediction, the results showed that invested energy—indicated by exerted grip force—was a function of task difficulty: The higher the difficulty, the higher the energy investment. However, the data also indicated that participants invested considerably more energy than required, questioning the primacy of energy conservation.

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Notes

  1. These predictions only hold if task difficulty is fixed and known. A comprehensive discussion of all predictions of motivational intensity theory can be found in Richter (2013).

  2. Participants' maximum force was assessed to assure that the requested force standards did not exceed participants' maximum force (i.e., to assure that task success was possible). It was also assessed to control for individual differences in maximum force in the statistical analysis of exerted force.

  3. Bayesian t tests were conducted using a unit-information prior with known variance, the same prior that underlies the BIC calculation.

  4. Classical null hypothesis significance testing resulted in F(1, 68) = 25.16, p < .001, MSE = 1,126.29 for the linear effect of task difficulty on peak force and F(1, 68) = 10.56, p = .002, MSE = 642,391.26 for the linear effect of task difficulty on FTI.

  5. For both experiments, all analyses were also conducted controlling for participants' maximum force. Given that this did virtually not change the results, only the uncorrected analyses are reported.

  6. The mean of the individual coefficients of variation was 25.41. The ICC [1, 1] was .64.

  7. Classical null hypothesis significance testing resulted in F(1, 48) = 50.03, p < .001, MSE = 388.92 for the linear effect of task difficulty on peak force and F(1, 48) = 78.99, p < .001, MSE = 96,549.39 for the linear effect of task difficulty on FTI.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a research Grant (10014_134586) from the Swiss National Science Foundation. I am grateful to Kerstin Brinkmann and Guido H. E. Gendolla for comments on an early version of this article.

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  1. Geneva Motivation Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland

    Michael Richter

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Richter, M. Goal pursuit and energy conservation: energy investment increases with task demand but does not equal it. Motiv Emot 39, 25–33 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-014-9429-y

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