Abstract
Although conscientiousness predicts many aspects of motivation, from delay of gratification to higher achievement, its relationship to responses to monetary incentives is surprisingly inconsistent. Several studies have found null or negative relationships between conscientiousness and behavioral performance in piece-rate, pay-for-performance tasks, in which people earn money for each unit of work completed. In the present study, we examined the role of conscientiousness in effort-related cardiac activity and behavioral performance during a pay-for-performance task. People worked on a self-paced, piece-rate cognitive task in which they earned 1 cent or 5 cents, manipulated within-person, for each correct response. Conscientiousness predicted greater physiological effort (i.e., shorter pre-ejection period [PEP] reactivity) as incentives increased but had no effect on behavioral performance. The findings suggest that conscientiousness is significantly related to effort for piece-rate tasks, and they reinforce a core idea in motivational intensity theory: effort, performance, and persistence are distinct outcomes that often diverge, so drawing conclusions about effort from performance can be complex.
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Notes
As noted, all 6 HEXACO traits were included in the analyses to control for the minor overlap between them. The other 5 traits showed the expected range of variability: honesty-humility (M = 3.41, SD = .55), emotionality (M = 3.50, SD = .60), extraversion (M = 3.68, SD = .51), agreeableness (M = 3.04, SD = .48), and openness to experience (M = 3.33, SD = .47).
Regarding the other HEXACO factors, the between-person main effects on PEP were non-significant: honesty-humility (β = .03, p = .398), emotionality/neuroticism (β = − .10, p = .163), extraversion (β = .01, p = .476), agreeableness (β = .06, p = .282), and openness to experience (β = .00, p = .494). For the interaction of personality traits and time period, there was a significant interaction for emotionality, β = − .28, p = .011. As with conscientiousness, people higher in emotionality responded more strongly to the incentives. The interaction effects were not significant for honesty-humility (β = − .03, p = .395), extraversion (β = .18, p = .089), agreeableness (β = .01, p = .460), and openness to experience (β = − .12, p = .166).
For the other HEXACO factors, the main effects on RZ were non-significant: honesty-humility (β = − .01, p = .466), emotionality/neuroticism (β = − .14, p = .089), extraversion (β = − .04, p = .338), agreeableness (β = .03, p = .392), and openness to experience (β = − .01, p = .446). For the interactions of personality traits and time period, there was a significant interaction for emotionality, β = − .22, p = .034. The interaction effects were not significant for honesty-humility (β = − .06, p = .310), extraversion (β = .20, p = .056), agreeableness (β = .05, p = .349), and openness to experience (β = − .15, p = .107).
For the other HEXACO factors, the main effects on IBI were all non-significant: honesty-humility (β = .14, p = .132), emotionality/neuroticism (β = − .12, p = .132), extraversion (β = .00, p = .476), agreeableness (β = .04, p = .344), and openness to experience (β = .07, p = .241). For the interactions of personality traits and time period, there was a significant effect involving honesty-humility (β = .28, p = .050) but no other significant interactions: emotionality (β = − .12, p = .238), extraversion (β = .05, p = .384), agreeableness (β = − .10, p = .276), and openness to experience (β = .23, p = .088).
For performance in the 1-cent and 5-cents conditions, respectively, no significant relationships were found for the other HEXACO traits: honesty-humility (β = − .12, p = .404; β = − .28, p = .075), emotionality (β = .24, p = .092; β = .00, p = .996), extraversion (β = − .09, p = .405; β = .00, p = .978), agreeableness (β = .05, p = .746; β = .11, p = .424), and openness to experience (β = − .05, p = .732; β = .02, p = .902).
For ratings of how difficult people found the task and how well they did on it, respectively, the other HEXACO factors had non-significant relationships: honesty-humility (β = .19, p = .203; β = − .23, p = .151), emotionality (β = − .03, p = .851; β = .07, p = .609), extraversion (β = .24, p = .127; β = − .06, p = .710), agreeableness (β = − .23, p = .086; β = .23, p = .102), and openness to experience (β = .09, p = .552; β = .05, p = .696).
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under award number R15MH079374. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Some of these findings were presented at the annual meetings of the Southeastern Psychological Association and the Society of Southeastern Social Psychologists. We’re grateful to Sherrod Hinson, Ashley McHone, Zuzana Mironovová, David Kyle Nelson, and Jackson Thomas for their assistance with this research.
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Harper, K.L., Silvia, P.J., Eddington, K.M. et al. Conscientiousness and effort-related cardiac activity in response to piece-rate cash incentives. Motiv Emot 42, 377–385 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9668-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9668-4