Prof. Dr. Veronika Job
Universität Wien, Österreich

Current models of mental effort in psychology, behavioral economics, and cognitive neuroscience typically suggest that exerting effort is aversive, and that people avoid it whenever possible. However, in a series of studies we document that there is substantial variation in people’s effort avoidance (as indicated by effort-related behavioral choices), in their willingness to mobilize effort (as assessed by cardiovascular measures), and in self-reports of effort enjoyment. A substantial group of people does not experience effort as inherently costly and rather seems to seek and value effort. In three lines of current research projects, we explore processes through which effort can come to be perceived as valuable and intrinsically rewarding. First, within specific contexts, a learning history of effort-contingent reward can promote demand seeking and preference for exerting cognitive effort on a transfer task via mechanisms of associative learning. Second, generalized effort-enjoyment contingency beliefs seem to be influenced by base-rate trends across contrasting contexts, like other types of pseudocontingencies documented in social-cognition research. Finally, culturally shaped beliefs (implicit theories) about willpower as either a limited or nonlimited resource affect people’s effort-related attitudes and decisions. Taken together this research suggests that the cost or value of effort may not be an inherent feature of effort itself, but rather the result of various types of learning experiences. Thus, when modelling behaviour as the result of a cost-benefit analysis, effort may not contribute exclusively to the costs but can also add value to a course of action.

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