Conscientiousness and effort-related cardiac activity in response to piece-rate cash incentives
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Kari Eddington (Creator)
- Thomas R. Kwapil, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Paul Silvia, Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
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.
Conscientiousness and effort-related cardiac activity in response to piece-rate cash incentives
PDF (Portable Document Format)
335 KB
Created on 2/12/2020
Views: 997
Additional Information
- Publication
- Motivation and Emotion, 42(3), 377-385
- Language: English
- Date: 2018
- Keywords
- Conscientiousness, Effort , Motivation, Incentives, Impedance cardiography, Pre-ejection period