Is providing choices always a good thing? the backfire effect of providing choices on competence restoration

Abstract

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), the purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of providing choices following competence frustration on one’s intrinsic motivation in a follow-up task. Study 1 conducted a between-group EEG experiment with 50 participants and used a component of event-related potentials (ERPs) to represent intrinsic motivation. Study 2 was a behavioural experiment with 149 participants, adopting the self-report method to measure intrinsic motivation. The stimuli and procedure in Study 1 are identical to Study 2. All participants were asked to complete a high-difficult time-estimation (TE) task during sessions 1–2, and a moderate-difficult stopwatch (SW) task during session 3 (no choices in the control group vs. providing choices in the experimental group). In Study 1, we observed a smaller reward positivity (RewP) difference wave in the experimental (vs. control) group during session 3. In Study 2, participants’ intrinsic motivation in the experimental (vs. control) group is significantly lower. The results suggest that providing choices impairs the competence-frustrated participants’ intrinsic motivation in the follow-up task and hinders competence restoration. Thus, the current research contributes original neuroscientific and subjective evidences for the adverse influence of providing choices on the competence-frustrated individual’s intrinsic motivation, and suggests important practical implications.