Motivational Interference Research Articles

Brief Research Report: Motivational Regulation and Motivational Interference During Study and Leisure

As adolescents pursue both academic and nonacademic goals, experiencing motivational interference between studying and leisure is universal and prevalent. Because motivational interference experiences occur not only in academic contexts but also in nonacademic contexts, we adopted a broad perspective encompassing both contexts to build a more holistic understanding of motivational processes. We focused on two common situations that students encounter in daily life between a school activity (i.e., studying) and a leisure activity (i.e., watching TV). Using cross-lagged panel analysis with two waves of data (N = 271), we revealed three noteworthy findings. First, students were likely to report experiencing motivational interference even after a year in both academic and nonacademic contexts. Second, within each time point, motivational regulation was negatively associated with motivational interference during studying but positively associated with motivational interference during leisure. Third, there was a negative reciprocal relationship between motivational interference during studying and motivational regulation. Although students with higher motivational interference during studying would benefit from using various motivational regulation strategies, they were less likely to do so in the following year. Additionally, students with lower motivational regulation skills were more likely to experience higher motivational interference during studying in the following year.

Self-Efficacy in Habit Building: How General and Habit-Specific Self-Efficacy Influence Behavioral Automatization and Motivational Interference.

In this article, we investigate the role of self-efficacy (SE) in intentional habit building. We analyzed event sampling data from a habit building app we created that helps define and track habit data. We used hierarchical growth curve modeling and multilevel mediation to test our hypotheses. In a first study, N = 91 university students built new study habits over a period of 6 weeks in a controlled study. We found that the trait-like (Level 2) general self-efficacy predicted automaticity (i.e., habit strength) but not the experience of motivational interference (MI). In a second study with real user data, N = 265 idiographic habits have been analyzed. The specific SE associated with these habits – habit-specific self-efficacy (Level 1, HSE) – was measured during habit formation. We found that lagged HSE predicted automaticity and that lagged automaticity predicted HSE, indicating a positive feedback mechanism in habit building. Furthermore, we found that lagged HSE predicted less MI during habit performance. A multilevel mediation analysis showed significant effects of lagged HSE (Level 1) and aggregated HSE (Level 2) on MI, which were both partially mediated by automaticity. These results show the importance of defining the specificity of SE beliefs and how they interact with automaticity in the habit building process.

Intrinsic motivation, favorability, time management, and achievement: A cross-lagged panel analysis

Informed by theoretical frameworks and related literature concerning intrinsic motivation, favorability, motivational interference, and time management, the current study uses cross-lagged panel models to investigate the longitudinal relations among homework intrinsic motivation, favorability, time management, and math achievement, using data from 1450 Chinese 8th graders over two time points. Results indicated there were positive reciprocal influences of intrinsic motivation and favorability; higher prior intrinsic motivation led to higher subsequent favorability, and higher prior favorability led to higher subsequent intrinsic motivation. Additionally, higher prior time management resulted in higher subsequent intrinsic motivation, favorability, and math achievement. Finally, our study suggests that measuring favorability could be a complementary approach to investigate motivational conflicts in the field of motivational interference.

Motive Satisfaction in Chronic Pain Patients: Does It Improve in Multidisciplinary Inpatient Treatment and, if so, Does It Matter?

According to consistency theory, insufficient motive satisfaction (motivational incongruence) is associated with psychological distress and mental disorders. High levels of distress and comorbid psychological disorders are common in patients with chronic pain. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of motivational incongruence in chronic pain patients and the association of incongruence change with symptom improvement. Inpatients with chronic pain in multimodal interdisciplinary treatment (n = 177) completed questionnaires measuring motivational incongruence, psychological distress, pain intensity and pain interference at the beginning and end of a multimodal interdisciplinary inpatient treatment program at a tertiary psychosomatic university clinic. Results demonstrated that pain and motivational incongruence were significantly reduced at post-treatment, and reductions in incongruence were associated with reductions in psychological distress. In particular, better satisfaction of approach motives mediated the association between reduction of pain interference and psychological distress at post-treatment. Findings suggest that a reduction of motivational incongruence may be part of successful treatment of chronic pain.

App-Based Habit Building Reduces Motivational Impairments During Studying - An Event Sampling Study.

In this app-based event sampling study, we observed the intentional formation of new study habits. A sample of 91 university students defined individual study habits and logged data over 6 weeks on motivational conflict, motivational interference (MI) and automaticity of behavior after each habit repetition using an app on their phone. The app was specifically created for this study and gave feedback on habit automaticity. A total of N = 2,574 habit repetitions have been generated and were analyzed using multilevel modeling. The results suggest that (1) app-based intentional habit building works, as automaticity of behavior could be predicted by habit repetition, (2) motivational impairments during studying can be reduced by building habits, as want conflicts and MI decreased with automaticity, and (3) trait self-control supports studying indirectly by fostering habit building rather than directly by suppressing impulses during the activity, as self-control predicted automaticity, but not motivational impairments during the habit execution. The effect of self-control on automaticity of the new study habit was fully mediated by the general automaticity of the students’ other study habits (general study habit strength). This study showcases an app-guided genesis of new study habits and its beneficial motivational effects for learning behavior.

Effect of regret on motivational interference among college students: Regret coping strategy as a mediator and social support as a moderator

Effect of regret on motivational interference among college students: Regret coping strategy as a mediator and social support as a moderator

The long arm of work: A motivational conflict perspective on teacher strain

Teacher strain is seen typically as a phenomenon within the job domain. Drawing on effort-recovery theory as well as on research on work–family conflict and motivational interference, we propose that intrapsychic conflict between different life domains also contributes to teachers' emotional exhaustion. Findings based on self-reports of 234 teachers show that particularly the negative impact of work on teachers' private life related positively to their emotional exhaustion, and that this effect is mostly mediated by motivational interference effects in the social domain. Hence, adequate leisure experiences and detachment from work seem to be crucial to prevent prolonged emotional strain.

Relationships between digital nativity, value orientation, and motivational interference among college students

Motivational interference is a prevalent phenomenon among students at different levels. In this study, we examined university students' motivational interference after making a decision in school-digital leisure conflict and its relationships with two antecedents, i.e., digital nativity and value orientation. Participants were Taiwanese university students (N=1201) who responded to a questionnaire. The data showed support for a positive path between digital nativity and motivational interference after a school decision, but not for the path between digital nativity and motivational interference after a leisure decision. In addition, achievement value orientation showed a negative effect on motivational interference after a school decision and a positive effect on motivational interference after a leisure decision. In contrast, well-being value orientation had a positive effect on motivational interference after a school decision but no significant effect on motivational interference after a leisure decision.

Impairments in learning due to motivational conflict: situation really matters

Although many theories mention distractions by conflicting alternatives as a problem for self-regulation, motivational conflicts are rarely considered when explaining impairments in learning. In two studies, we investigate the assumption of motivational interference theory that students show different amounts of impairments in learning depending on the presence and motivational strength of conflicting alternatives. In Study 1 (N = 221), the subjective value attributed to a respective alternative in a study–leisure conflict scenario partially accounted for differences in self-regulated learning while controlling for interindividual differences. Study 2 (N = 112) demonstrated that this pattern applies to both when the respective alternatives refer to ‘liking to’ (want conflicts) and ‘having to’ (should conflicts) do something. Moreover, it is demonstrated that impairments due to motivational conflict are higher than impairments inherent in the studying activity itself (baseline). The results emphasise the importance of concurring action alternatives for explaining difficulties in self-regulated learning.

More than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes.

Why does self-control predict such a wide array of positive life outcomes? Conventional wisdom holds that self-control is used to effortfully inhibit maladaptive impulses, yet this view conflicts with emerging evidence that self-control is associated with less inhibition in daily life. We propose that one of the reasons individuals with better self-control use less effortful inhibition, yet make better progress on their goals is that they rely on beneficial habits. Across 6 studies (total N = 2,274), we found support for this hypothesis. In Study 1, habits for eating healthy snacks, exercising, and getting consistent sleep mediated the effect of self-control on both increased automaticity and lower reported effortful inhibition in enacting those behaviors. In Studies 2 and 3, study habits mediated the effect of self-control on reduced motivational interference during a work-leisure conflict and on greater ability to study even under difficult circumstances. In Study 4, homework habits mediated the effect of self-control on classroom engagement and homework completion. Study 5 was a prospective longitudinal study of teenage youth who participated in a 5-day meditation retreat. Better self-control before the retreat predicted stronger meditation habits 3 months after the retreat, and habits mediated the effect of self-control on successfully accomplishing meditation practice goals. Finally, in Study 6, study habits mediated the effect of self-control on homework completion and 2 objectively measured long-term academic outcomes: grade point average and first-year college persistence. Collectively, these results suggest that beneficial habits-perhaps more so than effortful inhibition-are an important factor linking self-control with positive life outcomes.

Studying against your will: Motivational interference in action

Motivational interference refers to affective, cognitive, and behavioral impairments during a focal activity due to conflicting action tendencies. In the present study, we focused on antecedents and domain-specific consequences of motivational interference during everyday study activities using an experience sampling approach. Fifty-eight university students provided real-time reports on their daily studying activities (N = 672) over the course of one week. They reported on their momentary affect, whether they experienced motivational conflict during their study activities, and, if so, indicated when this feeling emerged. After the experience sampling period, they reported on their academic and social adaptation as well as their study satisfaction, and rated their relative performance. Compared with non-conflicted studying activities, we found considerably lower positive affect during conflicted studying. Conflicts that existed before the initiation of the study activity, and conflicts that emerged during studying, yielded affective impairments. As expected, aggregated conflict experiences negatively predicted measures of academic functioning, but not students' social adaptation. The discussion focuses on motivational antecedents of interference effects during self-regulated learning.

Torn between study and leisure: How motivational conflicts relate to students’ academic and social adaptation.

Research on motivational conflicts indicates that students’ difficulties during studying may result from tempting alternatives in the leisure domain. In the present set of studies, we addressed the question of whether academic motivation inversely has negative spillover effects on students’ leisure-related functioning, too. In the first 2 studies (N = 169 and N = 206), the self-regulatory impairment students reported after the decision for studying or socializing in a predefined study–leisure conflict was related to their general academic and social adaptation. Results provide 1st evidence for domain-specific drawbacks in students’ functioning, depending on which activity is interfered in situations of motivational conflict. In a 3rd study (N = 358), we replicated these findings based on idiographic conflicts. Furthermore, motivational interference is introduced as a crucial process that may underlie such adverse effects. It is demonstrated that after the decision for a focal action, the motivational strength of foregone alternatives continues to influence students’ self-regulation during both study and leisure activities. Findings are discussed with regard to the connection between study and leisure strivings, motivational conflicts, and academic motivation.

Study and leisure interference as mediators between students' self-control capacities and their domain-specific functioning and general well-being

Study interference (i.e., studying is interfered by enjoyable alternatives) and leisure interference (i.e., leisure time is interfered by duties) are investigated as separate mediators between students' self-control capacities and their overall functioning (N = 253). Based on the assumption that both conflict experiences are associated with domain-specific outcomes, we calculated multiple mediator models with several indicators of students' domain-specific functioning as criteria, self-control as predictor, and students' tendency to experience motivational interference during studying (TMIS) and during leisure time (TMIL) as parallel mediators. As predicted, TMIS was the strongest mediator for measures of academic functioning, whereas TMIL was the strongest mediator for leisure functioning. With regard to general well-being, TMIL was the more consistent mediator. Findings are in line with the assumption that students' self-regulation difficulties are not only important for academic contexts but also for leisure contexts, especially when concepts of successful development include students' strivings in various life domains.

To Study or Not to Study? Investigating the Link Between Time Perspectives and Motivational Interference

The aim of this study was to explore possible synergies between research on motivational interference and time perspectives. A conceptual model relating individual differences in time perspectives to motivational interference during studying and leisure and academic achievement was tested. Filipino college students ( N = 385) participated in the study. Results from the path analysis indicated that future time perspective was positively associated with motivational interference during leisure and negatively associated with motivational interference during studying. Moreover, future time perspective also positively predicted academic achievement. Present fatalistic and past negative time perspectives were positively associated with motivational interference during studying. Present hedonistic time perspective negatively predicted motivational interference during leisure. Motivational interference during studying, in turn, was negatively associated with academic achievement. Implications are discussed.

Students’ Value Orientations, Intuitive Decision Making, and Motivational Interference, and Their Relations to Regret

Students’ learning activities frequently compete with their leisure options, leading to regret after decisions to study. Using a sample of 233 German and 194 Australian undergraduate students, the authors explored possible determinants of the personality construct regret. They investigated whether the level to which students rely on intuition in decision making is negatively connected to the tendency to regret a decision and whether the degree to which during studying students are distracted by leisure incentives (motivational interference) is positively related to regret. Students’ achievement and well-being value orientations are expected to be linked to intuition and interference. In both samples, interference was positively related to regret whereas intuition was negatively related to regret only in the German sample. The authors did not find the expected link between intuition and interference. In both samples, value orientations were related, as expected, to intuition and interference. Regret could possibly be reduced if motivational interference is avoided.

Motivational profiles in study–leisure conflicts: Quality and quantity of motivation matter

The effects of the quality and quantity of motivation were compared in relation to students' levels of experienced internal conflict in a specific study–leisure conflict using a person-oriented analysis on self-reports of 336 college students. Latent-profile-analysis identified three motivational profiles for learning and two motivational profiles for leisure. Consistent with a qualitative perspective on motivation, students with Good quality profiles for “reading papers” reported the least internal conflict under the temptation of a social activity. However, in accordance with the quantitative perspective on motivational interference, students with High quantity profiles for learning reported more internal conflict while imagining themselves socializing than students with Good and Poor quality profiles did. Similar effects for the leisure profiles and additional variable-oriented analyses confirmed the assumption that the quality of motivation best explains students' ongoing experience during a focal activity, whereas the effects of indirect motivational costs stemming from the motivational characteristics of missed activities are best described quantitatively.

Conflicts between on-task and off-task behaviors in the classroom: the influences of parental monitoring, peer value orientations, students’ goals, and their value orientations

Students in class are sometimes torn between following the lesson and engaging in off-task behavior. In this paper, instead of classifying it as a form of deviant behavior, off-task behavior is reconstructed as a manifestation of students multiple motivations in the classroom. The study examines whether parental monitoring, peer value orientations, students’ personal goals, and their value orientations determine students’ motivational interference in these conflict situations. Participants were 348 students (mean age 15.24) from 16 classes of four high schools. A self-report questionnaire was used that combined a qualitative assessment of personal goals with a quantitative approach. Qualitative answers were coded and data was analyzed in a series of hierarchical linear models. As hypothesized, relationships between motivational interference and parental monitoring, peer achievement and well-being value orientations, students’ school- and leisure-related goals, as well as students’ achievement and well-being value orientations were demonstrated. Students’ own value orientations emerged to be the strongest predictor of motivational interference and mediated between parental monitoring and motivational interference. The results suggest that teachers should help students to reconcile their multiple values and goals in the classroom.

Motivational interference in study–leisure conflicts: how opportunity costs affect the self-regulation of university students

We examined the effects of motivational interference resulting from tempting action alternatives among a sample of university students with respect to a new measure of different motivational qualities. Participants imagined themselves in a typical study–leisure conflict and provided information about their internal conflict experience in two scenarios: reading a course paper instead of meeting friends and vice versa. Participants then evaluated intrinsic, mastery, approach, avoidance, and external incentives for both activities. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded good model fits for the proposed five-factor incentive structure. In accordance with the idea of motivational interference, the incentives for meeting friends were positively related to experienced internal conflict while imagining studying, representing opportunity costs of learning. The same pattern was found for the opportunity costs that the participants had experienced while imagining meeting friends. In particular, intrinsic and approach incentives represented incremental opportunity costs of activity engagement, regardless of whether the dismissed activity was related to achievement or leisure. The findings highlight the need to apply a dynamic and context-sensitive perspective on achievement motivation to the context of higher education.

Cognitive ability and personality variables as predictors of school grades and test scores in adolescents

The predictive power of cognitive ability and self-control strength for self-reported grades and an achievement test were studied. It was expected that the variables use of time structure, academic procrastination, and motivational interference during learning further aid in predicting students’ achievement because they are operative in situations of school-leisure conflict. A sample of 697 eighth-graders was tested twice within the interval of a single school year (about eight months). Cognitive ability and self-control explained substantial variance of grade changes. Procrastination displayed a further portion of the variance. Personality variables were better predictors of grades, while cognitive ability showed higher variance with the achievement test. Variables tapping aspects of self-control strength have been interpreted as key determinants of learning outcomes. The findings suggest that it might be useful to identify students who are at risk, allowing these students to train their ability to shield studying from leisure distractions.

Decision mode as an antecedent of flow, motivational interference, and regret

The presented study evaluates whether the decision mode for engaging in a task is relevant not only for the quality of the experience during an activity, as reflected in the occurrence of motivational interference and the possibility to enter flow, but also for the experience of regret. Intuitive in contrast to deliberative decision mode is hypothesized as being beneficial for an increased focus on work and a reduced experience of regret with possible consequences for current and future learning behavior of students. In an online study (n = 149) these variables related to a performed task were measured. Deciding intuitively to engage in the task was associated with a higher level of flow and a reduced experience of motivational interference. Regression analysis showed that an intuitive decision and motivational interference was related with regret at least by trend. Mediation analyses showed that the experience during the task mediates the relationship between decision mode and regret. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and their educational implications.