Self-reported Effort Research Articles

Self-Efficacy’s Influence on Persistence: Moderating Effect of Performance Feedback Ambiguity

The present investigation was designed to test the predictions of a control theory based view of self-regulation on the complex effects of self-efficacy on persistence (Vancouver, 2008). In particular, self-efficacy was expected to positively affect performance in a context where performance feedback never indicated goal achievement. In such a context, goal choice (i.e., whether to abandon the goal or not) is relevant and high self-efficacy individuals were expected to hold out longer. In contrast, when no performance feedback is available, those with high self-efficacy are more likely to believe they achieved the goal more readily, and thus persist less, than those with low self-efficacy. Participants (87 females and 67 males) were manipulated to have either high or low self-efficacy for a task involving hand grip strength by using a confederate who claimed to have overworked their hand (high manipulated self-efficacy) or to be a tennis player (low manipulated self- efficacy). Feedback ambiguity was manipulated by the presence or absence of a physical barrier between the participant and the confederate as they performed. Performance was assessed by length of time an individual could grip at 50% of their maximum grip strength. The results supported the hypothesized interaction of self-efficacy and feedback condition. Moreover, self-efficacy was found to negatively relate to self-reported effort regardless of feedback condition.​

Turkish Students’ Opinions about Their Perceived Motivational Climate and Effort/Persistence in Physical Education

This study examined students’ perceived motivational climates and explored how their perceived motivational climates might affect their reported persistence/effort in physical education classes. Participants consisted of 111 8th graders and 117 11th graders attending two public schools in central Turkey. Because 8th and 11th grades in Turkey represents a critical period of schooling in which students have to begin to prepare for the national high school and university entrance examinations, these grades were preferred to be involved in this study. In this study that used the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire and Self- Reported Persistence/Effort Questionnaire , pearson-product correlations were performed to examine relationships between motivational climate and self-reported persistence and effort, simultaneous multiple regression analysis was employed to examine how motivational climates might affect student reports of their persistence/effort, and a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to examine gender and grade differences among the participants on the two perceived motivational climates. Pearson-product correlation analysis showed that task and egoinvolved climates related positively to student persistence/effort. Multiple regression analysis revealed that task and ego-oriented climates were significant positive predictors of persistence/effort. The MANOVA yielded a significant main effect for grade differences (p < .001). Follow-up univariate ANOVAs revealed that 8th graders placed significantly higher values on students’ selfreported persistence/effort. These findings indicate that the complex nature of perceived motivational climate in influencing students' persistence/effort may depend on physical education settings, grade levels, and socio-cultural norms.

Studious by association? Effects of teacher’s attunement to students’ peer relations

We study the role of teacher-perceived friendship on teachers’ assessments of their students’ learning efforts. Based on earlier studies, we expect that teacher-perceived friendship differs from students’ actual, self-reported friendship, and can account for teachers’ judgement of students’ learning efforts, above and beyond effects of students’ self-reported study effort and friendship. Data were collected as part of the Networks and Actor Attributes in Early Adolescence study, which traces the development of individual behaviour, norms, and classroom social structure in 126 school classes (3332 students, 14 schools) during the first year at secondary school in the Netherlands. Students’ individual study effort was assessed based on students’ self-reports of four effort-related behaviours and as an overall judgement by the class teacher. Students’ networks were assessed with the classroom as boundary, on the one hand as students’ self-reported friendships, on the other hand as friendships perceived by the class teachers. Results were obtained with multivariate stochastic actor-based modelling of the feedback processes between study effort, study norms, and friendship networks.

Cognitive performance in both clinical and non-clinical burnout

Relatively little is known about cognitive performance in burnout. The aim of the present study was to further our knowledge on this topic by examining, in one study, cognitive performance in both clinical and non-clinical burnout while focusing on three interrelated aspects of cognitive performance, namely, self-reported cognitive problems, cognitive test performance, and subjective costs associated with cognitive test performance. To this aim, a clinical burnout patient group (n = 33), a non-clinical burnout group (n = 29), and a healthy control group (n = 30) were compared on self-reported cognitive problems, assessed by a questionnaire, as well as on cognitive test performance, assessed with a cognitive test battery measuring both executive functioning and more general cognitive processing. Self-reported fatigue, motivation, effort and demands were assessed to compare the different groups on subjective costs associated with cognitive test performance. The results indicated that the clinical burnout patients reported more cognitive problems than the individuals with non-clinical burnout, who in turn reported more cognitive problems relative to the healthy controls. Evidence for impaired cognitive test performance was only found in the clinical burnout patients. Relative to the healthy controls, these patients displayed some evidence of impaired general cognitive processing, reflected in slower reaction times, but no impaired executive functioning. However, cognitive test performance of the clinical burnout patients was related to larger reported subjective costs. In conclusion, although both the clinical and the non-clinical burnout group reported cognitive problems, evidence for a relatively mild impaired cognitive test performance and larger reported subjective cost associated with cognitive test performance was only found for the clinical burnout group.

Might There Be More than a Grain of Truth in Self-Reported Effort Information? An Experimental Study

We experimentally investigate the effects of a supervisor’s reward power on teammates’ self-reported effort information and on team performance. When reporting, teammates exaggerate their own efforts, i.e., they lie. However, they do so less if the supervisor has the power to allocate individual payments at her own discretion than when the supervisor is forced to distribute rewards according to an exogenous allocation rule. The exaggerations in self-reports have detrimental effects on team performance; these effects, however, are less pronounced if the supervisor has reward power. The supervisor’s ability to allocate incentive-compatible rewards does not depend on whether she can monitor subordinates’ true efforts or whether she receives self-reports.

Office workers' computer use patterns are associated with workplace stressors

This field study examined associations between workplace stressors and office workers' computer use patterns. We collected keyboard and mouse activities of 93 office workers (68F, 25M) for approximately two work weeks. Linear regression analyses examined the associations between self-reported effort, reward, overcommitment, and perceived stress and software-recorded computer use duration, number of short and long computer breaks, and pace of input device usage. Daily duration of computer use was, on average, 30 min longer for workers with high compared to low levels of overcommitment and perceived stress. The number of short computer breaks (30 s–5 min long) was approximately 20% lower for those with high compared to low effort and for those with low compared to high reward. These outcomes support the hypothesis that office workers' computer use patterns vary across individuals with different levels of workplace stressors.

Effects of breaks and goal switches on the vigilance decrement

In this report, we examined the impact of rest breaks and goal switches on the vigilance decrement--the change in performance with time-on-task--and subjective stress and workload. In study 1, we examined the decrement in a visual line-length discrimination task employed in previous research. The task had a linear decrement in perceptual sensitivity with time-on-task based on the results of a trend analysis (orthogonal polynomial contrasts). In addition, the task had a profile of self-reported stress and workload similar to other moderately demanding vigilance tasks. In study 2, we examined the decrement in the same task with the factorial inclusion of rest breaks and goal switches late in the task. The inclusion of rest breaks resulted in a significant cubic trend in perceptual sensitivity. After the first rest break, there was a reversal of the linear downward decrement in perceptual sensitivity, but the second rest break did not elicit this change. The inclusion of goal switches did not cause any significant deviation from the linear trend and did not attenuate the decrement. In addition, the inclusion of rest breaks resulted in reduced self-reported effort and temporal demand. The results of the present study cohere with the expectations of a resource depletion account of the vigilance decrement.

Motivation Filtering on a Multi-Institution Assessment of General College Outcomes

Possible lack of motivation is a perpetual concern when tests have no stakes attached to performance. Specifically, the validity of test score interpretations may be compromised when examinees are unmotivated to exert their best efforts. Motivation filtering, a procedure that filters out apparently unmotivated examinees, was applied to the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), an open-ended test of general college outcomes. Filtering based on self-reported effort was compared to a new approach based on CLA performance relative to expected. Both approaches had expected positive effects on aggregate CLA scores, but the new approach achieved these gains while filtering out fewer students and maintaining sample representativeness. Motivation filtering had negligible effects on the relative standings of schools based on their average CLA scores, although the impact of filtering was slightly greater on lower-performing schools. Motivation filtering increased longitudinal estimates of growth on the CLA because of apparently lower motivation among second-semester sophomores compared to entering freshmen.

A randomized intervention trial to reduce mechanical exposures in the Colombian flower industry.

Evidence on effectiveness of ergonomic interventions to reduce mechanical demands of the upper extremity is scarce in agriculture. To conduct an ergonomic intervention to reduce mechanical exposures on workers during manual flower cutting, while emphasizing postural education and reduction of force requirements. Seventy seven workers (20 to 55 years old; 80% women) from six companies that cultivate roses participated in this study. Participants from three companies were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. A postural education program and a maintenance program was designed and implemented in the intervention group aiming to achieve more neutral postures of the wrist and forearm and to reduce force requirements during rose cutting. Changes in self-reported effort and upper extremity postures, kinematics and muscular activity between baseline and follow-up assessments were evaluated. Most of the observed changes in the evaluated mechanical exposures were moderate for both groups. The intervention group showed differential improvements compared to the control group for 95th percentile forearm pronation (intervention group went from 50.6 to 35.6°; control group went from 18.4 to 34.7°); and to some degree for the maximum wrist radial deviation (the intervention group went from 17° to 7.6°; control group went from 10.1° to 7.8°). Also, the mean elbow flexion for the control group was reduced from 62.3 to 48.4°, whereas it increased from 52.2 to 57.3° in the intervention group. No differential changes between the intervention and control groups were observed for the kinematic variables, except for an unexpected reduction in the 95th percentile velocity of wrist flexion-extension in the control group, which was not observed in the intervention group. Lastly, although observed changes in muscular activity were not statistically significant, improvements were observed for the intervention group for the flexor and extensor carpi radialis and the flexor carpi ulnaris; although the opposite was true for the extensor carpi ulnaris. Important although sometimes mixed results were achieved with this field intervention, focusing on postural and force requirement demands. The positive results are encouraging considering the presence of typical limitations observed in field intervention studies.

Addressing the empathy deficit: beliefs about the malleability of empathy predict effortful responses when empathy is challenging.

Empathy is often thought to occur automatically. Yet, empathy frequently breaks down when it is difficult or distressing to relate to people in need, suggesting that empathy is often not felt reflexively. Indeed, the United States as a whole is said to be displaying an empathy deficit. When and why does empathy break down, and what predicts whether people will exert effort to experience empathy in challenging contexts? Across 7 studies, we found that people who held a malleable mindset about empathy (believing empathy can be developed) expended greater empathic effort in challenging contexts than did people who held a fixed theory (believing empathy cannot be developed). Specifically, a malleable theory of empathy--whether measured or experimentally induced--promoted (a) more self-reported effort to feel empathy when it is challenging (Study 1); (b) more empathically effortful responses to a person with conflicting views on personally important sociopolitical issues (Studies 2-4); (c) more time spent listening to the emotional personal story of a racial outgroup member (Study 5); and (d) greater willingness to help cancer patients in effortful, face-to-face ways (Study 6). Study 7 revealed a possible reason for this greater empathic effort in challenging contexts: a stronger interest in improving one's empathy. Together, these data suggest that people's mindsets powerfully affect whether they exert effort to empathize when it is needed most, and these data may represent a point of leverage in increasing empathic behaviors on a broad scale.

Acute NK1 receptor antagonist administration affects reward incentive anticipation processing in healthy volunteers

The primary brain structures of reward processing are mainly situated in the mid-brain dopamine system. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) receives dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area and works as a key brain region for the positive incentive value of rewards. Because neurokinin-1 (NK₁) receptor, the cognate receptor for substance P (SP), is highly expressed in the NAc, we hypothesized that the SP/NK₁ receptor system might play a role in positive reward processing in the NAc in humans. Therefore, we conducted a functional MRI (fMRI) study to assess the effects of an NK₁ receptor antagonist on human reward processing through a monetary incentive delay task that is known to elicit robust activation in the NAc especially during gain anticipation. Eighteen healthy adults participated in two series of an fMRI study, taking either a placebo or the NK₁ receptor antagonist aprepitant. Behavioural measurements revealed that there was no significant difference in reaction time, hit rate, or self-reported effort for incentive cues between the placebo and aprepitant treatments. fMRI showed significant decrease in blood oxygenation-level-dependent signals in the NAc during gain anticipation with the aprepitant treatment compared to the placebo treatment. These results suggest that SP/NK₁ receptor system is involved in processing of positive incentive anticipation and plays a role in accentuating positive valence in association with the primary dopaminergic pathways in the reward circuit.

Examining the relationship between descriptive norms and perceived effort in adolescent athletes: Effects of different reference groups

ObjectivesThe primary purpose of this research was to examine the influence of descriptive norms (perceptions of others' effort) on individual self-reported effort in sport. A secondary purpose was to examine the effect of the perceptions of norms associated with reference groups that differed on personal and contextual characteristics on an athlete's perceived effort, while controlling for an individual's reasons for working hard. DesignA cross-sectional study (N = 50) was conducted with adolescent athletes playing on sport teams. MethodAthletes completed a survey that assessed their reasons for putting forth effort, their self-perceived effort levels, and their perceptions about the effort of three different reference groups (friends on team, teammates, and other athletes within the same league). ResultsThe results from a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that perceptions of descriptive norms predicted individual effort, after controlling for personal reasons for working hard. In terms of reference groups, individual effort was associated most with the norm of the friend group. ConclusionsThe influence of the perception of others' behavior on an individual's behavior was extended to the sport outcome of effort. Given that it was the norm of friends that emerged, preliminary evidence is provided suggesting that personal similarities may be more important than contextual similarities for predicting the reference group that will influence this individual behavior in an adolescent sport setting.

Predicting Science Achievement in India

We examined the role of self-reported effort in predicting chemistry and physics achievement after controlling for prior achievement, gender, and mathematics/science self-efficacy and interest. The data were collected from two Asian Indian high school samples. Self-reported effort was hypothesized to be the most salient predictor of achievement, given its important role in the Asian Indian culture. Based on prior findings, it was also hypothesized that gender would moderate the effect of interest on achievement. Both hypotheses were supported. After other key variables were controlled (prior achievement, gender, and mathematics/science self-efficacy and interest), self-reported effort was a significant predictor of both chemistry achievement and physics achievement. Moreover, gender did moderate the relation of interest and achievement. Boys who were more interested in physics and chemistry achieved higher scores, but girls’ level of interest did not correlate with their achievement.

Culture Matters When Designing a Successful Happiness-Increasing Activity

Research shows that performing positive activities, such as expressing gratitude and doing acts of kindness, boosts happiness. But do specific positive activities work equally well across cultures? Our study examined the role of culture–activity fit by testing two positive activities across two cultures. Participants from the United States ( n = 250) and South Korea ( n = 270) were randomly assigned to express gratitude, perform kind acts, or engage in a neutral activity for the first half of a 6-week positive activity intervention. Multilevel growth modeling analyses revealed that the effect of practicing gratitude or kindness was moderated by culture: U.S. participants increased in well-being (WB) from both activities, γ11 = 0.19, SE = 0.06, t(511) = 3.04, p = .0006; γ12= 0.11, SE = 0.06, t(511) = 1.73, p = .03 (compared with the control group), but South Korean participants benefited significantly less from practicing gratitude than did U.S. participants, γ13 = −0.24, SE = 0.07, t(511) = −3.36, p = .002. South Korean participants, however, showed similar increases in WB as did U.S. participants when performing kind acts, γ14 = −0.06, SE = 0.07, t(511) = −0.82, ns. Finally, although greater self-reported effort yielded significantly larger increases in WB for U.S. participants, the effect of effort was not as strong for South Korean participants. We posit that, due to their dialectical philosophical tradition, South Koreans might have been more prone to feel mixed emotions (e.g., indebtedness and gratitude) while engaging in the gratitude letter activity than did U.S. participants.

Stress Coping and Changes in Health Behavior Among Cancer Survivors: A Report from the American Cancer Society's Study of Cancer Survivors-II (SCS-II)

This study used the transactional model of stress and coping to examine the relationship between cancer survivors’ self-reported efforts to manage stress and the adoption of health behaviors across various lifestyle behavior domains. The authors analyzed data of 2,888 cancer survivors from a national, population-based, cross-sectional survey. Cancer survivors who indicated making active efforts to control stress were more likely to make changes in their physical, psychosocial, and preventive health behaviors as compared to cancer survivors who used passive stress-coping approaches. Future interventions aimed at promoting health behaviors among cancer survivors may benefit from incorporating a stress-coping component.

Event-based prospective memory and everyday forgetting in healthy older adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment

An event-based nonfocal task was used to evaluate prospective memory (PM) and the relationship between PM, neuropsychological testing data, and everyday forgetting. Twenty-four participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 24 age- and education-matched cognitively healthy adults responded to a nonfocal PM cue, while completing an ongoing working memory task. Neuropsychological testing data and self- and informant-report of frequency of forgetting were also gathered. Compared to healthy adults, the MCI participants exhibited significantly poorer prospective remembering and ongoing task performance, despite similar self-reported effort directed to the PM task. Both self- and informant-report indicated that the MCI group was experiencing a higher frequency of everyday forgetting than the healthy adult group. Self-report of everyday forgetting was correlated with PM task performance for the healthy adults, but not for the MCI participants. For the healthy adults, correlational analyses also showed significant relationships between PM accuracy and tests of memory and executive functioning, suggesting that both spontaneous retrieval processes and effortful, strategic monitoring may be important in supporting prospective remembering for this nonfocal PM task. The stronger relationships between PM accuracy and memory and language tests for the MCI group suggest that their poorer event-based prospective remembering might be linked to impaired spontaneous retrieval processes, which are thought to be supported by medial temporal structures.

Ego depletion increases ad-lib alcohol consumption: Investigating cognitive mediators and moderators.

When self-control resources are depleted ("ego depletion"), alcohol-seeking behavior becomes closely associated with automatic alcohol-related processing biases (e.g., Ostafin, Marlatt, & Greenwald, 2008). The current study aimed to replicate and extend these findings, and also to investigate whether the effects of ego depletion on drinking behavior would be mediated by temporary impairments in executive function or increases in impulsivity. Eighty heavy social drinkers (46 female) initially completed measures of automatic approach tendencies (stimulus response compatibility [SRC] task) and attentional bias (visual probe task) elicited by alcohol-related cues. Participants were then exposed to either an ego depletion manipulation or a control manipulation, before completing a bogus taste test in order to assess ad-lib alcohol consumption. In a subsequent testing session, we examined effects of the ego depletion manipulation (vs. control manipulation) on 3 aspects of executive function (inhibitory control, phonemic fluency, and delay discounting). Results indicated that the ego depletion manipulation increased ad-lib drinking, relative to the control manipulation. Automatic approach tendencies, but not attentional bias, predicted ad-lib drinking, although this effect was not moderated by ego depletion. Ego depletion had inconsistent effects on measures of executive function and impulsivity, and none of these measures mediated the effect of ego depletion on ad-lib drinking. However, the effect of ego depletion on ad-lib drinking was mediated by self-reported effort in suppressing emotion and thoughts during the manipulation. Implications for the effects of self-control strength on drinking behavior, and cognitive mediators of these effects, are discussed.

Can Rewards Obviate Stereotype Threat Effects on Mental Rotation Tasks?

We examined whether sex-linked performance differences in Mental Rotation (MR) were obviated by rewards for performing the tasks. MR is typically seen as the domain of men, and therefore women completing the MR tasks likely worked under conditions of stereotype threat, which meant that their performance could vary according to situational variables. Men and women (n = 33 each) performed rotations and provided several self-reflective reports on their performances and background information about their experiences. Half of the participants (within sex) were rewarded for their participation with a gift card. Women’s MR performance was lower than men’s when no reward was given, but equaled it when they were rewarded. The finding was not a function of skill and self-reported effort, and emerged even when a stringent scoring technique was employed. The results suggest that rewards, even if they are not large, may nullify stereotype threat effects on women’s MR.

A randomized intervention trial to reduce mechanical exposures in the Colombian flower industry

Evidence on the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions to reduce mechanical demands and upper-extremity MSDs is scarce in agriculture. We conducted an intervention to reduce mechanical exposures during manual flower cutting through job rotation, education and reduction of force requirements. One-hundred and twenty workers (20 to 60 years old; 89% women) from six companies that cultivate roses participated in this study. Three companies were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. We studied changes between baseline and follow-up in self-reported effort and upper-extremity postures, kinematics and muscular activity. Most of the observed changes were moderate for both groups. The intervention group showed differential improvements compared to the control group for the maximum wrist radial deviation and forearm pronation, and acceleration of the forearm supination-pronation and elbow flexion-extension; and the muscular activity of the flexor and extensor carpi radialis and the flexor carpi ulnaris. However, we also observed that the maximum ulnar deviation, velocity of the wrist flexion-extension and muscular activity of the extensor carpi ulnaris improved more in the control group. These mixed results may be related to limited time for intervention adjustment, and uncontrolled task changes in the control group. Future research should address these issues and test other solutions.

Outcomes of Health Care Providers' Recommendations for Healthy Lifestyle Among U.S. Adults with Prediabetes

Lifestyle modification (i.e., weight loss, active lifestyle, healthy diet) is a recommended strategy for the prevention of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between receiving a health-care provider's recommendation and adherence to behavioral indicators of adaptation of a healthy lifestyle among adults with prediabetes. A secondary analysis was conducted using the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (N=2,853) that included self-reported efforts to improve diet, lose weight, and increase physical activity and objective measures of body mass index, blood tests for lipids, and actigraph data on physical activity. When demographic variables, metabolic factors, and physical activity level were controlled, central obesity and elevated blood pressure were significantly associated with having prediabetes. Almost 40% of the respondents with prediabetes reported being told by their health-care provider during the previous year to control or lose weight, increase their physical activity, or decrease the fat and calories in their diet. Participants who were counseled to adopt a healthy lifestyle reported high adherence to weight control and diet modification. Selected objective measures supported that the health-care providers' recommendations contributed to improved lifestyle. These findings indicate that self-reported health-care provider's recommendations for lifestyle modifications are associated with people actually engaging in healthier behavior. The results reinforce the importance of health-care provider's making recommendations to promote adherence to a healthier lifestyle.