title: Mirrors, masks, and motivation: implicit and explicit self-focused attention influence effort-related cardiovascular reactivity.
abstract: Using motivational intensity theory as a framework, three experiments examined how implicit self-focus (manipulated with masked first-name priming) and explicit self-focus (manipulated with a large mirror) influence effort-related cardiovascular activity, particularly systolic blood pressure reactivity. Theories of self-focused attention suggest that both implicit and explicit self-focus bring about self-evaluation and thus make meeting a goal more important. For a "do your best" task of unfixed difficulty, implicit and explicit self-focus both increased effort (Experiment 1) compared to a control condition. For a task that varied in difficulty, implicit and explicit self-focus promoted more effort as the task became increasingly hard (Experiments 2 and 3). Taken together, the findings suggest that implicit and explicit self-processes share a similar motivational architecture. The discussion explores the value of integrating motivational intensity theory with self-awareness theory and considers the emerging interest in implicit aspects of effort regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 27402-6170, USA. p_silvia@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Silvia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003971:Diastole / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult