title: Does general motivation energize financial reward-seeking behavior? Evidence from an effort task.
abstract: We aimed to predict how hard subjects work for financial rewards from their general trait and state reward-motivation. We specifically asked 1) whether individuals high in general trait "reward responsiveness" work harder 2) whether task-irrelevant cues can make people work harder, by increasing general motivation. Each trial of our task contained a 1 second earning interval in which male subjects earned money for each button press. This was preceded by one of three predictive cues: an erotic picture of a woman, a man, or a geometric figure. We found that individuals high in trait "reward responsiveness" worked harder and earned more, irrespective of the predictive cue. Because female predictive cues are more rewarding, we expected them to increase general motivation in our male subjects and invigorate work, but found a more complex pattern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chumbley
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fehr
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012201:Reward; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult