Not in the mood to achieve? Hedonistic discounting reduces the motivation to self-regulate

Six experiments examined the effects of mood on the motivation to self-regulate and persevere on complex achievement tasks. Based on several existing affect theories as well as the Expectancy-Value model of achievement motivation (Atkinson, 1957; 1964), a novel prediction was formulated for how affective states can influence self-regulatory processes during goal-pursuit: the hedonistic discounting hypothesis. According to the hedonistic discounting hypothesis, in the absence of competing motivations triggered by external factors in an achievement situation, individuals in a happy mood were expected to discount the value of future success on an achievement task, leading to decreased perseverance relative to individuals in an affectively-neutral or negative mood. In a real-life achievement situation, Study 1 confirmed that transient happy feelings can reduce goal-value perceptions as well as intentions to study for an upcoming university examination. Study 2 replicated and extended these results in a controlled laboratory experiment. It was found that mood-induced differences in goal-value perceptions partially mediated the effects of mood on perseverance on a cognitive abilities task. Studies 3 and 4 investigated the moderating influence of clearly-defined extrinsic goals on the hedonistic discounting effect. Study 3 confirmed that positive mood decreased perseverance, but an extrinsic incentive to perform well (movie passes worth $30AUD) attenuated mood effects. Study 4 again replicated reduced perseverance in positive mood, but also found that the motivational effects of a competitive interpersonal context attenuated mood effects, and individual differences in competitive tendencies further moderated goal-pursuit strategies. Studies 5 and 6 explored the effect of externally increasing the need to attend to achievement goals, either consciously or non-consciously, on the hedonistic discounting effect. Study 5 found that when an achievement mindset had been subliminally activated, positive mood increased rather than decreased perseverance. Finally, the results of Study 6 revealed that receiving negative performance feedback on an initial cognitive abilities task while in a positive mood motivated achievement behaviour in a subsequent achievement task. An integrative multi-process model is proposed to account for the way mood interacts with various contextual features in the regulation of motivation to persevere in different achievement settings.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Goldenberg, Liz

• Goal pursuit
• Mood
• Achievement motivation

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/

Language dc:language

EN

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/3285

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/58685