Foundational assumption reasonable but uncertain
- 30 September 2021
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- Vol. 44, e137
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x21000339
Abstract
We offer thoughts on Shadmehr and Ahmed's foundational assumption that behavioral intensity (vigor) is proportional to the perceived value of outcomes driving behavior (incentives). The assumption is reasonable considering classical motivational thought and scholarship in related literatures but called into question by an influential contemporary theory of motivation by Brehm. Brehm's theory suggests that the assumption is warranted in some, but not all, performance circumstances. Furthermore, proportionality between vigor and value might be generated through a deliberative goal-setting process rather than through intrinsic neural linkages.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- The development of goal setting theory: A half century retrospective.Motivation Science, 2019
- Three Decades of Research on Motivational Intensity TheoryAdvances in Motivation Science, 2016
- Effort Intensity: Some Insights From the Cardiovascular SystemPublished by Oxford University Press (OUP) ,2012
- Reward Influence on the Heart: Cardiovascular Response as a Function of Incentive Value at Five Levels of Task DemandMotivation and Emotion, 2002
- Motivation and ActionPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1991