Interventionist external agents make specific advice less demotivating
Across four experiments, we explored how reminders of powerful external agents—interventionist Gods and reliable corporate institutions—influence people's motivation in the realm of financial goals. We found evidence that when people receive specific financial advice, they feel demotivated by the overwhelming flow of concrete instructions for achieving success. We found further that, under these circumstances specifically, reminders of interventionist agents bolster motivation, but that these same agents under different circumstances (i.e., when people receive vague advice) instead undermine motivation. Our findings shed light on the effects of specific (versus vague) goal focus, and on the dynamics of compensatory control in consumer settings.
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- Social Psychology
- 5205 Social and personality psychology
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Social Psychology
- 5205 Social and personality psychology
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology