Fate as a motivated (and de-motivating) belief: Evidence for a link from task importance to belief in fate to effort

The perception of whether one has personal control over a specific task or goal has been shown to be a crucial predictor of effort and persistence. Given this, one might expect people to perceive high personal control over tasks that are very important. However, drawing on emerging theories of motivated ideological belief, we suggest that, in some circumstances, the more a task or goal is perceived as important, the more likely people may be to believe that the outcome is “fated” – that the outcome of an event is predetermined and meant to be. Across four studies, employing diverse samples and contexts, we provide evidence for this basic phenomenon and the negative repercussions it can hold for effort expenditure. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Duke Scholars

Author Aaron Charles Kay Fuqua School of Business