A meta-analysis of 128 studies examined the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. As predicted, engagement-contingent, completion-contingent, and performance-contingent rewards significantly undermined free-choice intrinsic motivation (d = -0.40, -0.36, and -0.28, respectively), as did all rewards, all tangible rewards, and all expected rewards. Engagement-contingent and completion-contingent rewards also significantly undermined self-reported interest (d = -0.15, and -0.17), as did all tangible rewards and all expected rewards. Positive feedback enhanced both free-choice behavior (d = 0.33) and self-reported interest (d = 0.31). Tangible rewards tended to be more detrimental for children than college students, and verbal rewards tended to be less enhancing for children than college students. The authors review 4 previous meta-analyses of this literature and detail how this study's methods, analyses, and results differed from the previous ones.

A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation.

https://depts.washington.edu/techdocs/papers/deciExtrinsicRewardsAndIntrinsicMotivation99.pdf

Psychological Bulletin A Meta-Analytic Review of Experiments Examining the Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation

https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=psych_facpub

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes

In this article we propose mechanisms that govern the processing of emotional information, particularly those involved in fear reduction. Emotions are viewed as represented by information structures in memory, and anxiety is thought to occur when an information structure that serves as program to escape or avoid danger is activated. Emotional processing is denned as the modification of memory structures that underlie emotions. It is argued that some form of exposure to feared situations is common to many psychotherapies for anxiety, and that confrontation with feared objects or situations is an effective treatment. Physiological activation and habituation within and across exposure sessions are cited as indicators of emotional processing, and variables that influence activation and habituation of fear responses are examined. These variables and the indicators are analyzed to yield an account of what information must be integrated for emotional processing of a fear structure. The elements of such a structure are viewed as cognitive representations of the stimulus characteristic of the fear situation, the individual's responses in it, and aspects of its meaning for the individual. Treatment failures are interpreted with respect to the interference of cognitive defenses, autonomic arousal, mood state, and erroneous ideation with reformation of targeted fear structures. Applications of the concepts advanced here to therapeutic practice and to the broader study of psychopathology are discussed.

/pdf/emotional-processing-of-fear-exposure-to-corrective-2ehs11haf7.pdf

Emotional processing of fear : exposure to corrective information

In an attempt to explain how and why some individuals with musculoskeletal pain develop a chronic pain syndrome, Lethem et al. (Lethem J, Slade PD, Troup JDG, Bentley G. Outline of fear-avoidance model of exaggerated pain perceptions. Behav Res Ther 1983; 21: 401-408).ntroduced a so-called 'fear-avoidance' model. The central concept of their model is fear of pain. 'Confrontation' and 'avoidance' are postulated as the two extreme responses to this fear, of which the former leads to the reduction of fear over time. The latter, however, leads to the maintenance or exacerbation of fear, possibly generating a phobic state. In the last decade, an increasing number of investigations have corroborated and refined the fear-avoidance model. The aim of this paper is to review the existing evidence for the mediating role of pain-related fear, and its immediate and long-term consequences in the initiation and maintenance of chronic pain disability. We first highlight possible precursors of pain-related fear including the role negative appraisal of internal and external stimuli, negative affectivity and anxiety sensitivity may play. Subsequently, a number of fear-related processes will be discussed including escape and avoidance behaviors resulting in poor behavioral performance, hypervigilance to internal and external illness information, muscular reactivity, and physical disuse in terms of deconditioning and guarded movement. We also review the available assessment methods for the quantification of pain-related fear and avoidance. Finally, we discuss the implications of the recent findings for the prevention and treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain. Although there are still a number of unresolved issues which merit future research attention, pain-related fear and avoidance appear to be an essential feature of the development of a chronic problem for a substantial number of patients with musculoskeletal pain.

/pdf/fear-avoidance-and-its-consequences-in-chronic-25jwj42o35.pdf

Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic musculoskeletal pain: a state of the art

Anxiety sensitivity, anxiety frequency and the prediction of fearfulness.

Expectancy model of fear, anxiety, and panic

Theoretical Issues in Behavior Therapy

Two experiments evaluated the effects of the condition of mental retardation on psychologists' impressions of emotional problems of a retarded subject. In Experiment 1 we found that the same debilitating phobia was less likely to be considered an example of a neurosis or an emotional disturbance when the subject also was suggested to be mentally retarded as compared to intellectually average. Experiment 2 provided a conceptual replication of the results of Experiment 1 and extended findings of diagnostic overshadowing to cases involving schizophrenia and personality disorder. The magnitude of these effects did not differ significantly as a function of whether the case description suggested schizophrenia or personality disorder. The results validate the existence of a diagnostic overshadowing phenomenon.

Emotional disturbance and mental retardation: diagnostic overshadowing.

R. W. White (1959) proposed that certain motives, such as curiosity, autonomy, and play (called intrinsic motives, or IMs), have common characteristics that distinguish them from drives. The evidence that mastery is common to IMs is anecdotal, not scientific. The assertion that “intrinsic enjoyment” is common to IMs exaggerates the significance of pleasure in human motivation and expresses the hedonistic fallacy of confusing consequence for cause. Nothing has been shown scientifically to be common to IMs that differentiates them from drives. An empirically testable theory of 16 basic desires is put forth based on psychometric research and subsequent behavior validation. The desires are largely unrelated to each other and may have different evolutionary histories. Motives are reasons people hold for initiating and performing voluntary behavior. They indicate the meaning of human behavior, and they may reveal a person’s values. Motives often affect a person’s perception, cognition, emotion, and behavior. A person who is highly motivated to gain social status, for example, may be observant of marks of social distinction, may think often about issues pertaining to wealth, may especially enjoy the feeling of selfimportance, and may behave in ways associated with upper-class status. 1 By defining motives as reasons, we do not imply that motives are primarily cognitive, any more than establishing a motive for a crime in a court of law requires conscious premeditation. A person can have a reason to behave, and thus a motive, without necessarily being aware of it. Aristotle (330 BCE/1953) divided motives into ends versus means on the basis of the individual’s purpose for performing the behavior. Ends are indicated when a person engages in a behavior for no apparent reason other than that is what the person desires to do. Examples include a child playing ball for physical exercise and a student reading a book out of curiosity. In each of these examples, the goal is desired for its own sake. In contrast, means are indicated when a person performs an act for its instrumental value. Examples include a professional athlete who plays ball for a salary and a student who studies to improve a grade. In each of these examples, the goal (salary, grade) is desired because it produces something else. A person

/pdf/multifaceted-nature-of-intrinsic-motivation-the-theory-of-16-37adn5phmw.pdf

Steven Reiss

Papers

Anxiety sensitivity, anxiety frequency and the prediction of fearfulness.

Expectancy model of fear, anxiety, and panic

Theoretical Issues in Behavior Therapy

Emotional disturbance and mental retardation: diagnostic overshadowing.

Multifaceted Nature of Intrinsic Motivation: The Theory of 16 Basic Desires