Does Effort Make Your Heart Fonder Or Mind Wonder? An “Attainability-Efficacy” Framework of Preference Construction

We show that feelings of effort (vs. ease) increase people’s tendency to work harder and value products, provided they have illusory high control. To such people, effort signals higher efficacy of the particular outcome. Because such people usually engage in effortful pursuit of only the best outcomes, they also infer that an outcome must be the best one available if they will have to put effort into attaining it. Only among people with illusory low control, ease (vs. effort) increases tendency to engage in activities and brand preferences, because ease signals high feasibility of attaining a successful outcome. Thus, preferences are malleable and for some individuals the opportunity to challenge themselves adds value to the outcome.

Citation:

Aparna Labroo and Sara Kim (2011) ,"Does Effort Make Your Heart Fonder Or Mind Wonder? An “Attainability-Efficacy” Framework of Preference Construction", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 90.