Learned industriousness is a behaviorally rooted theory developed by Robert Eisenberger to explain the differences in general work effort among people of equivalent ability. According to Eisenberger, individuals who are reinforced for exerting high effort on a task are also secondarily reinforced by the sensation of high effort. Individuals with a history of reinforcement for effort are predicted to generalize this effort to new behaviors.Eisenberger, R. (1992). Learned Industriousness. Psychological Review, 99(2), 248-267.
Operationalization of industriousness An individual is considered industrious if he or she demonstrates perseverance and determination in performing a task. This term has also been used interchangeably with work ethic,Tucker-Ladd, C. E. (1996). Psychological self-help. The Self-Help Foundation. which is generally regarded as the attitude that hard work and effort is virtuous. Learned industriousness theory asserts that industriousness is developed over time through a history of reinforcement.
Possible relationship to learned helplessness Learned helplessness is a term to explain a specific pattern of behavior that occurs in both animals and humans. When an animal or human is consistently exposed to an aversive condition (pain, unpleasant noise, etc.) and is unable to escape this condition, that animal or human will become helpless and stop attempting escape. The animal or human may develop motivational deficits, as demonstrated in learned helplessness experiments.Overmier, J. B., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1967). Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 63, 28-33. In contrast, learned industriousness theory attempts to explain why some individuals are more motivated than others. In an attempt to merge these two phenomena, Eisenberger, Park, & Frank invoked learned industriousness in children by providing task-contingent verbal approval for a small group of behaviors, contrasting outcomes between a group of children conditioned to exhibit learned helplessness and a control group. On a subsequent approval-contingent task, children conditioned by task-contingent verbal approval outperformed controls. However, the learned-helplessness group performed no differently from controls.Eisenberger, R., Park, D. C., & Frank, M. (1976). Learned industriousness and social reinforcement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33(2), 227-232.
Antecedents of industriousness Effort Effort is the subjective experience of fatigue felt by the body when it is in motion or meets resistance.English, H. B., & English, A. C. (1968). A comprehensive dictionary of psychological and psychoanalytical terms. New York: McKay. This fatigue can refer to both physical and mental fatigue depending on the task at hand. Until the theory of learned industriousness, effort was generally considered an aversive sensation. Hull summed up this concept with the Law of Least Effort, which asserts that individuals will choose a solution that minimizes effort for any given problem. Learned industriousness theory is considered an addendum to the Law of Least Effort.Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Relationship between effort and goal-setting strategies Individuals with high levels of industriousness have a history of applying great effort towards tasks. It has been demonstrated in many studies that different uses of goals result in more effort and task persistence. Thus, specific goal-setting strategies are antecedents to effort and subsequently increase the likelihood of an individual 'learning' industriousness. Below is an overview of the findings.
A goal is defined as the "object or aim of an action".Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. As motivational tools, goals have been shown to improve performance in a wide variety of settings. For example, one study looked at the effects of high goals versus low goals on performance. To investigate this effect, students were given goals for a brainstorming activity; those with higher goals were able to brainstorm more ideas than those with lower goals. Therefore, the investigator concluded that goal setting not only increases performance, but more ambitious goals evoke better performance than lower-set goals.Locke, E. A. (1982). Relation of goal level to performance with a short work period and multiple goal levels. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67(4), 512-514.
In addition to improving performance, setting goals also increases task effort and persistence. In one study, participants were assigned to three groups: short-term goals, long-term goals, and a control group with no goals. The participants were then asked to attempt a complicated mirror maze as many times as they would like. Both groups with goals persisted on the maze task significantly longer than the control group, providing evidence that goals promote higher effort and persistence.Singer, R. N., Korienek, G., Jarvis, D., McColskey, D., & Candeletti, G. (1981). Goal-setting and task persistence. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 53, 881-882.
Another facet of goals that has been studied in relation to task persistence is whether the goal is a cooperative or competitive goal structure. A cooperative goal structure is one in which an individual must work alongside a group to reach a common goal, whereas a competitive goal structure is one in which an individual competes with others to reach a goal. The investigators tested whether participants' social values (cooperativeness, competitiveness, and individualism) moderate the relationship between goal structure and task persistence. In accordance with their hypotheses, individuals who were classified as "cooperators" persisted longer on the cooperative goal-structured task than the competitive goal-structured task. Similarly, individuals who were classified as "individualists" persisted longer on a competitive goal-structured task than a cooperative one. Therefore, the investigators conclude that the effect of "cooperative versus competitive goal structures on task persistence are influenced by individuals' social values and history of rewarded effort".Eisenberger, R., Kuhlman, D. M., & Cotterell, N. (1992). Effects of social values, effort training, and goal structure on task persistence. Journal of Research in Psychology, 26, 258-272.
Relationship between effort and task interest/difficulty There are certain aspects of tasks that induce greater effort and persistence: a performer's interest in the task and the level of difficulty of the task. These factors are relevant in creating an environment where an individual is likely to exert more effort and, in turn, become more industrious. Therefore, task interest and task difficulty may both act as moderators in the relationship between effort and industriousness.
Task interest, or an individual's engagement in an activity, is claimed to be an antecedent to the exertion of effort on a task. In a study by Fisher & Noble, the hypothesis that task interest is important for self-regulation during performance and task effort was empirically tested. The findings suggest that task interest positively predicted effort with a significant correlation. While a significant correlation cannot prove causation, there is evidence that higher effort is linked to higher intrinsic motivation.Fisher, C. D. & Noble, C. S. (2004). A within-person examination of correlates of performance and emotions while working. Human Performance, 17(2), 145-168. Other studies have supported this finding as well.Izard, C. E., & Ackerman, B. P. (2000). Motivational, organizational, and regulatory functions of discrete emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (pp. 253-264). New York: Guilford.Sansone, C., & Smith, J. L. (2000). Interest and self-regulation: The relation between having to and wanting to. In C. Sansone & J. M. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance (pp. 341-372). San Diego, CA: Academic.
Task difficulty is also suggested to precede high effort. The reasoning behind this claim is that high difficulty tasks evoke high effort exertion if the individual is motivated to succeed on the task. The study conducted by Fisher and Noble also supports this hypothesis, as a significant positive relationship between task difficulty and effort was found.
Reinforcement According to Daniels & Daniels, reinforcement is any stimulus, event, or situation that fulfills the following two requirements: Follows a behavior Increases the frequency of that behaviorDaniels, A. C., & Daniels, J. E. (2006). Performance Management: Changing Behavior that Drives Organizational Effectiveness. Atlanta, GA: Performance Management Publications.
A stimulus, event, or situation is considered a reinforcer if it follows a targeted behavior and causes the increased occurrence of that behavior. Many confuse the terms "reward" and "reinforcer" because they often mean the same thing; a reward is given as a consequence of a desired behavior and often motivates an individual to perform that behavior again in order to receive another reward. However, individuals can receive rewards and not increase the behavior in question (e.g., receiving a prize for completing a marathon may not motivate an individual to run more marathons). In that case, the reward is not a reinforcer because it does not increase the frequency of the behavior. Positive reinforcement is any stimulus that is presented after a behavior and increases the frequency of that behavior. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus after a behavior that increases the frequency of that behavior. Both positive and negative reinforcement are effective in the development of industriousness.
Reinforcing high effort Learned industriousness theory asserts that reinforcing an individual for achieving a performance standard increases the likelihood of that individual's performing those behaviors again. If the individual exerted high levels of effort during the completion of the task, the effort takes on its own reinforcing value. This is because the individual enjoys the sensation of working hard because it is associated with reinforcement. Therefore, this individual is more likely to generalize this high level of effort to other tasks because it is less aversive and is associated with positive results. On the other hand, the theory also claims that if an individual has a history of being reinforced for completing tasks with very low levels of effort, that individual will eventually generalize this low level of effort to other tasks. This facet of the theory is termed "learned laziness." Evidence for these claims is provided below.