Campbell Aidan V, Wang Yiyi, Inzlicht Michael
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto,.
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
Cognition. 2025 Apr;257:106065. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106065. Epub 2025 Jan 23.
Efficiency demands that we work smarter and not harder, but is this better for our wellbeing? Here, we ask if exerting effort on a task can increase feelings of meaning and purpose. In six studies (N = 2883), we manipulated how much effort participants exerted on a task and then assessed how meaningful they found those tasks. In Studies 1 and 2, we presented hypothetical scenarios whereby participants imagined themselves (or others) exerting more or less effort on a writing task, and then asked participants how much meaning they believed they (or others) would derive. In Study 3, we randomly assigned participants to complete inherently meaningless tasks that were harder or easier to complete, and again asked them how meaningful they found the tasks. Study 4 varied the difficulty of a writing assignment by involving or excluding ChatGPT assistance and evaluated its meaningfulness. Study 5 investigated cognitive dissonance as a potential explanatory mechanism. In Study 6, we tested the shape of the effort-meaning relationship. In all studies, the more effort participants exerted (or imagined exerting), the more meaning they derived (or imagined deriving), though the results of Study 6 show this is only up to a point. These studies suggest a causal link, whereby effort begets feelings of meaning. They also suggest that part of the reason this link exists is that effort begets feeling of competence and mastery, although the evidence is preliminary and inconsistent. We found no evidence the effects were caused by post-hoc effort justification (i.e., cognitive dissonance). Effort, beyond being a mere cost, is a source of personal meaning and value, fundamentally influencing how individuals and observers perceive and derive satisfaction from tasks.
效率要求我们更聪明地工作，而非更努力地工作，但这对我们的幸福感更好吗？在此，我们探讨在一项任务上付出努力是否能增强意义感和目标感。在六项研究（N = 2883）中，我们操控了参与者在一项任务上付出的努力程度，然后评估他们认为这些任务有多有意义。在研究1和2中，我们呈现了假设情景，让参与者想象自己（或他人）在一项写作任务上付出或多或少的努力，然后询问参与者他们认为自己（或他人）会从中获得多少意义。在研究3中，我们随机分配参与者去完成本质上无意义但完成难度有高有低的任务，再次询问他们认为这些任务有多有意义。研究4通过提供或不提供ChatGPT辅助来改变写作任务的难度，并评估其意义。研究5将认知失调作为一种潜在的解释机制进行调查。在研究6中，我们测试了努力与意义关系的形态。在所有研究中，参与者付出（或想象付出）的努力越多，他们获得（或想象获得）的意义就越多，尽管研究6的结果表明这只在一定程度上成立。这些研究表明存在一种因果联系，即努力会产生意义感。它们还表明这种联系存在的部分原因是努力会产生能力感和掌控感，尽管证据是初步且不一致的。我们没有发现证据表明这些效应是由事后的努力合理化（即认知失调）导致的。努力不仅仅是一种代价，还是个人意义和价值的来源，从根本上影响个体和观察者如何看待任务并从中获得满足感。
