Incentive Strength, Need State, Instrumental Task Difficulty, and the Magnitude of Goal Valence

Two experiments were performed to assess the effects of incentive strength, need state, and instrumental task difficulty on goal valence. In Experiment 1, subjects faced either an easy or a difficult task in order to avoid having to listen to aversive radio static. For some the radio static was to be loud, and for others it was to be soft. Anticipatory ratings of noise unpleasantness were as theoretically predicted, increasing as a direct function of task difficulty, but only when the stronger incentive (i.e., loud noise) was expected. In the second experiment, again subjects faced either an easy or a difficult instrumental task, but this time in an effort to win a McDonald's Big Mac™. For several hours before the experimental session, some of the subjects did not eat and the others did. In line with expectations, ratings of the attractiveness of the hamburger increased with instrumental task difficulty for subjects who had not eaten and were low and relatively uniform for those who had eaten. Results of the two experiments are discussed in terms of Brehm's energization theory of motivation.