Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lerche, Veronika
• Neubauer, Andreas B
• Voss, Andreas

Titel

Effects of implicit fear of failure on cognitive processing. A diffusion model analysis

Ist Teil von

• Motivation and emotion, 2018, Vol.42 (3), p.396-402

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Quelle

EBSCOhost Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Whereas previous studies suggest that individuals with high implicit fear of failure (FF) perform worse on various indicators of general performance, the underlying mechanisms of this effect have not yet been understood. In our experimental study, 280 participants worked on a binary color discrimination task. Half of the participants were frustrated by means of negative performance feedback, while the control group received mainly positive feedback. We employed a diffusion model analysis (Ratcliff in Psychol Rev 85(2):59-108, 1978) to disentangle the different components involved in the execution of the task. Results revealed that participants in the frustration condition adopted more conservative decision settings (threshold separation parameter of the diffusion model). Besides, high implicit FF was related to slow information accumulation (drift), and this relation was stronger in the frustration condition. Participants with higher FF further showed reduced learning rates during the task. Task related intrusive thoughts are discussed as mechanism for reduced performance of high FF individuals. We conclude that diffusion model analyses can contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of psychological motives. (DIPF/Orig.)