A small gift led students to play more and still get work done.

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   120 introductory psychology students at a private university in the northeast. There were 60 in each of two studies, and most were women.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students got a bag of candy as a gift, or only rated candy and got none. Then they chose freely for 8 minutes between a puzzle they found interesting and a boring letter task with a $2 prize. In the second study, half of each group were told they had work to finish in those 8 minutes.

3. 03

   What happened

   When free to choose, students with the gift spent more time on the puzzle and rated it higher in both studies. They worked faster on the letter task in the first study, with similar mistakes, but not in the second. Time on the letter task did not differ between the groups in the first study.

What the study found

1. HelpedFocus

   Students given a small gift spent more time on a fun puzzle than students who only rated candy.

   Randomised trial of 120 introductory psychology students · vs students who only rated candy and got none · behaviour was recorded

2. HelpedMotivation

   Students given a small gift said they liked the puzzle more than students who only rated candy.

   Randomised trial of 120 introductory psychology students · vs students who only rated candy and got none · behaviour was recorded

3. MixedGoals

   Students given a small gift found the right letter strings faster in one study, but not the other.

   Randomised trial of 120 introductory psychology students · vs students who only rated candy and got none · behaviour was recorded

4. No differenceGoals

   When told work had to be done, students given a gift did not differ in time on the boring task.

   Randomised trial of 120 introductory psychology students · vs students who only rated candy, also told about the work · behaviour was recorded

Source