Consumer Behaviour Article Summary
Etkin (2016): The hidden cost of personal quantification
Abstract
Personal quantification gives us a better understanding of our behaviour so we can make changes
to live happier, healthier lives.
This research examines the negative consequences of personal quantification: measuring output
can increase how much of an activity consumers do, but it can simultaneously undermine intrinsic
motivation, reducing how much an activity is enjoyed. As a result, measurement may decrease
consumers’ interest in continuing to do the activity in the future, and even how happy and satisfied
people feel overall.
This occurs because measurement can undermine intrinsic motivation. Drawing attention to output
can make enjoyable activities feel like work, which reduces enjoyment. As a result, measurement
can decrease continued engagement in the activity and subjective well-being. Even in the absence
of explicit external incentives, measurement itself can have similar effects.
Theoretical framework
External incentives are used to motivate desired behaviours and can improve performance.
However, external rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation. Intrinsically motivated activities are
pursued simply because they are enjoyable. When providing external rewards to those enjoyable
activities, people attribute their behaviour to the reward rather than to personal interest, which can
reduce how much the activity is enjoyed.
Even in the absence of explicit external incentives, measurement itself can have similar effects.
Measurement should increase performance, as consumers value being productive. However, this
research proposes that measurement can reduce how much people enjoy doing an activity and
therefore undermines intrinsic motivation. This because attending quantitative outcomes can make
fun activities seem like work and less enjoyable.
Methodology
Six experiments in which participants spent time engaging in an enjoyable activity. They examined:
Whether measurement decreases enjoyment, because it makes fun activities seem more like work.
The downstream consequences of measurement: external rewards can make people less likely to
keep doing an activity in the future. Thus, once intrinsic motivation has been undermined, people
tend to do less of the activity. This decrease in output should only occur after the measurement is
removed.
Whether measurement impacts subjective well-being. If measurement makes enjoyable activities
feel more like work, then it may also reduce how happy and satisfied people feel after engaging in
those activities.
Experiment 1: Colouring
Examines how measurement impacts enjoyment and output
Students spent 10 minutes colouring shapes and after were asked how much they enjoyed
colouring and how difficult it was.
The only difference between the control condition and the measurement condition was
measurement feedback. Participants in the measurement condition were given information on how
many shapes they had coloured.
Results: measurement increased output, but participants enjoyed it less. Measurement also led
participants to draw less creatively and reduced the average number of colours they used. There
was no difference in perceived task difficulty, casting doubt on the notion that task difficulty is what
drives the reduced enjoyment.
A follow up study tested the alternative explanation of distraction or interruption. In the control
condition, it kept showing another letter (instead of no feedback). The results stayed the same.
Experiment 2: Walking
, Consumer Behaviour Article Summary
Examines how measurement impacts enjoyment and output
Control condition: students got a pedometer with a shut lid, preventing them from knowing their
steps were being tracked
Measurement condition: students got the choice of wearing a pedometer or not (and all wanted to
wear one).
After walking, participants rated how much they enjoyed walking.
Results: measurement increased output, but reduced enjoyment (even when people chose to be
measured).
Experiment 3: Walking
Three objectives:
o Test whether measurement makes an enjoyable activity seem like work and decrease
enjoyment
o Explore measurement’s consequences for subjective well-being
o Explore whether measurement’s effects persist when attending to measurement is optional
Procedure:
o Control condition: taped lid
o Measurement condition: participants were asked to look at the number of steps several
times throughout the day
o Optional measurement condition: participants were not asked to look at the number of
steps taken
o After, all participants completed scales on their subjective well-being (mood), enjoyment
and to what extend walking seemed like work
Results: measurement increased output, however decreased enjoyment. Measurement made
walking seem more like work and also reduced subjective well-being (no difference between
measurement and optional measurement condition for all scales).
Experiment 4: Reading
2 (measurement: control vs. measurement) x 3 (activity frame: control, fun, work)
Work- and fun frame: participants read text that explicitly framed reading as either useful of
enjoyable. Control condition received no additional information about reading.
Measurement condition: number of paged completed was displayed
After reading, participants answered scales about well-being, enjoyment and perceived reading to
be work
Results: measurement increased output (regardless of the frame) and decreased enjoyment. This
effect was attenuated in the work-frame. When reading seemed like work to begin with,
measurement had less of an effect on how the activity was perceived, reducing its negative impact
on enjoyment. The same was seen for well-being.
Experiment 5: Reading
Examines measurement’s downstream consequences for continued engagement (how much of an
activity people do in the future)
2 (measurement: control vs. measurement) x 2(cognitive load: no load vs. load)
In the cognitive load condition, participants were asked to remember an eight-digit number while
they read.
In the control condition, number of pages read was displayed.
After 8 minutes of reading, cognitive load was removed by participants filling in the number. After,
participants completed the scales for enjoyment, how absorbed they felt in reading and how much
it felt like work.
After, participants continued reading without any measurement
Results:
Etkin (2016): The hidden cost of personal quantification
Abstract
Personal quantification gives us a better understanding of our behaviour so we can make changes
to live happier, healthier lives.
This research examines the negative consequences of personal quantification: measuring output
can increase how much of an activity consumers do, but it can simultaneously undermine intrinsic
motivation, reducing how much an activity is enjoyed. As a result, measurement may decrease
consumers’ interest in continuing to do the activity in the future, and even how happy and satisfied
people feel overall.
This occurs because measurement can undermine intrinsic motivation. Drawing attention to output
can make enjoyable activities feel like work, which reduces enjoyment. As a result, measurement
can decrease continued engagement in the activity and subjective well-being. Even in the absence
of explicit external incentives, measurement itself can have similar effects.
Theoretical framework
External incentives are used to motivate desired behaviours and can improve performance.
However, external rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation. Intrinsically motivated activities are
pursued simply because they are enjoyable. When providing external rewards to those enjoyable
activities, people attribute their behaviour to the reward rather than to personal interest, which can
reduce how much the activity is enjoyed.
Even in the absence of explicit external incentives, measurement itself can have similar effects.
Measurement should increase performance, as consumers value being productive. However, this
research proposes that measurement can reduce how much people enjoy doing an activity and
therefore undermines intrinsic motivation. This because attending quantitative outcomes can make
fun activities seem like work and less enjoyable.
Methodology
Six experiments in which participants spent time engaging in an enjoyable activity. They examined:
Whether measurement decreases enjoyment, because it makes fun activities seem more like work.
The downstream consequences of measurement: external rewards can make people less likely to
keep doing an activity in the future. Thus, once intrinsic motivation has been undermined, people
tend to do less of the activity. This decrease in output should only occur after the measurement is
removed.
Whether measurement impacts subjective well-being. If measurement makes enjoyable activities
feel more like work, then it may also reduce how happy and satisfied people feel after engaging in
those activities.
Experiment 1: Colouring
Examines how measurement impacts enjoyment and output
Students spent 10 minutes colouring shapes and after were asked how much they enjoyed
colouring and how difficult it was.
The only difference between the control condition and the measurement condition was
measurement feedback. Participants in the measurement condition were given information on how
many shapes they had coloured.
Results: measurement increased output, but participants enjoyed it less. Measurement also led
participants to draw less creatively and reduced the average number of colours they used. There
was no difference in perceived task difficulty, casting doubt on the notion that task difficulty is what
drives the reduced enjoyment.
A follow up study tested the alternative explanation of distraction or interruption. In the control
condition, it kept showing another letter (instead of no feedback). The results stayed the same.
Experiment 2: Walking
, Consumer Behaviour Article Summary
Examines how measurement impacts enjoyment and output
Control condition: students got a pedometer with a shut lid, preventing them from knowing their
steps were being tracked
Measurement condition: students got the choice of wearing a pedometer or not (and all wanted to
wear one).
After walking, participants rated how much they enjoyed walking.
Results: measurement increased output, but reduced enjoyment (even when people chose to be
measured).
Experiment 3: Walking
Three objectives:
o Test whether measurement makes an enjoyable activity seem like work and decrease
enjoyment
o Explore measurement’s consequences for subjective well-being
o Explore whether measurement’s effects persist when attending to measurement is optional
Procedure:
o Control condition: taped lid
o Measurement condition: participants were asked to look at the number of steps several
times throughout the day
o Optional measurement condition: participants were not asked to look at the number of
steps taken
o After, all participants completed scales on their subjective well-being (mood), enjoyment
and to what extend walking seemed like work
Results: measurement increased output, however decreased enjoyment. Measurement made
walking seem more like work and also reduced subjective well-being (no difference between
measurement and optional measurement condition for all scales).
Experiment 4: Reading
2 (measurement: control vs. measurement) x 3 (activity frame: control, fun, work)
Work- and fun frame: participants read text that explicitly framed reading as either useful of
enjoyable. Control condition received no additional information about reading.
Measurement condition: number of paged completed was displayed
After reading, participants answered scales about well-being, enjoyment and perceived reading to
be work
Results: measurement increased output (regardless of the frame) and decreased enjoyment. This
effect was attenuated in the work-frame. When reading seemed like work to begin with,
measurement had less of an effect on how the activity was perceived, reducing its negative impact
on enjoyment. The same was seen for well-being.
Experiment 5: Reading
Examines measurement’s downstream consequences for continued engagement (how much of an
activity people do in the future)
2 (measurement: control vs. measurement) x 2(cognitive load: no load vs. load)
In the cognitive load condition, participants were asked to remember an eight-digit number while
they read.
In the control condition, number of pages read was displayed.
After 8 minutes of reading, cognitive load was removed by participants filling in the number. After,
participants completed the scales for enjoyment, how absorbed they felt in reading and how much
it felt like work.
After, participants continued reading without any measurement
Results:
