Magda Osman (Queen Mary University of London): “The value of effort”

Abstract: The aim of this presentation is to provide psychological insights into the relationship between rewards and effort. The association between the two may seem trivially simple, that is, we put more in to get more back. In addition to this, other simple assumptions that are held in psychological and behavioural economic literature (i.e. effort is aversive, effort aversion is overcome by rewards, choice behaviour regarding metal and physical effort is the same) are also critically considered in this talk. The main point of the talk is to suggest the following. For us to understand effort and its relationship to reward, we need to make a distinction between choice behaviour and execution of action. That is to say, we process rewards and effort differently when anticipating performing an action, from when we are about to perform the action (be it mental or physical).