Ego Involvement as an Experimental Variable

Experimental studies of ego involvement are reviewed with respect to definitions of the concept, procedures and designs used, and effects of these on retention, perception, motor responses, problem solving, preferences, evaluative judgments, set-shifting tasks, level of aspiration, and test responses. Generalizing from their review, the writers propose the hypothesis that varying reactions to ego involving conditions reflect, at least in part, a continuum of motivation. The relationship between degree of ego involvement and efficacy of response appears to be a curvilinear one, inhibitive or disruptive at the extremes and optimally facilitative near the middle. There also appears to be a common personality dimension which is responsive to ego-involving conditions.