Static thinking as cognitive coping with performance difficulties: The role of motivation and “arousal”

Static thinking (the orientation to competence-related personal characteristics) is initiated when behavioral coping is not possible under the condition of high motivation (Wicklund, 1986 Wicklund, R. A. 1986. “Orientation to the environment vs. preoccupation with human potential”. In Handbook of motivation and cognition, Edited by: Sorrentino, R. M. and Higgins, E. T. Vol. 1, 64–95. New York: Guilford. [Google Scholar]). The present research investigated the role of task engagement, quantified as cardiovascular reactivity, in this process. Participants performed a memory task that was easy, moderate, or difficult (actually insolvable) under high importance of success. Thereafter participants wrote essays about competent performers and indicated via self-report whether they were engaged in static thinking. Task engagement and static thinking were dissociated; static thinking increased linearly with task difficulty whereas task engagement described a curvilinear pattern. The findings are not explicable in terms of a general arousal–cognition relationship and suggest that the importance of success rather than actual task engagement initiates static thinking to cope with performance difficulties.