Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 115, Issue 8, Pages 1772-1776Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1706530115
Keywords
reference points; personal bests; loss aversion; motivation; goals
Categories
Funding
- Microsoft Research
- Wharton School
- University of Toronto
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Personal bests act as reference points. Examining 133 million chess games, we find that players exert effort to set new personal best ratings and quit once they have done so. Although specific and difficult goals have been shown to inspire greater motivation than vague pronouncements to do your best, doing one's best can be a specific and difficult goal-and, as we show, motivates in a manner predicted by loss aversion.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available