Abstract

This article asks, when does motivation increase as a result of attending to accomplishments and when does it increase as a result of attending to their absence? We propose that attention to accomplishments increases motivation among uncommitted and inexperienced individuals by increasing their goal commitment. In contrast, attention to lack of accomplishments increases motivation among committed and experienced individuals by increasing their perceived need to make progress on a goal. We document parallel influences of attention to completed and missing actions on the pursuit of personal and shared goals, and document similarities between the types of information on completing versus missing actions that individuals include in the feedback they seek and give to each other and how they respond to this information