Making life easier with effort: Basic findings and applied research on response effort

Area of Science:

• Behavioral science
• Psychology

Background:

• Early research indicated response effort increases mimic punishment effects.
• Recent studies confirm response effort as an effective behavior-reduction strategy with enduring outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize basic research on response effort.
• To explore the application of response effort in diverse behavioral areas.

Main Methods:

• Review of basic research on response effort.
• Exploration of applied research across various domains.

Main Results:

• Increasing response effort is a potent behavior-reduction procedure.
• Response effort manipulations show enduring effects.

Conclusions:

• Response effort is a justified area for renewed research interest.
• Manipulating response effort provides an alternative to traditional behavior-change procedures, circumventing political constraints.