The Role of Utility Value in Promoting Interest Development

An individual's initial interest in a topic may quickly fade, or it may become deeper and more enduring. One factor that may support an emerging interest is to discover utility value (or usefulness) in the topic. Instructional materials that emphasize the utility value of a topic can enhance learning and motivation, but whether these materials can foster interest development among individuals who show initial interest in a topic is uncertain. Across two studies, we tested utility-value manipulations under conditions in which we expected the manipulations to promote the development of interest. In Study 1, we manipulated whether participants received utility-value information during a learning session and found that such information triggered a state of interest for participants who had reported higher levels of interest at the outset of the session. In Study 2, we provided all participants with the same utility-value information provided to some students in Study 1, and then manipulated whether they wrote one of three kinds of essays about the utility value of the task (or a control topic). For participants with higher interest, we found that subsequent reflection on the usefulness of the material for the distant future in a writing activity (rather than the present or near future) further promoted interest development. In addition, engaging in any type of utility-value writing improved performance on a test of the material - overall, and specifically for less confident participants - replicating previous research. Findings suggest that, under the right conditions, emphasizing utility value can catalyze the interest-development process.