Attributing experts' achievements to effort rather than to natural ability leads to better performance

Prior research shows that how people interpret their own achievements-whether stemming from effort or natural talent-influences their motivation. Yet little is known about whether attributions for others' achievements shape observers' motivation and performance. Across five studies, we investigate the effects of attributions about the achievements of experts on learners. Studies 1-3 test the motivational impact of effort versus natural talent narratives-stories portraying achievements as driven by hard work or innate ability-using complementary approaches: an observational analysis of "Rate My Professors," the largest publicly available data set of teaching evaluations (N = 1,227); a preregistered lab experiment (N = 791); and a meta-analysis of 12 additional replication experiments (N = 3,563). Effort narratives enhanced learners' self-efficacy and valuation of effort, yielding better learning outcomes. Studies 4 and 5 tested whether effort narratives about experts outperform narratives without attributional cues and whether this advantage varies as a function of expertise level. In Study 4, a large randomized field experiment with Guatemalan high school students (N = 27,791), effort narratives about experts improved learning outcomes relative to no-cue narratives. The results of Study 5, a preregistered lab experiment (N = 1,576), suggest that effort narratives may particularly benefit learners who, in the absence of cues, default to natural talent explanations-a common pattern among participants. The advantages of effort versus no-cue narratives did not extend to peer role models, and among experts, differences in accomplishment did not moderate the effect. Together, our findings extend attribution theories of motivation into the interpersonal domain and suggest that framing experts' achievements as effort-based can be a powerful, low-cost tool to boost motivation and performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).