The Cognitive Facilitation of Different Forms of Motivation and Their Role in Stressor Engagement and Anxiety Responses

Stressors are practically unavoidable in our daily lives, with sources of stress inherent in just about every activity in which humans engage. Whilst stress is generally seen as something to manage through minimisation or avoidance, this approach is often not practical if personal or organisational goals are to be obtained. Strong avoidance motivations and anxiety can result in not only reduced goal attainment and life-satisfaction but can also represent a real threat to physical and mental health. Despite a general agreement in the academic literature that motivation is likely to play an important role in predicting affective and behavioural responses to stressors, there is still a lack of specificity in the existing academic literature which addresses the role different forms of motivation play in experiential anxiety and stressor engagement/avoidance, particularly as it relates to otherwise healthy individuals.

Motivation is a broad concept with many different definitions used to explain behaviour across a range of research. This thesis adopts Self-Determination Theory as a foundation to differentiate and increase our understanding of what types of motivation best predict favourable and sustainable outcomes such as proactive engagement in potentially stressful activities, whilst simultaneously protecting against the associated anxiety. Operationalised, this research established three key objectives: (a) test the efficacy of brief experimental motivational priming, (b) examine the relationships between different types of motivation and the willingness to engage in potentially stressful activities, and (c) investigate the potential of motivation as a mediator between stressor appraisals and associated anxiety. In addressing these objectives, four studies were conducted consisting of three experimental designs involving university students and one exploratory longitudinal study involving trainee military officers. The results of these studies established that controlled motivation, and to a lesser extent amotivation, appear most responsive to environmental modification, whereas changes in autonomous motivation were often difficult to observe using self-reported measures.  thesis also demonstrated evidence that stressors appraised as challenge (growth) opportunities appear to reduce anxiety through the mediation of higher autonomous motivation, whilst threat appraisals were linked to higher anxiety via higher amotivation. Controlled motivation appeared to be unrelated to stressors appraisals or stressor related anxiety.

Overall, this thesis provides greater context to how different forms of motivation might be best promoted or avoided. Furthermore, it also provides clarity to the roles and relationships different forms of motivation share with cognitive appraisals and the experience of task related anxiety. The findings presented in this research have the potential to inform a range of proactive leadership and mental health strategies aiming to increase engagement with potentially stressful activities whilst reducing the adverse impacts of associated anxiety.