Received: 25 April 2017
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Revised: 10 September 2017
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Accepted: 4 October 2017
DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12487
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Can the positive effects of inspiration be extended to different domains? Jack W. Klein
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Trevor I. Case | Julie Fitness
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
Abstract It is presently unknown whether inspiration extends across different domains: can a salesperson,
Correspondence Jack W. Klein, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109, Australia. Email:
[email protected]
for example, be inspired by a successful athlete? The present study investigated whether inspirational content must be relevant to a subsequent task to improve performance. Participants (N 5 70) wrote about a time they felt inspired in a sporting context (domain-relevant), creative context (domain-irrelevant); or amused (positive control). Participants then held a handgrip, with the option of giving up or continuing to exhaustion. Regardless of the relevance of the inspirational content to the performance task, inspired participants were less likely to give up than controls. This is the first research to show that the benefits of inspiration reach beyond the domain defined by the inspiring event.
1 | INTRODUCTION
a qualitative study which found that athletes’ experiences of inspiration typically come from three dominant sources: personal performance,
Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey began his speech to the
achievements, and thoughts (e.g., visualizing their future success);
Texas Longhorns football team by stating that “I find that when I’ve
examples of leadership; and role models (Figgins, Smith, Sellars,
done my best work as an actor, it was only when I pushed myself to be
Greenlees, & Knight, 2016). Athletes almost exclusively reported inspi-
better than I ever thought I could be” (Dodds, 2014). McConaughey
ration from others who had achieved success in sport (e.g., a former
had been invited by University of Texas Coach, Charlie Strong, to
sporting professional), thereby possibly undermining the importance of
inspire his players in the lead-up to an important game; the actor
novel-context extension. Similarly, while motivational speeches were
responded with a commanding speech that outlined the importance of
cited as examples of inspiring leadership, these were again predomi-
hard work and dedication, primarily drawing upon his experiences as an
nately delivered by a team’s coach or manager. Finally, the athletes
actor. Strong’s assumption was that successful individuals are inspiring
identified a range of effects of inspiration including an increased pro-
regardless of the domain of their success, and that footballers would
pensity to train, heightened motivation during sports matches, and
extend McConaughey’s message on the importance of hard work as an
even improved athletic performances. However, this research was
actor to a football context. This process of perceiving and reproducing
purely interview-based, and did not examine whether these behavioral
an object’s inspiring qualities is known as extension (Thrash, Moldovan,
effects actually occurred.
Oleynick, & Maruskin, 2014); however, it is not known whether inspira-
Two other studies have shed light on the propensity for inspiration
tional qualities can be extended into an entirely novel context. Novel-
to increase task performance in a sporting context. Gonzalez et al.
context extension hence represents an intriguing and untested concept,
(2011) found that a video clip of actor Al Pacino delivering an inspirational sports-relevant speech (from the film Any Given Sunday) increased
and is the focus of the present study. Inspiration has long been used to explain how people move from
self-reported levels of inspiration (including being “inspired to compete,
the mundane to the magnificent, and occurs when a transcendent
play, and perform”) and dominance, and decreased amotivation (the
object or being (e.g., a successful athlete) motivates the subsequent
absence of motivation) in male college athletes. A strength of this study
actualization of its internal qualities (e.g., strong work ethic) into reality
is that its control condition (i.e., Al Pacino giving non-inspirational sport-
(e.g., the inspired person is motivated to train harder; Thrash & Elliot,
ing instructions) closely mirrored the experimental condition, yet did
2003). Although inspiration is often used to explain what motivates
not increase self-reported inspiration. This suggests that inspirational
athletes to achieve their best (Arthur, Hardy, & Woodman, 2012), few
(sport-relevant) speeches can inspire athletes, although again the study
studies have actually examined inspiration in sport. A rare exception is
did not test whether athletic performance was also improved.
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Finally, a correlational study of adolescent tennis players found
that inspirational objects need to be seen as personally relevant to the
that the self-report frequency of experiencing inspiration was positively
individual to have an effect, irrespective of the task at hand. In their
correlated with mental toughness (Gucciardi, Jackson, Hanton, & Reid,
study, Lockwood and Kunda (1997) emphasized the role model’s
2015). Both this finding and Gonzalez et al. (2011)’s findings suggest
career-specific professional achievements (the successful teacher was
that inspiration can be advantageous in sports, but neither of these
described as having motivated students and the successful accountant
studies was designed to investigate whether inspiration can come from
was one of the youngest employees to receive a partnership at an
an object outside the domain of sport (i.e., novel-context extension).
accounting firm). If the role model descriptions emphasized points of similarity with participants (e.g., I am a university graduate), or por-
1.1 | Novel-context extension and inspiration The concept of extension is rooted in the transmission model (Thrash, Maruskin, Cassidy, Fryer, & Ryan, 2010). This model conceptualizes inspiration as the process by which the qualities of the evocative object (e.g., McConaughey’s work ethic) are perceived by an individual and extended into their own life (Thrash et al., 2014). Extension could
trayed their qualities in more general terms (e.g., I am a hard worker), it may have increased their relevance to participants and subsequent inspirational impact. This account lends itself to the concept of extension, which suggests that universal qualities, such as competence and persistence, represent universally inspiring qualities.
involve a close replication of the evoking stimulus (e.g., an actor finding
1.2 | The present study
inspiration in McConaughey’s message of hard-work), or an abstraction
The aim of the present study was to determine the circumstances
of certain core qualities and their re-application in a novel context (e.g.,
under which content can be inspiring in a novel context. Participants
an athlete perceiving McConaughey’s message and reapplying it in a
completed a vivid recall task in which they wrote about an inspirational
sporting context). The motivational speaking industry relies upon the
event that was either specifically relevant to the task at hand (i.e.,
premise of novel-context extension. For instance, legendary Rugby
sport: domain-relevant) or irrelevant to the task at hand (creativity:
League Coach Wayne Bennett is frequently hired as a motivational
domain-irrelevant). A third group of participants wrote about an amus-
speaker to inspire corporate audiences (e.g., employees of the National
ing event (positive control). Participants were then asked to hold a
Australia Bank, Virgin Australia Airlines, and shipping company E. Sime
handgrip for as long as possible as a test of physical endurance. It was
Group) despite lacking any notable business expertise (Wayne
hypothesized that participants in the domain-irrelevant (creativity)
Bennett-Rugby League’s Undisputed Super Coach, 2016). Similarly,
inspiration condition would hold a handgrip for a greater duration than
people are often motivated to read the biographies of famous people
control participants, thereby demonstrating novel-context extension.
(e.g., musicians, actors, and politicians) to seek inspiration. This also rep-
However, due to its direct relevance to the task, participants in the
resents novel-context extension; the readership of a biography is not
inspiration-relevant (sport) condition were hypothesized to hold the
likely confined to people who share the subject of the biography’s pro-
handgrip longest. In addition to using overall handgrip duration as a
fession. Whereas the demand for ex-sporting stars as motivational speakers for corporate audiences suggests that novel context extension is powerful, there have been few attempts to investigate whether novel extension is as effective as inspiration that derives from a relevant content domain. Lockwood and Kunda’s (1999) research represents perhaps the only direct examination of novel-context extension. The experimenters recruited 50 female university students who were studying to be either accountants or teachers and exposed them to a bogus newspaper arti-
measure of endurance, the way in which participants terminated the handgrip task provided another approximation of endurance. Specifically, it was predicted that participants in both inspiration conditions would be less likely to terminate the handgrip task by giving-up (by verbally opting to stop, rather than persisting until they could no longer physically hold the handgrip due to fatigue) than participants in the control condition, thereby demonstrating increased persistence. This effect was expected to be strongest in the inspiration-relevant condition due to its direct task-relevance.
cle describing either a model accountant or teacher. Participants then completed a questionnaire that assessed their perceived selfcompetency regarding career success. Those exposed to a successful other relevant to their own field (e.g., a teaching student exposed to a successful teacher biography) reported higher self-evaluations than
2 | METHOD 2.1 | Participants
those exposed to an irrelevant model, suggesting that successful others
The initial sample consisted of 20 men and 56 women aged from 18 to
are only inspiring when they are seen as self-relevant. It is possible that
59 years (M 5 21.49, SD 5 6.17). Fifty participants were University psy-
the aspiring accountants did not view a successful teacher as relevant
chology students (Mage 5 21.62, SDage 5 7.33) participating for course
to the task of accounting, while teaching students did not view a suc-
credit. The remaining 26 participants were community members
cessful accountant as relevant to the task of teaching. This suggests
(Mage 5 21.23, SDage 5 2.96) who each received $15 in return for their
that successful others are only inspiring in their specific domain,
participation. The final sample was 70 participants: two participants
thereby undermining the viability of novel-context extension.
who indicated suspicion about the cover story and four control partici-
Alternatively, the participants may have simply found it difficult to
pants who wrote about inspiration were excluded from all analyses.
relate to the irrelevant successful other. This interpretation indicates
Data from a further two participants were excluded from handgrip
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analyses only: one participant had sustained a hand injury, and another
write about a time you had a creative idea and became inspired.” Con-
was an extreme handgrip score outlier (>3 SDs above mean) and held
trol participants were similarly instructed to “think about a time in your
the handgrip for over 10 min.
life when you felt amused” and “you could describe a time you heard a funny joke, or when something funny happened.” They were also
2.2 | Materials and procedure Upon entering the laboratory participants were seated at a laptop and asked to complete a consent form. It was also confirmed that participants had not exercised in the last 2 hr.
2.2.1 | Maximum voluntary contraction assessment Physical endurance was measured using a Camry Electronic Handgrip Dynamometer (Model EH101), which has been used to measure endurance in much published research (e.g., Eksioglu, 2011; Hone & McCullough, 2015). Participants sat comfortably and held the handgrip dynamometer in their dominant hand, with their forearm resting on the table. In order to gain a measure of baseline strength, participants were instructed to contract the device using maximum effort for 3 s; this was repeated three times, with a 30 s rest period between attempts. The participant’s highest kilograms of force (kgf) was taken as his or
directed to recall a specific event that was amusing, not just a general period of time, replicating a procedure that has successfully elicited amusement in previous research (Griskevicius, Shiota, & Neufeld, 2010). The writing task was divided into two parts: (a) a brief outline of the experience and (b) a description of how the participant felt, thought and behaved at the time. Participants wrote for 10 min (with a 9 min warning) and were instructed to write as much as possible.
2.2.3 | Time 1 manipulation checks Participants then completed an eight-item manipulation check indicating the extent to which they were currently feeling: “Inspired,” “Happy,” “Powerful,” “Competent,” “Motivated,” “Energetic,” “Excited,” and “Amused”. This was completed using seven-point Likert scales (1 5 not at all to 7 5 very much).
her Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC). Participants were told
2.2.4 | Handgrip dynamometer endurance task
that they would later complete a physical endurance task, which would
The Handgrip Dynamometer task was then undertaken by participants
require the handgrip to be held at 30% of their MVC for as long as pos-
after being told the following: “The task will end when you deviate
sible (following the methodology reported in Eksioglu, 2011). The
from this figure (i.e., 30% of a participant’s MVC) by more than 0.5 kgf
experimenter demonstrated the task and asked the participant to prac-
for more than 3 s, or indicate that you give up by saying stop.” This
tice the task for 10 s, although participants were allocated additional
ensured that participants knew that saying stop was the equivalent to
practice time if the experimenter was not satisfied that they under-
giving up. Participants were told to hold the handgrip for as long as
stood the task instructions. Participants then completed questionnaires
possible. The experiment recorded the handgrip duration and rest
unrelated to the current study.
intervals using two stopwatches. At the conclusion of the handgrip
2.2.2 | Vivid recall task Participants “randomly” selected one of 25 different paper slips containing a writing topic. In fact, the participant’s writing topic had been pre-determined and all paper slips contained the same topic, ensuring that participants did not know that the purpose of the task was to make them feel inspired or amused. The participant then marked the topic they had “chosen” on a sheet of 25 topics (including 24 fictitious topics); this was an attempt to make the topic choice appear random.
task, the experimenter recorded the termination choice: whether the participants had asked to stop the task, or whether the task was terminated because the participant deviated from the specified endurance weight for more than 3 s. As such, the two forms of endurance examined were (a) overall duration of the handgrip task and (b) termination choice. Whereas, overall duration is the standard measure of endurance used in handgrip dynamometer studies (e.g., Eksioglu, 2011; Hone & McCullough, 2015), this is, to our knowledge, the first time termination choice has been used as an index of handgrip endurance.
Each participant then wrote about a recalled inspirational event in either a sporting (domain-relevant) or creative context (domain-irrele-
2.2.5 | Time 2 manipulation checks
vant), or wrote about a time they felt amused (control). Inspiration-
After completing the handgrip task, participants responded to the
relevant participants were told to “think about a time you felt inspired
manipulation check items a second time. This was to determine
in a sporting context.” Since performance on the handgrip task required
whether the effects of the induction had persisted throughout the
physical endurance, it was expected that writing about an inspiring
entire task. Participants also used five-point Likert scales to rate how
sporting event would have greater relevance to this task than would
(a) easy to write and (b) engaging their topic was. Finally, in order to
writing about an experience of personal creativity. Participants were
identify participants who were suspicious of the study’s cover story,
then given the following suggestions: “You could describe a coach or
they were asked to briefly describe the purpose of the experiment.
athlete that was inspirational. You might like to describe an event, such as a sports team winning against the odds, which inspired you.”
2.2.6 | Debrief and conclusion
Domain-irrelevant participants were told to “think about a time in your
The purpose of the experiment and all elements of the deception were
life when you felt inspired in a creative context.” They were also
revealed to participants at the end of the experiment. Participants
advised they could: “describe a time you heard a piece of music or saw
were then offered the opportunity to re-consent to the use of their
an artwork and became inspired to create something. You might like to
data for research.
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3 | RESULTS
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some stories. Story topics in the domain-irrelevant condition (i.e., inspiration in a creative context) were more diverse, with seeing an artwork
3.1 | Overview of analyses Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS; version 21.0) was used to analyze all data. An alpha level of .05 was determined a priori to control the Type I error rate (rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true). Bonferroni tests with two-tailed p values were used for all post hoc analyses. First, participant stories were coded for narrative themes and an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test manipulation checks. A logistical regression analyzed the effect of condition on handgrip termination choice (i.e., gave up or fatigue) and an ANOVA examined its effect on handgrip endurance. Analyses were also repeated with relevant moderators, and an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to control for rest-time. Statistical tests were performed to ensure that gender, participant type, and age were evenly distributed across groups.
(16.7%) and hearing music (16.7%) representing the most common sources of inspiration. The most common topic among control participants was amusement at another’s misfortune (32%). However, the coders identified four control stories that contained major inspirational elements: winning a prize, watching Australian athlete Mack Horton winning gold at the Olympics, being inspired by a comedian, and inspiration from a creative idea. To ensure that these participants did not inflate inspiration levels in the control condition, they were excluded from subsequent analyses.
3.3.2 | Ratings of inspiration and amusement As expected, a t-test comparing the combination of ratings for the inspiration conditions (M 5 4.94, SD 5 1.31) to ratings for the amusement control condition (M 5 4.14, SD 5 1.46) revealed that participants reported being more inspired in the inspiration conditions, t(68) 5 2.25, p 5 .028. There was no significant difference between the two experi-
3.2 | Outliers and bootstrapping
mental conditions in levels of inspiration, t(47) 5 .088, p 5 .930. Simi-
A histogram of overall handgrip duration scores revealed an extreme
larly, amusement condition participants (M 5 4.95, SD 5 1.47) reported
outlier (>3 SDs above mean) and a Shapiro-Wilk test confirmed that
feeling significantly more amused than participants in the inspiration
the data violated the ANOVA assumption of normality (p < .05). An
conditions (M 5 4.08, SD 5 1.43), t(68) 5 22.32, p 5 .023. In contrast,
examination of the standardized residuals from the condition on hand-
no significant differences were found in ratings of inspiration or amuse-
grip termination choice logistic regression similarly uncovered two
ment following the handgrip task. This suggests that the effects of the
extreme outliers. The influence of outliers was addressed using boot-
vivid recall task were relatively short lived and may have not persisted
strapping analysis, which treats the experimental sample as a popula-
throughout the entire handgrip task. There were no significant differen-
tion from which numerous samples (called bootstrap samples) are
ces between conditions in participants’ ratings of how easy (F(2,
taken (Field, 2013). The mean of each bootstrap sample is calculated
67) 5 .42, p 5 .659) or engaging (F(2, 67) 5 .131, p 5 .877) each writing
and used to create new confidence intervals and p values. Bootstrap-
topic was.
ping hence does not alter the raw data, which is a common criticism of data transformations (Games, 1984).
3.3 | Manipulation checks
3.4 | Endurance 3.4.1 | Inspiration and handgrip termination choice The effect of condition on handgrip task termination choice (opt out or
3.3.1 | Story content
persist until exhausted) was analyzed using a logistic regression. It was
The content of the inspiration and control stories that participants pro-
assumed that participants who terminated the handgrip task by saying
vided were analyzed to check for inspirational content. Story word-
stop had given up, but could have continued (it was explained to partic-
counts ranged from 22 words to 376 words (M 5 172.28, SD 5 65.59).
ipants in the task instructions that saying stop meant that they gave up
A one-way ANOVA analyzing differences between conditions on
and could cease the handgrip task). In contrast, deviations from the
word-count was marginally significant, F(2,67) 5 3.08, p 5 .052. Post-
allocated kgf for more than 3 s were taken to indicate exhaustion (i.e.,
hoc Bonferroni analyses revealed that inspiration domain-relevant par-
participants could not physically persist any longer—even if they
ticipants (M 5 189.58, SD 5 12) wrote significantly more words than
wanted to). A test of the full model against a constant-only model was
inspiration domain-irrelevant (M 5 152.21, SD 5 12.75), p 5 .038,
significant, indicating that condition reliably distinguished between par-
d 5 3.02, and control participants (M 5 151.81, SD 5 13.35), p 5 .049,
ticipants who gave up by saying stop but who might have continued a
d 5 2.98.
bit longer, and those who terminated the task due to outright fatigue,
Two independent coders identified the focal object of inspiration in each story (i.e., what caused the participant’s inspiration). Inter-rater agreement (67.5%, Cohen’s k 5 .651) was substantial (Landis & Koch,
v2 (2) 5 8.04, p 5 .018. The full model explained 15.7% (Nagelkerke’s R 2) of the variance in termination choice. Further, bootstrapped b-values demonstrated that the domain-
1977) and differences were resolved through discussion. The majority
irrelevant (b 5 1.62, p 5 .039) and domain relevant (b 5 2.08, p 5 .006)
of domain-relevant participants wrote about inspirational role models
inspiration conditions were significant predictors of termination choice
(71.5%), with famous athletes (28.6%), and non-famous athletes
(see Figure 1 for frequency of termination choice for each condition).
(28.6%) identified as the most common inspirational source. Positive
Odds ratio analyses indicated that control participants were 5.07 times
sporting experiences (10.7%) and adversity (7.1%) also featured in
more likely to give up than domain-irrelevant participants, and 8.04
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4 | DISCUSSION The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether novelcontext extension, whereby inspiration evoked by a stimulus in one domain extends to a novel domain, can be demonstrated experimentally. The results demonstrated an effect for evoked inspiration on endurance (termination choice), with control participants being much more likely to give up than inspiration-irrelevant or inspiration-relevant participants. Further, the findings suggest that both inspiration conditions were equally effective at increasing endurance, providing evidence of the motivational benefits of inspiration. More importantly, the effectiveness of the domain-irrelevant inspiration condition implies that transcendent objects can indeed be inspirational in novel contexts. This suggests that novel-context extension took place: participants were able to perceive an admirable quality in their creative inspirational object (e.g., mastery exhibited in an art work) and utilize it in a new FIGURE 1
Frequency of termination choice for each condition
context (e.g., persistence with the handgrip task). Ultimately, these results indicate that the qualities of transcendent objects can be inspir-
times more likely to give up than domain-relevant participants. This
ing in multiple domains, regardless of relatedness.
suggests that, compared to participants in the amusement condition, a
However, the positive finding for endurance with respect to termi-
larger proportion of participants in both inspiration conditions were
nation choice was not obtained for overall duration of the handgrip
more likely persist with the handgrip task until exhausted than to give
task. While the failure to find an effect in the current study could mean
up; however, there was no significant difference in likelihood of persist-
that inspiration did not enhance handgrip duration, the null effect may
ing versus giving up between participants in the domain-relevant and
alternatively be an artefact of the handgrip measure that was
domain-irrelevant conditions. An analysis controlling for rest-time pro-
employed. Specifically, using MVC to calibrate duration resistance
duced very similar results and hence is not reported here. Moreover,
assumes that handgrip strength closely reflects handgrip duration (e.g.,
moderation analyses with participant type, age, and sex did not pro-
Hone & McCullough, 2015; Ukegbu, Maselko, Malhotra, Perera, &
duce any significant interactions. In terms of the relationship between
Østbye, 2014). However, the strength of the relationship between
the two measures of endurance in this study, those who chose to give-
MVC and handgrip duration has never been formally tested. Indeed, in
up also held the handgrip for a shorter duration (M 5 153.43 s,
the present study, it was apparent that a number of participants who
SD 5 56.77 s) than those who persisted to exhaustion (M 5 181.38 s,
achieved particularly high MVC scores also obtained low handgrip
SD 5 80.30 s), however this difference was not statistically significant, t
duration scores. As such, the initial baseline strength obtained using
(66) 5 1.64, p 5 .105.
the MVC may not be strongly correlated with subsequent duration on the MVC. This could be illustrated by considering the difference
3.4.2 | Inspiration and handgrip duration
between sprinters and marathon runners; we would not expect a sprinter’s speed over the 100 m to predict performance in a marathon.
A one-way ANOVA revealed no significant differences between experimental and control conditions on the duration participants compressed the handgrip dynamometer, F(2,65) 5 .692, p 5 .504. Moderation analy-
In short, setting the initial handgrip baseline using a quick burst of strength might not adequately control for individual differences in handgrip duration.
ses again revealed no significant interactions, and an ANCOVA (con-
The termination choice and handgrip duration score results are
trolling for rest-time) did not alter the results. The standard error
somewhat difficult to reconcile. If participants in the inspiration condi-
associated with the mean handgrip score of participants in each condi-
tions were more likely to be inspired to hold the handgrip until exhaus-
tion suggests that there may have been considerable within-group vari-
tion, it follows that their handgrip scores should have also been
ability. This could reflect a failure of the MVC task to accurately assess
significantly higher. However, it is possible that persevering until
an appropriate level of resistance for each participant’s handgrip endur-
exhaustion only afforded participants a slight handgrip advantage that
ance trial. For instance, the participant who recorded the highest MVC
was undetectable with the present sample size. Participants who gave
(61.2 kgf) only achieved a relatively low handgrip score (79 s). Similarly,
up likely did so when they felt relatively close to being unable to con-
the participant with the lowest MVC (9 kgf) had to be told to stop the
tinue, suggesting that persevering until exhaustion may have only
handgrip endurance task after exceeding 10 min. Notably, these partici-
added a few seconds onto handgrip duration scores. This effect is
pants recorded MVC scores outside of the normal range for their age.
reflected colloquially in the Australian football term one percenter that
The latter participant represented an extreme handgrip score outlier
describes the extra labors players undertake that often go unrecog-
(more than 3SDs from the mean) and, considering that this was likely
nized in official match statistics, such as applying pressure on an oppo-
the result of an abnormal MVC, was removed from analyses.
nent or smothering a kick (Zitterschlager, 2016). While a one percenter
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33
on its own will not change the direction of a game, the accumulation of
hold the handgrip any longer). This implies that some control participants
multiple “extra little efforts” can prove the difference between tightly
actually reached their maximum level of fatigue (like the participants
matched teams. Inspiration in a sporting scenario could be conceptual-
who deviated from their allocated kgf for more than 3 s), and hence did
ized similarly: while inspiration alone is unlikely to dramatically improve
not give up. However, this potential criticism seems unlikely. First, the
task performance, it can offer a potentially crucial motivational edge.
instructions were unambiguous; participants were reminded twice that
This study represents an important demonstration of the power of
saying stop meant they had given up. Moreover, it is logical to expect
inspirational objects to motivate individuals, regardless of context. This
that if participants were truly determined to not give up, but said stop
has implications for an 11 billion USD self-improvement industry that
because they knew they had reached their physical limit, this would
relies upon the premise that motivational speakers are universally
occur when they had already deviated from their allocated kgf for a sig-
inspiring (Schulz, 2013). The present results support this assertion by
nificant period of time (i.e., when it was clear that they could not physi-
demonstrating that inspirational content can be inspiring in novel con-
cally hold the handgrip any longer). It is telling that only one control
texts, suggesting that motivational speakers have the power to inspire
participant said stop after deviating for 3 s (just short of the termination
outside of their domain of expertise or experience. This implies that an
threshold), and only two control participants said stop after deviating for
impressive accomplishment in any area is inspiring, regardless of task
2 s. This suggests that the vast majority of control participants who said
relevance. Moreover, the results indicate that inspiration can have a
stop did so, not because they had reached their physical limit, but
tangible effect on endurance at a physical task, which has particular
because they were not inspired to persevere against the discomfort of
relevance in a sporting context.
the task. While the cause of handgrip termination could be assessed by interviewing participants, it would likely be difficult to obtain objective
4.1 | Strengths and limitations This study has a number of strengths. First, an observed behavioral measure like the handgrip task represents an obvious advantage over more
data (i.e., considering that the task specifically asks participants to hold the handgrip for as long as possible, they may be reluctant to admit that they stopped before reaching their physical limit). Ultimately, this sug-
subjective methods of assessing inspirational effects. Unlike research
gests that analyzing handgrip termination choice represents a valid
reliant on self-report methodology (e.g., Gonzalez et al., 2011), the hand-
means of measuring inspiration-elicited endurance.
grip has the potential to provide tangible evidence that inspiration has a real-world effect (although, as discussed above, the MVC handgrip used
5 | CONCLUSION
in this study might not have been so useful when measuring the duration of holding the handgrip). Future research would benefit from explor-
This study has important theoretical and practical implications for the
ing other methods of assessing handgrip duration such as gaining a
scientific study of inspiration. The findings provide evidence for the
measure of duration both pre and post inspiration induction.
previously untested phenomenon of novel-context extension, which
The use of a vivid recall task also allowed participants to choose an event that they personally considered inspiring, thereby ensuring that each inspirational stimulus was customized for its associated participant. However, the vivid recall methodology also has limitations. For instance, it greatly reduces the level of control an experimenter has over the induction (two participants assigned to the same writing topic could write about completely different experiences). Further, the source of the inspiration memory might differ between inspirational
suggests that transcendent objects can be inspirational in irrelevant domains. Further, the results indicate that inspired individuals are less likely to give up at a physical endurance task. This implies that inspiration increases endurance, although its relationship with task performance remains less clear. Ultimately, these results can help explain how successful people are able to inspire others regardless of context; as evidenced when Matthew McConaughey inspired the Texas Longhorns to achieve a 23-0 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks.
contexts. In this study, the story content analysis revealed that inspirational sporting memories tended to involve inspirational people, whereas creative inspirational memories tended to involve inspirational
ORC ID
objects. Although this potential confound did not appear to have any
Jack W. Klein
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4561-6506
effect in this study—the effect of the two inspiration conditions was equivalent—future research attempting to induce inspiration should
R EFE R ENC E S
equate characteristics of the source of inspiration. One way to achieve
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How to cite this article: Klein JW, Case TI, Fitness J. Can the positive effects of inspiration be extended to different domains? J Appl Soc Psychol. 2018;48:28–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/ jasp.12487
