Selected Publications | Department of Psychology

Selected Publications

Wright, R. A., & Brehm, S. S. (1982). Reactance as impression management: A critical review. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 608‑618.

Brehm, J. W., Wright, R. A., Solomon, S., Silka, L., & Greenberg, J. (1983). Perceived difficulty, energization, and the magnitude of goal valence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 21‑48.

Wright, R. A. (1984). Motivation, anxiety, and the difficulty of avoidant control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1376‑1388.

Wright, R. A., Contrada, R. J., & Patane, M. J. (1986). Task difficulty, cardiovascular response and the magnitude of goal valence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: PPID, 51, 837‑843.

Wright, R. A. (1987). Coping difficulty, energy mobilization, and appraisals of a stressor: Introduction of a theory and a comparison of perspectives. In C. R. Snyder & C. E. Ford (Eds.), Coping with negative life events: Clinical and social psychological perspectives. New York: Plenum.

Wright, R. A., & Brehm, J. W. (1989). Energization and goal attractiveness. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Shepperd, J. A., & Wright, R. A. (1989). Individual contributions to a collective effort: An incentive analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 141‑149.

Wright, R. A., & Gregorich, S. (1989). Difficulty and instrumentality of imminent behavior as determinants of cardiovascular response and self‑reported energy. Psychophysiology, 26, 586‑592.

Wright, R. A., Shaw, L. L., & Jones, C. R. (1990). Instrumental task demand and cardiovascular response magnitude: Further evidence of the mediating role of success importance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1250‑1260.

Wright, R. A., Williams, B. J., & Dill, J. C. (1992). Interactive effects of difficulty and instrumentality of avoidant behavior on cardiovascular reactivity. Psychophysiology, 29, 677‑686.

Wright, R. A., & *Dill, J. C. (1993). Blood pressure reactivity and incentive appraisals as a function of perceived ability and objective task demand. Psychophysiology, 30, 152‑160.

Wright, R. A., & Dismukes, A. (1995). Cardiovascular effects of experimentally‑induced efficacy (ability) appraisals at low and high levels of avoidant task demand. Psychophysiology, 32, 172-176.

Wright, R. A., Tunstall, A. M., Williams, B. J., Goodwin, J. S., & Harmon‑Jones, E. (1995). Social evaluation and cardiovascular response: An active coping approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 530-543.

Wright, R. A. (1996). Brehm's theory of motivation as a model of effort and cardiovascular response. In P. M. Gollwitzer and J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 424-453). New York: Guilford.

Wright, R. A., Murray, J. B., Storey, P. & Williams, B. J. (1997). Ability analysis of gender relevance and sex differences in cardiovascular response to behavioral challenge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 405-417.

Wright, R. A. (1998). Ability perception and cardiovascular response to behavioral challenge. In M. Kofta, G. Weary, & G. Sedek (Eds.), Control in action: Cognitive and motivational mechanisms (pp. 197-232). New York: Plenum.

Wright, R. A., Dill, J. C., Geen, R. G., & Anderson, C. A. (1998). Social evaluation influence on cardiovascular response to a fixed behavioral challenge: Effects across a range of difficulty levels. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 277-285.

Wright, R. A. & Kirby, L. D. (2001). Effort determination of cardiovascular response: An integrative analysis with applications in social psychology. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (vol. 33, pp. 255-307). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Wright, R. A., & Penacerrada, D. (2002). Energy resource depletion, ability perception, and cardiovascular response to behavioral challenge. Psychophysiology, 39, 182-187.

Wright, R. A., Killebrew, K., & Pimpalapure, D. (2002). Cardiovascular incentive effects where a challenge is unfixed: Further demonstrations involving social evaluation, evaluator status, and monetary reward. Psychophysiology, 39, 188-197.

Eubanks, L., Wright, R. A., & Williams, B. J. (2002). Reward and the heart: Incentive value influence on cardiovascular response at five levels of task demand. Motivation and Emotion, 26, 139-152.

Wright, R. A., Martin, R. E., & Bland, J. L. (2003). Energy resource depletion, task difficulty, and cardiovascular response to a mental arithmetic challenge. Psychophysiology, 40, 98-105.

Wright, R. A. & Kirby, L. D. (2003). Cardiovascular correlates of challenge and threat appraisals: A critical examination of the biopsychosocial arousal regulation analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 216-233.

Gendolla, G. H. E., & Wright, R. A. (2005). Motivation in social settings: Studies of effort-related cardiovascular arousal. In J. P. Forgas, K. Williams, & B. von Hippel (Eds.), Social motivation: Conscious and nonconscious processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wright, R. A., & Lockard, S. (2006). Sex, outcome expectancy, and cardiovascular response to a masculine appetitive challenge. Psychophysiology, 43, 190-196.

Wright, R. A., Junious, T. R., Neal, C., Avello, A., Graham, C., Herrmann, L., Junious, S., & Walton, N. (2007). Mental fatigue influence on effort-related cardiovascular response: Difficulty effects and extension across cognitive performance domains. Motivation and Emotion, 31, 219-231.

Wright, R. A. (2008). Refining the prediction of effort: Brehm's distinction between potential motivation and motivation intensity. Social and Personality Psychology Compass: Motivation and Emotion, 2, 682-701.

Wright, R. A., Stewart, C. C., & Barnett, B. R. (2008). Mental fatigue influence on effort-related cardiovascular response: Extension across the regulatory (inhibitory)/non-regulatory performance dimension. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 69, 127-133. doi: 10.1016/ijpsycho.2008.04.002.

Gendolla, G. H. E., & Wright, R. A. (2009). Effort. In D. Sander & K. Scherer (Eds.), Oxford companion to emotion the affective sciences (pp. 134-135). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Stewart, C. C., Wright, R. A., *Hui, S. A., & *Simmons, A. (2009). Outcome expectancy as a moderator of mental fatigue influence on cardiovascular response. Psychophysiology, 46, 1141-1149, DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00862.x.

Wright, R. A. & Brehm, S. S. (2010). Jack W. Brehm (1928-2009). American Psychologist, 65, 225.

Wright, R. A. (2011). Motivational when motivational wasn't cool. Chapter in R. M. Arkin (Ed.) Most underappreciated: 50 prominent social psychologists describe their most unloved work. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Wright, R. A. & Barreto, P. (2012). Effort mechanisms linking sex (gender) to cardiovascular response: Toward a comprehensive analysis with relevance for health. Chapter in R. A. Wright & G. H. E. Gendolla (Eds.) How motivation affects cardiovascular response: Mechanisms and applications. Washington DC: APA Press.

Wright, R. A. & Stewart, C. C. (2012). Multifaceted effects of fatigue on effort and associated cardiovascular responses. Chapter in R. A. Wright & G. H. E. Gendolla (Eds.) How motivation affects cardiovascular response: Mechanisms and applications. Washington DC: APA Press.

Gendolla, G. H. E., Wright, R. A., & Richter, M. (2012). Effort intensity: Some insights from the cardiovascular system. Chapter in R. A. Ryan (Ed.), Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 420-438). New York: Oxford University Press.

Barreto, P., Wong, J., Estes, K. & Wright, R. A. (2012). Gender determination of effort and associated cardiovascular responses: When men place greater value on performance incentives. Psychophysiology, 49, 683-689.

Wright, R. A., Shim, J. J., Hogan, B. K., Duncan, J. & Thomas, C. (2012). Interactional influence of fatigue and task difficulty on cardiovascular response: Demonstrations involving an aerobic exercise challenge. Psychophysiology, 49, 1049-1058. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01390.x

Wright, R. A., Patrick, B. M., Thomas, C., & Barreto, P. (2013). When fatigue promotes striving: Confirmation that success importance moderates resource depletion influence on effort-related cardiovascular response. Biological Psychology, 93, 316- 324. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.02.016

Wright, R. A. (2014). Presidential address: Fatigue influence on effort - considering implications for self-regulatory restraint. Motivation and Emotion, 38, 183-195. DOI:10.1007/s11031-014-9406-5

Wright, R. A. & Agtarap, S. (2015). The intensity of behavioral restraint: Determinants and cardiovascular correlates. Chapter in G. H. E. Gendolla, S. Koole, & Tops, M. (Eds.), Biobehavioral foundations of self-regulation. New York: Springer.

Barreto, P., Wright, R. A., Krubinski, K., Molzof, H., & Hur, J. (2015). Effort analysis of gender differences in cardiovascular response: Further evidence involving a traditionally feminine incentive. Biological Psychology, 109, 166-175. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.05.006

Wright, R. A., *Agtarap, S. & *Mlynski, C. (2015). Conversion of reactance motives into effortful goal pursuit: Implications of Brehm's theory of motivation intensity. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, in press.