Is thinking inherently unpleasant? A cautionary note on David, Vassena, and Bijleveld (2024)

Grund*, A., Roelle*, J., & Schmid*, S.

Zusammenfassung

Is thinking inherently unpleasant? Recently, David, Vassena, and Bijleveld (2024) addressed this question in a meta-analysis, synthesizing results from 170 studies that used the NASA Task Load Index. They found a strong positive task-level association of β = 0.85, 95% confidence interval [0.73, 0.96], between an item for mental effort and an item for feelings of frustration, which was not moderated by various task characteristics. The authors interpret this finding as evidence for the claim that mental effort is inherently aversive. In this commentary, we argue that this conclusion is premature for two reasons. First, the mental effort item of the NASA Task Load Index captures task difficulty rather than intensity of thinking. Second, it is unclear whether the tasks studied included self-initiated cognitive activities, for which theories of intrinsic motivation predict a negative relationship between mental effort and negative affect. In accordance with this analysis, we provide suggestions for how to more appropriately study the conditions under which thinking feels aversive. Using the example of education, we also highlight problematic practical implications of depicting intensive thinking as inherently unpleasant.