Buddy up: The Köhler Effect applied to health games

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The present investigation examined the Köhler motivation gain effect in a health

game using an absent partner, presented virtually. The Köhler effect occurs when

an inferior team member performs a difficult task better in a team or coaction situation

than one would expect from knowledge of his or her individual performance. The effect

has been strongest in conjunctive task conditions in which the group’s potential

productivity is equal to the productivity of its least capable member.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (individual control,

coaction, additive, and conjunctive) in a 4 (conditions) × 2 (gender) factorial design

and performed a series of isometric plank exercises within an exercise game. They

performed the first series of five exercises alone holding each position for as long

as they could, and, after a rest period, those in the partner conditions were told

they would do remaining trials with a same-sex virtual partner whom they could

observe during their performance. The partner’s performance was manipulated to

be always superior to the participant’s. Results showed that task persistence was

significantly greater in all experimental conditions than in the individual control

condition. The conjunctive condition was no more motivating than either the additive

or coactive conditions. Results suggest that working out with virtually present, superior

partners can improve persistence motivation on exercise game tasks.