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The unboxing has already begun: One motivation construct at a time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2025

Ruud Custers Open the ORCID record for Ruud Custers [Opens in a new window] ,
Baruch Eitam Open the ORCID record for Baruch Eitam [Opens in a new window]  and
E. Tory Higgins
Ruud Custers*
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands r.custers@uu.nl; www.goallab.nl
Baruch Eitam
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel beitam@psy.haifa.ac.il
E. Tory Higgins
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA tory@psych.columbia.edu
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Murayama and Jach argue that it is not clearly specified how motivation constructs produce behavior and that this black box should be unpacked. We argue that the authors overlook important classic theory and highlight recent research programs that already started unboxing. We feel that without relying on the mechanisms that such programs uncover, the proposed computational approach will be fruitless.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e29
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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