Perceived financial affluence predicts decisions to exert effort in reward pursuit

Gaining something of value often depends on decisions about how much effort to invest for potential rewards. Although perceptions of one’s financial state—whether affluent or scarce—are thought to be closely linked to such decisions, direct experimental evidence has been limited. Here, we tested whether feeling financially affluent is associated with a greater willingness to exert effort in pursuit of larger rewards. Using an effort-based decision-making task, participants repeatedly chose between solving easy, low-reward problems and difficult, high-reward problems. Individuals who perceived themselves as more financially affluent were more likely to select the difficult, high-reward option. This pattern held across different task domains and remained significant after controlling for demographic and psychological covariates. Moreover, participants with greater perceived affluence reported lower performance-related anxiety, which partially mediated their preference for high-effort choices. These findings reveal a robust link between perceived financial affluence and the tendency to invest more effort in rewarding outcomes, suggesting a psychological mechanism that may help explain the self-reinforcing cycle of wealth and achievement.