Substantive-Methodological Synergy, and a

We are about to embark on a psychological mystery—a real-life academic thriller. In the not-so-ancient history of psychology, the dominant theory of human motivation was expectancy-value theory (EVT). EVT had a proud tradition based on strong theory and empirical support from both early animal research (e.g., Tolman, 1938, 1955) and subsequent human research (Atkinson, 1957; see review by Feather, 1959). The cornerstone of EVT was the Expectancy × Value interaction. As Figure 1b shows, EVT predicted a multiplica-tive pattern of relations among expectancy, value, and result-ing motivation. To achieve a high level of motivation, both expectancy and value had to be high. If either expectancy or value was low, high values on the other dimension were of little or no consequence for motivation and behavior. The centrality of the Expectancy × Value interaction to EVT wa