Interventionist external agents make specific advice less demotivating

- Reminder of external agency increased savings motivation when advice was specific.
- This effect was driven by perceptions of reliable action-outcome contingencies.
- Reminder of external agency decreased savings motivation when advice was vague.

Across four experiments, we explored how reminders of powerful external agents-interventionist Gods and reliable corporate institutions-influence people's motivation in the realm of financial goals. We found evidence that when people receive specific financial advice, they feel demotivated by the overwhelming flow of concrete instructions for achieving success. We found further that, under these circumstances specifically, reminders of interventionist agents bolster motivation, but that these same agents under different circumstances (i.e., when people receive vague advice) instead undermine motivation. Our findings shed light on the effects of specific (versus vague) goal focus, and on the dynamics of compensatory control in consumer settings.