CH. 8 Expectancy Value Flashcards
Mechanistic
- Behavior is blind, mechanical, automatic
- Driven by changes in internal or external states
- Learned motives generate behavior outside of awareness
- Neither conscious awareness nor intent is assumed
Cognitive
- Behavior is controlled by rational, purposive thought
- The manner in which information is interpreted influences motivation (i.e., information processing)
- Because humans and animals are social, our thoughts, behaviors and motives are often influenced by those around us
- Social-cognitive perspective
Expectancy
- the belief that a behavior will lead to a certain outcome
- People and animals also develop a belief about the value of a goal item
Expectancy-Value Approaches
- Expectancy-value approaches assume that people hold a cognitive representation of a goal object
The cognitive representation includes:
- The expectation that certain behaviors will lead to certain goals
- The value of those goals for the organism
Expectancy-value theorists assume that people have many individual differences that affect their expectations and their valuation of goals (i.e., their cognitive representation of that goal), including:
- People’s psychological needs
- People’s beliefs in their own abilities
- People’s beliefs about the situation
- People’s beliefs about the value of the goal in the short- and long-term
Rotter’s Social Learning Theory
- Attempts to explain the internal and external (social) factors that influence the acquisition and regulation of behavior.
Internal factors
- expectancies and subjective values that we place on goals
External factors
- the particular social situations that we experience
Both internal and external factors contribute to expectancies, values, and behavior
Rotter’s SLT: Four basic concepts of Expectancy-Value Theory in social learning analysis of behavior
- Reinforcement value
- how valuable an event is to us
The reinforcement value is relative; it changes depending on what we compare it to - We make subjective estimates of our chances of obtaining particular goals
- Our expectations are determined by situational factors
- Our reactions in new situations will be based on generalized expectancies from the past
Behavior = Expectancy X Value or B = E X V
When more than one behavior is possible, we should choose the behavior with the largest combination of expected success and value
Assumes rationality of decision-making and behavior
Sheer number of decisions we make each day limits the practicality of this approach
Although sometimes we weigh pros and cons, often we are impulsive or intuitive
Locus of Control: Internal individuals
- perceive rewards and punishments as resulting from their own actions
- they are in control of their own behavior
Locus of Control: External individuals
- perceive the rewards or punishments they receive as being beyond their control
- Both good and bad events are attributed to luck, fate, powerful others
Henry Murray: Need
Need
- Recurrent concern for a goal state that drives direction and intensity of motivation
Identified 20 major needs
Examples: need for achievement, autonomy, dominance, affiliation, recognition
Thematic Apperception Test
- A way of measuring people’s needs by having them tell a story about an ambiguous picture
Atkinson’s Achievement Theory
- Ta = Tendency to approach (or to avoid) an achievement-related situation
- Ms = Motive for success
- Maf = Motive to avoid failure
- Ps = the person’s subjective estimate of the probability of success
- Is = Incentive value of achieving success
- Ms and Maf are stable personality characteristics that vary from person to person
- If Ms > Maf, people will tend to approach achievement situations
- If Maf > Ms, people will tend to avoid achievement situations
Ps and Is are assumed to vary from situation to situation
For intrinsic goals, Ps is inversely related to Is
The easier the task, the less value of success
The harder the task, the greater the value of success
Tasks of moderate difficulty are generally strongest motivators
Too easy, not enough value in achievement
Too hard, too low of probability of success
BUT…moderate difficulty, moderate chance of failure
SO…motivation may depend on stable motives (Ms and Maf)
Learning Goal
- seek to master a task for the sake of increasing personal competence
- Should be associated with positive outcomes such as increased enjoyment of the task and greater persistence if task is difficult
Performance Goal
- How one’s level of competence compares to others is the primary motivator
- Should be associated with negative outcomes such as less intrinsic enjoyment of the activity and a greater likelihood of giving up
- Inconsistencies in literature pertaining to performance goals
Elliot & McGregor (2001)
- Hierarchical framework that takes into account the learning/mastery-performance goals of Dweck and the motives to approach success and avoid failure of Atkinson
- The motive for success and motive to avoid failure do not energize behavior directly
Instead, they interact with the two types of achievement goals - When people higher on Ms have performance goals, they do well
- When people higher on Maf have performance goals, they do poorly
Attitudes
- are positive or negative evaluations of an object, event or idea, and are often used to predict behavior
- However, what people say, and what they do, do not always match
- “Should it be everyone’s responsibility to pick up litter?”
94% say yes - Litter next to trash can visible to participant
1.4% pick it up - Attitudes more correlated with patterns of behavior than any one individual behavior
- Some attitudes are more important to us than others
- Our behavior is determined by several other important factors
