Chapter 8 Flashcards
What is Henry Murray’s “Need for achievement”
the desire “to accomplish something difficult; to master, manipulate or organize … to overcome obstacles and attain a high standard; to excel one’s self”
Basically: Desire to accomplish things
How did early researchers measure strength of a participant’s need for Achievement?
by coding the participant’s responses on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
What did the need for achievement researchers want to specially measure?
focused on entrepreneurial behavior (not super into arts or sciences)
What did researchers find out about about people with a high need for Achievement?
They do not always fit our stereotypes of a highly successful businessperson.
-For example, we might guess that someone with a high need for Achievement is not afraid to take huge risks to get ahead. But as it turns out, high need achievers are only moderate risk takers.
Predictably, people with a high need for Achievement tackle their work with a lot of energy. But high need achievers don’t work hard at everything. Unchallenging, routine jobs hold no more interest for high need achievers than they do for anyone else
What are some gender differences with need for Achievement?
men and women often think about achievement in different ways (cuz of gender role socialization)
- Ex. A businesswoman might value success at work, but on occasion she may put other concerns—such as the welfare of her customers—ahead of her personal accomplishments.
Men rely on external standards as accomplishment (gaining prestige or recognition) Women rely on internal standards (whether they accomplish what they set out to do)
What are culture differences in need for achievement?
Individualistic: Personal achievements
- Competition with coworkers (motivate them to try harder)
collectivistic: cooperation and group accomplishments.
- Concern for coworkers (motivated to help coworkers succeed)
What does our attribution dictate?
determines how we feel about the performance (ex. midterm exam) and how we perform in similar situations in the future.
Explain the three main dimensions of attribution?
Stability:
Locus:
Control:
Stability: We can explain our performance by pointing to stable causes, such as intelligence, or to unstable causes, such as luck
Locus: Can be external - difficult test- or internal - amount of effort
Control: whether we can control or not control the cause of the success or failure
How can the attribute approach be used to improve achievement motivation?
change people’s attributions
Ex. Students who fail a test,
- In particular, the students were encouraged to make controllable attribution for their performances (e.g., I need to develop better studying strategies)
What are Achievement Goals?
Targets people aspire to in achievement situations
Thing you aspire to do / get
What are Mastery goals in Achievement Goals?
concerned with developing competence. Students motivated by a strong mastery goal will work hard to learn the subject matter in a course
What are Performance goals in Achievement Goals?
concerned with demonstrating accomplishments to others. Students motivated by strong performance goals want to obtain a high grade, possibly the highest grade in the class
Explain the difference between approach goals and avoidance goals?
motivated either by a desire to achieve a sense of mastery (approach) or by a wish to not feel incompetent (avoidance).
Approach: I want to do well on the exam
Avoidance: I don’t want to fail and look stupid
Are some achievement goals are more effective than others?
mastery goals lead to high achievement
- Do better and remember skills / info longer
(Also: often continue their interest in the material after recognition for the achievement has passed)
Is a reliance on performance goal bad?
No,
In some cases, researchers find that a combination of mastery and performance goals can be particularly effective
Note: However, the advantages of focusing on performance appear to be limited to performance approach goals
Students motivated only by a desire to not receive a poor grade tend to do more poorly than those who come to class with other achievement goal
Are our achievement goal traits stable?
Yes, a great deal of stability in the use of achievement goals in high school and college students
students sometimes adopt different achievement goals depending on the situation (So adaptable)
In short: Explain origin of type A personality?
Heart attack victims were more active, more energetic, and more driving than those without cardiovascular problems.
researchers identified this personality dimension as the coronary-prone behavior pattern (Pattern of behaviors associated with the disease)
Later, this individual difference was called Type A–Type B, or sometimes just Type A
Type A and Type B personalities are a spectrum, describe each end:
TYPE A
Motivated to overcome obstacles
Like competition, power, and recognition
Don’t like wasting time
Find easy going ppl frustrating
TYPE B
Relaxed and unhurried
Work hard occasionally
Less likely then A to seek: competition or to be aroused to anger or action.
Is type A or B more likely to dominate a group discussion?
Type As are more likely than Type Bs to dominate a group discussion (More controlling - Amy)
Which personality type (A or B) does better on achievement tasks?
Type A
One reason for this difference is that Type As tend to set higher goals for themselves (Also blood and heart rate go up in competition)
Which personality type (A or B) has a higher risk of heart disease?
Type A
Type A men in one 8½-year study had more than twice the incidence of heart disease than Type B men
In another investigation, Type A was a better predictor of heart attacks than cholesterol level or cigarette smoking
Multiple studies found conflicting findings over type A personality and predicting health issues, what is their solution?
led some researchers to look for the “toxic component” of Type A behavior
What is the “toxic component” of Type A behavior?
hostility component as the culprit
- tend to have a strong reaction to the small frustrations and inconveniences we all experience
Several investigations find that scores on hostility and anger measures do a good job of predicting coronary artery disease
In a longitudinal study: the high-anger participants were nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease during the study.
Why is hostility related to cardiovascular problems?
unhealthy lifestyles
poor social support
immune system weaknesses
blood lipid levels
Other studies find that people high in hostility frequently exhibit the kind of physiological reactions associated with cardiovascular problems, such as high blood pressure
Can we help people avoid the negative health effects?
evidence that programs designed to help potential cardiovascular victims reduce their anger can be effective
What is social anxiety?
anxiety related specifically to social interactions or anticipated social interactions.
We all experience stress towards a social event (each of us can be placed along a continuum for how much social anxiety we typically experience)
Is social anxiety the same as introversion?
It is not the same as introversion.
Difference: Whereas introverts often choose to be by themselves, the vast majority of socially anxious people do not like their shyness
What are some Characteristics of Socially Anxious People?
- feeling awkward and nervous when they have to talk to others
- concerned about what others will think of them
-assume incorrectly that other people simply are not interested in getting to know them
- socially anxious students felt they were less liked and had come across as less competent than did the non-anxious participants.
What do shy people look like in the minds of others?
The people they interact with also identify shy people as more tense, inhibited, and unfriendly than non-shy people
In short: How do socially anxious people engage in conversation?
people high in social anxiety expect their social interactions to go poorly and look for evidence that the other person is rejecting them
What is evaluation apprehension?
Researchers think it’s an underlying cause of social anxiety.
socially anxious people are afraid of what other people think of them (Fear negative emotion)
How do socially anxious people deal with this fear of negative evaluation?
Often, they simply avoid social encounters altogether. They skip parties where they might not know anyone
If that doesn’t work: They will do what they can to reduce the amount of social interaction (Ex. One way they do this is by avoiding eye contact)
they do what they can to control the impressions others have of them
Where do we find higher rates of shyness?
in cultures that emphasize concern for what others think of you and the importance of avoiding criticism
Are shy people hopeless?
No! For some it’s starting the convo that is stressful, and are fine after it’s going.
Social anxiety could be less of a problem when with friends
What are some of these consistent patterns with emotion? ( three ways our emotions can be examined as relatively stable personal characteristics)
First, each of us differs in the extent to which we typically experience positive and negative emotions.
Second, we differ in the typical strength of the emotions we experience.
Third, we differ in the way we express our emotions
Positive and Negative Affect Examples:
Positive Affect:
High: we find emotions like active, content, and satisfied.
Low: sad and lethargic
Negative Affect:
High: nervousness, anger, and distress.
Low: calm and serene.
How are positive and negative affect related?
later studies found support for the more intuitive notion that being high on one of these dimensions means being low on the other
- the more I experience positive emotions like happiness and contentment, the less likely I am to experience anger and anxiety.
What is emotional affectivity?
The extent to which people typically experience positive and negative emotions.
Do differences in positive and negative affect predict a number of important behaviors?
Yes!
Positive:
people who are high in trait positive affect tend to be in better health than those who are low on this dimension
high in trait positive affect also act in ways that most people find attractive
Negative:
generally related to psychological stress
Studies also find that negative affect is related to complaints about health (also seem to complain more about symptoms)
Why do positive affect people tend to engage in much social activity?
- positive feelings cause you to want to be around friends or
- being around friends makes you more positive
What is Affect Intensity?
refers to the strength or degree to which people typically experience their emotions (mild reactions, vs extreme reactions)
Why?
Studies find that high-intensity people tend to overestimate the extent to which events will affect them and often draw unwarranted conclusions based on one good or one bad experience
Is it better to be high on affect intensity and really experience life or low on this dimension and maintain a steady and calm approach to achievements and calamities?
Nope, score about the same on well-being
What is Emotional expressiveness?
The extent to which people outwardly express their emotions
researchers find that women tend to be more expressive of their emotions than men (and women are better at reading emotions)
Is expressing emotions good for us?
Yes
Participants identified as highly expressive were happier and experienced less anxiety and guilt than those who were low in expressiveness. Other researchers using similar procedures find that expressive people are less prone to depression
What is dispositional optimism?
The extent to which a person typically adopts an optimistic or pessimistic approach to dealing with life’s challenges
Ppl are consistent with which they adopt
Is being optimistic or pessimistic better?
People who take an optimistic approach to life tend to achieve more than those who don’t
Optimists set their goals higher, effectively prioritize their goals, and believe they can reach those goals
Also higher grades and less likely to drop out
Were Japanese students more optimistic or pessimistic?
Japanese students consistently expressed a more pessimistic outlook than the Canadians.
Other investigators find that Asians typically have lower scores on dispositional optimism measures than participants from individualistic cultures
Are optimists or pessimists better in adverse situations?
optimists deal with adverse situations better than pessimists.
men recovering from coronary artery bypass surgery were compared for general mood and quality of life 6 months after the surgery.
As in the other investigations, the dispositionally optimistic men looked much better after their surgery than did the pessimists.
What is it about optimists that helps them come through life’s crises and challenges so well?
optimists and pessimists use different strategies to cope with their problems (more goal focused) (active coping strategies)
Pessimist may use denial as coping strategy
Is optimism good for your health? Why?
Optimists are typically in better physical health than pessimists
First, optimists are more likely than pessimists to develop wide social networks and to turn to friends in times of crisis
Second, optimism and pessimism can lead to physiological changes that affect one’s health.
-Ex. When the law students felt more optimistic, they had stronger immune systems than when they were feeling more pessimistic
Third, and perhaps the most likely reason optimists are healthier than pessimists, an optimistic outlook leads to the kinds of attitudes and behaviors that contribute to good health.
– Ex. In Patients with heart condition = Compared to the pessimists in the program, the optimistic patients were more successful in reducing saturated fat from their diet, decreasing body fat, and increasing their aerobic capacity
Finally, the fatalistic view taken by pessimists may prevent them from practicing reasonable safety and health precautions, such as wearing a seat belt or using a designated driver
