Exam One

Question 1

How is self regulation more than the effort full inhibition of impulses?

Answer 1

It is the process of advancing distal motivations rather than proximal motivations when the two are in contrast (long vs. short term)

Question 2

The Hoffman study

Answer 2

Gave people PDAs and beeped them at random, asking them if there was one thing they want at the moment, and 70% of the time (out of 8 beeps), people reported that there was a desire. On42% of the occasion, they didn’t actually act in accordance with the desire; so resistance is very common too POINT: it’s important to study self control because people are experiencing desires and regulation of those desires frequently

Question 3

Why do we study self regulation?

Answer 3

The failure to regulate our desires can be traced to the majority of problems in western society (addictions, criminal activity, teen pregnancy, infidelity, etc.) It is common to have desires and to resist those desires It is also related to positive outcome (I.e. School and work performance, health behaviors, not having the common colds of psychology)

Question 4

Goals

Answer 4

-the starting point of the willful control of action -internal representations of desired states, where states are broadly construed as outcomes, events, or processes -goals are also known as: goal intentions, behavioral intentions, personal standards, needs, motives, etc. Think of them as mental representations of desired outcomes, where outcomes are consequences that accrue from many and often varied actions (I.e. Weight loss is an outcome, not an action)

Question 5

Research on goals can be broadly divided into theories and studies of (3 things)

Answer 5

Goal setting (you decide what your goal is) Goal contents(you decide how you go about realizing that goal) Goal striving(you persevere in achieving the goal and acting in accordance with the goal contents)

Question 6

Major theories of goal setting in social and health psychology include:

Answer 6

Social cognitive theory Protection motivation theory Theory of planned behavior

Question 7

Social cognitive theory

Answer 7

Interplay of: Self efficacy Outcome expectancies (physical, social, or self evaluative) Proximal goals Impediments Behavior

Question 8

Self efficacy (social cognitive theory)

Answer 8

One’s beliefs about one’s capacity to execute a response -how confident are you that you can do something, given obstacle X?

Question 9

Example of self efficacy question (SCT)

Answer 9

How confident are you that you can stick to you low carb diet, even when there are tempting snacks around? Not at all confident-extremely confident

Question 10

In what way is self efficacy NOT optimism in general?

Answer 10

-you may be confident that you can exercise but not confident that you can play the guitar -there has to be a point of reference; it is goal specific

Question 11

Proximal goals

Answer 11

Intentions, decisions, what one aims to do and how determined one is to do it (level, commitment) -in other words, people’s decisions or intentions related to the goal: what is it that you aim to do to achieve the distal goal, and how committed are you to doing it?

Question 12

Proximal goals example

Answer 12

-starting tomorrow, I intend to stick to a low carb diet Definitely will not-definitely will

Question 13

Outcome expectancies (SCT)

Answer 13

One’s beliefs about the consequences of actions What you believe will happen if you achieve a goal

Question 14

Example of outcome expectancies item

Answer 14

Sticking to a low carb diet will reduce my weight Very unlikely-very likely

Question 15

Impediments (SCT)

Answer 15

The more impediments you perceive, the les likely you are to create long term, more ambitious goals If you’re confident that you can do something, you don’t see impediments as looming as large and are more likely to set a goal

Question 16

Physical outcome expectancies

Answer 16

I’ll get fit, I’ll feel better, I’ll be more physically happy, I’ll be more healthy, etc.

Question 17

Social outcome expectancies

Answer 17

God for building relationships, I’ll get a boyfriend, etc.

Question 18

Self evaluative outcome expectancies

Answer 18

I’ll be happier, I’ll look better, I’ll feel good about myself, etc.

Question 19

Accuracy of perceptions and goal theory

Answer 19

We don’t care about accuracy of expectancies or self efficacy; we care about how they relate to intention or motivation to achieve those outcomes

Question 20

Self efficacy is associated with…?

Answer 20

-Setting higher standards in relation to goals -Greater effort, persistence and concentration -Adopting a flexible approach to overcoming problems -Treating errors as learning experiences -Lower stress arousal -Fewer intrusive negative thoughts and greater success visualization

Question 21

Protection Motivation Theory

Answer 21

How do we respond to dangers, hazards, or threats? What makes us motivated to protect ourselves, literally? -not generalized like SCT or TPB, but it refers only to those behaviors where the failure to act could be dangerous -has most often been related to health behaviors *protection motivation* is just a fancy way of saying intention (specifically to protect ourselves)

Question 22

Concepts of protection motivation theory

Answer 22

Threat appraisal Vulnerability Severity Fear/worry Coping appraisal Response efficacy Self efficacy Response costs

Question 23

Threat appraisal and threat coping

Answer 23

You have to appraise a threat Depends on how vulnerable you feel to the threat, how severe you believe the threat to be, and how fearful or worried you are about the threat and appraise how you will manage and deal with that threat Depends on response efficacy (how effective you think a response will be in reducing harm), self efficacy (how effectively you think you can do that response), and response costs (your perception of the advantages or disadvantages of undertaking the recommended action)

Question 24

Perceived vulnerability (PMT)

Answer 24

One’s beliefs about the likelihood of experiencing disease or harm -often, the people who are objectively the most vulnerable often think that they are in little risk, but it is PERSONAL perception of vulnerability that matters in terms of predicting how one will respond

Question 25

Perceived vulnerability example item

Answer 25

How likely is it that you will develop diabetes? (Very unlikely-very likely)

Question 26

Perceived severity (PMT)

Answer 26

You have to not only think it’s likely but also seriously Seriousness is divided into two factors: Serious in a physical nature? Debilitating? Will it interfere with valued social roles?

Question 27

Fear (PMT)

Answer 27

-negative affective responses concerning the possibility of experiencing disease or harm When we see a bear, we don’t just think “the bear is dangerous. It would be serious if it mauled me” We also experience an affective reaction; so the pairing of affect what responses is what is important

Question 28

Perceived severity example item

Answer 28

Diabetes is a serious medical condition (Strongly disagree-strongly agree)

Question 29

Fear example item

Answer 29

I am afraid that I may develop diabetes (Strongly disagree-strongly agree)

Question 30

Response efficacy

Answer 30

-one’s beliefs about the extent to which a recommended action will reduce the risk of disease or harm The first and most crucial thing is that you have to believe that there is something you can do (Important thing again is the belief, not the reality) I.e. Do we believe exercise has medical benefits?

Question 31

Response efficacy example item

Answer 31

How likely is it that moderate exercise 3-5 times per week will reduce your risk of developing diabetes? (Very unlikely-very likely)

Question 32

Response costs

Answer 32

One’s beliefs about the costs of undertaking the recommended action

Question 33

Response costs example item

Answer 33

I would not enjoy undertaking moderate exercise 3-5 times per week from now on (Definitely no-definitely yes)

Question 34

Does changing threat appraisal change intentions?

Answer 34

We don’t know because most data is correlational Most interventions do not directly test the causal impact of beliefs but: -focus on whether not why behavior changes -beliefs often are not measured -role of change in any particular belief is unclear

Question 35

Criteria for assessing causal impact of appraisals on intention

Answer 35

X causes Y if changing X changes Y 1. Random assignment to belief treatment versus control condition 2. Treatment engenders a significant change in belief compared to control condition 3. Comparison of subsequent intention for treatment versus control conditions

Question 36

Method for assessing causal impact of appraisals on intention

Answer 36

MECHANISM Meta CHange ANalysIS Method -quantify effects on outcomes across studies that meet these criteria

Question 37

MECHANISM for threat appraisal study methodology (Sheeran, Harris, & Epton, 2014)

Answer 37

-Computed Cohen’s d for intention and behavior for 239 articles that met inclusion criteria -coded whether interventions engendered significant increases in each belief about threat as well as response efficacy, self efficacy, and response costs

Question 38

MECHANISM for threat appraisal study results (Sheeran, Harris, & Epton, 2014)

Answer 38

For those studies that significantly increased threat appraisal among treatment condition as compared to control condition: -difference in actual behavior is small, but still present and positive -so changing threat appraisal has some effect, albeit small People’s beliefs about the severity of the illness tends to be really important; so heightening threat appraisal changes key health behaviors

Question 39

Does changing more than one belief about threat engender larger effects on outcomes?

Answer 39

When you increase perception of risk and increase perception of severity, the effect size gets larger for worry/fear

Question 40

Theory of planned behavior

Answer 40

-started from trying to figure out why people only sometimes act consistently with their attitudes (LaPierre study with the Asian couple)

Question 41

TPB concepts

Answer 41

Attitude -outcome belief X evaluations of outcome Subjective norm -normative beliefs X motivation to comply Perceived Behavioral Control -Control beliefs X perceived facilitating or inhibiting power Intention Behavior

Question 42

Attitude (TPB)

Answer 42

One’s overall evaluation of the consequences of performing the behavior I.e. For me, texting while driving would be: Then give some semantic differentials: Good…….bad Foolish…….wise Pleasant……unpleasant Harmful…….beneficial

Question 43

Subjective norm (TPB)

Answer 43

One’s perception of social pressure to act; beliefs about what others think you should do

Question 44

Example of subjective norm item

Answer 44

Most people who are important to me think that I should or should not text while driving Think that I should-think that I should not

Question 45

Perceived behavioral control (TPB)

Answer 45

Perceptions of the ease vs difficulty of controllability of the behavior Basically, self efficacy

Question 46

Perceived behavioral control (PBC) example item

Answer 46

For me, texting and driving would be Very difficult-very easy

Question 47

Key features of TPB

Answer 47

Sufficiency principle Principle of compatibility

Question 48

Sufficiency principle

Answer 48

-extraneous variables influence intentions and behavior via their influence on TPB variables -basically says, for more or less all behaviors, you just need to know the persons attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in order to predict what they will do and moreover, age, gender, social class, personality variables will not predict behavior over and above these factors (may influence one of the factors of the model but it will not influence the behavior directly itself)

Question 49

Principle of compatibility

Answer 49

Specification of same action, target, context, and time for all TPB constructs and behavior -there has to be compatibility between the measure of attitude and the measure of behavior -you have to specify the action, target, context, and time for both the behavior and the action (Ex. Eat pizza with my friends during the Super Bowl or Use a condom if I have sex with a new partner)

Question 50

Outcome beliefs X evaluations of outcome

Answer 50

We weight our outcome beliefs based on how goo or bad we expect those outcomes to be

Question 51

Normative beliefs X motivation to comply

Answer 51

We weight our normative beliefs based on how motivated we are to comply with those beliefs

Question 52

Control beliefs X perceived facilitating or inhibiting power

Answer 52

We weight our control beliefs (how much control we have over a behavior-like driving without paying much attention) based on how much we believe that behavior with facilitate or inhibit the target behavior (like texting while driving) So if you believe that you cannot drive without paying much attention (control belief), then you may believe that your inability to drive without paying attention will inhibit(or lessen) the likelihood of texting while driving

Question 53

Outcome beliefs example item

Answer 53

Texting while driving would keep me up to date with friends Unlikely-likely

Question 54

Outcome evaluations example item

Answer 54

Keeping up to date with my friends would be Bad-good

Question 55

Normative beliefs example item

Answer 55

My friends think that I should text while driving Unlikely-likely

Question 56

Motivation to comply example item

Answer 56

With regard to texting while driving, I want to do what my friends think that I should do Unlikely-likely

Question 57

Control beliefs example item

Answer 57

I can drive without paying much attention

Question 58

Perceived power example item

Answer 58

Driving without much attention makes texting while driving Less likely-more likely

Question 59

Additional sufficiency variables for theory of planned behavior

Answer 59

Descriptive norms Moral norm Self identity Anticipated affect/regret

Question 60

Descriptive norms

Answer 60

One’s beliefs about the rates of performance of the behavior by other people Ex. Of the 5 people you know best, how many text while driving?

Question 61

Moral norm

Answer 61

One’s belief about the moral correctness or incorrectness of performing the behavior Ex. Texting while driving is against my ethical principals (agree/disagree)

Question 62

Self identity

Answer 62

Holding a self concept in a domain relevant to the behavior (e.g. Being a green consumer, healthy person) Ex. I am an online all of the time person (agree-disagree)

Question 63

Anticipated affect/regret

Answer 63

One’s beliefs about the negative feelings that would accrue from not performing the behavior Ex. If I did not text while driving, I would regret it (agree-disagree)

Question 64

Self regulation (aka self control)

Answer 64

The exercise of control over oneself, especially with regard to bringing the self in line with preferred standards -also about prioritizing two desirable goals, like long term vs short term goals (not just about choosing better goals from bad things)

Question 65

control theory

Answer 65

• once a goal has been set it serves as a ‘reference value’ in a control system that compares the current rate of behaviour change (input function) against this point of reference.
• Goal systems are assumed to be organized hierarchically from
  
  • self-relevant and highly important ‘be’ goals (e.g. I do not want to be a ‘smoker’), TO
  • ‘do’ goals that are often related more closely to immediate gratification (e.g. I want to smoke a cigarette now).
• The more an action contributes to one or more higher-level goals, the more self-relevant it is.
• Consequently, successful self-regulation is—in part—the process of inhibiting a lower-level goal in favor of a higher-level goal.
• If a discrepancy between the reference value and current perception is detected, then the system signals to the person that they need to act in order to reduce the discrepancy (output function).

Question 66

goal setting theory

Answer 66

• Goal-Setting Theory suggests that two dimensions of goals influence performance:
  
  • difficulty-
  • Specificity
• specific goals are more effective than general ‘do-your-best’ goals without a specific reference point
• taking into account self-efficacy (the perceived capability of per- forming a particular behavior), the relationship between goal difficulty and performance tends to be positive and linear;
  
  • that is, the best performance occurs as a function of difficult rather than easy goals.
  • This is because difficult goals present a challenge that people attempt to meet by mobilizing effort.
  • Saturation is observed at very high levels of goal difficulty when people become more likely to give up
• Goal- Setting Theory is related closely to behaviour change techniques such as setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) goals

Question 67

model of action phrases

Answer 67

• delineates a series of distinct phases to goal striving.
  
  • 1st) pre-decisional phase-people deliberate over which goal to pursue and then form an intention.
  • 2nd) pre-actional phase- people decide when, where and how to act.
  • 3rd) action is initiated and maintained if necessary.
  • Finally, the outcome of the action is evaluated against what was desired.
• therefore, one reason that people struggle to translate good intentions into action is that they fail to elaborate in sufficient detail how to go about performing the intended action
• An important task for successful goal striving is therefore specifying when, where and how to act.

Implementation intentions are viewed as the outcome of deliberations about when, where and how to act

• specific behavioural plans that identify both a good opportunity in which to act and a suitable response to that opportunity.
• Opportunity and response are then tied together in an ‘if–then’ format (e.g. ‘If I am offered a drink, then I will say “no thanks, I have to get up early tomorrow!”)

Question 68

strength model of self control

Answer 68

• self- regulation draws upon a limited resource
• The typical finding is that exerting self-control on the initial task leads to ‘ego-depletion’, such that the person is temporarily unable to exert self-control on the subsequent task (for examples in relation to addictive behaviors,
• To date, there have been two main approaches to this problem. Muraven et al. [46] trained self-control resources through practice.
  
  • Participants were allocated randomly either to spend 2 weeks practicing self-control using one of three techniques (complete a regular food diary, maintain a good posture or maintain a positive mood) or to a no-exercise control group.
• Gailliot et al. bolstered self-control by providing blood glucose supplements.
  
  • It was found that participants who consumed a glass of regular lemonade were better able to complete the Stroop task

Question 69

health belief model

Answer 69

• designed to understand the likelihood that someone would perform a health protective behaviour (e.g. condom use).
• the probability that someone will perform a particular behaviour depends upon four factors:
  
  • (i) the perceived threat of the disease that the behaviour might protect against (susceptibility and severity),
  • (ii) the perceived effectiveness of the preventive behaviour (benefits and barriers),
  • (iii) the person’s general health motivation and
  • (iv) cues to action that reflect immediate situational determinants (e.g. warnings on cigarette packets).

Question 70

elaboration likelihood model

Answer 70

• differs from the other reviewed theories in that the model does not propose theoretical constructs that purportedly drive behaviour change.
• Rather, the model delineates two routes by which people can be persuaded by an intervention, with the main outcome being level of message acceptance and, hopefully, changes in reference values
• The central route to persuasion involves careful scrutiny of the content of the intervention
  
  • processing information in this way is effortful and will be undertaken only if the person has the ability and motivation to do so.
  • If not, then people will tend to process intervention content via the second, peripheral, route where the extent of persuasion (and, thus, subsequent motivation for behaviour change) is determined by heuristic cues such as attitude towards the source (e.g. ‘Mr Jones says drugs are bad. I like Mr Jones. Therefore, I think drugs are bad’ [84], p. 725).
  • Central processing of intervention content, while effortful, is deemed more likely to promote enduring behaviour change than persuasion for peripheral reasons [85] that is likely to promote transient and, consequently, unstable changes in beliefs.

Question 71

prototype willingness model

Answer 71

• combines individual and social approaches to predicting behaviour.
• acknowledges the importance of individual beliefs such as attitudes in determining behaviour but also suggests that social variables such as images of the type of person who engages in different health risks (e.g. ‘the typical drinker is entertaining and carefree’) can have a direct influence on health risk behaviour
• In other words, social variables can influence behaviour relatively automatically, without instigating a corresponding change in beliefs.
• two routes to behaviour:
  
  • a ‘reasoned’ pathway: similar to the TPB, and posits that attitudes and subjective norms combine to determine peoples’ intentions that, in turn, determine behaviour. Interventions based on this pathway are likely to target participants’ reference values
  • ‘social reaction’ pathway: suggests that ‘prototype perceptions’ (images of what the type of person who engages in a particular behaviour is like and similarity of the image to oneself) influence ‘behavioural willingness’ that, in turn, determines behaviour.
    
    • Behavioural willingness is the ‘recognition that one would be willing to engage in the behaviour under some circumstances’ and is distinct from, although correlated with, intention (as defined by the TPB) and behavioural expectation (perceived likelihood of actually performing the behaviour)
• The idea is that, although people may not intend to perform a particular behaviour, positive perceptions of the prototypical person who performs the behaviour may lead the person to be willing to act if supportive—or ‘risk conducive’—circumstances arise.

Question 72

difference between subjective norms and normative beliefs

Answer 72

Subjective norms: anything asking about general social perceptions (most people important to me)

Normative beliefs: anything asking about specific groups of people (my friends… my boyfriend… etc).

Question 73

goal setting theories assume…

Answer 73

—Goal setting theories assume that desirability and feasibility considerations feed goal commitment (strength of intention) which, in turn, determines rates of goal attainment

Question 74

goal content theories

Answer 74

—Goal content theories suggest that the type of goal matters for goal pursuit, goal attainment, and well-being

• The type of goal matters for goal pursuit, attainment, and well being

Question 75

—The most extensively researched goal characteristics are

Answer 75

1. Abstract/general vs. concrete/specific goals
2. Approach vs. avoidance goals
3. Performance vs. mastery/learning goals
4. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic goals

–Self-determination theory

Question 76

abstract vs. concrete goals

Answer 76

• Abstract goals-BE goals, things you want to BE
• Concrete goals-DO goals, things you want to DO

Question 77

what types of goals aid rates of goal attainment?

Answer 77

—Broadly speaking, specific goals aid rates of goal attainment

◦for example, SMART goals (Latham, 2003): specific, measurable, action-oriented (or achievable), realistic (or relevant), time-bound

Question 78

NC logging study

Answer 78

• Classic of goal setting
• Logging crews were randomly assigned to an abstract goal versus a concrete goal
• Telling people to do their best is really not a good idea
• Told people to do their best or told them to reach 100 cubic feet units per week
• There was more attainment in the concrete goal than the abstract
• So giving people an ambitious but specific goal

Question 79

approach vs. avoidance goals

Answer 79

• Approach goals- doing something you want to do
• Avoidance goals-no doing something that you don’t want to do
• They aren’t simply opposites
• —Approach goals involve securing desired outcomes, whereas avoidance goals involve averting undesired outcomes; approach and avoidance goals are not merely opposites

—Approach goals involve specific endpoints and progress is easy to assess; the endpoint for avoidance goals is less clear, progress is harder to assess

Question 80

—how does goal distinction (approach or avoidance) have implications both for goal selection, goal attainment, and well-being

Answer 80

◦Approach orientation –> select goals of medium difficulty

◦Avoidance orientation –> select very high or very low difficulty goals

Question 81

Approach/Avoidance Goal Effects on Goal Attainment and Well-Being

Answer 81

—Undergraduates (N = 145) completed questionnaires 3 weeks into the semester, 4, 8, and 12 weeks later, and 1 week before the end of the semester

—Participants selected 8 personal goals “for this semester” from a list of 51 approach (e.g., get good grades) and avoidance goals (e.g., not let my parents down); proportion of avoidance goals was computed (M = 22.4%)

—

—Performance on each goal was measured at Times 2-4: How well they thought they were doing on each goal (9-point scale: not at all-very); scores were averaged across time.

—

—Well-being (Time 5) was measured by PANAS and SWLS

Question 82

mediational model (Approach/Avoidance Goal Effects on Goal Attainment and Well-Being)

Answer 82

avoidance goals negatively correlated with goal attainment, which is positively correlated to wellbeing.

so avoidance goals only improve wellbeing when the goals are achieved, which isn’t often.

Question 83

performance vs. mastery goals

Answer 83

• Performance goals-demonstrating competence on tests or as compared to others
• Mastery goals: achievement is about learning new skills
• —Research on achievement goals distinguishes between

◦Performance goals: achievement is about demonstrating competence on tests or compared to others

◦Mastery goals: achievement is about learning new skills

Question 84

—Compared to performance goals, mastery goals

Answer 84

◦Produce greater desire for challenge

◦Increase engagement and intrinsic motivation

◦Foster adaptive attributions for failure, and less negative affect

◦Improve rates of goal attainment

Question 85

fixed versus incremental

Answer 85

—Adoption of performance vs. mastery goals may depend on beliefs about the malleability of ability (fixed vs. incremental)

Fixed: ability is fixed; it is innate; we have no control over it

Incremental: it is not fixed; I can change it; I have control over how well I can do in this thing

Question 86

which is better, performance or mastery goals?

Answer 86

◦Both goals may be necessary (Harackiewicz et al., 1998)

◦Need to integrate performance/mastery and approach/avoidance distinctions (performance-approach goals, performance-avoidance goals, mastery-approach goals, mastery-avoidance goals)

Question 87

performance approach vs. performance avoidance

Answer 87

—There is some evidence that performance-approach goals (e.g., “My goal is to do better than my classmates”) improve outcomes, whereas performance-avoidance goals (“My goal is to avoid doing worse than my classmates”) reduce outcomes

—The distinction between performance approach vs. performance avoidance goals also explains the lack of impact of competition on task performance (Murayama & Elliot, 2012)

Question 88

intrinsic goals

Answer 88

—Intrinsic goals are undertaken for their own sake whereas intrinsic goals are undertaken for a reward (approval, money)

—

—Intrinsic goals engender greater task enjoyment, persistence, and performance

Question 89

why can extrinsic rewards undermine motivation

Answer 89

◦Because interest in the task is attributed to the reward (the “overjustificaton effect”)

◦Because rewards can violate basic needs for

–Competence: Need to interact effectively with one’s environment

–Autonomy: Need to freely choose one’s activities

–Relatedness: Need for closeness to and intimacy with others

Question 90

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Goals and Well-Being

(Kasser & Ryan, 1993)

Answer 90

—Three correlational studies of well-being (118 < Ns < 198)

—Four goals were rated on importance and likelihood

◦Financial success (e.g., “You will have a job with high status”)

◦Affiliation (e.g., “You will have good friends you can count on”)

◦Community feeling (e.g., “You will help people in need”)

◦Self-acceptance (e.g., “You will know and accept who you really are”)

◦

—Well-being was measured by

◦Self-actualization, vitality, depression, anxiety, global functioning, behavior disorders

—There were significant negative associations between ratings of financial success for16/18 measures of well-being vs. 25/54 positive associations for the intrinsic ratings

Question 91

—Which is more important: Intrinsic vs. extrinsic reasons for pursuing goals or intrinsic vs. extrinsic goal contents?

Answer 91

—Participants were presented with three intrinsic goals (intimacy, growth, community contribution) and three extrinsic goals (fame/popularity, attractiveness, financial success)

—

—Reasons for pursuing goals were rated

1. Intrinsic motivation (e.g., “because of the enjoyment or stimulation that the goal would provide”)
2. Identified motivation (e.g., “because you really identify with the goal’)
3. Introjected motivation (e.g., “because you would feel guilty, ashamed or anxious if you did not have this goal.
4. Extrinsic motivation (e.g., “because of external rewards such as money that the goal will produce”)

[(1+2)-(3+4) indexes autonomous vs. controlled motivation]

—DV = expected happiness provided by the goal

RESULTS

—Autonomous reasons explained 25% of the variance in expected happiness (Beta = .50, p < .01); extrinsic content explained 5% of the variance (Beta = -.26, p < .01).

A recent meta-analysis supported the predictive validity of autonomous motivation for health behaviors

Question 92

goal intentions as predictors of goal attainment

Answer 92

Goal intentions are self-instructions to perform particular behaviours or obtain desired outcomes (“I intend to achieve/doX!”; Triandis, 1980) and are the key predictors of goal attainment according to leading theories

*sheerans work proves otherwise-that there is huge discrepancy between intention and behavior

Question 93

Four lines of evidence on predictive validity

Answer 93

• Meta-analysis of prospective correlational tests
• Decomposing rates of performance by intention
• Simulating interventions that change intention
• Meta-analysis of interventions that change intention

Question 94

the behavior intention gap

Answer 94

• He did a meta analysis of meta analyses
• Correlation was .53 for intention and behavior
• Starting with data on cnacer screening, found all the studies we could wehere he could dichotomous intention to people who intended to do something and those who did not intend to do something

If you don’t intend to do anything, you are really good at actually not doing that thing; you wont do it

For those who intend to act, half of them hfail to do so

Nonintenders are th ones who are driving the strength of relationship between intention and behavior (which explains the .53 of the meta analysis of metaanalyses)

Question 95

Simulating Interventions that Increase Intentions (Fife-Schaw, Sheeran, & Norman, 2007)

Answer 95

-Compared actual rate of performance with statistical simulations of rate if an intervention maximized intention scores (TPB study of 30 behaviors, N = 211)

• Impact of political knowledge and whether or not they vote
• Also wanted to estimate how improving political knowledge would increase or decrease voting
• Simulated the same thing with their intention data
• Its an improvement, but even still there is a gap between the intention and behavior because even at maximized intention scores, you couldn’t get a guarantee that they’ll actually behave in line with their intentions

Question 96

Meta-Analysis of Interventions that Change Intention (Webb & Sheeran, 2006, see also Rhodes & Dickau, 2012)

Answer 96

Took studies that were successful in changing intentions

Interventions that sought to change intention were really rather good at it (medium to large)

It only led, however, to a small to medium change in behavior

Even a very substantial change in intention only leads to a small to medium change in behavior

Question 97

The magnitute of the intention behavior gap has two processes:

Answer 97

• How much control do you really have over the behavior?
  
  • The less actual control you had, the better you achieve or the more likely that you actually did the behavior
  • So there may be unforeseen obstacles that affect how much control we have over the behavior, that we do not predict or that do not relate to intention
  • Time between measurement of intention and behavior

Question 98

time intervals in the intention-behavior gap

Answer 98

The time interval between measuring intention and behavior. Consistent with this idea, time interval (weeks) had a negative association with the intention-condom use correlation (r = -.59; Sheeran & Orbell, 1998)

Question 99

attitude as moderator of intention and behavior

Answer 99

• Attitudes are a better predictor of intentions than subjective norms
• In other words, those whose intentions are closely related to their own views of the behavior are more likely to act than those whose intentions are closely related to subjective norms

Question 100

self schemas as moderator of intention and behavior

Answer 100

• Self schemas-ratings for which domains describe ourselves or are important to our view of ourselves (i.e. faith)
  
  • The more the intention is related to self schemas, the greater the relationship between intention and action

Question 101

moral norms as moderators of intention -behavior

Answer 101

Moral norms- when intention is related to your personal ideas of obligational and moral responsibilities; will be more related to your behavior

Question 102

anticipated regret as a moderator of the intention-behavioral gap

Answer 102

Anticipated regret-The more you think you’ll regret not doing a behavior, the more likely you are to do that behavior

Question 103

properties of intention

Answer 103

• Certainty- how likely are you to change your mind, how certain are you of your intention to do this thing; ask people to make a judgment about the certainty of their own intentions
• Accessibility- measured by how quickly people respond to intention questions
  
  • Give a series of control questions to contorl for how quickly people read
  • So you always covary processing speed in your analyses
  • The quicker people respond, the more likely they are to turn their intention into action
• Temporal stability of intention-maybe ou can measure in advance how stable people’s intentions are liable ot be and then see if that predicts how well intention maps into beahvior

Question 104

temporal stability

Answer 104

-Temporal stability of intention (TSI) refers to how consistent over time is the direction and intensity of a person’s self-instruction to act

Time 1 Time 2 Time 3

Intention items Intention items Behavior

Compute relations between t1 and t2 intention items

• Within-participants correlation
• Sum of the absolute differences
• Absolute difference between sum of items
• Number of items that change

nAlphas = .74 to .96

Question 105

TSI effects

Answer 105

TSI Improves Intention Realisation

TSI also better moderates intention-behavior relation compared to other properties of intention

(Sheeran & Abraham, 2003)

Question 106

TSI as mediators of other moderators

Answer 106

• The other moderators work as moderators because they are stabilizing people’s intentions
• So stable intentions mediate the other moderators
• So the other moderators only have an effect on intention and behavior relationship by way of stabilizing the intentions

Question 107

TSI Induces Cognitive Tuning to Congruous Information (Cooke & Sheeran, 2013, Study 2)

Answer 107

Measured intention twice over time 1 time at one month, 1 time at two months, came back 3 months later and presented slides on exercise and ask them to recall the information

The people with stable intentions were better at remember the information that was relevant to their intention; so we’re tuned to information that is congruent with our intention

Question 108

TSI withstands contextual threat

Answer 108

Measured intention twice over time 1 time at one month, 1 time at two months, came back 3 months later and presented slides on exercise and ask them to recall the information

• After four months, they went back and asked people how satisfied are you with your life but with different scales randomly assigned:
  
  • 1 cond: not at all from -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 -extremely
  • 2nd condition: not at all -0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 extremely
  • Most people get higher score on -5 to +5 scales because people don’t want to go into the engatives; people think man that’s negative I don’t want to go there-that’s failure! So they stay about 0
  • In other wrods, the first scale goes from VERY unsatisfied to satisfied, whereas the second is just a range of satisfaction
• Then they fill in more intention items,
  
  • If you have very unstable intentions, you are super sensitive to the first scale, and your intentions change, but if you have high stability, then your intentions don’t change much

Question 109

Interventions to promote TSI can be based on

Answer 109

• Direct experience (Doll & Ajzen, 1992)
• Self-affirmation exercises (Sheeran, 2003)
• Anticipated regret inductions (Abraham & Sheeran, 2004)

Question 110

Are there any self-regulation strategies that a person could use her/himself?

Answer 110

Mental contrasting