Lecture 3: The Personal and Interpersonal Sides of Goal Pursuit Flashcards
self-determination theory
- Acknowledges that motivation isn’t a uniform phenomenon
- Distinguishes the quantity and quality of motivation
- Focuses on issues of volition
- Focuses on the satisfaction of the 3 basic psychological needs (ARC)
volition
whether one internally values a goal or not
autonomy
needing to feel that one owes and agrees with one’s behaviour
relatedness
needing to feel meaningfully connected to at least some other people
competence
needing to feel that one can do things well or at least improve one’s abilities
steps of the personal goal paradigm
- Select a starting point
- Assess personal goals using the Emmona Personal Striving Method
- Assess goal progress across waves
- Assess goal motivation and goal support across waves
what types of goals do most university students make?
80% of university students’ goals are achievement-oriented rather than socially-oriented
who’s more likely to succeed at social goals?
If you’re extraverted you’re more likely to succeed at social goals
personal
belonging to a particular person rather than something or someone else
are our personal goals truly personal?
- Despite being self-generated and self-initiated, in a nominal sense, our personal goals are often not self-endorsed
- They’re not autonomous or volitional
autonomous goal
the extent to which a goal reflects your developing interests and core values versus something you feel pressured to do
autonomy and goal success study
- Having autonomous goals is associated with significantly greater success rates across people and goals
- The effect size across 48 studies r=.23
what is autonomy sometimes called?
self-concordance
why do autonomous goals help?
- limits of self-control
- distractions and temptations
- action crises
limits of self-control and autonomous goals
you can sneak around the self-control limit with interesting and personally relevant goals
distractions and temptations and autonomous goals
it’s easier to avoid distractions if you’re interested in the goal
action crises and autonomous goals
it’s easier to persevere through challenges if we’re interested in the goal we’re achieving
the ease of subjective effort
- Autonomous goals can often feel effortless
- Even though you’re putting in effort, it feels easy because you enjoy it
goal shielding and autonomous goals study finding
Goal shielding is lower for autonomous goals
action crises and autonomous goals study finding
Disengagement is less likely for an autonomous goal
consistency of goal shielding, actions crises and autonomous goals findings
Multilevel analyses show that all of the above effects for autonomous goal motivation and its related mediators were confirmed at both the within and between-person levels
are personal goals exclusively personal?
- Personal goals are often interpersonal
- We rely on others to show interest in and provide support for our goal pursuits
- We have to outsource the self-control demands
types of interpersonal goal support
- directive support
- autonomy support
directive support
provision of positive guidance and encouragement
autonomy support
support framed as empathic perspective-taking
Autonomy support (but not directive support) results in:
- Greater goal progress over time
- Greater well being
- Better relationship satisfaction
autonomous support as a mediator
Autonomous support, autonomous motivation, and goal progress all mediate each other
successful goal-setting depends on:
- Selecting autonomous goals
- Receiving goal support that is autonomy-supportive
effect of telling someone you’re committing to a goal on goal performance
One study found that you have a 65% chance of completing a goal if you tell someone else you’re committing to doing it
effect of an accountability buddy on performance
Using an accountability buddy to help you achieve your goal results in a 95% success rate
goal shielding
The frequency and strength of desires that conflict with personal goals
