Midterm Readings Flashcards
What is abstract thinking?
‘The big picture’ - Focuses on why you are doing something
- When people do this, they are more connected to their long term goals, less impulsive, less vulnerable to temptation and more likely to plan their actions in advance
What is concrete thinking?
‘The nitty-gritty’ - You think about your behavior in terms of what you are doing
- Thinking this way is really useful when you need to do something that is difficult, unfamiliar, complex, or just takes a lot of time to learn.
What is desirability thinking?
whether or not taking that action or achieving that goal will result in good things for you. (When we consider doing something in the more distant future)
- WHY thinking
What is feasibility information?
whether or not you can actually do whatever needs to be done (When we considering doing something in the near future)
- WHAT thinking
What is the expectancy value theory?
people are motivated to do anything as a function of (1) how likely they are to be successful (expectancy) and (2) how much they think they will benefit from it (value)
When do you think about your goals in why vs what terms?
Why terms: when you want to get energized, stay motivated, or avoid temptations
What terms: when you are dealing with something particularly difficult, unfamiliar, or anything that takes a long time to learn.
What is the inverse effort rule?
if you have to work hard at something, you aren’t good at it
What is goal contagion?
seeing someone else pursue a goal makes you more likely to pursue it yourself
What are the two types of goals?
Be good: Performance goal - to show that you’re smart, and outperform others
Do better: Mastery of goals - care about the progress and less about the performance
What is the difference between autonomous and expedient help?
Autonomous help: Promotes understanding and learning to eventually do it on your own
Expedient help: Want someone to do the work for you
What are the two types of goal focus?
Promotion: achievement/accomplishment, maximizing gains (and avoiding missed opportunities)
Prevention: safety vs danger, minimize losses (hanging on to what you got)
Explain the difference in rewards/punishments with promotion vs prevention
Promotion: showering praise for doing right and withholding love for failure
- Prevention: punishing for doing something wrong and nothing for doing something right
Explain eastern and western culture differences in goal promotion
- Western - promotion goal
- Eastern (interdependence) - prevention
Explain the difference in thinking positive with promotion vs prevention
Promotion - Gain (high value of success)
Prevention - safety (don’t need to win)
Explain the difference in picking courses with promotion vs prevention
Promotion: picking on expected grade Prevention: picking on value of class more than expected grade
Explain the difference in moods of reaching goals with promotion vs prevention
- Happy for promotion
- Relaxed for prevention (much more low energy, just as rewarding though)
Explain the difference when something bad happens with promotion vs prevention
Prevention - danger (anxiety - high energy)
Promotion - sadness (low energy)
Explain the difference in work habits with promotion vs prevention
Promotion - more creative (more time brainstorming)
- Good at connecting themes/ synthesizing info
Prevention focus is concrete (pick a route and go)
- Better memory and Great with detail
Explain the difference when getting rejected with promotion vs prevention
EXPLICIT: Prevention focus - loss
- regret/anxiety
IGNORED: Promotion focus - sad
- More likely to try to re-engage and try new strategies
Explain the difference in role models with promotion vs prevention
- Prevention - inspired by negative role model
- Promotion: inspired by positive role model
What are admirable goals?
Goals that make our inner lives richer, enhancing our own sense of self-worth instead of leaving us to seek worth and validation in the eyes of others
Why do we pursue external, superficial goals?
- we tend to believe they will make us happy
- when our needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence aren’t met
What is authentic happiness?
refers to that we find the greatest motivation and most personal satisfaction from those goals that we choose for ourselves
What are autonomy supportive situations?
refer to situations where people are given choices, or even just the illusion of choices
When is it ok to use rewards?
- When rewards are unexpected (that aren’t contingent on performance)
- Verbal rewards, like saying good job
What is internalization?
when people take externally based rules and requests and come to personally endorse them as values
When is internalization facilitated?
- our basic needs are supported (relatedness, competence, autonomy)
When are feelings of relatedness and competence greatly enhanced?
when we are able to understand the rationale behind the value
What can intrinsic motivation be destroyed by?
control rewards punishment deadlines excessive monitoring obligation in general
What goal do you choose: when it’s easy?
Be good goal
What goal do you choose: when you can’t get motivated?
Thinking in abstract terms (WHY)
When a goal is hard or unfamiliar what do you do?
Be specific about what you want to achieve
When you are tempted, what do you do?
Think about your goal in why terms