Motivation Flashcards
what is motivation?
- the origins and drives of behaviour
- driving force behind active chosen behaviours
- determines how much and how often you make effort
what are the biological theory of motivation?
Serves the evolutionary purpose of ‘survival’ and are a powerful influence on motivation
what are the Psychological theory of motivation?
- ‘Self-actualization’ or ‘autonomy’.
- Explains motivated behaviour such as exploratory behaviour (e.g., seeking tasks).
- looking to enhance yourself
general theory of motivation
- Needs → wants →tension
- desire to remove tension is motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
a theory of motivation which states that five categories of human needs dictate an individual’s behavior. Those needs are: (bottom to top or pyramid)
- physiological needs
- safety needs
- love and belonging needs
- esteem needs
- self-actualization needs
critisisms of Heirachy of needs?
- babies start at love and belonging as should already have safety and physiological needs so don’t even start at the bottom
- can do down the pyramid e.g. Elon Musk
- its Westernised
- hard to know when actually self-actualised
what contributes to your motives of social judgement (motivation)? Dunning, 2001
- desire for knowledge
- desire of coherence
- affirmation of competence
Desire of knowledge as an example of motiavtion
- power of curiosity → the need to know more
- curiosity mediated by knowledge and accountability
- enables prediction and control
desire of coherence as an example of motivation
- relates to cognitive dissonance
- want to reduce contradictions
- we value things we work hard for (effort justification)
- we might devalue alternatives after making a choice
- BUT → only some things appear to produce dissonance; we can live with some inconsistencies
Affirmation of Competence as an example of motivation
we attribute positive behaviours to ourselves and negative behaviours to external factors
e.g. most over estimate their IQ
Drivers: think you are a better than average driver
Jailed criminals: kinder, more honest and more trustworthy than most
BUT
- Attribution biases likely driven by more than self esteem motives.
- Self-affirmation often not supported by empirical evidence.
what is self-determination theory?
- achieved by building autonomous motivation
autonomous motivation = motivation to do something regardless of prompts
How is autonomous motivation achieved?
- autonomy
- competence
- relatedness (e.g. support networks)
meet these needs to enhance intrinsic motivation and promote psychological growth, integrity and well being
what are the 2 types of motivation in self-determination theory?
- intrinsic motivation → Aim of mastery, brings joy/satisfaction
- extrinsic motivation → Aims for reward, brings external pressures/demand
what is amotivation?
No inclination to do anything either way.
what is cognitive evaluation theory?
- one fo 6 sub theories of SDT
- it focuses on the interaction between intrinsic motivation and other factors
- specifically interested in competence and autonomy
- looks at how reward will be the sole driver of behaviour or as indicators of competence
What is self determination theory (SDT)?
refers to a person’s ability to make choices and manage their own life. Being self-determined means that you feel in greater control, as opposed to being non-self-determined, which can leave you feeling that your life is controlled by others.
outline self-determination theory study (Deci, 1971; Deci & Ryan, 1985) using students and pay
College students asked to solve problems across 3 sessions.
- 1st: Unpaid
- 2nd: Paid-per-answer. Second half of study, experimenter called away.
- 3rd: “Oops, no money left!” Then experimenter called away again
Results
- Paid students spent more time solving puzzles
- But when reward removed, spent less time
- Intrinsic motivation may be undermined if they are induced to engage as a means to an extrinsic goal.
- Rewarding people for an interesting activity => attribute their behaviour to the extrinsic reward rather than to intrinsic interest.
=> Undermining effect
how do rewards affect intrinsic motivation?
- cue value - make competence information salient. e.g. You got that prize because you’re so good at that! Most people didn’t manage that!
- verbal rewards - informational aspect salient and increases intrinsic motivation → can be perceived as controlling leads to undermining IM. e.g. you must keep up the good work
- importance of interpersonal context
what is then over justification effect?
Rewards indicate that cause of behaviour is external, causes focus on rewards in advance of task completion.
- interchangeably called undermining effect
Over justification effect (Lepper, Green & Nisbett, 1973)
Field study: 51 children aged 3–5 yrs.
- Expected reward condition: group asked to draw pictures and rewards promised for the best drawing
- Non-rewarded condition: group drew pictures, without the promise of a reward.
- Unexpected reward condition: group drew pictures and given a surprise reward
- Average quality ratings for pictures also significantly lower in the expected award group compared to unexpected and non-rewarded groups.
what does the over-justification effect indicate?
- salient rewards undermine (IM)
- When positive competence information provided, less likely to undermine IM
what is the undermining effect?
focus on perception if being controlled (diminished autonomy)
what are not expected reward effect on intrinsic motivation?
not predicted to affect intrinsic motivation
what are the expected reward effects on intrinsic motivation?
- Task non-contingent rewards: IM not affected.
- Engagement-contingent rewards: Rewards controlling, little / no competence affirmation -> undermine IM.
- Completion-contingent rewards: Reward indicates competence but not strong relative to controlling aspect -> undermine IM.
- Performance-contingent rewards: Perceived as controlling -> strong undermining of IM. Can convey competence info -> IM effects mixed. Interpersonal context can influence.
alternative explanations of rewards
- behaviours rewarded are culturally valued
- when rewarded are unrelated to performance→people feel helpless
- rewarded people may attribute performance less to themselves
what are values?
- Trans-situational goals which serve as guiding principles in life of a person or group
- they are different from attitudes as they are more general and abstract
- 10 basic values relevant to all societies
Study on values (Schwartz, 1992, 2012)
- Tested universality of values through self-report using cross sectional surveys.
- Samples drawn from 20 countries within every inhabited continent.
- Includes members of 8 religions and athiests.
Primarily teachers and undergraduates. - Analysed using Smallest Space Analysis (SSA).
FINDINGS - actions in pursuit of values can be compatible or may conflict with the pursuit od other values
what are the critiques of values?
- Whilst values appeared in most cultures examined, not all grouped in the same way
- Values don’t always predcit behaviour. Low predictive power. Therefore, low value?
- Values as cultural norms, not personal beliefs
- Spirituality neglected e.g. religion
what are the motivations to engage with energy behaviour?
- save cost = self enhancement values
- save carbon = self transcendence values
- Schwartz theory predicts a clash
- clash could make the message communication ineffective
no evidence of difference = no evidence of clash
what is self-regulation theory?
- purposeful, self corrective judgments to pursue personal goals
- goals as reference values for feedback purposes
possible future self (goals) - unrealised future potential; what you might be
- gives us direction and purpose
Discrepancy theory (Higgings, 1987)
- compare ‘actual’, ‘ideal’ and ‘ought’ self
- actual self = how you are
- ideal self = personal desires for ideal self. promotion focused, results in happiness or sadness
- ought self = defined by duty, responsibility to others.
what are incentives?
high order desired outcome
e.g. gain money
what are needs?
personal forces that narrow down classes of incentives
e.g. gain social power
what are assigned goals?
can be transformed into personal goals if:
- integrated with other existing goals
- perceived as desirable and feasible
- they are personally refined
what are set goals?
- tend to be desirable and feasible
what is Automotive theory?
Goals can become activated without awareness (Bargh, 1990)
- Mental links form between situations and goals often pursued.
- Situation subsequently activates goal.
- Requires an initial reflective goal that is repeated over time
Fantasy realisation theory (Oettingen, 200)
- 143 ppts
- told they had to imagine an attractive student ‘Michael’ at a party
- The fantasy reality condition had to elaborate 2 positive and 2 negative aspects of the real situation. Group weighed up the positive and negative
- positive fantacy condition had to elaborate 4 positive aspects. No n ecessity to act is experienced, success is independent if need to change
- negative reality - elaborate 4 most important negative aspects. Ignore aspects of the future. No direct act
- control were asked to do arithmetic tasks
when are goals more likely to be supported?
if have implemental mindset
- focus in relevant information (less distracted)
- Process desirability information in a biased manner (less doubts).
- Process feasibility information in a biased manner (more optimisitc)
example of planning for goal achievement
‘If I encounter situation x, then I will perform the goal directed
behaviour Y’ (If – then plans).
what is implementation intentions?
- Delegate control of behaviour to the environment.
– Action representation activated by cues – automate behaviour.
