reading notes for succeed Flashcards
self control
the ability to guide your actions in pursuit of a goal
what is to preserve and stay on course, despite temptations distractions and the demands of competing goals
self-control
self control can vary in
strength
how can self control vary
from person to person and moment to moment
roy baumeister et al study
This is one of the earliest tests of the theory of self-control strength (a.k.a self-regulatory strength).
what did roy do
Presented very hungry college students with a bowl of chocolates and a bowl of radishes.
o Both bowls were placed in front of each student, who was left alone to stare at the bowls.
what were the two conditions in baumeisters study
Radish condition: Some students asked to eat two or three radishes during their time alone, and not to eat any chocolates.
Chocolate condition: Others were asked to eat two or three chocolates and not eat any radishes.
what was another step in baumesiters method
to see how much self-control the students in each group had used up, Baumeister gave each of them a difficult unsolvable puzzle. He was interested to see how long the students would take to give up.
results of roys study
As the “muscle” theory predicted, the radish eaters gave up much faster and even felt more tired afterwards.
even everyday actions like making a decision can sap your self-control
if you understand self control
you can play accordinfly
self control is like a muscle
if you rest it for a while you get your strength back. depletion is temporary
dealing with a temptation sseems to get
easier over time
whats another way to overcome lack of self control strength
well-chosen incentives and rewards
mark muraven and elisaveta slessareva study
watch 5 min video of robin williams
what were the two conditions of mark and elisavetas study
No laugh condition: Half were told not to laugh or smile (they are being observed)- had their willpower resources depleted
Other half can do whatever they want.
results of marks study
When paid low (1 cent per ounce), those allowed to laugh drank twice as much.
→ When paid well (25 cent per ounce), the effect disappeared! (this shows effect of good incentives/rewards)
can money create self control and replenish willpower?
nope- more like increasing you motivation through better rewards can help comensate for a temporary loss of self control
self control is neither
innate or unchangable; it is learned
you get more self control the same way you get
bigger muscles- train it
engaging in actiities such as sexcersicing, keeping track of finances, and what you eat, fixing posture etc can help
develop your overall self-control capacity
in one study, those who stuck to daily exercise became more likely to
wash dishes sooner and les slikely to impulsively spend money
matthew gaillot et al experiment
They asked participants to spend 2 weeks using their non-dominant hand to do things (ex: brush their teeth). After two weeks, they performed better on a task that requires self-control than the control group (who didn’t exercise their self-control muscle). The task was to avoid using stereotypes when forming an impression of someone
what is the first step to goal setting
decide where you want to go and be specific
our desires will just be
desires until we translate them into goals
success is more likely when you focus on
the right details in the right way
“do your best” is
a lousy motivator
do you best tend to produce work
far from best- recipe for mediocracy
Edwin Locke and Gary Latham (organizational psychologists) have spent decades studying the effectiveness of
setting specific and difficult goals.
shown that goals that spell out exactly what needs to be accomplished and that set the bar for high achievement results in far superior performance.
why are specific goals more motivating?
striaghtforward no possibility for setling for less - not tempting to take the easy way out
what si the key to a good goal
difficult but possible
why is that the key to setting goals
because more diff goals cayse you to increase your effort, focus and commit to the goal
persist longer and make better use of the most effective strategies
latham study 1970
10g haulers carrying 60% of legal weight limit on average
The 10g haulers did not have specific goals about what they should be carrying.
Latham assigned them to a goal of carrying 94% of legal weight limit.
results of lathams study
9 months later, Latham saw that on average, they were carrying 90% of legal limit (from 60% to 90%).
locke and latham study federal employees
Those who agreed with statement like “my job is challenging” and “people in my work group are expected to work hard” were the ones that had the highest ratings on their annual performance reviews
study in germany
Found that only those employees that felt their work was difficult reported increases in job satisfaction, happiness, and feelings of achievement over time.
work satisfaction and better performance
goes in both ways
abstract terms
focus on why you are doing it
concrete terms
focus on what you are doing
thinking about why
linking a particular action to a greater meaning or purpose. the why of what you do is incredibly motivating and helps to motivate others
BIG PICTURE
thinking about what
very useful when you need to do something that is difficult unfamiliar complex or that takes a lot fo time to learn
NITTY-GRITTY
coffee drinking experiment dan wegner and robin vallacher
They asked experienced coffee drinkers to drink coffee and rate how well each of the 30 descriptions fits with what they have done.
These descriptions include abstract terms (getting energized) and concrete terms (drinking liquid, swallowing).
Half participants drank from regular mug while the other half drank from heavy (0.5lbs) mug.
results fo coffee study
Those who drank from regular mug preferred why descriptions.
Those who drank from heavy mug preferred what descriptions.
This is because those drinking from the heavy cup needed to think about the real mechanism of coffee drinking (what) in order to successfully drink without spilling
wegner and vallacher
found same results for a diff study: students asked to eat cheerios either with hands or chopsticks
results of wegner and vallacher
Chopstick condition: what terms (“moving my hands”)
Hands condition: why terms (“getting nutrition”)
implications of wegner and vallacher
action is difficult= think in concrete, what terms
more experienced= think in abstract, why terms
alcohol drinking study
Inexperienced drinkers: described drinking as “swallowing” …
* Alcoholics: described drinking as “relieving tension” …
thinking about why you think about more
long-term goals and are thus less impulsive, less vulnerable to temptation and more likely to plan actions in advance
thinking about what you may be
less motivated but are particularily adept at navigating a rocky road. helps focus on the task at hand when activity is difficult
since both what and why have pros and cons
best strat is to chift your thinking style to match the goal at hand
anothe rinfluence on whether you think of an action or goal in why or what terms is
time
specifically how long it will be before you actually do whatever it is you are planning to do
more distant plans/ events
think in abstract why
nearer plans/ events
think about concrete what
yaacov trope and niro liberman experiment
asked group of students to choose a description for everyday activities, either in the near future (tomorrow) or in the distant future (next month).
Students described activity like “moving into a new apartment” as “carrying boxes” (what, concrete) when imagining doing it tomorrow, but as “starting a new life” when imagining the same activity in a month from now.
diff implications of why thinking
pay more attention to desirability information; whether or not taking that action or achieving that goal will result in good things for you
diff implications of what thinking
pay more weight on feasability information; whether or not you can do what needs to be done
liberman and trope
demonstrated why/what tradeoff in a series of clever studies
tel-aviv study liberman and trope
University students given a choice of course assignments: either boring but easy or interesting but hard. Also, it would either be due in near-future (one week) or distant future (nine weeks). Students having to complete in near-future chose easy but boring and those having to complete it in nine weeks, chose hard
but interesting.
Basically, they sacrificed practical consideration for the potential reward.
results of tel-aviv study
Thinking what when it comes to your goals is an excellent way to not only be more realistic with your time, but also to prevent procrastination. It helps you act more quickly.
study 2 for liberman and trope
asked participants to complete survey and send it bacl by email within three weeks Before receiving the survey, they were asked to complete a task designed to put them either in why or what thinking mindset. They were given list of 10 activities like opening up a bank account and asked to come up with reasons either why or what someone might do these things. The researchers then recorded how long it took for the students to achieve their goal (by completing survey then sending it back).
results of second study fro trope and liberman
those who encourages to think with what mindset ent in their survey on average ten days earlier!
depending on the goal, you should switch between
why and what
why
motivating, energizing, focusing on the rewards you can gain and encourages self-control and persistence. BIG PICTURE/ABSTRACT THINKING
what
for difficult/unfamiliar task, focus on practical details, avoid procrastination and get things done quicker. NITTY-GRITTY/CONCRETE THINKING
most of us are naturally pretty
optimistic; we believe we are much more likely than our peers to have good things happening to us
what are the two things you can think positively about
1) your chances for success
2) easily overcoming obstacles for success
expectancy-value theory
people are motivated to do anything as a function of 1 how likely they are to be successful and 2 how much they think they will benefit from it
tara parker pope
reported that for people who have gym equipment at home, those who truly believed they could do it (actually use their equipment) were nearly three times more likely to use it.
easily overcoming onstacles for success if a recipe
for failure- not a good form of pos thinking
gabriele oettingen study
Women who believed that they would succeed in losing weight lost an average of 26lbs more than those who believed they would fail.
Those who thought they would easily resist temptations like donuts (easily overcome obstacles to success) lost on average 24 lbs. less than those who imagine having a hard time.
These results found for many things: looking for a high-paying job, finding a partner, etc.
Not only they are confident they will succeed, but they are equally as confident they will have a tough time getting there.
why is it believing it will be hard useful?
Negative emotions like anxiety and worry are useful because they can be very motivating. They motivate us to take extra effort or plan on how we will deal with problems before they arise. Believing it is difficult makes you plan more, put in more effort, work hard!
the best strat for goal setting
think pos about how it will be when you achive it, while thinking realistically about what it will take to get there
who thought of mental contrasting
oettingen
what is mental contrassting
first imagine about attaining your goal , then reflect on the bstacles
necessity to act
psychological state that is is crucial for achieving a goal
mental contrasting only helps when
you commit to achieving a goal if the goal is soemthing you believe you can achieve
what is the downside to mental contrasting
will lead you to disengage from the goal; help you to abandon an unattainable fantasy
chances of success are high
it will increase commitment
chances of success are low
it will help you recognize that chances arent good so that you can move on
mental contrasting leads to greater
effort, energy, planning and overall higher rates of achieving goals
your… have important influence on the goals you adopt
beliefs
another major influence on your goals is the
environment
not all goals are created
equal
implicit theories
theories/ personal beliefs that someone has that are not consciously thought about but are powerful shapers of the choices we make for ourselves everyday
entity theory
believe smartness is something you’re born with, largely genetic or something that develops in childhood but is constant through adulthood
what to entity theoriests tend to do
make choices and set goals specifically to validate their strengths and avoid goals that are too challenging
inverse effort rule
if you have to work hard on something it means you arents good at it
incremental theory
intelligence is a quality that can be developed over time
study by dweck results
12 y/o boys and girls who believed their personality and character couldn’t be changed were more focused than their other peers on being popular and avoiding rejection
When we believe that there is something about ourselves we cannot change, we pursue goals that focus exclusively on presenting ourselves to others in the best possible light.
Ironically, these goals often prevent change, making it impossible for us to learn and grow
clearly, entity theory is
wrong
carol dweck experiment
two conditions, normal and then Kids explicitly taught the incremental theory of intelligence
results from carol dweck experiment
control groups math score decreased while the other group who learned that you can get smarter, improved
the key to getting smarter is
believing that it is possible
intelligence is a
malleable concept- experience matters a lot
conscious mind is surprisngly
limited
uncobscious mind processing power is
enormous
what aspects of your environmnet can rigger the unconscious pursuit of a goal
literally anything
even what can trigger goals
people
james shah experiment
ask college students how much their father calues high achievement; subliminally exposed students to their fathers name before asking them to complete complex problems
results fo shah experiment
those associated father with high achievement worked harder and performed better
unconsciously thinking about a loved one who does not approve of a goal
can inhibit its pursiot
goal contagion
even goals of people you don’t know can be goal triggers
Does this mean that anytime you see someone with a particular goal you’re going to adopt it?
Nope. A goal must be desirable before unconscious mind will adopt it
unconsciously operating goals are ones that we either have
consciously adopted or are goals we see in a very pos light
delegating goal pursuit to the unconscious part of the mind
great way to free up mental space and energy for things that constantly require attention
two kinds of goals that differ in ways that really matter
- goal to prove that you are good at what you do
- goal to grow and improve
the goal you choose with determine
not only how strong your motivation is but how long youll persist when the going gets tough
being good
performing well to demonstrate abulity
getting better
progress, growth, and gaining mastery
having a performance goal
desire to be good - to show that you are smart or talented or capable, or to outperform other people
performance goals are characterized by an
all or nothing quality
performance goals are very motivating because
so much riding on success
performance goals have a
double edge sword quality
those ties to self worth that make them so motivating are also what makes them less adaptive when the going gets tougher
pursuing the goal of being good
can make an easy victim to self-fullfilling prohecy
self-fullfilling prophecy
believing you dont have what it takes because you faled once leads you to stop trying which leads you to fail which reinfroces the belief that you dont have what it takes
performance goals can lead to the
lowest achievement along with heavy dose of disappoinment and self-doubt
mastery goal
desire to get better - to develop or enhance your skills and abilities
when pursuing mastery goals, you jdge yourself by
progress you are making- not by whether or not you achieve a particular outcome
more about self worth ina diff way
they are about self improvement rather than self-validation: about becoming the best you can be rather than proving you are already the best
when pursuing mastery goals, we are less likely to
blame our difficulties on lack of ability but on lack of effort, poor strat, and other more controllable causes
when you run into trouble in pursuit of get better goals you dont
get depressed and helpless you take action
get better goals can sometimes lead to greatest achievements because
people who focus on getting better rarely make the mistake of giving up too soon
andrew elliot and colleagues study
asked college studyents to work on a game similar ot scrabble and make words
what were the two conditions of andeew elliots study
“Get-better goal” condition: told that the purpose of the game was “to learn how to play this game well”
“Be-good goal” condition: told purpose was “to compare college students with one another on their ability to solve puzzles”
results of andrew study
When there was no reward: students in both conditions scored about the same (around 120 points)
When the extra credit was given as a reward: be good goal condition scored 50% higher than the get better goal group
people trying to develop a skill are not impressed by
rewards
pursuit of be good goals can lead to
higher scores on a variety of tasks
when soemthing is easy its very motivating to focus on
giving your best performance possible
when you deal with unfamiliar, complex, or difficult tasks with obstacles or setbacks
focusing on growth over glory is much more advantaegous
grant and gelety purpose of studies
looking at how poeple handle difficulty in pursuit of both “be good: and “get better” goals
two conditions in gg study
Be-good condition: told that their scores reflected their “conceptual and analytic abilities” and their goal should be to get a high score. Demonstrate smartness.
Get-better condition: told that the task was a “training tool” that would help develop their abilities and that their goal should be to take advantage of this learning opportunity
rsults for gg study first conditions
get better condition: difficulty didnt affect performance. those doing easy challenges did just as good as those doing difficult challenges
gg study results for second condition
for the be good condition : introduciing difficulty or obstacles resulted in significantly fewer problems solved
what is the implication of gg study
those in the be-good pursuit are more affected by their expectations for success
be good pursuit
affected by expections for success
get better goal pursuit
unaffected by expectations for success
carol dweck and grant experiment
Columbia University pre-med chemistry students
Students either agreed with statements like “In school I am focused on demonstrating my intellectual ability” (do-good performance goal) or “I strive to constantly learn and improve in my courses” (get-better mastery goal)
results carol dweck and grant experiment
Students pursuing get-better goals had better overall goals precisely because they improved with each exam. They didn’t do any better on the first exam, but on subsequent exams they did because they were more likely to keep up or even put more effort and stayed motivated.
The opposite pattern was seen in the do-good group because they got demotivated and put in less effort as the time passed, especially when their grades weren’t great.
having more fun =
more active participant in your own learning ; use deeper processing strategies
autonomous help
promote understandinf and learning so eventually you can do whatever it is on your own
expedient help
having someone do the work /handle the problem for you
not only are do-better goal seekers more likely to ask for help but also
seek utonomous help
depressions that do occur tend to be
less severe and less frequent for those pursuing get better goals
dweck, Baer, and grant study
Asked students to fill out questionnaire to find out if they were do-good or get-better oriented.
Students must fill out diary every day for 3 weeks; write about the worst thing that happened to them each day and how they were feeling about it.
Also had to check off from a list of daily activities what they had done that day (do laundry, hang out…)
results from dweck and baer study
students who spent most of the time trying ot be good were more likely to experience depression and worst the less likely they were to do something useful about it
results dweck and grant study pt 2
students who spent most of the time trying to get better had opposite effects: the worse they felt the more likely they were to get up and do something about it if it was a problem they fixed it
implication of dweck and grant study
if you focus on growth instead of validation you’re less likely to get depressed because you dont see setbacks and failures as a reflection of self-worth and less likely to stay depressed
goals you pursue not only determin what you see but
how you see it
what are the two benefits of get better goal pursuit
- dont get discourages when things get tpugh
- stay motivated even when you do have doubts about your success
when a task if difficult and persistence is the key to higher achievement
get better mastery goals have the clear advantage
tory higgins suggested what
promotion or prevention focus
promotion focus
thought about in terms of achievement and accomplishment. something you would ideally like to do maximize gains
prevention focus
thought about in terms of safety and danger ; a responsibility minimizing losses
what are the two essential needs of humans
nuturance= be loved
security = be kept safe
higgins argues that we pursue
promotion goals in response to nurturance need
prevention goals in response to security need
promotion and prevention goals are
the key to happiness is to accentuate the pos and eliminate the neg
promotion parenting
rewards children showers them with love when they do somethig right but withholds when something wrong- the child then wants to gain something- approval
prevention parenting
punished when doing something wrong and rewarding good behaviour by not punishing child; child wants to avoid/ minimize the losses
western cultures tend to focus on
promotion goals
eastern cultures tend to foster
prevention goals
some situations are inherently
promotion or prevention-focused
why does it matter if we have one focus over th eother if we see our goals as achievements or obligations?
it impacts the decisions we make, the strategies we use, the way we respond to setbacks our very well-being
expectancy of theory of motivation
we decide whether or not to pursue a goal based on how likely we are to succeed and how desirable the outcome will be
which two factors are weighed a little differently depending on you goals focus
promotion focus and prevention focus
promotion focus is motivated by
high value and high expectancy of success
The more valuable the goal, the more you care about your chances of success. Because you want gains! If you’re going to put time and effort, the chances of success better be high
prevention focus
high value goal is one where safety really matters and failure is dangerous
the more valuable the goal the less you care about
your chances at success ; its about avoiding losses
promotion focus goal
an accomplishment feels like eagerness
promotion focus pos feedback
eagerness is heightened- the more you succeed= the more motivated you become
promotion focus goal neg feedback
eagerness is dampened. feelings of failure saps your motivation
prevention focus goal
motivation you have feels like vigilance (a desire to stay clear of danger)
prevention focus goal pos feedback
motivation decreases
prevention focus goal neg feedback
vigilance increases so the looming possibility of failure increases your motivation
study grant forster, idson and higgins
participants are given set of diff puzzles to complete for money
what were the two conditions of grant forster idson and higgens
prevention focus : told they would be paid 5 but lose a dollar if they performed below 70%
promotion. focus: told they would be paid 4 but they could gain if they performed abpve 70%
results of Forster study positive feedback
promotion condition= expectations fro success and motvation increased
prevention condition = expectation for success didnt change and motivation decreased
forster study results negative feedback
promotion feedback= expectations and motivation decreased
prevention condition = expectations dropped dramatically and in turn motivation increased
successful prevention goals require
us to dampen or suppress our optimism in order to increase motivation
prvention goals cant afford to be
confident (optimistic) no matter how successful you have been
promotion focused goal pursuers were high in
positive views of self and feelings of mastery and competence
prevention oriented poele only claimed ot be
high in feelings of mastery and competence
prevention oriented people
are uncomfrotable being too positive about themselves because it seems dangerous to themseleves
what to prevention oriented people adopt
defensive pessimism strategy
defensive pessimism strat
setting low expectations can higher your motivation
defensive pessimism better prepares you for
obstacles makes you more vigilant therefore makes you more motivated
promotion focused students are more motivated by
traditional positive role model
prevention focused students are more motivated by
negative role models
barba ehrebreich
Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America” talks about how the banishment of negative thinking actually brings a lot of trouble from the pervasive need for prescription antidepressants to the mortgage-induced financial crisis
optimism can be a… but also …
good thing but also reckless and counterproductive
optimism
good for pursiot of achievements accolades and big gains
pessimistic realism
better for pursuit of security or avoiding disastrous losses
loba werth and jens forster
Promotion-minded participants: prefer products advertised as luxurious or comfortable. Attributes that are hardly necessary but convey a sense of coolness or sophistication.
Prevention-minded participants: drawn to products advertised as safe and reliable.
what does good feel like to promotion focus
happy: jjoyful, cheerful, excited, very high energy kind of good
what does good feel like to prevention focus
relaxed: calm at ease peaceful its. alow energy tipe of good
what does bad feel like for promotion focus
sadness: dejected, depressed, its the low energy kind of bad
prevention focus bad feeling
danger; anxiety, panic, fear, its a high energy tupe of bad
signal detection
object is to successfully distinguish the signal from the noise
say yes and youre right
hit
say yes and your wrong
false alarm
say no and your right
correct rejection
say no and your wrong
miss
promotion goals for signal detection
sensitive to the potential for hits you really go for it. There is nothing worse than a miss. Promotion-minded people usually say “yes” they go for it! This is what is called a risky bias. And as a result, they end up with more hits, but also with more false alarms.
prevention goals for signal detection
very cautious, they need to be sure when they make the decision to say “yes” in order to avoid mistakes. So, they tend to say “no” more. They hate false-alarms because they have more at stake. This is what is called a conservative bias.
social strategies promotion focus
see friendships in terms of gains, so they use eager strategies that keep things positive
social strategies prevention minded
see friendships in terms of losses so they use vigilan strategies to maintain them like staying in touc and not losing contact
dan molden and colleagues study
participants tol they had to make two friends thought he internet
two conditions for dan molden
rejection condition ignoring condition
rejection condition
the two members of the discussion would respond to the participants opinions with statemenet like i dont understand you people
ignoring condition
the two other members would strike up a conversation about something they have in common ignoring participant
results fo dan molden and colleagues study
rejection: made the participant feel sense ofloss led to prevention focused responses= they felt anxious withdrew from convo
ignoring: made participant feel a failure ot achieve social gain that let to promotoin focused responses felt sad and dejected but more likely to reengage
spee accuracy trade off
the faster you go the more mistakes you make
promotion goals prefer
speed over accuracy
prevention goals prefer
accuracy over speed
promotion focused speed
energetic and enthusiastic motivation for short term but can be less adaptive when in long term maintenance
prevention focused accuracy
slow and steady can win the race
what goals should you approach when you have a difficult goal
promotion focus
hwo do you maintain a goal
with prevention focus
prevention goals make us better at resiisting
temptation and distractions
promotion is for…. prevention is for….
gain; losses
optimism works if youre
promotion minded
promotion goals give us … prevention gives us…
a rush; relief
