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
