Self-regulation Flashcards
What is Craver & Scheier’s (1982) definition of ‘self-regulation’?
Craver & Scheier (1982)
People adopt & manage goals & standards for their thoughts, feelings & behaviour & then ensure that these goals & standards are met
What does self-regulation of goal pursuit involve?
- Begins with a wish to set a goal
- Pursue it
- Attain/disengage from the goal
How do we successful pursue a goal?
- identify & act on the means (identify what we need to do to achieve the goal)
- monitor our goal progress
- identify & overcome obstacles (e.g. cope with low progress & negative feedback)
What is ‘persistence’?
Setting a goal, sticking to achieving it & overcoming obstacles
What is the simple process of goal pursuit?
Have a wish → set a goal → strive to reach the goal → act on means/overcome obstacles → achievement/disengagement
What are ‘goals’?
Mental representations of a desired outcome containing info on means, obstacles & the outcome
- goal must be different from the present state
What are ‘means’?
Activities/objects/people instrumental for goal pursuit
A memory representation of a goal may contain info about…
…possible obstacles
On which aspects might goals differ on?
- importance/value
- abstraction level
- motivation
What feature did Atkinson (1964) propose might goals differ on?
Importance/value
The perceived expectancy of success
Vallacher & Wegner (1989) states that goals can vary in abstraction level.
What does this mean?
- higher-order goals often lead to lower-order goals to help achieve them
When do we usually think about lower-order goals, according to Vallacher & Wegner (1989)?
When we want to get something specific done, we tend to think about lower-order goals
When do we usually think about higher-order goals, according to Vallacher & Wegner (1989)?
When we have problems with motivation, we tend to think about higher-order goals
Which researcher/s states that goals can differ in terms of motivational orientation (e.g. regulatory focus)?
Higgins (1998)
According to Higgins (1998), how might goals differ in terms of motivational orientation?
We can have promotion goals & prevention goals
- promotion goal = “I want a 2:1”
- prevention goal = “I want to avoid a 2:2”
How we approach goals (i.e. the focus) can be result of a chronic behavioural tendency/situational factors
What are we more motivated by when our goals have a promotion focus?
When goals have a promotion focus → more motivated by gains
What are we more motivated by when our goals have a prevention focus?
When goals have a prevention focus → more motivated by losses
The focus of a goal influences how people pursue that goal.
Name a study that supports this statement.
Crowe & Higgins, 1997 found that a prevention focus caused people to work slower but more carefully
According to Kruglanski et al. (2001), what types of links join goals to other goals in memory?
Kruglanski et al. (2001) – goals are represented with FACILITATIVE & INHIBITORY links to other goals in memory
If your goal is to be skinny, what type of link in memory will it have to ‘drinking beer’?
If the goal is to be skinny → it will have an inhibitory link to drinking beer
We must inhibit thoughts about one goal to complete another goal. What mechanism do we have to help us with this?
We have a mechanism that, when an important goal is activated, it makes us forget about other conflicting goals
Who proposed the idea of ‘goal shielding’?
Shah et al. (2002)
What is ‘goal shielding’?
Activating an important goal lowers the accessibility of other conflicting goals
What did Shah et al. (2002) do to investigate ‘goal shielding’?
Shah et al. (2002) - pps listed an important goal & focused on this goal, then thought about other goals
–> pps listed fewer other goals when they were highly committed to one important goal
In what type/s of people did Shah et al. (2002) find that goal shielding occurred in?
This goal shielding effect only occurred in people whom were highly committed to their primary goal & who had high goal tenacity
When a goal is not important & the person is not good at achieving their goals, what is the result?
When a goal is not important & the person is not good at achieving their goals, the goal is not achieved
What makes goals motivating?
When they have a high value (i.e. are desirable)
What types of motivation are there?
- extrinsic motivation
- intrinsic motivation
Where does extrinsic motivation originate?
Extrinsic motivation originates from external factors that are associated with achieving a goal (social approval, money, etc.)
Where does intrinsic motivation originate?
Intrinsic motivation originates from within the person, when we enjoy the activity