Setting Goals: Where do they come from? Flashcards
What is self-regulation?
processes via which people initiate, alter, and control their behaviour in pursuit of a goal
- involves the ability to prioritize long term goals over immediate rewards
Why are goals important to self-regulation?
They provide direction and focus, motivation, planning and strategy, feedback allowing us to monitor our progress, and sense of self-efficacy
What is self-discrepancy theory?
The idea that we have multiple versions of ourselves:
- ought self
- ideal self
- actual self
These three self-guides shape motivation and self regulation. When discrepancies between actual and ideal or ought selves arise, behaviour is motivated to close that gap
What are the three selves? How do they differ
Ought self: who we think we should be
Actual self: who we believe we are right now
Ideal self: who we think we should be
Ideal self guides our motivation with a promotion focus, approaching positive outcomes which lead us to cheerful-emotions. Absence of the outcome leads to dejection-emotions.
Ought self guides our motivation with a prevention focus, avoiding negative outcomes, this avoidance can lead to calm emotions but if we fail to avoid, this can lead to agitation-related emotions.
What is promotion focus vs prevention focus?
Promotion focus approaches positive oucomes, focused on gain and growth, motivated by maximizing goals, success= positive emotion, failure = dejection and disappointment
Prevention focus avoids negative outcomes, focused on safety and security, motivated by loss aversion, success= calm, failure= anxiety and guilt
What is regulatory focus theory?
proposes that different approaches arise because we use two distinct motivational systems when pursuing different goals.
Prevention and Promotion
There are individual differences in chronic regulatory focus ex) Jake and Amy
Where does regulatory focus motivation come from?
Temperament
- are you more negative or positive, etc.
Childhood experiences
- Nurturing, bolstering caregiver will encourage promotion focus
- Punitive, controlling caregiver will encourage prevention focus.
Culture:
- Individualistic cultures tend to have more of a promotion focus (based on individual achievement)
-Collectivistic cultures tend to prioritize group well-being and have more of a prevention focus
Different identities
- whether you are a student, with a friend, with family, etc. can trigger distinct regulatory orientations
How can we induce a promotion-focus?
priming ideals
having ppl remember episodes of success from past promotion focus
Framing outcomes (focus on the gains!)
How do we induce a prevention-focus?
priming oughts
having ppl remember success from past prevention focus
framing outcomes about the loss
How does being explicitly rejected vs. passively excluded affect regulatory focus in the context of social goals?
Outright rejection:
triggers prevention focus
- loss avoidance
- results in anxiety and withdrawal, and regret over actions
- leads to hyperalgesia (in pain sensitivity), perhaps adaptive to detect and avoid future social threats
Ignored(passive exclusion):
triggers promotion focus
- missed opportunity
- sadness but motivation to reconnect and regret over inaction
-leads to analgesia (reduced pain sensitivity), perhaps to focus on reconnecting
What strategies do promotion-focused individuals use?
Focus on growth
actively seek out oppurtunities
sensitive to gains vs missed gains
can maintain enthusiasm by imaging success
EAGER APPROACH
What strategies do prevention-focused individuals use?
careful and cautious, focus on avoiding mistakes
sensitive to losses vs non-losses
more likely to imagine failure or deflate positive self-evaluations to maintain strategy
VIGILANT AVOIDANCE APPROACH
How do individuals with a promotion vs. prevention focusdifferin their approach to risk? Are individuals with a prevention focus always more conservative when it comes to risk?
Both promotion and prevention-focused people can be risky, it depends on their current status relative to their goals
If someone is at a neutral starting point:
–> promotion-focus wants to move away (more likely to risk)
–> prevention-focus wants to stay
if someone is at a loss:
–> promotion focus is disappointed but doesn’t encourage any risk.
–> prevention-focus: much more willing to take risks if it can help recover the loss
If someone is at a success:
–> promotion will take fewer risks if they think they’ve done enough, and will take more risks if they think they can do more
–> prevention-focus: doesn’t have any distinct meaning
What are the tradeoffs of each focus?
Promotion:
-prioritize speed over accuracy, faster decison-making, more errors
- thrive on positive feedback, insipred by role models, but struggle with negative feedback
-overconfidence and ignoring failure
-like to explore and change, struggle with commitment and prone to distraction
Prevention:
-less errors but slower, prioritize accuracy over speed
-thrive on negative feedback and potential of failure, thrive on thinking about weakness and risk, inspired by negative role model But positive feedback can undermine motivation
-excessive caution and anxiety
-commited and stable, prefer consistency but resist change and settle for just good enough
What is regulatory fit theory?
People are more engaged and motivated when their strategy matches their motivational style
- promotion focus thrive with eager gain-seeking strategies
-prevention focus perform best with vigilant, loss-avoiding strategies
