Unit 2 Notes Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
Focuses on the links between human behavior and change over time.
Self-Efficacy
Our judgements of how well we will cope with a situation, given the skills we possess and the circumstances we face.
Self-efficacy is the same as ability. True or False?
False. Self-efficacy does not equate to ability. For example, someone in sports could have a very high skill level, but this does not mean that they FEEL like they actually can do well at the sport, etc.
What are sources of self-efficacy?
1) Personal History
2) Vicarious Experience
3) Verbal Persuasion
4) Physiological States
Personal History (in relation to Self-Efficacy)
The better you performed in the past, the more confident you are going to be to continue that behavior. This is the strongest determinant of our self-efficacy.
Vicarious Experience (to self-efficacy)
You are living vicariously through someone else- especially if we do not have our own previous experience to rely on. This is the most helpful when we have people in our heads that remind us of ourselves.
Verbal Persuasion (to self-efficacy)
The feedback that we get from the people around us. Other people can also try to hype us up, etc. It is not as strong as “I’ve done this before, so I know I can do it.” but other people do have the ability to persuade and encourage us. This can be problematic when someone is trying to encourage us to do something and we feel like we objectively know that we do not have the skill set for the specific task.
Physiological States (to self-efficacy)
If we think back to the things we know we know about our nervous system, sometimes we use that as a cue to think of whether or not we can do something or handle a certain situation. What are our bodies cueing to us?
Mindset Theories
How people think about their personal qualities; often, either as fixed or malleable.
Fixed Mindset
Under no circumstances can we change that thing about ourselves. View personal qualities as stable and unchangeable.
Growth Mindset
We have the ability to grow and change over time. View personal qualities as malleable and changeable with effort.
True or False. We tend to be, overall, either fixed or growth mindset individuals.
False. We are not fixed or growth mindset people overall, but we tend to have fixed mindsets for some things and growth mindsets for other things.
How does a fixed mindset develop?
It is usually that it comes from having a lot of praise or criticism as a child that centers around our own ability. You view things as just a part of you, and it is going to remain the same over time.
Where does motivation come into play with fixed mindsets?
If someone has a fixed mindset about their intelligence, for example, if you are doing well then it’s kind of nice. However, if you are not doing well, and when it becomes a problem for motivation, is when you start to get negative feedback and your mindset gets challenged. You become unmotivated because you feel like there is nothing that you can do to change the fact that you have a low ability in relation to the task.
What does effort mean to a person with a fixed mindset?
Effort means that they have low ability. It is bad for their motivation because they view motivation as a bad thing and think that they should be able to just kind of skate along.
Where do growth mindsets tend to come from?
This mindset tends to come from not getting a lot of praise about abilities ass a child, but about effort. This praise teaches us, through our development, that intelligence is not just a quality that we have. It is something that can be changed with enough effort put forward.
How do individuals with a growth mindset view effort?
They view effort as a good thing, and that it is a tool for greater success. This is good for motivation. They do not take negative feedback as a death sentence, but an opportunity to put in additional effort and help them growth their skillset.
Implicit Theories of Interest
Beliefs about whether interest experiences are fixed or can be changed.
Developmental Psychology
Focuses on the links between human behavior and change over time.
How do we study changes in motivation over time?
Ideally, what a lot of us are saying is that if we wanted to know how motivation changed over time, we would be able to study the same people over their lifespan. However, we know how hard it is to get participants in the first place, nevermind keep them for a whole lifespan. What we see a lot of in this area is not necessarily lifespan longitudinal research, but more so taking people at different stages of their lives and comparing them to each other. The major assumption with that approach is that whatever they are experiencing is representative/represented of the current, younger groups.
How does motivation relate to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
Asserts that our needs are a direct result of our motivations. What researchers thought for a while is that that way that the triangle is ordered is almost like a developmental progression of our motivation. As we get older, the higher-order needs are motivating us. Found that some of the traits changed and some did not. So… not quite what we hypothesized.
What are the four potential patterns for motivation as we continue into adulthood?
1) Loss
2) Growth
3) Reorganization
4) Exchange
Loss (Adulthood Work Motivation)
This is, in part, due to decline in fluid cognitive abilities.
Growth (Adulthood Work Motivation)
this is due to increases in domain-specific knowledge. For people who struggle at the beginning of their career because they have a steep learning curve… once they develop the needed skills or knowledge, they experience growth.
Reorganization (Adulthood Work Motivation)
Instead of approaching work “opportunities”, see time left as “limited”. Instead of thinking about all the time left and the things we could do in our career, we are thinking about what we want to accomplish before we leave. Almost a prevention versus promotion focus type of thing.
Exchange (Adulthood Work Motivation)
Exchanging of previous psychological patterns for new ones; i.e., increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness, “generativity” motives, emotion regulation, etc.
Flow
State of concentration that comes from deep involvement in an activity; the feeling of “being in the zone”.
How do we get in a flow state?
When we experience this state, the conditions that get there is when our actual capabilities of completing a task matches up really nicely with the actual challenge of the task.
True or False: Our flow state levels may change as our skill levels also change.
True. In other words, there is an element of skill-base or knowledge that can actually play into motivation.
Self-Determination Theory
Proposes that people are inherently active. In other words, we are naturally motivated to act. This theory also proposes that when an activity taps into our three basic psychological needs, we experience intrinsic motivation. These three needs are believed to be universal and the fulfillment of them requires need-supportive environments.
What are the three basic needs according to self-determination theory?
1) Autonomy
2) Competence
3) Relatedness
Need for Autonomy
Our need to express self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of our behavior. Our need to behave in ways that are freely chosen.
Need for Competence
Our need to be effective in our interactions with the environment. (Or to at least feel like we are effective).
Social Comparison
Process by which we determine how well we are doing using comparisons to others. We often use this when we don’t have access to objective, specific feedback.
Upward Social Comparison
Occurs when we compare ourselves to a positive role model.
Downward Social Comparison
When we compare ourselves to a negative role model.
What is meant by a ‘negative’ role model?
This is when we are thinking, not about the person we want to be or to model ourselves after, but about the person we are so happy we are not as bad as they are.
When do you use an upward comparison to a positive role model?
You tend to use this comparison when you are promotion-focused. Promotion focused individuals are very sensitive to gains and want to progress forward. This type of comparison is also useful when you want to get motivated to engage in additive behavior, like studying more.
When do you use a downward comparison to a negative role model?
You tend to use this comparison if you are prevention-focused. These individuals do not want to focus on gains, but are really focused on not losing whatever they achieved. This is also useful when you want to get motivated to engage in subtractive behavior, like watching less Netflix.
Need for Relatedness
Our need to establish close emotional bonds with others. Stems from the need to belong, our basic motivation to seek acceptance and avoid rejection from other people.
True or False: The need for relatedness has a lot to do with the emotional aspect of relationships.
True. If you know a lot of people, but you don’t have a lot of close relationships, then you may have your need to belong fulfilled, because you know that you are accepted by others, but you may not necessarily have your need for relatedness fulfilled if you do not feel close to any of them.
What are the two theories we discussed that fall under Self-Determination Theory?
Cognitive Evolution Theory and Basic Psychological Needs Theory.
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
Recognizes that there are almost always external influences on our motivation; in particular, we often receive feedback about our goal progress. External events like feedback have both a controlling aspect and a competence-informing aspect. The relative salience of the controlling aspect and the informational aspect determines an external event’s effects on motivation.
Controlling Aspect
Related to our need for autonomy. If we get feedback that we feel like is very controlling, then what the information is telling us is that they are trying to force us to act a certain way. It negatively affects our need for autonomy and is ultimately bad for our motivation.
Competence-Informing Aspect
Related to our need for competence. If we do not feel like we are being forced to act a certain way but instead just interpret it as information about how we are performing, then it is going to affect feelings of competence.
Extrinsic Motivation
When we experience this type of motivation, our motivation is coming from incentives and consequences that are separate from the activity itself.
Intrinsic Motivation
When we experience this type of motivation, our motivation is arising from the experience of interest and enjoyment in an activity itself. It emerges when our three basic needs are satisfied.
What are the types of extrinsic motivation?
1) External Regulation
2) Introjected Regulation
3) Identified Regulation
4) Integrated Regulation
