Motivation CH. 8 Goal Setting and Goal Striving

Goal Difficulty

-Refers to how hard a goal is to accomplish -As goals increase in difficulty, performance increases in a linear fashion -The more difficult the goal, the more it energizes the performer 221

Implementation Intentions

-"if-then" plan that specifies in advance the goal-striving process. -When, where, and how one will achieve that goal. -One must do 2 things: 1. Person needs to identify a response that will promote goal attainment. 2. Person needs to anticipate a suitable occasion to initiate that response. -3 self regulation problems: getting started, staying on track, resuming. 232

Long-Term Goal Setting

-A series of short term goals can become long term goals, may be more beneficial because short term goals provide repeated commitment-boosting opportunities for reinforcement following goal attainment that long term goals cannot provide. -On interesting tasks only long term goals create intrinsic motivation. -People pursue long term goals in their own way creating a sense of autonomy. 228

Goal Congruence

-All goals are not equal -Self congruent goals: those that reflect the self's interest, needs, values, and preferences... authentic -Self discrepant goals: neglect self interests... artificial -Important because it allows the person to tap into and draw from personal resources 222

Feedback

-Allows people to keep track of any progress toward their goal that may occur... performers need both a goal and feedback to maximize performance -Without it performance can be emotionally unimportant and uninvolving -Goal attainment breeds emotional satisfaction -Goal failure breeds emotional dissatisfaction -Both have motivational properties 225

Difficult, Specific, and Congruent goals enhance performance

-Difficult goals energize the performer, increase effort and persistence -Specific goals direct that energy toward a particular course of action, direct attention and strategic planning -Concordant goals both energize and direct the performer 224

Affect and Feelings

-Feelings energize behavior... positive emotions tell you that you are doing what you are supposed to and vice versa for negative emotions. -Frustration, irritation, and anxiety energize effort and facilitate discrepancy reduction 219

Mental Simulation

-Focusing on the goal actually interfered with goal attainment, visualizing success backfired. -Focusing on HOW to accomplish the goal however did facilitate goal attainment. 230

Criticisms

-Goal setting is that it works best when tasks are relatively uninteresting and require only a straightforward procedure. -For tasks that are interesting goal setting does not increase motivation. -Sometimes people pursue goals that conflict with each other -Goals are too often administered in ways that are controlling, pressure inducing, and intrusive and thus can undermine creativity and intrinsic motivation. 227

Getting Started

-Implementation intentions set up environment-behavior contingencies that lead to automatic, environmentally cued behavior. -Implementation intentions help people get started in their goal by making sure they do not miss a good opportunity to act. 233

Plans of Action

-Incongruity: mismatch between one's present state and one's ideal state, makes people uncomfortable enough to formulate a plan in order to get rid of it. TOTE: 1. Test: compare present state with ideal state 2. Operate: act on environment to realize ideal state 3. Test: compare present state with ideal state 4. Exit: present state in congruity with ideal state 216

Goal-Performance Discrepancy

-People with goals outperform people without -Goals enhance performance 221

Corrective Motivation

-Plans are adjustable and subject to revision -Incongruity gives rise to a more general "corrective" motivation 218

Goal Specificity

-Refers to how clearly a goal informs the performer precisely what he is to do. -Important because specific gals draw attention to what one needs to do and reduces ambiguity in thought an variability in performance 222

Goal Disengagement

-The reduction of effort and goal commitment. -Reduction: trying less hard or stopping goal striving effort altogether.

Goal Setting

-Whatever an individual is striving to accomplish -Generate motivation by focusing people's attention on the discrepancy between their present state of accomplishment 220

Discrepancy

-When the present state falls short of the hoped for ideal state, a discrepancy is exposed -The discrepancy, not the ideal state, has the motivational component 219

2 types of Discrepancy

1. Discrepancy reduction: feedback that underlies plans of action and corrective motivation 2. Discrepancy creation: "feed forward" in which the person looks forward and sets a future, higher goal. 220

Goal Striving

Effort, persistence, focused attention, and strategic planning. 238

Resuming

Implementation intentions also help people finish up their uncompleted goals. 234

Staying On Track

Implementation intentions facilitate persistence by helping people anticipate a forthcoming difficulty, temptation, or distraction and there form an intention of what they will do once it comes their way. 234