Psych 314 Exam 3 Multiple Choice

Why is it sometimes important to give up on goals? What could happen if you don't?

•Some goals simply can't be achieved. •If you want to be successful, you have to know when to give up on a goal and work on a different goal. •If you keep striving toward an unattainable goal, it could be a problem for your life satisfaction. •Options. •Don't give up = risk of distress. •Give up but hold on to goal = risk of distress. •Give up and find a new goal= increased well-being

What can you do to keep yourself moving and not stop: minimize distractions?

•Distractions are a challenge to your self-control. •Determine how to keep them to a minimum •Turn off your phone and the internet.

How do needs create goals?

•Goals that satisfy needs have a positive valence, which, in turn, determines the psychological demand for those goals. •Valence is the subjective value of a goal or the attractiveness of a goal; how much goal is wanted.

Why should you not avoid pursuing a goal that could lead to failure?

•Good or bad events will not play a significant role in your overall, long-term happiness. •You'll be able to cope with almost any bad event. •Don't expect good events to make you happy forever.

Why is cognitive psychology relevant to motivation

•How you perceive yourself and your environment will strongly influence your motivation •Mindsets: Are your abilities able to be changed? •Self-efficacy: How much control do you have? •Expectations: What do you hope will happen?

What can you do to stop procrastinating and get moving: just get started?

•If you hear yourself saying things like "I'll just do it tomorrow," just get started, even if you don't feel motivated. •Find an aspect of the task that you can make progress on, something specific and simple.

How does self-handicapping contribute to procrastination?

•If you're concerned about your performance on a task, procrastinating can "help" you. •It provides an excuse for poor performance. •It makes you look even better if you succeed.

How does affective forecasting create goals?

•Involves predicting the subjective feelings that goal achievement will provide. •Goals that produce positive affect are approached •Goals that produce negative affect are avoided.

What can you do to keep yourself moving and not stop: plan for problems?

•Just getting started is not enough to keep you going. •What could prevent you from completing the task? •Develop implementation intentions: plans for how to deal with these problems if they occur.

How do levels of aspiration create goals?

•Level of aspiration is a person's desire: •To excel •To do better the next time •To do better than others

Gollwitzer & Kinney (1990): What did they do?

•Mindsets were experimentally manipulated in the laboratory. •Deliberative: think about a goal you're considering; make a pro/con list; make a list of costs/benefits. •Implemental: think about a goal you're planning to achieve; list specific steps to achieve that goal.

What is the Correction Motivation model?

•Modern view in which people are active decision makers who can CHANGE their plans. •Incongruity leads to corrective motivation, which can be addressed by: •Changing your plan •Increasing your EFFORT •Giving up on your plan

Gollwitzer & Kinney (1990): What did they find?

•Number of words associated with each kind of action •Participants would complete the story in a way that was consistent with their mindset

What is the TOTE model?

•Older, RIGID model of how a plan of action can work. •Test - Operate - Test - Exit. •Test = compare to IDEAL. •Operate = change things. •Exit = stop when IDEAL reached. •Change may require MANY T's and O's before E.

Pham & Taylor (1997): What did they do?

•Participants were given a task and then asked to do one of the following. •Nothing (control). •Think about achieving the goal •Think about how to obtain the goal.

Gilbert et al (1998): What did they find?

•Participants who broke up were just as happy as those who hadn't. •Breaking up wasn't as bad for happiness as predicted. •Hedonic treadmill •We all adapt to our situations. •Immune neglect •We underestimate our ability to deal with negative events. •Focalism •We focus too much on the event and not other events that matter.

How does low self-control contribute to procrastination?

•Some people have problems delaying gratification, or they are easily distracted with a short attention span. •Working on a challenging project may be especially difficult for them.

What causes someone to have a prevention mindset?

•Some personality traits are associated with prevention, such as neuroticism •Again, socialization experiences that focus on avoiding bad experiences. •Parents that are critical and punishing and focus on duty and obligation. •Again, some cultures encourage this approach.

What is discrepancy reduction?

•Something in your ENVIRONMENT makes you aware of the discrepancy •You take action to REDUCE the discrepancy, just like a negative feedback loop Overcoming a DEFICIENCY

Implemental mindset

•Stopping the process of deliberative •Taking action to work toward a goal.

Why are sub-goals important when striving for goals?

•Subgoals: also known as proximal goals, are like rungs in a ladder to reach the top (final or distal goal). •Subgoals increase motivation because they are temporally closer than a person's final goal is.

How does a prevention mindset affect motivation?

•Success •Everything is the same and there's been no loss •Nothing has changed •Not motivating •Failure. •Something has been lost •A bad thing has happened • Motivating

How does a promotion mindset affect motivation?

•Success. •Gaining something and getting better. •A good thing has happened. •Motivating •Failure. •Not an event for promotion focused. •Nothing has changed •NOT motivating

Why does implementation intention help people reach goals?

•The "if... then" statement should come to mind quickly and automatically •Also consider implementation intentions for the problems that could crop up.

Tice and Baumeister (1997): What did they do?

•Participants: 60 college students. •Measured at the beginning and end of the semester: •A self-report measure of procrastination •Measures of stress and physical symptoms •Grades on a term paper and tests for the class.

Insufficient justification

•People can be induced to do something they normally wouldn't without a meaningful justification for the behavior. •They reduce their dissonance by changing their attitude toward the behavior.

Effort justification

•Person engages in an undesirable behavior to gain a desirable outcome. •This behavior is negative. •I am doing it anyway. •Outcome seems even more desirable because of the undesirable behavior.

What is the fixed mindset?

•Personal qualities are unchanging and set in stone. Often called an "entity theory" (traits are unchanging entities). my abilities can't change

Rosenbaum et al (2014): What did they find?

•Picking up the farther bucket made sense •Students were more likely to pick up the nearsest bucket. •When asked why, they said things like "I wanted to get the task done as soon as I could."

What is an implementation intention?

•Plan for when, where and how you'll achieve a goal and deal with the difficulties unique to your goal striving •Typically expressed as "if... then" statements. Identify required behaviors, where should these behaviors occur, remember the behavior when you're in these situations

Tice and Baumeister (1997): What did they find?

•Procrastinators turned their papers in later (r = .45). •Procrastinators had lower grades on the term paper (r = -.29) and two exams (r = -.64).

What role does emotion play when trying to reduce the discrepancy?

•Provide a "SCORE-CARD" for performance, and let you know how you're doing. •Provide motivation •Work harder to acquire POSITIVE emotions. •Work harder to eliminate NEGATIVE emotions.

What does a goal help you do?

•Provide a discrepancy to MOTIVATE you. •Focus ATTENTION on the goal (and effort). •Guide BEHAVIOR

What can you do to keep yourself moving and not stop: boost self-control?

•Recognize temptations to quit and do something else. •Ask yourself: "Why is this task important to me? How will this help me achieve my goals?" •Tell yourself: "I won't give in to feeling good. Feeling good now comes at a cost."

Why is it important to think about how to achieve your goal in addition to creating a goal?

•Research has shown that thinking about the challenges of achieving a goal produces more successful progress than just thinking about the outcome of the goal. •Thinking about process enhanced performance

Gilbert et al (1998): What did they do?

•Researchers examined the actual and expected impact of breaking up with a romantic partner. •Lucky group: no breakup •Reported current happiness. •Reported expected happiness if broken up. •Leftovers group: recent breakup. •Reported current happiness.

How does testing self-efficacy create goals?

•Self-efficacy: belief in one's capability of successfully performing a specific task or achieving a specific goal •Success and failure can raise and lower self-efficacy •Self-efficacy, in turn, can raise or lower goal motivation

What causes someone to have a trait promotion?

•Socialization experiences that encourage people to be focused on making good things happen. •Parents encouraged their child to accomplish goals and ideals. •Some cultures encourage this approach.

Why do these suggestions about procrastination work?

•The task is almost never as bad as you imagine it to be. •When you just get started, you'll have evidence of the following: •It's not that bad: You'll start to perceive the task as more enjoyable. •You can do it: You'll feel more in control and competent. •Making progress on a task is rewarding and boosts motivation.

What qualities does a good implementation intention possess?

•Think about the process of achieving your goal, and identify required behaviors •Figure out where and when these behaviors should occur. •Remember the behavior when you're in these situations

What's the difference between a state mindset and a trait mindset?

•Trait mindsets •Long lasting, like personality •You use this mindset regularly, across times and situations. •State mindsets •Short-lived, like moods •Environment can induce these sorts of mindsets for a limited period of time.

What are the three qualities that make a goal desirable?

•Value of INCENTIVE or potential goal. •High rewards. •PROBABILITY of achieving goal. •High likelihood. •Amount of EFFORT required to achieve goal. •Low costs.

What is temporal motivation theory?

•Value: Is the task rewarding? •We tend to do things we expect to be enjoyable. •Expectancy: What's your chance of success? • We tend to do things that we can succeed at. •Delay: How far in the future is it? •The reward matters less if it's in the future.

What is procastination?

•Voluntary delay of an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay •"Voluntary...": choice, not forced •"...intended...": you have a goal for yourself. •"...worse off...": aware this will cause problems

What can you do to stop procrastinating and get moving: don't wait to be in the mood?

•We assume that we need to be in the right mood in order to perform a task. •If the task is difficult and unrewarding, you will never feel motivated to work on it.

Characteristics of a promotion mindset

•What are the emotional incentives of acquiring success? •Cheerful, happy, and satisfied •What are the emotional consequences of failing to acquire success? •Dejected, disappointed, sad

Characteristic of a prevention mindset

•What are the emotional incentives of preventing failure? •Feeling relaxed and calm. •What are the emotional consequences of allowing failure to occur? •Anxiety, threat, and fear

How does emotion focus coping contribute to procrastination?

•When dealing with a stressful task, procrastinators may cope by focusing on the emotions caused by a problem and NOT the problem itself. •Procrastination allows a person to escape the stress of a task, but eventually makes the problem worse.

What are ought self-guides?

•Who others want you to be. •If you use this guide, you'll take a preventive focus.

Why is feedback important when striving for goals?

•With feedback, achieving goals is much easier. •Boost sense of self-efficacy •Let you know if you need to change plans. •Provide an emotional reward or punishment.

Post-decisional regret

•You can resolve post-decisional regret by changing your attitude toward the choices. •Rejected choice is viewed more negatively. •Positive choice is viewed more positively.

What is discrepancy creation?

•You decide that you want to CHANGE your life in some way. •You set a goal to improve your life, a POSITIVE feedback loop. •Growing and DEVELOPING

What can you do to keep yourself moving and not stop: don't push yourself too hard?

•You don't have an unlimited supply of willpower. •Resisting temptation is difficult and requires cognitive energy. •Exerting willpower in one area can reduce willpower in another

Promotion mindset

•You want to acquire success and gains. •You focus on rewarding experiences. •Your strategy is to approach goals, "eager locomotion." •"Just do it."

Prevention mindset

•You want to avoid failures and loss •You focus on responsibility and duty •Your strategy is to avoid failure, "vigilant caution." •"Do the right thing."

What is an effective to-do list for achieving goals (goal to sub-goals to specific tasks)?

•Your major goal several, smaller sub-goals •Generate specific tasks to achieve a sub-goal. You should be able to accomplish these in one sitting (one hour)

Under what conditions is it best to have the prevention mindset?

preventing failure

Which mindset is most likely to be associated with pursuing an ought-self?

prevention mindset

Which mindset is most likely to be associated with pursuing an ideal-self?

promotion mindset

Rosenbaum et al (2014): What they do?

•College students were asked to pick up a bucket of pennies and take it to the end of an alley •They had two buckets they could pick up. One was close and one was father away. •Which bucket were they more likely to pick up to complete the task?

Sirois (2015): What did she do?

•Compared 182 adults with cardiovascular disease to 564 healthy controls. •Controlled for age, race, education, and personality.

What is a discrepancy?

An incongruity that, if large enough, makes us want to CHANGE

Why are difficult, specific, and congruent goals the most effective goals?

Difficulty: •You'll expend greater EFFORT •Increases your PERSISTENCE toward goal •Provides a stronger EMOTIONAL pay-off Specificity: •Can help you guide your PLANNING. •You'll know exactly what to DO. •If you FAIL, you'll have a better sense of how to change your plans. Congruent: •Reflect your VALUES and beliefs. •INSTRINSIC motivation can be more motivational than extrinsic motivation. •"I want to do this" is effective. •"My parents want me to do this" can be weak.

Why do people precrastinate?

•Completing a sub-goal makes the longer term goal feel closer to completion. •Completing a sub-goal is rewarding, and we may choose this reward over using a better strategy.

What is a goal?

Future-focused COGNITIVE representation of a desired end state

Festinger & Carlsmith (1957): What did they do?

Insufficient Justification •Subjects asked to do an extremely boring task for about an hour. •Afterwards, asked to tell the next subject that the task was really fun. •Later, they rated how enjoyable the task was. Experimental Manipulation •Control condition: didn't mislead and not paid. •Low justification: misled confederate and paid $1. •High justification: misled confederate and paid $20.

Deliberative mindset

•Considering all your option for goals. •Picking a direction to work toward.

Sirois (2015): What did she find?

The group with heart problems scored significantly higher on measures of procrastination

What is cognitive psychology?

The study of how people think, focusing on the mind and mental events

Pham & Taylor (1997): What did they find?

Thinking about process enhanced performance.

What are the consequences of procrastinating for your physical and emotional health?

Well-being and Productivity •Procrastination can lead to stress and lower well-being. •Procrastinators often don't have enough time to do quality work. Physical health: •Procrastinators may put off seeing the doctor or getting medical tests. •The chronic stress of procrastination can harm a person's health.

What are ideal self-guides?

Who you want to be.

What is a plan of action?

a strategy to reduce the discrepancy between a CURRENT state and a hoped-for future state

What is precrastination?

doing things quickly just to get them done

Under what conditions is it best to have the promotion mindset?

taking action

What is regulatory fit?

using an approach to accomplishing your goals that fits your current mindset enhances motivation

What are mental simulations?

visualizing success by thinking about the outcome of the goal or the process of obtaining the goal

Festinger & Carlsmith (1957): What did they find?

•Control condition participants didn't enjoy the task. •High justification group ($20): similar ratings to control ("money made me do it"). •Low justification group ($1): enjoyed task the most ("I meant to do this").

Ben Franklin effect

•"He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged." -Ben Franklin What happens when you're nice to someone •If you like them, your behavior is consistent with your attitudes. •If you don't like them, you experience cognitive dissonance. •Cog 1: I don't like you. •Cog 2: I was nice to you. •How can you resolve the dissonance? Change cognition 1 and like the person more.

What is a mindset?

•A cognitive framework that influences your thoughts about yourself and your environment. •These cognitions will influence your perception of yourself, effort toward tasks, and your view of success or failure.

Characteristics of implemental mindsets

•A person in this mindset is striving toward a goal and no longer thinking carefully •This person is closed-minded and focused on attaining the goal. •No longer thinking about alternatives •Selected goal is now viewed optimistically

Characteristics of deliberative mindsets

•A person in this mindset is thinking carefully about what goals they want to purse •This person is open-minded, objective, carefully thinking, and open to information. •Judging their incentive value. •Assessing their feasibility

How do other people help you create goals?

•A social comparison with other people determines the level of the goal a person sets for him/herself. •Membership in a group determines that a person accepts the goals of the group.

What else do you sometimes need in addition to a goal in order to achieve a goal?

•Ability or TALENT •TRAINING in new skills •A mentor or coach •RESOURCES (money, equipment, time).

How many people procrastinate?

•About 20-25% of the general population report having problems with procrastination. •Almost 95% of procrastinators wish they would stop it. •Among college students, about 70% have problems with procrastination. •About 50% say that it's a regular, consistent problem.

What can you do to stop procrastinating and get moving: don't say that you'll do it tomorrow?

•Affective forecasting •We are bad at predicting how we'll feel in the future. •Procrastinating may boost your mood, but it won't last. •If the task is difficult, you won't feel like doing it tomorrow either.

What is cognitive dissonance's basic tenets?

•Any two cognitions are either relevant (have something to do with each other) or not. •If relevant, they can be dissonant (contradict) or consonant (consistent). •Dissonance causes negative arousal. •People will be motivated to reduce this arousal.

How do we typically reduce cognitive dissonance?

•By changing our behavior to bring it in line with the dissonant cognition. •By attempting to justify our behavior through changing one of the dissonant cognitions. •By attempting to justify our behavior by adding new, consonant cognitions. (spreading of alternatives)

What is cognitive dissonance?

•Discomfort that people feel when two cognitions (beliefs, attitudes) conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves.