Psych 314 --> Motivation Exam 2
What is invisible support, and why is it useful?
providing obvious support can damage a person's self-worth. Use subtle, non-obvious methods of supporting people
How can you change a bad habit?
You can replace a bad habit with a better one. 1. Select a routine you want to change 2. analyze your current habit loop (what is the cue, what is the reward?) 3. pick a new routine that can respond to the same cue and provide the same reward Cue is most important for changing the habit
What's it like to satisfy a psychological need?
You feel interested and enjoy what you're doing.
What are three habit myths?
1. Some people have a lot of willpower (no, some people just have stronger habits) 2. an app can help me change my habits. Habits require unconscious mindless repetition which a notification on the phone will not promote 3. It takes 21 days to create a habit. No, it depends on the habit. Simple habits take less time to develop (drinking water) and harder habits take more time to develop (regular exercise)
What are the environmental influences on eating that we discussed in class?
1. We eat more and for a longer time when we're with family and friends 2. We eat more if portion sizes are large 3. We eat more if a variety of foods are available 4. We eat (or don't eat) because of social pressure or group norms
So why do we eat?
1. We listen to our body's signals and eat to maintain homeostasis (blood sugar, fat stores) 2. The food tastes good and rewards consumption 3. environmental influences 4. choosing to eat or not 5. Emotional eating
So why do we drink?
1. We're dehydrated and out body needs to replenish water 2. The liquid tastes good and rewards consumption (sugary drinks and alcohol) 3. The liquid contains a desired substance that we want to affect us (caffeine, alcohol) 4. We believe that we need to drink
When are choices not helpful? (no good options, too many)
A choice is not helpful when all options are bad. Choices are also not helpful when there are too many
What are the benefits of living in the moment?
A person in the moment will be more likely to experience flow and long term well-being. Will be more likely to satisfy their psychological needs and experience more life satisfaction. Will engage with their world in a meaningful way. They will enjoy better moments in their life
What's the difference between a need and a drive?
A physiological need is a deficient biological state. Ex. Low blood sugar A physiological drive is the conscious awareness of a physiological need. The Drive guides behavior Ex. Hunger or thirst
What is a quasi-need, and how is it related to actual needs?
A quasi-need is an external need that is unrelated to genuine needs and disappears when satisfied. It still has a powerful motive to act and produces tension, but it is not a biological need (phone dying)
What are sexual scripts and how are they related to sexual behavior?
A sexual script is one's mental representation of the step-by-step sequence of events that occur during a typical sexual episode. A sexual script, not unlike a movie script, includes specific actors, the motives and feelings of those actors, and a set of verbal and nonverbal behaviors that should successfully conclude with sexual behavior. In its essence, the sexual script is the individual's storyline of what a typical sexual encounter involves.
What is intrinsic motivation? What is extrinsic motivation?
intrinsic motivation: doing something because of enjoyment and interest, not external rewards or pressures external motivation: doing something because of external reasons, not because of enjoyment or interest
What is a deficiency need?
Deficiency needs motivate behavior when a need isn't satisfied
What are the factors other than sexual desire that encourage people to have sex?
Desire and arousal are important, but so are pleasure and reward. If sex did not stimulate the brain's reward circuitry, then people might not bother with it so much. Sexual pleasure is associated with stimulation of the subcortical brain's reward circuitry
What is alliesthesia, and how is it relevant to satisfying physiological needs?
Alliesthesia is the increase in a stimulus' reward value because of its potential to move the body's physiological state toward homeostasis. ex. Water tastes better when thirsty Extra dopamine bribing you to do something to restore homeostasis
What is amotivation? What defines it?
Amotivation literally means "without motivation". It is a state of motivational apathy in which people possess little or no reason (no motive) to invest the energy and effort that is necessary to learn or to accomplish something. With amotivation, the person turns passive, ineffective (overwhelmed), and lacks purpose
What is a need?
An essential quality that your mind or body requires in order to function optimally
Where do habits come from?
At first, you consciously chose to respond to a cue with a behavior. Then you experience a reward in response which makes you likely to do it again. With enough repetitions, you start performing the routine without thinking
What's it like to satisfy an intrinsic motivation?
It's the primary way we experience genuine happiness and satisfaction
What are CCK, ghrelin, and leptin, and how do they affect hunger?
Cholecystokinin (CCK) --> hormone released from upper small intestine and inhibits hunger and eating (in glucostatic hypothesis) Ghrelin --> hormone released from stomach and increases appetite (in both glucostatic and lipostatic hypothesis) Leptin --> hormone released from adipose fat tissue that inhibits hunger (lipostatic hypothesis)
Why is it important to support someone's competence?
Clear goals and feedback are not enough. You need to function as a mentor and help people build their skills.
What is flow, and what does it feel like?
Complete immersion in activities that stand out as some of the best experiences in your life. The rest of the world disappears and you are totally focused and concentrated on the activity
Understand the costs of extrinsic rewards: reduced intrinsic interest, learning interference, less autonomous self-control, lower task performance (with the exception of simple tasks), less creativity, less positive behavior.
Costs of extrinsic rewards reduced intrinsic interest: people are less likely to pursue a task because of intrinsic interest. External rewards can reduce intrinsic interest learning interference: students focus on the reward and not the act of learning. Students focus more on facts and less on conceptual learning less autonomous self-control: people less likely to take the initiative and regulate their behavior without rewards. Lose sense of autonomy lower task performance: extrinsically motivated people are less engaged with the task, less creative, and more focused on rewards (except for simple tasks not requiring creativity) less creativity: making a task all about rewards can interfere with creative process less positive behavior: rewards make an act of giving feel less rewarding. More unethical behavior (cheating, misconduct)
What is the habit loop?
Cue --> routine --> reward ---> repeat
Why is it so difficult to engage in restrained eating?
Dieting increases ghrelin levels and makes you hungry restrained eaters also feel more pressure to consume food Restrained eaters are also more likely to binge when their cognitive restraint is released
What is perceived choice?
Do you have the flexibility in CHOOSING to act or not? If you have choice, you CHOOSE to do it
What is volition?
Do you really WANT to perform the behavior? If you have volition, you WANT to do it
Instead of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, what should you do to regulate your thirst?
Drink when you're thirsty. you'll experience thirst well before you become dangerously dehydrated. Food also contains water and helps hydrate us
What are the two types of social support?
Emotional and esteem: listen, show empathy, express caring tangible and informational: provide practical assistance
What is emotional eating?
Emotional eating is an increase in food consumption (usually high calorie foods) when feeling negative emotions
How do we know that emotional eating is a learned behavior and not a normal, human response to strong emotions?
Emotional eating only occurs when people have learned the behavior, only when experiencing specific emotions, and only in the right social context
What is engagement, and how is it related to satisfying psychological needs?
Engagement refers to how actively involved the person is in the activity at hand. When highly engaged, people pay attention, concentrate deeply, exert effort, persist in the face of challenge and obstacles, think strategically, diagnose and solve problems, set goals and make plans, ask questions, and contribute constructively into the flow of whatever they are doing. Psychological need satisfaction is the motivational basis for such initiative and engagement.
What are the benefits of taking care of your psychological needs?
Engagement, developmental growth, health, and psychological well-being
Understand the benefits of intrinsic motivation: engagement, creativity, quality learning, improved well-being.
Engagement: intrinsic rewards lead to more engagement with the task Creativity: people experiencing intrinsic motivation tend to be more creative when solving problems quality learning: enhances conceptual learning and promotes flexible thinking. Students tend to learn more improved well-being: you enjoy the job and do it well. You are more happy, satisfied, energized, and productive
What are exchange and communal relationships, and which best supports relatedness?
Exchange relationships: acquaintances or people you do business with. no closeness. must reciprocate any rewards or gifts Communal relationships: family, friends, romantic partners. Close, caring relationships. Don't have to reciprocate. Best supports relatedness
Understand each type of regulation: external, introjected, identified, and integrated?
External: no self-determination. Rewards and punishment completely guide behavior. Poor outcomes (I go to college because my parents forced me) Introjected: don't internalize the behavior but don't want to disappoint someone so you do it. Guilt is the motive. (I go to college so I don't disappoint my parents) Identified: You've internalized the behavior, but only because it's important or useful. You do the behavior because of what it can do for you, not because you want to. (I go to college because I know it increases the chance I get a good job later) Integrated: Complete acceptance of behavior and you want to do it. Behavior reflects your true beliefs. Positive outcomes. (I go to college because I value education and find it important)
How does flow influence learning and skill development?
Flow is a magnet of learning. Pursuing the flow experience often motivates people to improve themselves
How can flow increase positive emotions?
Flow is associated with strong positive emotions after the experience is over
Understand how to support competence: support flow, give good feedback, tolerate failure.
Give good feedback (praise and constructive feedback) Create an environment that tolerates failures
Why is it important to support someone's relatedness?
Good for them IDK lol
What did Lepper et al (1973) discover about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
He had children draw pictures under 3 conditions. One group received an expected reward, one group was given a surprise reward, and the last group got no reward. The results shows that the rewarded group was the least likely to draw in the future
What did Ariely et al (2005) discover about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
He studied rewards and performance in India. He studies performance on skill-based tasks like tennis ball tossing, unscrambilng anagrams, and digit recall. There were also three reward levels - small, medium, and very large. The worst performance came from the group receiving very large rewards.
What implications does flow have for work and leisure?
If you find a challenge in your job, you can find a source of flow which can increase job satisfaction. You need to challenge yourself with an active environment not a passive one (watching TV)
What role does emotion focused-coping play in video game addiction?
If you use playing video games as an emotion-focused coping strategy, you're more vulnerable to experiencing video game addiction. Those who used video games to escape life were more likely to have symptoms of an addiction
How do men and women differently experience sexual desire?
In men, the correlation between physiological arousal and psychological desire is high so men's sexual desire can be predicted and explained in the context of their sexual arousal. In the presence of a sexual arousal trigger (e.g., stimulation from a sexual partner), men show a triphasic sexual response cycle: desire, arousal, orgasm. In women, the correlation between physiological arousal and psychological desire is low. So women's sexual desire cannot be predicted and explained by physiological need
What should you do if your skills don't match up to a challenge?
Increase your skills to match the challenge (teacher or mentor, practice) lower or increase the challenge to match your skills
When are choices helpful? (informational, not controlling
Informational: person understands your needs and values (what kids of foods do you like?) Not controlling: choice isn't being used to control you
What are intracellular and extracellular fluid deprivation? Which one causes thirst?
Intracellular fluid deprivation: when your cells need water (osmometric thirst) Extracellular fluid deprivation: triggered by loss of blood volume (volumetric thirst) Intracellular fluid deprivation causes thirst.
What is a negative feedback loop?
It is how the body checks to see if the desired set point has been reached. If not, actions are taken to try and reach the set point. The drive is eliminated once the set point is reached
Why is managing hunger more complicated than managing thirst?
It is more complex because we can store energy in body fat
What is video game addiction?
It is primarily defined by repeated, frequent online gaming, causing significant impairment in daily functioning as a consequence
What is Thorndike's Law of Effect, and how did he demonstrate it in his puzzle boxes?
It is the idea that responses followed by a rewarding situation will be strengthened and responses followed by an aversive situation will be weakened. Cats in his puzzle box learned to escape in order to get a food reward.
What is flow? When do people experience flow?
It is when you are completely engaged and focused on a challenging activity. It is found when the challenge of the activity matches your skills at it, the activity is active and engaging, it provides clear feedback, it is autotelic, and you are focused on the activity
How does the hypothalamus regulate your need for water?
It monitors physiological factors associated with low water levels When the body has low water levels, the hypothalamus influences the kidneys to conserve water and causes the psychological experience of thirst.
According to evolutionary psychologists, how do mating strategies differ between men and women?
Men look for something akin to a trophy wife/mate. Likewise, the more attractive the woman is, the more she demands from a potential mate in terms of status and wealth. In turn, the higher the man's social status and wealth, the more he expects in terms of a woman's looks.
What is mindfulness? What happens when you're mindful?
Mindfulness is about monitoring one's present moment experience with acceptance. Requires complete focus on what you are experiencing and nonjudgmental acceptance of what you are experiencing
What is extrinsic motivation?
Motivation that the environment creates, not the person
How did Mower (1976) demonstrate alliesthesia?
Mower had groups of participants waiting in rooms that were either normal temp., hot, or cold. Then they put their hands in water baths that varied in temp. and rated how pleasant it felt. When participants were in the normal temp room, both the extremely high and extremely low temperature water was unpleasant. When participants were in the hot room, the extremely cold water was the most pleasant. When the participants were in the cold room, the extremely hot water was most pleasant
What is the theory of integrated regulation? What does it mean to internalize extrinsic motivation?
Not all extrinsic motivation is the same. Extrinsically motivated behavior differs in how much a person values and identifies with it. people function more effectively if their extrinsic motivation is more self-determined
How do we know that people who play video games frequently are not always addicted?
Only 8-9% of adult players have symptoms of addiction but nearly 25% of adult gamers play for over 4 hours a day
What are organismic needs?
Organisms depend on their environment to thrive. Organisms can leave or change their environment if it's not satisfying their needs, organisms need to grow and develop new ways of environmental interaction
What did Rolls et al (2002) discover about portion sizes and eating?
Participants were assigned different sized portions of mac and cheese. Serving sizes were massive and participants served more mac and cheese ended up eating more
What is the person-environment dialectic, and why is it important?
People are not passive in how their interact with their environment. Nature of interactions between person and environment is very active. The environment either fulfills or frustrates the psychological needs of the individual. This motivated the individual to change their environment
Why are physiological needs important?
Physiological needs are crucially important, deficiency needs. Your body "knows" what needs it has and if you fail to meet them, you will be miserable
How are psychological needs different from physiological needs?
Physiological needs keep your body healthy. It is your response to a deficit. It is reactive psychological needs keep your mind healthy. It is seeking out growth. It is proactive
What role does the environment play in managing your psychological needs?
Put yourself in environments that will nurture your needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness
How do in-game rewards lead to video game addiction?
Random in-game rewards reinforce behavior. The mere randomness of getting these rewards can be highly addictive
What is restrained eating?
Restrained eating means you're trying to use cognitive effort to manage your motivation to eat. People are taking steps to reduce their weight and eating
What are the benefits of satisfying the need for relatedness?
Students who satisfy their relatedness needs are more engaged with their schoolwork. Benefits for one's physical and emotional health. Essential for lifelong happiness
What are the best techniques for motivating people to perform uninteresting jobs? (less boring, good explanation)
Suggest a strategy for building interest in the task. Make the task less boring. Add interesting things. Helps build engagement Provide a good explanation for why they're doing the task. explain why the task is good for them and important. People may start to internalize and integrate the task
What is homeostasis?
The body's tendency to maintain a stable internal state
What did Miller, Tybur, and Jordan (2007) discover about ovulation and attraction?
They took 2 groups of female dancers, 1 group that ovulates normally, and 1 group that doesn't ovulate and tested who would make more money. Women who didn't use oral contraception made significantly more money when ovulating than when not ovulating. The results for those who use oral contraception did not vary much
What are cues, routines, and rewards, and why are they important?
The cue = the trigger The routine = the behavior The reward = the payoff The reward reinforces the habit and maintains it
What is the glucostatic hypothesis, and what hormones are involved in it?
The glucostatic hypothesis manages blood glucose levels for immediate needs (short-term) The hypothalamus monitors hormones that signal the amount of energy that is available for the body to use A decline in blood glucose initiates hunger and eating a rise in blood glucose inhibits hunger and eating The liver can detect low blood glucose and will signal the hypothalamus. Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a hormone released from the upper small intestine and inhibits hunger and eating short-term. It tells the body it doesn't need to continue eating. Ghrelin is a hormone released from the stomach and increases appetite by affecting the hypothalamus. It rises before meal times and declines rapidly after eating
Why are larger portion sizes contributing to obesity in the United States?
The more food a person is give, the more food a person will eat. People are given portions that are larger than necessary to maintain energy homeostasis
What is the need for autonomy?
The need to control how and when we act
How do we know that dopamine is involved in gambling addiction?
The reward center of the brain still plays a role in gambling addiction even though there's no substance involved. Dopamine antagonist drugs can be used to treat people with gambling addictions so we know dopamine is involved
If it takes 45 minutes for water to reach your cells, how does your body stop you from drinking too much water?
There are a variety of receptors that let you know when you've had enough water. These receptors are located in the mouth, stomach, intestines, bloodstream, and cells
How is behavioral addiction similar to substance addictions?
They both result in urges or cravings They both produce a positive mood state they both often require increases in the frequency or intensity of the behavior to produce the positive mood state (tolerance) They're both more common in people who are more impulsive
How did Kasser and Ryan (1996) conduct their study?
They did 2 studies with a college student and adult samples Gave them questionnaires about extrinsic and intrinsic goals, psychological well-being and health, physical well-being and health, daily mood, and narcissism
What did Cools et al (1992) discover about emotional eating and restrained eating?
They found that comedy or horror films can produce increased emotional stress that can lead to emotional eating. This effect could be the most pronounced when a person is dieting and trying to lose weight. Restrained eaters were more likely to eat when watching a comedy or horror movie. Strong emotions lead to eating
What are some extrinsic rewards that are actually effective? (unexpected and verbal)
Unexpected: employee is not thinking about the reward so it's less likely to reduce intrinsic motivation Verbal: telling someone they did a good job is very rewarding. Tangible rewards can be distracting during future work
What is Set Point Theory?
Your body has a desired weight (set point) that is genetically determined. If you deviate from the set point, your body will use hormones to motivate you or stop you from eating. If you chronically overeat and gain weight, you can increase your set point.
What is vitality?
Vitality is the energy that is available to the self
What role do psychological needs play in video game addiction?
We get competence, autonomy, and relatedness from gaming. We gain competence when we feel we are good or skilled at something, we gain autonomy when we feel we have control over our life and how we live it, and we gain relatedness when we connect to others
What does it mean to "eat with your eyes"?
We tend to eat all the food that we're served and we're not good at recognizing fullness
What is locus of control?
Where the cause of your behavior comes from. Internal--> you cause your actions, external --> environment causes your actions. If your locus of control is internal, you are in charge
What did Miller and Manner (2009) find out about women's scent and testosterone levels?
Women wore a short during ovulation and a different shirt when not ovulating. Male participants had their testosterone levels sampled, smelled one of the 2 shirts and gave another testosterone sample. Men exposed to the scent of ovulating women experienced a rise in testosterone levels
What are habits, and how powerful are they?
a habit is a cognitive process where learned cues prompt a behavior without purposeful thinking. They are automatic and non-conscious You are your habits. 45% of everyday behaviors tend to be repeated in the same location almost every day Habits are very powerful and are our default behavioral choices
Why does flow require mindfulness?
a person in flow has feedback, but like a mindful person, they're accepting the experience without judgment
What is addiction?
a substance or behavior that is so motivating that all other motivations pale in comparison
What is behavioral addiction?
any behavior that a person frequently engages in because it produces a reward of some kind
How do psychoactive drugs affect the brain?
psychoactive drugs travel to the synapses of the reward center of the brain. Psychoactive drugs stimulate neurons or influence dopamine that is already in those areas. From the increased activity of neurons in that area, feelings of pleasure and euphoria emerge
How would you describe the most effective way to effectively listen to someone?
be neutral and nonjudgemental. Use verbal and nonverbal cues to let them know you're listening. Ask questions. Reflect and summarize what they are saying. Ask for clarification
What were the major results of Kasser and Ryan (1996)?
emphasizing intrinsic goals was associated with more self-actualization and vitality. Less depression. Emphasizing extrinsic goals was associated with less self-actualization and vitality. more depression
Understand how to support a person's autonomy: explain things, figure out what's wrong, be patient, acknowledge unhappiness.
explain things: tell the person why the task matters and why it's important Figure out what's wrong: try to figure out why a person is not motivated. Be empathetic to them. Don't threaten or guilt them Be patient: people need time to work on their problems so don't rush them and don't solve the problem for them acknowledge unhappiness
Why are people with extrinsic goals less happy?
extrinsic goals are more difficult to achieve than intrinsic goals. They also aren't focused on healthy, intrinsic psychological needs
How can you find flow in your life?
find a challenging, absorbing, intrinsically rewarding activity that provides clear goals and immediate feedback
Why is it not easy to be in the moment?
flow and mindfulness requires training and effort and practice. being in the moment requires you to break our of habitual ways of acting and thinking. There is the temptation for passive, easy ways of spending your time
Is competition a good way to motivate people? Why or why not?
for intrinsic motivation to flourish, both competence and autonomy must be high (Fisher, 1978), and for both competence and autonomy to be high, the offered external event—such as praise or competition—needs to be presented in a way that is both noncontrolling and competence informing.
What are the benefits of mindfulness? Why would mindfulness help you achieve goals and deal with stress?
greater intrinsic well-being. Greater empathy for people. Lower stress, increased hedonic and eudaimonic well-being We often over-react to stress and mindfulness improves coping
Why should we study habits?
habits play a significant role in health behavior
Why is it important to support someone's autonomy?
helps people achieve high levels of engagement and performance. increases wellbeing
Why does how you use your time matter so much?
how you spend your time will ultimately determine the overall quality of your life
What is the lipostatic hypothesis, and what hormones are involved in it?
lipostatic hypothesis is when the body regulates the amount of energy stored in its fat cells Too little fat? Release ghrelin to increase hunger Too much fat? Release leptin to increase satiety
What are lower-order and higher-order habits? How do higher-order habits work?
lower order habits are simple habits that are unrelated to other habits. They rely on cues that prompt behavior (turning on a light) higher order habits are complex habits made up of sequences of lower order habits. They rely on cues that prompt behavior (going for a run)
Why do we form habits?
our brain conserves resources. Habits require no cognitive energy or willpower so it allows us to have extra cognitive energy to think about more important things
What is an ovulation cue, and why would it be an evolutionarily adaptive behavior?
ovulation cues sexual behavior which facilitates successful reproduction
What is the problem with how Americans choose to use their leisure time?
passive, unchallenging activities tend to make people feel bored or empty. A good life requires more awareness, effort, and challenge
How can you encourage people to have identified and integrated regulation?
people must assess their assigned work and decide it the behavior is consistent with their values
Understand and be able to identify: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.
positive reinforcement - giving something good to strengthen the behavior negative reinforcement - taking away something bad to strengthen behavior positive punishment - giving something bad to weaken behavior negative punishment - taking away something good to weaken behavior
How is an incentive different from a reinforcer/punisher?
reinforcers and punishers are actual consequences of behavior and are learned from experience. Incentives are anticipated consequences of behavior. Ex. The first time you eat a donut, you're experiencing positive reinforcement. If someone offers to give you donuts if you run an errand for them, the donut is an incentive
Is punishment an effective strategy for influencing behavior? What are some better options?
research shows that punishment is actually an ineffective motivational strategy—popular but ineffective. Other preventive strategies include differential reinforcement (or "catch them being good"), scaffolding (or tutoring in how to cope more effectively), and observational learning (or modeling an alternative, desired behavior). These later three strategies are generally effective
Why is flow rewarding?
satisfies the need for competence. Provides people a way to lose self-awareness
What is the need for competence?
the need to feel that we are effective at interacting with the environment
What is the need for relatedness, and what do we need to satisfy it?
the need to form close emotional bonds and attachments with other people
How can you tell in advance if something will function as a reinforcer?
the only way to identify a reinforcer is to actually give it and then wait and see if the reinforcer will increase behavior. Researchers and practitioners, however, have no means of identifying a reinforcer before using it.
What is operant conditioning?
type of learning in which one learns to associate a behavior with an outcome that is either desirable or undesirable (If I show up to work, I will get a paycheck)
Why is good feedback important for feeling competent?
you need feedback on your performance, otherwise your performance is meaningless Challenge + positive feedback = competence
