MCAT Psych- 7A - Motivation & Attitudes

situations in which attitudes better predict behavior

1) when social influences are reduced 2) when general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors, are observed (principle of aggregation) 3) when specific, rather than general, attitudes are considered 4) when attitudes are made more powerful through self-reflection

motivation

5 schools of thought/approaches 1) evolutionary - instinct 2) drive reduction theory - drives and needs 3) optimum arousal theory 4) cognitive approach 5) Maslow's hierarchy of needs

drive reduction theory

a physiological need creates an aroused state that drives the organism to reduce that need to be engaging in some behavior; example -- need -> drive -> d-r behav. (food) (hunger) (eating)

principle of aggregation

an attitude affects a person's aggregate or average behavior, but not necessarily each isolated act

attitude to behavior process model

an event triggers an attitude; attitude in this case means something that will influence our perception of an object and put it together with outside knowledge that we have towards the situation or towards the object; event --> attitude + knowledge -----> behavior

extrinsic motivation

associated with rewards or obligated behavior

instinct

behaviors that are unlearned and present in fixed patterns throughout a species

elaboration likelihood model for persuasion (ELM)

cognitive approach; WHY AND HOW? of persuasion; 2 ways -- 1) central route- quality of arguments like logic 2) peripheral route - superficial or nonverbal cues ^^how do they affect persuasion?

theory of planned behavior

consider implications of our actions before we decide how to behave; implications and intentions 1) attitudes 2) subjective norms - what others think about our behavior 3) perceived behavior control -how easy/hard it is to control our behavior ^^affect intentions

cognitive dissonance theory

discomfort experienced when holding two or more conflicting cognitions, such as ideas, beliefs, values, or emotional reactions; feeling of discomfort leads to alterations in one of our attitudes, and oneof our beliefs and even our behaviors; do it as a defense/protective mechanism to reduce discomfort we feel betwen inconsistencies; explains that we feel tension ("dissonance") whenever we hold two thoughts of beliefs ("cognitions") that are incompatible, or when attitudes and behaviors don't match; may feel like hypocrites/feel confused; have contradictions so we do 4 different things to our cognitions to alter those attitudes in order to reduce comfort-- 1) modify - change attitude 2) trivialize - make less important 3) adding more cognitions - to justify 4) deny - to justify ^^want to strive for harmony & balance

cognitive approach

focuses on rationale and decision-making ability

intrinsic motivation

internal motivation; does not require external rewards because the individual feels fulfilled simply by the act of performing the behavior

need

lack or deprivation that is going to energize a drive or an aroused state

negative feedback

maintaining stability or homeostasis; a system produces a product or end result, which feeds back to stop the system and maintain the product or end result within tightly controlled boundaries

role playing

most notable influence of behavior on attitudes; like a role in a play, a social role is a script for how to act

optimum arousal theory

people are motivated to reach full alertness or full arousal;

attitude

person's feeling and beliefs about other people or events around them , & their tendency to react behaviorally based on those underlying evaluations; useful in that they provide a quick way to size things up and make decisions; can lead us astray when they lead to inaccurate snap judgments or when they remain fixed beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence; learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way such as people, issues, objects, & events; 3 components -- 1) affective -emotional --feel/emotion 2) behavioral -how we act toward it --act/behave 3) cognitive - belief/knowledge ^^ABC model of attitude

incentive theory

reward, intangible or tangible, is presented after the occurrence of an action, with the intention of causing the behavior to occur again; this is done by associating a positive meaning to the behavior; focuses on POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

drive

reduces need; internal states of bodily tension - basic, essential, and physiological; urge originating from a physiological discomfort such as hunger, thirst, or sleepiness; can be useful for alerting an organism that is not longer in a state of homeostasis; suggest something is lacking; often work through negative feedback systems

public declaration

saying something publicly; can become believing it in the absence of bribery, coercion, or some other blatant external motive

prototype willingness model (PWM)

states that behavior is a function of 6 things; 1) function of our past behavior 2) function of our attitudes towards the behavior 3) function of subjective norms 4) function of our intentions 5) function of willingness to engage in specific type of behavior 6) function of models/prototypes

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

tendency to agree to small actions first & eventually over time later comply with much larger actions; basic concept behind how people are brainwashed and exploited

justification of effort

when people modify their attitudes to match their behaviors