PSY 251 Exam 2 (notes part 1 of 3)

What are the two environmental features that highlight autonomy

-Choice -Sequence of positive outcomes

Define goal

A cognitive representation of a future outcome that an organism is committed to approach or avoid

Autonomy is a what type of need?

Deficit-oriented

Positive illusions

Exaggerated self perceptions (more likely to suffer from mental disorders)

People high in external locus of control are more likely to make internal or external attributions?

External attributions (feel less in control of their successes and failures)

Our early experiences with success and failure lead us to develop what?

Fairly stable self-efficacy beliefs in a particular domain

Despite our strong need for autonomy, there are times when we truly do not want control. In this situation, you have the option to choose among a wide variety of options. Is your autonomy greater or lower?

Greater

The perception of having control is more important than actually what?

Having control

People who pursue goals that fulfill their need for autonomy have higher or lower self esteem than people who pursue goals like wealth, fame, or status?

Higher

What are the two dimensions of attributions?

Locus Stability

Define self-concordance

The extent that a goal fits with the individual's sense of self. (So the more a goal fits with one's identity, the more it is considered self-concordant and the more it will result in a sense of autonomy)

What was the Legault and Inzlicht 2012 study about autonomy and goal performance findings?

This study found that autonomy increased brain-based sensitivity to failure, which in turn leads to greater goal performance

Define perception of competency level

We discuss how people who perceive themselves to be competent in a particular domain respond differently from people who perceive themselves to be incompetent

The researchers found that the only reason that wealth was in any way linked to happiness was because why?

Wealth made people feel like they had more control over their own lives. (So if given a choice between autonomy and money, these results suggest that you should pick autonomy.)

The first explanation argues that most researchers treat learning and performance goals like polar opposites of the same continuum, but that instead they should be treated as two independent goal types. As a result what are the four goal combinations?

-High learning/high performance -High learning/low performance -Low learning/high performance -Low learning/low performance

Our level of competence is therefore determined by what two things?

-Our abilities - Self efficacy

What are the three criterion for core human motives?

-Pursuit of goals -Goal performance -Autonomy should be universal

The second explanation suggests that there are two types of performance goals: one good and one bad. As a result, what is 2x2 goal taxonomy? What did it find for learning-approach and performance-avoidance?

-The idea that goals are distinguished by whether they are performance versus learning goals and approach versus avoidance goals -that learning-approach goals were the most beneficial. -performance-avoidance goals were the least beneficial.

Fisher (1978) had students work on word-find puzzles that required them to locate words vertically or horizontally within a letter matrix. He gave half of the students an autonomous version of the puzzle task that consisted of a moderately difficult set of puzzles. What did the results show?

-The results showed that when the task was not autonomous, there was no relationship between competence and motivation. -When the task was autonomous, there was a strong positive relationship, such that increases in competence were associated with increases in motivation. -Therefore, although competence has its benefits, it is probably the combination of autonomy and competence that produces the best outcomes.

Eastern cultures are more likely than Western cultures to value competence in what three ways?

-emphasize an obligation or responsibility to become competent -Within group based domains -define competence in terms of skill improvement rather than skill performance

During what three situations is the overjustification effect likely to occur?

1) The task is interesting 2) The reward is expected 3) The reward is material

According to Weiner's attribution theory, we are most likely to search for causal attributions when an outcome is: (what three things)

1) unexpected 2) Important 3) Negative

Define meta-analysis

A statistical procedure that allows researchers to combine the results of several studies in order to test a single research hypothesis

These studies indicate that people may give up personal control when they believe another person is more likely to?

Achieve the desired outcome

Without autonomy, humans seem less like humans and more like what?

Animals/objects

Goal performance is better when people experience what?

Autonomy

Although autonomy is generally a good thing, too much of a good thing can sometimes be?

Bad for us

Define attributions

Beliefs regarding the cause of a behavior or outcome (So whenever we try to identify the cause of our own behavior or someone else's behavior, we are generating attributions)

People high in internal locus of control are more likely to make internal or external attributions?

Internal attributions (feel more in control of their successes and failures)

Define achievement motivation

It may be that some people are just more driven to fulfill their competence needs than others

Sheldon and Gunz (2009) had college students complete a personality test and then gave some of them feedback suggesting they had a deficit in competence. What were the results?

People whose sense of competence was threatened reported a higher need for competence than people given different feedback.

People who feel highly competent have improved?

Physical and mental health

Define core human motives

Primary motives that guide people's behavior

Define self-efficacy

Refers to this perception or belief about our ability to accomplish a particular task (The greater our self efficacy, the more we believe we have the skills necessary to successfully accomplish something)

Successes that are attributed to internal/stable causes will increase or decrease our self-efficacy? Failures attributed to these causes will

S: Increase F: Decrease

Define Types of goals

Some people adopt the goal to improve their competence (learning goals) whereas others adopt the goal to prove their competence.

The third criterion for a core human motive states what?

That autonomy should be a universal motive that is evident across different cultures.

Define self determination theory

The assertion that the three core human motives are need for autonomy, need for competence, and need for belonging.

What is tempting fate?

The belief that engaging in a behavior may result in bad luck or negative outcomes (This is a second type of magical thinking)

Define mind control

The belief that one can cause others to act a certain way just by thinking it (Another type of magical thinking)

Define magical thinking

The belief that one has the ability to influence events at a distance despite no known physical explanation

Define internal locus of control

The belief that outcomes in a person's life are caused by their own actions and choices (believe they are "the masters of their own destiny")

Define stable attribution

The belief that the cause of a behavior occurs regularly

Define unstable attribution

The belief that the cause of a behavior occurs sporadically

Define internal attribution

The belief that the cause of a behavior resides within the person

Define external attribution

The belief that the cause of a behavior resides within the situation

Define entity theorists

The belief that traits and abilities are fixed and do not change dramatically over one's lifetime

Define incremental theorists

The belief that traits and abilities are malleable and change over time

Research indicates that flow is most likely to occur when our perceived level of competency (i.e., self-efficacy) matches what?

The competency required by the task (So flow is most likely to occur when you feel you are pushing your competencies to their limits)

When it comes to competence, it is clear that humans are trying to satisfy this core human motive from when?

The day they are born

Define need for autonomy

The desire for freedom, personal control, and free choice

Although most of the time people prefer to have control over their own lives, there are times when they are willing to give that control to someone else. What is one situation?

The likelihood of obtaining a good outcome. (Ex: Who wants to be a millionaire, one option contestants have is to ask the audience what they think is the answer.)

Why is too much choice bad for us?

The more choices we have, the more information we have to gather regarding each choice. (When there are just a few options, this is relatively easy and painless)

Define overjustification effect

The reduction in motivation that occurs when people are given an extrinsic reward for doing something that they already intrinsically enjoyed doing

Define flow

The subjective state in which people feel completely absorbed and focused on an activity

Define illusion of control

The tendency for people to overestimate the amount of autonomy they have in their lives

Define Panic button effect

The tendency for people who are being shocked to exhibit less stress when they think they are in control of the shock, even when they are not

Define depressive realism

The tendency for people who are depressed to lack positive illusions and have more accurate self-perceptions

Define psychological reactance

The tendency for people who feel their freedom is threatened to reassert their autonomy by doing exactly the opposite of what was requested

Define learned helplessness

The tendency for people who have experienced a negative situation in which they had no control to generalize this sense of helplessness to new situations

People high in the desire for autonomy are more likely to "knock on wood," but only when?

Their sense of personal control is threatened

Reactance theory helps explain what

Why we seem drawn to things that are bad for us.

In such situations, we feel as if things are not in our control - as if our autonomy has been taken away and we engage in what?

attributional thinking as a way of regaining some control

The more control you feel you have over your life, the more you are fulfilling your need for what

autonomy

This illusion of control is clearly driven by the basic need for

autonomy (For this reason, anything in the environment that highlights autonomy should activate the illusion of control)

People who choose to become professors are probably people who value what over what?

autonomy over money (For them autonomy is worth its weight in gold)

Just as a deficit in water produces thirst which in turn motivates water-seeking behaviors, so too should a deficit in autonomy produce what type of behaviors?

autonomy-seeking behaviors

This need for competence is what motivates people to develop what?

new skills, cultivate new talents, and master new challenges

If we want to achieve happiness, perhaps it is better if we try sometimes to be a _____ than ______

satisficer (someone who accepts a good-enough choice) maximiser (someone who always wants to make the best possible decision).

We seek out information in this way so that we can predict what is going to happen in the future and possibly control the situation why?

so that it doesn't happen again (In this way, determining the causes of behavior - whether it is our own behavior or someone else's - helps us to be more autonomous.)

Define external locus of control

the belief that outcomes in a person's life are caused by factors outside of their control

Define need for competence

the desire for effectiveness, ability, or success

The life events that are most upsetting are those that ?

threaten our sense of autonomy