Motivations and Goals

ALEXA SPENCE

PSYCHOLOGY B68
[email protected]
 Learning Objectives

Understand what motivates everyday behaviour

Describe and evaluate Self determination theory
To understand the utility of different kinds of
rewards
To describe social values and understand their utility
To deconstruct, and support, the process of
undertaking goal directed behaviour
Today we will cover…

Motivations
 Needs
 Everyday motivations
Self determination theory
Social Values
Self regulation theory Blackwell handbook
 Goals - Available on Moodle
- Ch. 14, 15, 16
Additional reading on
Moodle
 What is Motivation?
 Questions regarding the origins, drives and
predictors of motivation and behaviour are
addressed by many areas of psychology
o e.g., Biological psychology, personality, social psychology

o Motivation is the ‘driving force’ behind volitional

behaviour and determines the…
o Strength ; Direction ; Persistence

…of behaviour (Geen, 1995)

 Biological & Psychological Needs

Biological needs – serve the evolutionary purpose of

‘survival’ and are powerful influence on motivation.

Humans also have psychological needs for ‘self-

actualization’ or ‘autonomy’ (Rogers, 1960).
o Explains motivated behaviour such as exploratory
behaviour (e.g., seeking tasks).
Maslow’s (1954) Hierarchy of Needs
Motivational theory -
Five needs systems
which account for most
Being
of our behaviour needs

Deficiency
needs
 Motivations

Desire for
coherence
Affirmation
Desire for of
knowledge competenc
e

Motives
for social
judgement

Dunning
 Desire for knowledge

Power of curiosity
 Participants shown photographs of individuals body parts
(Loewenstein et al., 1992)
 self reported curiousity
 given choice of $0.50 bonus payment or seeing whole photograph
 Curiousity increased with the number of body parts viewed
 Positive relationship between feelings of knowing and curiosity
 Desire for knowledge

What enhances curiosity (and thus motivations)?

 Issues that familiar, in which we have some expertise
 When new information violates expectations.
 When consequences for themselves
 e.g. when accountable for behaviour
When accountable
 Consider more alternatives
 Spend more effort integrating factors

 Less likely to succumb to biases

 Make better quality judgements

 However also :
 Give too much weight to irrelevant information
 Can bias beliefs towards those they are accountable to
 Desire for knowledge

Need for control

 Knowledge enables prediction and control
 Questioning people’s control subsequently makes them more
competent in social cognitive tasks
Pittman & Pittman, 1980
 High, low or no helplessness training
 Low helplessness group made more accurate attributions about essay
writing causes than control group
 Inferred weaker attitudes when people wrote essays for pay than
those who wrote essays privately (more accurate)
 more hostile and anxious
 Performance declined in high helplessness group
 more depressed and anxious
 Desire for Coherence

Motivated to reduce contradictions in our worlds

Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957)
 Forced compliance
 Perform an action that goes against beliefs, and if no external
justification (payment), end up changing beliefs
 Effort justification
 Participants value things they work hard for (hazing)
 Free choice
 After choosing one thing, people tend to denigrate the other
 Affirmation of Competence
Positive self-esteem
 E.g. self serving attribution bias, optimistic bias,
 We all think we are above average – illusory superiority
 Most people overestimate their IQ
 Drivers tend to think they are better than average
 Jailed criminals think they are kinder, most trustworthy and
honest than the average member of the public
Now complete Activity 1
Today we will cover…

Motivations
 Needs
 Everyday motivations
Self determination theory
Social Values
Self regulation theory Blackwell handbook
 Goals - Available on Moodle
- Additional reading
on Moodle
Deci, 1971

College students asked to solve problems across 3

sessions. 1st unpaid, in 2nd session half paid per answer
generated.

In middle of session experimenter left room and gave

participant free time. Who spent more time working on
puzzle during free time in 2nd session?
 Paid group?

 Unpaid group?
Deci, 1971

In a 3rd session none paid again (those paid previously

told that only enough money to pay for one session) –
Deci, 1971

In middle of session experimenter left room and gave

participant free time. Who spent more time working on
puzzle during free time in 3rd session?
 Previously Paid group?

 Previously Unpaid group?

Deci (1971)

Paid students spent more time solving puzzles

But when reward removed, spent less time

Intrinsic motivation may be undermined if they are
induced to engage as a means to an extrinsic goal.
Rewarding people for an interesting activity 
attribute their behaviour to the extrinsic reward rather
than to intrinsic interest.

=> Undermining effect

 Self-Determination Theory
(Deci and Ryan, 1985)

1. Autonomy – self-determination
2. Competence– successful attainment of goals
3. Relatedness – dev and maintenance of close personal
relationships
=> Essential for Psych growth, integrity and well being
Continuum: perceived locus of regulation
 Intrinsic motivation = enjoyment/satisfaction
 Extrinsic motivation = external pressure/demands/rewards

Needs interact with social context

 Facilitate natural growth processes: intrinsic motivation behaviour,
integration of extrinsic motivations OR
 Reduced motivation, performance and well being
Likely to be maintained
 Intrinsic motivation

 Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET; Deci & Ryan, 1985)

examines the effects of rewards, feedback and other external
events on intrinsic motivation.
 Underlying intrinsic motivation are primarily the innate
psychological needs - competence and autonomy.
 Effects of external events will depend on functional
significance for perceived autonomy & perceived competence.
 Rewards could sole driver of behaviour or as indicators of
competence.
 Relatedness features in interpersonal context

 Extent to which context is controlling or not controlling

 Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation

Cue value – makes competence information salient

 E.g. You got that prize because you’re so good at that! Most
people didn’t manage that!
Verbal rewards - informational aspect salient thus
increases IM
 But can be perceived as controlling – leads to undermining IM
 E.g. You must keep up the good work!

=> Importance of interpersonal context

 Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett (1973)

Field study with 3-5 yr old nursery children

 51 Ps who showed intrinsic interest in target activity randomly
allocated to 1 of 3 conditions:
 Expected reward condition:
group asked to draw pictures
and rewards promised for the
best drawing
 Non-rewarded condition:
group drew pictures, without
the promise of a reward
 Unexpected reward condition:
group drew pictures and given
a surprise reward
 Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett (1973)

20
% time spent drawing

15
Expected
10 Unexpected
None

Average quality ratings for pictures also sig lower in the expected award group
compared to unexpected and no- aware groups
=> Overjustification effect
 Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation
Overjustification effect - Rewards indicate that cause of
behaviour is external
Undermining effect: Similar
 Both indicate
 Salient rewards undermine IM
 Both indicate when positive competence info provided, less likely
to undermine IM
 Undermining effect additionally focus on
perception of being controlled (diminished
autonomy).
 For overjustification effect, rewards are considered
in advance – activity undertaken to obtain goal
 Effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation

Tangible rewards:
 Not expected  not predicted to affect intrinsic motivation.
 Expected rewards:
 Ryan et al. (1983): typology of reward contingencies:

1) Task non-contingent rewards: IM not affected.

2) Engagement-contingent rewards: Rewards controlling , little
/ no competence affirmation  undermine IM.
3) Completion-contingent rewards: Reward indicates
competence but not strong relative to controlling aspect 
undermine IM.
4) Performance-contingent rewards: Perceived as controlling 
strong undermining of IM. Can convey competence info  IM
effects mixed. Interpersonal context can influence.
 Effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation
Meta-analysis of undermining effects (Deci et al., 1999)
 Theory broadly supported
 Undermining does not occur for boring tasks (IM has to exist!)
 Salient rewards result in an even stronger undermining effect
 Tangible rewards more detrimental (a greater undermining effect) for
children
 Verbal rewards enhance IM for college students but not for
children (no undermining in either group)
 Positive verbal feedback generally enhances IM (though not for
children)
 Controllingly administered verbal rewards undermined IM (e.g.
‘You must keep up the good work.’)
 Alternative explanations

Behaviours rewarded are culturally valued

 Performing them without reward part of basis for approval
When rewards are unrelated to performance, people
feel helpless (misinterpreted as reductions in IM)
Rewarded people may attribute performance less to
themselves
Now complete Activity 2
Today we will cover…

Motivations
 Needs
 Everyday motivations
Self determination theory
Social Values
Self regulation theory Blackwell handbook
 Goals - Available on Moodle
- Additional reading
on Moodle
 Values (Schwartz, 1992)

Trans-situational goals which serve as guiding

principles in life of a person or group
 differ from attitudes as are more general and abstract
10 basic values relevant to all societies
Organised into a structure where some complement
and some inhibit others
 develops from social and psychological conflict and congruity
between values that people experience in everyday life
Continuum of values though presented in discrete
categories
 Schwartz (1992)

Tested universality of values through self report using

cross sectional surveys
Samples drawn from 20 countries within every
inhabited continent
Includes members of 8 religions and athiests
Primarily teachers and undergraduates
Analysed using Smallest Space Analysis (SSA)
 represents values as points in space so distances between points
reflect the empirical relations between importance ratings
Schwartzs (1992) values
 Dynamic relations between values

Actions in pursuit of values can be compatible or

may conflict with the pursuit of other values
 e.g. Actions that express obedience may
 conflict with actions intended to express independence
be compatible with actions promoting social order
Adjacent value types are assumed to be most
compatible
 increasing distance indicates decreasing compatibility and
greater conflict
 Critiques

Whilst values appeared in most cultures examined,

not all grouped in the same way (particularly Chinese
samples differed)
Spirituality is unaccounted for in the model because
it only appeared in some cultures examined
Values may be expressed differently in actions by
different people and could be argued to be of little
consequence on their own
Values expressed may be normatively approved
ideals rather than personal value priorities
 Value clashes (Maio et al., 2009)

Maio et al. (2009)

 Participants asked to rank 16 values (from Schwartz)
 Shown (fictitious) average ratings from rest of the
student sample Value self
 prioritised either self enhancement; self transcendent;
confrontation
conservation; or openness to change values
procedure
 Identified top 4 values of others and themselves
(Rokeach,
 examined differences and similarities
1975)
 Read and then wrote about characteristics of other
group (most just repeated what they’d read)
 Control grp read a passage and memorised words
 Ranked 16 further different values (from Schwartz)
Value clashes (Maio et al.,
Applied value – Engaging people with energy

Motivations to engage with energy behaviour

 Cost motivations = Self enhancement values
 Env motivations = Self transcendence values

=> Clash
Self enhancement reasons for self transcendence
actions may less ineffective
No diff in effectiveness for energy behaviour
But env messages found more effective in driving
additional env behaviours (Spence et al., 2014)
 But difficult to stop people considering costs
 Combination of messages possible?
Now complete Activity 3
Today we will cover…

Motivations
 Needs
 Everyday motivations
Self determination theory
Social Values
Self regulation theory Blackwell handbook
 Goals - Available on Moodle
- Additional reading
on Moodle
 Self regulation

Self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981)

 Purposeful, self corrective, adjustments to pursue personal
goals.
Possible future self (goal)
 Unrealised future potential; what you might be.
 Gives us direction and purpose
Goals as reference values for feedback purposes
Control Theory of Self Regulation

Carver and Scheier, 1981)

 Self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987)

Compare actual self to ‘ideal’ or ‘ought’ self

Ideal self – personal desires for the self
 Primarily promotion focused (approaching the ideal)
 Resulting in sadness or happiness
Ought self – defined by duty, responsibility to others
 Implies acting to avoid a punishment (e.g. disapproval)
 Primarily prevention focused (avoiding negative judgement)
 Resulting in anxiety/guilt or relief
 Incentives, Needs and Goals

 Incentives – high order desired outcome (subsuming lower

order goals), e.g. gain money
 Need – personal forces that narrow down classes of
incentives e.g. need for social power
 Goals – lower order aims that serve incentives e.g. get a
part time job
 Goals
 Assigned goals – can be transformed into personal goals if:
 perceived as desirable and feasible
 they are personally redefined
 integrated with other existing goals
 Self set goals
 tend to be desirable and feasible
 Automatic (Reflexive) goals

Bargh (1990) automotive theory – goals can become

activated without awareness
 mental links form between situations and goals often pursued
 situation subsequently activates goal
 requires an initial reflective goal that is repeated over time
Existence of implicit motives (Carver & Scheier,
1999)
 natural incentives that do not require awareness
 does not require an intention to be formed – biologically based
 Goal setting

Oettingen (2000) – Fantasy realisation theory

143 Female Ss– ostensibly study about daydreams
Given information about an attractive student –
Michael
Imagine =met him at a party
 Fantasy-reality – mentally elaborate 2 positive and 2 negative
aspects of the real situation
 Positive fantasy – elaborate 4 positive aspects
 Negative reality – elaborate 4 most important negative aspects
 Control – arithmetic tasks
 Goal setting

Fantasy reality subsequently more eager to meet

Michael
 Fantasy reality – contrast positive fantasies with negative aspects
of reality
 relates future ideas with here and now – possibility of change
 high expectations of success
 Positive fantasy
 No necessity to act is experienced. Success is independent of need to
change
 Negative fantasy
 Ignore positive aspects of the future. No direction to act.
 Achieving goals

Intention – behaviour gap

Model of action phases (Heckhausen & Gollwitzer, 1987)
 Predecisional - Deliberating goals and choosing between them
 Preactional - Planning goal directed actions and getting started
 Actional - Successfully achieving the goal
 Postactional Evaluating the outcome
 Achievement more likely by supporting associated
mindsets
 Implemental mindset
 focus on relevant information (less distracted)
 process desirability information in a biased manner (less doubts)
 process feasibility information in a biased manner (more optimisitc)
 Achieving goals

Planning for goal achivement

 ‘If I encounter situation x, then I will perform the goal directed
behaviour Y’ (If – then plans)
Implementation intentions
 delegate control of behaviour to the environment
 action representation activated by cues – automate behaviour
 Reduce problems of
 initiating goal directed behaviour… but also…
 stabilising goal striving (resisting distractions)
 shielding goal striving from obstacles
Meta-analysis (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006)
indicates a medium to large effect size (d = 0.65)
 Achieving goals

‘If it is 5pm on Monday, then I will jog home from

work!’
 specifies external cue and desired behaviour
Can target different self regulatory problems:
 ‘If I feel really tired at the end of the day on Monday, I will tell
myself, ‘I can do it, I will feel good if I run home!’
 focused on stabilising goal striving
 ‘If I start thinking about getting the bus home, then I
immediately ignore that thought’
 focused on shielding physical activity goals
 Achieving goals

41 heroin addicts at a German hospital (Brandstatter et

al. (2001)
 20 experiencing withdrawal, 21 no longer in withdrawal
All unemployed, and agreed to compose a cv
 half randomly assigned to make an irrelevant imp
 regarding having lunch
 half assigned to make a relevant imp
 where they would compose it, when, how to start
Relevant imp group significantly more likely to hand
in a cv the next day
 for both those in withdrawal and those past it
=> helpful even under high cognitive load
Next …

Prejudice and Discrimination

Now complete Activity 4