The Cognitive Perspective: Goal Setting and Self regulation
The Cognitive Perspective: Goal Setting and Self regulation essay assignment
The Cognitive Perspective: Goal Setting and Self regulation essay assignment
- Over the next four weeks, we will investigate the following motivational themes/perspectives:
- 1. Week one: evolutionary perspectives:
- 2. Week two temperament- Elliott and Thrash, 2002
- 3. Week Three: self regulation-
- Research: Carver, 2004
- 4. Week Four
- A. learning: habits (summarize)
- B. cognitive dissonance (summarize) week three
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The Cognitive Perspective on Motivation
- Cognitions-mental events
- The cognitive perspective on motivation
- How does a person’s way of thinking and believing influence (motivate) behavior?
- Includes mental constructs like beliefs, expectations, goals, plans, judgments, values, and the self-concept
- Our Focus: Goal Setting, Implementing, Threat Assessment, Avoidance and Self regulation
Schematic of the TOTE Model
If Incongruous
If congruous
If Incongruous
The cognitive mechanism by which plans were believed to energize and direct behavior.
= motivational energy
= motivational direction
TEST
Compare
Present State
With Ideal State
OPERATE
Act on
Environment
To Realize
Ideal State
TEST
Compare
Present State
With Ideal State
EXIT
Present State in
Congruity with
Ideal State
George Miller was considered a pioneer in the study of the current day cognitive study of motivation. Above is a model he constructed that depicts a relationship between the cognitive construct called “planning” and behavior.
According to this cognitive model, we have mental representations of our idealized behaviors, objects, and events. We have an idea of how we’d like to look, how academically, socially, professionally successful we should be…where our pets go to the bathroom…basically anything that we perceive to have some level of control over, we have an idealized image of how that thing or event should be to us. Simultaneously, we are also aware of our current status with respect to that idealized end…we know how we look, whether we are performing well, whether our pets are going in the ideal location.
Get solution to your nursing paper : The Cognitive Perspective: Goal Setting and Self regulation
If we detect a mismatch (Depicted as “TEST” in the diagram), we feel discomfort. That discomfort is motivating and causes us to formulate a plan and execute that plan into action (Depicted as “OPERATE” in the diagram). So the incongruity provides the energy to act and the plan provides the direction to get us closer to the ideal state.
Following the model, after a period of action, we then test the present state against the ideal, and as long as a discrepancy exists, we continue to operate on the environment until congruity between the ideal and current state is achieved.
This model was beneficial, in that it nicely depicted the moment to moment influence that cognitive planning has on our behavior.
For example, your text mentions actions directed at achieving a “good hair day”. This model implies that we must have an ideal hair style in mind…so we fix our hair, look in the mirror and perform the test. If there is a discrepancy, a plan to fix our hair is devised and implemented. A test is run again, a plan of action is initiated and this test, operate sequence continues until we have reached the ideal…or run out of hair product, I guess.
To see an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZ9fsusMGc
Historical Model–
PLANS: Criticism
- In summary:
- We detect and inconsistency
- We formulate and enact a plan
- We detect and inconsistency
- We formulate and enact a plan
- Plans are viewed as fixed and static
- Contemporary cognitive models allow a more dynamic and flexible depiction of plan-directed behavior
- Rather than activating an action sequence, incongruity gives rise to corrective motivation which can take many forms:
- Change the plan, change the behavior’s intensity, or drop the plan altogether
Plans are viewed as fixed and static and become automatic as further discrepancy is detected
Contemporary cognitive models allow a more realistic depiction in which plans are adjustable and able to be revised
Note the flexibility of plan choice seen in the rubix cube video…although the action was really fast and probably not intelligible to us, the labeling of the action showed us that different plans were being enacted in the process of reaching the ideal solved state for the rubix cube.
The Motivating properties of
Discrepancy
Present state represents the persons
current status of how life is going.
Ideal state represents
how the persons
wishes life was going.
-
- When the present state falls short of the hoped-for ideal state, a discrepancy is exposed.
-
- It is the discrepancy-rather than the ideal state per se– that has motivational properties.
- Discrepancy creates the sense of wanting to change the present state so that it will move
closer and closer toward the ideal state.
Present
State
Ideal
State
In instances of discrepancy, the person first envisions possible outcomes that are different from the present situation. The awareness of the mismatch between the present and what is desired creates a sense of incongruity that is motivating. You textbook mentions a very powerful application of this depiction of the motivation power of discrepancy: it reads, “ Therefore, when people ask” What can I do to increase motivation?” those who study discrepancy-based motivation have a very practical answer: basically create an ideal state in your mind, or more precisely, create a present state-ideal state discrepancy
*
Two Types of Discrepancy
Discrepancy reduction corresponds
to plan-based corrective motivation.
Discrepancy reduction is reactive,
deficiency overcoming, and revolves
around a feedback system.
Discrepancy creation corresponds to goal-setting motivation.
Discrepancy creating is proactive, growth pursuing, and revolves around a “feed-forward” system.
Discrepancy Reduction
Discrepancy Creation
Based on the discrepancy-detecting
feedback that underlies plans and
corrective motivation.
Based on a “feed-forward” system
in which the person looks forward
and proactively sets a future,
higher goal.
Reduction underlies plans and corrective motivation. It is initiated after receiving feedback about how well performance lines up with idealized performance. (So the behavior has already been enacted, now we are evaluating it). We determine then, whether we are performing at a desired level.
Creation occurs before a behavior is initiated. It is the starting point for any specific performance setting.
Updating the TOTE Model
- New areas of research followed the TOTE model
- Modifications:
- Goal setting
- The importance of Feedback
- Self regulation of goal attainment and threat avoidance
Goal Setting
A goal is whatever an individual is trying to accomplish.
* A goal is whatever an individual is trying to accomplish.
Why do goals work to increase performance?
A proactive version of a plan
They are motivating—force us to focus on a discrepancy between present and ideal level of accomplishment
Adaptive Value of Goal Setting
- Setting goals yields higher quality performance
- Examples:
- Sit-ups, weightlifting, learn textbook information, sell products, shoot archery, conserve natural resources, lose weight, logging, word process, truck driving trips
- A few qualifiers though: goal effectiveness depends upon two factors: goal difficulty and goal specificity
*A note here: in all of the remaining slides on goal setting, it is implicitly assumed that an individual has set a goal or someone has set a goal for them and that person has ACCEPTED the goal and is producing behavior in an attempt to meet that goal. See the section in your text on goal acceptance for why this may not always be the case.
In general, a person will perform better at almost any task if they set a goal for themselves than if they don’t. Given the same ability and experience, those who set goals will outperform those who don’t.
*
Adaptive Value of Goal Setting
- Linear relationship between difficulty and performance
Goal Difficulty
In general, goals that are of higher difficulty translate into enhanced performance. Easier goals yield decreased performance.
So if we have a goal of running up 20 flights of stairs, a goal of running 30 flights would be more difficult. They yield increased performance because, when considering the definition of motivation, difficult goals energize the performer (they work on the initiation aspect of motivation). We tend to exert effort in proportion to what the goal requires of us (again, assuming the goal is accepted…if goals are too lofty, we see a decrement in perf). So easy goals stim little effort, moderately challenging goals stimulate moderate effort, and difficult goals stimulate high effort.
*
Adaptive Value of Goals Setting
- Specificity
- How clearly a goal conveys expectations
- “Do your best” vs. “Get out your spelling list, rehearse the word list 4 times and write each word 4 times”
- Specific=including something numerical
- Specificity produces consistency in performance across individuals
Specificity refers to how clearly a goal informs the performer of what is to be done.
Do your best is a goal, but it is an ambiguous one that leaves wide open the opportunity for people to apply multiple translations and yields highly variable performance. So one might look at the list, one might stick it under their pillow the night before, one might rehearse it 20 times.
Specificity is important because it causes people to focus their attention on what needs to be done and minimizes interpretation and performance variability
*
Adaptive Value
- Summary: Goals will enhance performance under specific circumstances:
- Difficult goals
- Energize the performer
- Increase effort and persistence
- Specific goals
- Direct the performer toward a specific course of actions, increase mental and behavioral focus
- They tell the person where to concentrate attention and what specifically to do
- So…specific, difficult goals raise performance, yielding a net decrease in the ideal performance-actual performance discrepancy
By energizing the performer, difficult goals increase the performer’s effort and persistence. They increase persistence because effort continues until the goal is reached. They make it less likely that the person will stop prematurely
Specific goals also decrease the probability that the performer will be distracted away from the task.
Example: I do “insanity workouts”. I never really set goals when I first started them and I noticed myself not keeping up and it made me actually kind of psyche myself out and not want to do them. So…one evening, I specifically said to myself, just do my best…this isn’t a competition. I noticed that I stopped through almost every exercise during the final 15 minutes of the workout and was mentally and physically exhausted and lacked focus. It was like I was trying to do the workout without actually being in the room, doing the workout The next time I did that work out, I made a specific and difficult goal that I would only stop for water after every 4 exercises. I made it through the workout and felt physically tired, but mentally sharp and energized—and I had worked substantially harder than during the previous attempt. So, I have specifically seen performance benefits when I set difficult and specific exercise goals for myself.
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