1

COGNITIVE-MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES

DEFINITIONAL ISSUES• Cognitive-motivational units and self-regulation

COGNITIVE-MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES ABOUT THE SELF

• Higgins: real/ideal/ought selves • Dweck: incremental vs. entity self-theories

MIDDLE-LEVEL UNITS• Types• Personal strivings and mental and physical well-being

2

CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTIVATED BEHAVIOR:

• raises and fades over time

• coherent (organized)

• persistent and efficient

• associated to a network of cognitions (images, beliefs, plans)

• has emotional correlates and consequences (e.g., frustration)

Do you remember this from intro lecture on motives?

3

Integrating motives and cognitions ….

COGNITIVE-MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES:

Modern social-personality theories that emphasize the link between cognitions (beliefs, schemas, etc.) and motivation (goals, needs) in predicting behavior (e.g., persistence of action, emotions)

4

Self-regulation: how cognitions, motivations, and emotions interact

RED: emotionsGREEN: motivationsPURPLE: cognitions

5

COGNITIVE-MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES ABOUT THE SELF

6

HIGGINS (1987): Real, Ideal, and Ought selves

• Self-discrepancy theory: We are highly motivated to reduce discrepancies between how we actually see ourselves and how we actually would like to be and how we think we ought to be.

• Real/Ideal discrepancies lead to feelings of depression and real/ought discrepancies to feelings of anxiety.

OUGHT REAL IDEAL

7

CHANGE IN REPORTED FEELINGS OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AS A FUNCTIONOF TYPE OF PRIMING (IDEAL vs. OUGHT SELF) AND LEVEL OF SELF-DISCREPANCIES

Type of priming: IDEAL PRIMING OUGHT PRIMING

Self-reported affect after priming: Depression Anxiety Depression Anxiety

Type of experimental group:

Subjects with HIGH discrepanciesbetween real/ideal and between real/ought INCREASE no change no change INCREASE

Subjects with LOW discrepanciesbetween real/ideal and between real/ought no change no change no change no change

Higgins’ empirical demonstration of how real/ideal discrepancies lead to feelings of depression and real/ought discrepancies to feelings of anxiety:

IDEAL PRIMING: Asking subjects to write an essay about about the qualities they would love to have (but don’t have)OUGHT PRIMING: Asking subjects to write an essay about about the qualities they think it’s their duty to have (but don’t have)

8

DWECK (1990): Incremental vs. Entity self-theories

PERFORMANCE GOALS LEARNING GOALS

9

MIDDLE-LEVEL UNITS

10

MIDDLE-LEVEL UNITS

SPECIFIC, SITUATIONAL

BROAD, DECONTEXTUALIZED

11

advantages disadvantages

LEVEL 1 highly personal highly decontextualizedlow B predictive value

LEVEL 4 highly contextualized highly impersonalhigh B predictive value

LEVELS 2&3 personalcontextualizedmedium B predictive value

12

TYPES OF MIDDLE-LEVEL UNITS

•PERSONAL STRIVINGS (Emmons) Characteristic, recurrent goals that a person is trying to accomplish Becoming more attractive to the opposite sex Becoming a better father/mother Getting to the top of my company. •LIFE TASKS (Cantor) Goals as developmental tasks Becoming economically independent from my parents Choosing my career Finding a partner Starting a family •PERSONAL PROJECTS (Little) Series of activities coordinated to achieve a specific goal. Saving $ for a vacation Writing a paper Loosing 6 pounds

13

Research on Personal Strivings (Emmons, 1992)

14

HAVING HIGH VS. LOW LEVEL OF STRIVINGS HAS DIFFERENT HEALTH CORRELATES !!(Emmons, 1992)

Mostly High worse mental health (e.g., more anxiety, depression)(e.g., improving this world)

Mostly Low worse physical health (e.g. more colds, headaches)(e.g., be funny)

Question for the class: Why?