Motivation: Personal Control Beliefs

• people try to make desirable outcomes more likely and undesirable outcomes less likely
• attempt to improve their lives and the lives of others
• motivated to do so when they believe they are capable and that the environment is responsive

• a subjective prediction of how likely it is that an event will occur
• both efficacy and outcome expectations must be high to energize goal-directed behaviour

• a judgement of one's capacity to execute a particular act or course of action
• "Can I do it?"

• a judgement that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome
• "Will what I do work?"

• an individual's belief that they "have what it takes" to marshal together the resources needed to cope effectively with the potentially overwhelming demands of a situation
• model for personal empowerment because they are malleable
• agentic thinking

• leads to flexible, adaptive, and confident engagements with the world
• counter anxiety, doubt and avoidance

• personal behaviour history
• observations of others
• verbal persuasions
• physiological states
• note: all pertaining to the specific, target behaviour

• choice of activities and environments
• extent of effort, persistence, and resiliency
• quality of thinking and decision making
• emotional reactions esp. to stress and anxiety

• psychological state that results when an individual expects that event in their live are uncontrollable
• learned when their behaviour exerts little or no influence over their outcomes while outside influences actually control what happens to them
• profound disruptions to motivation, learning, and emotion
• involves contingency, cognition, and behaviour

objective relationship between a person's behaviour and the environment's positive or negative outcomes

all those mental precesses the individual relies on to translate objective environmental contingencies into subjective personal control beliefs

• the person's voluntary coping behaviour
• varies along a continuum that extends from active and energetic to passive and withdrawing

• explanation of how people react to uncontrollable life events
• expectations of controllability frostier reactance
• expectations of uncontrollability foster helplessness

initial response is to be increasingly assertive psychological and behaviours in an attempt to reestablish control

occurs after an individual has failed their initial reactance response to an uncontrollable event

• agentic thinking and pathway thinking (helplessness vs. mastery) function together to provide energy and direction for one's coping efforts
• high-hope individuals (resilient self-efficacy and strong mastery motivation) are able to cope better in several domains vs. low-hope individuals

self-control requires energy and this energy is limited leading to a depletion of resources

• when you exercise a muscle, you tire it
• if you expend all of your energy you will experience ego depletion
• the more you try to control yourself, the more the opposite occurs

the more you try to not think about something, the more you will think about it

there is a goal in mind and you search for items that are consistent with the state

• comparer
• search for sensations and thoughts that are inconsistent with successful control

• explanation for failure of self-control
• II lead to effortless self-control

approach autonomous, and conflict-free goals are easier to exert self-control on than avoidance, controlled, and conflicting goals

behaviour aimed at reducing discrepancy between the goal and where you are now

• behaviour aimed and increasing the discrepancy because you do not want to acheive your goal
• leads to stress, anxiety lower well-being, and less success

• protect self-esteem
• degreases negative affect resulting from failure and responsibility
• fosters social harmony

• speculation about truth -> social disharmony
• undermines self-control abilities and confidence
• locus of control becomes more external
• undermines long-term self-esteem
• goal disengagement

• imagining the desired results of successfully completing your goal
• exp. studied less than control, studied less than they planned, lower grades than the control

• imagining the steps and pathway to successfully complete your goal
• exp. studied more than control, studied more than they planned, higher grades than control and combined

• getting started in spite of daily distractions
• persisting in spite of difficulties and setbacks
• resuming work once interruptions occur

• write it down
• make plan with how you will deal with temptations
• develop cues to start your preparation to respond - link behaviour to a situational cue to help anticipate forthcoming difficulties and focuses attention on goal-directed action while excluding distractions
• know yourself and your temptations, and have a plan with how to limit the effect of the distraction and get back to work
• pair with self-concordant goals for best predictor of progress

socially rewarded but can be maladaptive (eg. unattainable goals - depression and mania)

• to fully experience ~, one must remove one's self from these aspects
• feedback is extremely useful
• cognitive
• affective
• motivational
• behavioural

clear unattainable goal from WM

• down regulation of unwanted feelings
• coping
• feel detached

rejection of explicit goals that are incompatible with implicit motives

unconscious automatic activation of goals

switch to new activities that are not related to the goal

• attached to goals you set for yourself
• cortisol levels dissipate less quickly throughout the day (therefore more stress)

• able to see that their goals are impossible and disengage easily
• experience less stress and are healthier over time

• the ability to re-engage into a new goal after disengagement
• increases positive aspects of well-being
• high to low levels
• interaction effects with high to low levels of disengagement
• ideally ~ into goals are are cohesive and self-congruent

the goal is the same but it has been modified to be more attainable