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exercising personal control
- 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
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expectancy
- 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
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efficacy expectations
- a judgement of one's capacity to execute a particular act or course of action
- "Can I do it?"
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outcome expectations
- a judgement that a given action, once performed, will cause a particular outcome
- "Will what I do work?"
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self-efficacy
- 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
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high self-efficacy
- leads to flexible, adaptive, and confident engagements with the world
- counter anxiety, doubt and avoidance
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sources of self-efficacy
- personal behaviour history
- observations of others
- verbal persuasions
- physiological states
- note: all pertaining to the specific, target behaviour
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effects of self-efficacy
- choice of activities and environments
- extent of effort, persistence, and resiliency
- quality of thinking and decision making
- emotional reactions esp. to stress and anxiety
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learned helplessness
- 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
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contingency (learned helplessness)
objective relationship between a person's behaviour and the environment's positive or negative outcomes
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cognition (learned helplessness)
all those mental precesses the individual relies on to translate objective environmental contingencies into subjective personal control beliefs
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behaviour (learned helplessness)
- the person's voluntary coping behaviour
- varies along a continuum that extends from active and energetic to passive and withdrawing
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reactance theory
- explanation of how people react to uncontrollable life events
- expectations of controllability frostier reactance
- expectations of uncontrollability foster helplessness
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reactance response
initial response is to be increasingly assertive psychological and behaviours in an attempt to reestablish control
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helplessness response
occurs after an individual has failed their initial reactance response to an uncontrollable event
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hope
- 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
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ego depletion
self-control requires energy and this energy is limited leading to a depletion of resources
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muscle hypothesis of ego depletion
- 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
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"white bear" effect
the more you try to not think about something, the more you will think about it
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intentional operating process
there is a goal in mind and you search for items that are consistent with the state
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ironic operating process
- comparer
- search for sensations and thoughts that are inconsistent with successful control
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limited mental resources
- explanation for failure of self-control
- II lead to effortless self-control
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goal types (explanation for self-control failure)
approach autonomous, and conflict-free goals are easier to exert self-control on than avoidance, controlled, and conflicting goals
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approach (everyday explanation for self-control failure)
behaviour aimed at reducing discrepancy between the goal and where you are now
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avoidance (everyday explanation for self-control failure)
- 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
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advantages of excuses
- protect self-esteem
- degreases negative affect resulting from failure and responsibility
- fosters social harmony
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disadvantages of excuses (long-term)
- speculation about truth -> social disharmony
- undermines self-control abilities and confidence
- locus of control becomes more external
- undermines long-term self-esteem
- goal disengagement
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outcome-focused mental simulations
- imagining the desired results of successfully completing your goal
- exp. studied less than control, studied less than they planned, lower grades than the control
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process-focused mental simulations
- 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
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problems with self-regulation
- getting started in spite of daily distractions
- persisting in spite of difficulties and setbacks
- resuming work once interruptions occur
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implementation intentions (how to)
- 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
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persistence
socially rewarded but can be maladaptive (eg. unattainable goals - depression and mania)
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disengagement
- to fully experience ~, one must remove one's self from these aspects
- feedback is extremely useful
- cognitive
- affective
- motivational
- behavioural
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cognitive disengagement
clear unattainable goal from WM
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affective disengagement
- down regulation of unwanted feelings
- coping
- feel detached
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motivational disengagement
rejection of explicit goals that are incompatible with implicit motives
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implicit motives
unconscious automatic activation of goals
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behavioural disengagement
switch to new activities that are not related to the goal
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low goal disengagement
- attached to goals you set for yourself
- cortisol levels dissipate less quickly throughout the day (therefore more stress)
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high goal disengagement
- able to see that their goals are impossible and disengage easily
- experience less stress and are healthier over time
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re-engagement
- 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
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goal shift
the goal is the same but it has been modified to be more attainable
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