January 28th Readings

Question 1

Decisions and behaviours feel right when ppl rely on goal striving that fits their mindset (promotion vs prevention)
This sense that sometihng feels right means that one’s goals and strategies are matched. Also produces increased motivational strength.
Also correlated positively with psychological WB because it leads ppl to feelings of interest, enjoyment and satisfaction with that they’re doing.

Answer 1

Regulatory Fit

Question 2

What do people with a promotion focus do?

Answer 2

exert more effort, feel more alert, vale the experience more and actually cope and perform better when they strive with eagerness rather than vigilance

Question 3

What do people with a prevention focus do?

Answer 3

exert more effort, feel more alert and value the experience more and cope/perform better when they strive with vigilance rather than with eagerness.

Question 4

What do students with a high GPA or soliders who are competing have for mindsets?

Answer 4

have both a high promotion and high prevention mindset. A job well done is one that is completed quickly and accurately.

Question 5

The _____ mindset concerns the question of how ppl think about their personal qualities. Ie. intelligence or personality traits.

Answer 5

Growth-fixed mindset.

Question 6

Ppl view personality traits in 2 ways:

Answer 6

1. personal qualities are fixed and enduring characteristic,

2. Personal qualities are malleable that can be increased with effort

Question 7

What are some beliefs of someone who has a fixed mindset?

Answer 7

They have the sense that if they have a lot of the fixed qualities they are in good shape. If not, they believe they are in bad shape.
ie. if a person thinks they are good with languages and are in a linguistics course, they will expect to do badly. (or vis versa if they don’t think they have that skill)

Question 8

What do people believe when they have a growth mindset?

Answer 8

They have the sense that the more effort they put in, the more they will learn, grow and develop and the better or higher will be their personality qualities.
They understand that ppl may start a task with different amounts of the personal quality (int/talent) but they believe that if effort and time is invested, they will eventually end up with greater int or talent.

Question 9

What do ppl think about effort if they have a fixed mindset?

Answer 9

they equate it with a low ability. for ppl with growth, they believe that effort is a tool.

Question 10

On difficult endeavors, ppl with a fixed mindset tend to adopt maladaptive motivational patterns by… (3)

Answer 10

1. withholding effort
2. engaging in self-handicapping to protect the self
3. never really understanding or appreciating what effort expenditures can do for them in life

Question 11

When given negative feedback, what does a person with a fixed or growth mindset do?

Answer 11

fixed- tends to attribute poor performance to low ability. typically they will then withdraw effort.
growth- attributes poor performance to not trying hard enough. typically they will increase effort.

Question 12

What do students with a fixed mindset tend to focus their attention on?

Answer 12

finding ways to protect their image and SE

Question 13

How does growth mindset pay off?

Answer 13

In terms of performance. When analyzed longitudinally, students with growth mindset showed significant improvements 2 years later c/w fixed mindset students.

Question 14

Where does the fixed mindset come from?

Answer 14

It is learned- therefore, it is a product of one’s socialization history. One way that children acquire the fixed mindset is through the praise and criticism they receive from their parents/teachers- this is because it sends subtle or not subtle signals about the nature of their personal qualities or abilities.

Question 15

What are 2 types of praise that children often get?

Answer 15

1. ability praise: this type of feedback judges the child’s personality qualities (eg. you are smart, you are selfish) and this often grows to be a fixed mindset and entity-oriented meaning system.
2. effort praise: feedback comments on the child’s underlying coping styles (eg. you worked hard, you need a new strategy) this develops a growth mindset and an increment-oriented meaning system

Question 16

how does a ability praise (fixed) or an effort praise (growth) relate to intrinsic motivation, attributions and performance?

Answer 16

when children were given a difficult problem to solve, and the researchers measured children’s attributions for failure, IM and performance, those who received ability praise made low ability attributions, displayed a large decline in IM and performed poorly.

effort praise= low effort attributions, maintained their IM and performed better

Question 17

Can you teach people to adopt a mindset?

Answer 17

Yes! Both fixed and growth mindsets can

Question 18

What type of goals do people with fixed mindsets adopt? What about ppl with growth mindsets?

Answer 18

fixed- achievement strivings/performance goals. these people are concerned with looking smart and not looking dumb.
growth- adopt mastery goals in achievement situations. they are concerned with learning and improving as much as they can.

However, the settings we are in often force us to choose what type of goal we want.

Question 19

How are mastery and performance goals different from one another?

Answer 19

In terms of the person’s understanding to what constitutes competence.
Mastery- the person is seeking to develop greater competence, make progress according to a self-standard.
Performance- the person seeks to demonstrate or prove competence, display high ability, outperform others and succeed with little apparent effort. achieving a performance goal means doing better than others.

Question 20

What are examples and outcomes of adopting mastery goals in achievement contexts? adopting performance goals in an achievement contet?

Answer 20

mastery in ach- associated with positive and productive ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving
performance in ach- associated with relatively negative and unproductive ways of thinking, feeling and behaving

Question 21

When ppl adopt mastery goals rather than performance goals they tend to (4)

Answer 21

1. prefer challenging tasks that they can learn form rather than easy tasks on which they can demonstrate high ability
2. use conceptually based learning stat (eg. relating info to existing knowledge rather than superficially learning strat. such as memorizing
3. be intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated
4. ask for help and info from others that will allow them to continue working on their own

These strategies allow those with mastery goals to work harder (increase effort in the face of difficulty rather than quit) persist longer, and perform better

Question 22

How can teachers promote mastery rather than performance goals?

Answer 22

By defining success as improvement, value effort, communicate that satisfaction comes from hard work, focus on how students learn etc.

Question 23

My goal is to perform better than the other students. This is an example of what kind of goal?

Answer 23

Performance-approach goal

Question 24

My goal is to avoid performing poorly compared to others.

Answer 24

Performance-avoidance goal.

Question 25

My aim is to completely master the material presented in this class.

Answer 25

Mastery goal.

Question 26

What are performance-avoidance goals related to?

Answer 26

Related with negative emotions. Often leads to ppl underperforming, quitting quickly and losing interest in what they are doing. The more ppl fear failure, the more they are likely to adopt these type of goals which then the person is more likely to measure WB on SE, personal control, vitality, life satisfaction and psyc ill-being.

Question 27

What type of ppl adopt performance-avoidant goals?

Answer 27

Ppl high in the fear of failure, high in neuroticism, and low in life-skill competence

Question 28

What type of mindset do most ppl have?

Answer 28

a positive one- they believe they are competent, moral and reasonable

Question 29

What are the 4 ways that people try to decrease cognitive dissonance?

Answer 29

1. remove the dissonant belief 2. reduce the importance of the dissonant belief 3. add a new consonant belief 4. increase the importance of the consonant belief

Question 30

How resistant to change the beliefs of cognitive dissonance are depends on... (3)

Answer 30

1. how close to reality they are 2. how important or central they are to one's view 3. how much pain and cost must be endured

Question 31

What is an example of insufficient justification?

Answer 31

How ppl explain actions for which they have little or no external prompting. eg. someone is asked why they volunteer- and then to justify the action ppl often add a new belief about their favourable self-view eg. I'm generous.

Question 32

Most dissonance researchers portray dissonance motivation through what analogy?

Answer 32

through the analogy of pain- the person changes beliefs or behaviours in order to eliminate the neg. experience

Question 33

what does self-perception theory argue that ppl develop and change their beliefs for?

Answer 33

for a reason that does not involve a mindset (unlike cog. dissonance theory). It offers the alternative interpretation that ppl develop and change their behaviour based simply on self-observation.

Question 34

What are the similarities/differences b/w cog dissonance theory and self-perception theory?

Answer 34

they both resolve around that 'saying/doing is believing". but CDT argues that beliefs change because of negative affect from cog inconsistency. SPT argues that we come to believe whatever we do and say. Conclusion is that both are correct in different circumstances. SET is best when ppls beliefs are initially vague, ambiguous and weak- they draw inferences about themselves from their behaviours. dissonance theory is best applied to situations where ppl's beliefs are clear, salient and strong

Question 35

What is the key distinction between the deliberative vs implemental mindsets?

Answer 35

It is between the initial selection of goals, which involves a great deal of deliberation and the volitional regulation of the action necessary to bring that chose goal to fruition, which involves strategic execution. In a deliberative mindset the person is open-minded and attention is cast wide to take in info about the desirability and feasibility of considered goals. implemental mindset- the person is closed minded and attention is focused narrowly to concentrate only on info that is related to goal attainment.

Question 36

What does regulatory focus theory propose?

Answer 36

That ppl strive for their goals by using 2 separate and ind. motivational orientations: promotion and prevention. promotion- advance the self toward ideals using a locomotion behavioural strat prevention- focus is on preventing the self from not maintaining one's duties and responsibilities by adopting a vigilant behavioural strat.

Question 37

What is the difference between prevention and promotional orientations in how they define success?

Answer 37

ppl with a promo focus are sensitive to success while ppl. they utilize eager locomotion- just do it. with a prevention focus are sensitive to failure and use cautious vigilance- do the right thing.

Question 38

How does our environment relate to our control attempts?

Answer 38

the enviro is both predictable and responsive.

Question 39

What are 2 types of expectancies that exist?

Answer 39

1. efficacy- a judgment of one's capacity to execute a particular act or course of action "Can I do it?" 2. outcome- a judgment that a given action, once performed will cause a particular outcome. "Will it work?"

Question 40

What does an analysis of efficacy and outcome expectancies allow is to understand?

Answer 40

people's reluctance to engage in activities such as public speaking, dating, athletics, and job interviews. One must not only be confident in their efficacy to execute these behaviours but must also be reasonably assured that an effective performance will pay off.

Question 41

When tested, how did students who were taught a growth mindset correlate to their levels of aggression?

Answer 41

they were sig. less aggressive than the control group. When ado learn the growth mindset they begin to see personalities and patterns of behaviour as malleable and open to improvement