Chapter 10- The Self (human motivation)

What are the four main issues with the self?

1. Defining or creating the self

2. relating the self to society (identity) 

3. Discovering and developing personal potential (agency)

4. managing or regulating the self (self- regulation)

What is self - concept?

knowledge you have about yourself

What are self- schemas?

“script” in a situation what is yourself

• ways we define self

what theory does maintaining a consistent self link to

control theory

What are motivational properties of self- schemas?

consistent self- discrepancy reduction

• create motivation

possible self- discrepancy creation

• fute self 

• “who do I wanna be in the future”

What is identity? 

implicates others and defines functions of social roles that you are in 

what are social roles?

social position in relation to others

what are identity- confirming vs. identity- disconfirming behaviors?

self- schemas

What is agency? 

full control of your own actions 

• acting on own free will

• integrating to meet social expectations

• satisfy need of autonomy

  • intrinsic motivation

What are the two processes in agency?

differentiation: “new version of self” discovering new interests and collaborating self concept, growing and incorporating into self

integration: simultaneously integrating these new pieces into self

self-concordance model?

idea of you acting in concordance with yourself

• how do people decide what to strive for?

• how does this striving promote or diminish well- being

What will happen if you pursue goals that are disconcordant/ not agentic with self? 

hurt well being 

What are the components of self- regulation? 

forethought- act of establishing goals 

• goal-setting 

• planning, implementation intentions 

self- regulation 

• self-monitoring- control theory (how am I doing) 

• self-evaluation- whether discrepancy is found 

• self-reaction- source of self-efficacy (How do I feel?) 

When does self-regulation require self-control

What types of activities require willpower?

• something we aren’t excited about

• temptation

• exerting effort or persisting over time

  • sticking with goals

  • adherence to social conventions

• delaying gratification and controlling impulses

• extrinsic things cause using more willpower

• Things that are intrinsically motivating require less willpower

What is willpower? 

 ability to delay gratification resisting short- term temptations in order to meet longer- term goals 

• ability to force oneself to engage in an undersirable (difficult course of action)

conscious, effortful regulation of the self by the self 

How does one exert willpower?

two systems

cool cognitive system- “know”, reflective, self- control driven by facts, knowledge, complex

hot emotional system- “go”, stimulus control, reactive, impulses, urges, emotional

what is emotional regulation example?

mentally make hot stimuli cooler and cooler stimuli hotter

How does one exert willpower? 

exerting effort over time 

relaying gratification and controlling impulses 

limits to self- control? 

consumes resources potientially leaving self- deplated afterward

→ all draw on same pool 

How can one protect or build self-control?

preventing depletion

• incentives

• providing autonomy support

• subjective perceptions of depletion

• lay beleifs about willpower

• inducing possible mood

Building resources

• practice exerting self- control

• learned industriousness

Don’t try too much

• focus on developing control in one area at a time Wha

What is job’s article about?

Propose that people’s beliefs about willpower (their implicit theories) shape whether or not they experience ego depletion

What is Nordgren’s article about?

Why people overestimate their ability to resist temptation (restraint bias) leads people to put themselves into situations where temptation is high because they think they have more self-restraint than they actually do.