Study Notes on Motivation and Achievement

MOTIVATION

CHAPTER 4

Overview of Main Points

• Define motivation and its components.

• Describe various views of motivation and their usefulness.

• Discuss the importance of achievement motivation and competitiveness.

• Compare and contrast theories of achievement motivation.

• Analyze concepts of fear of failure, guilt, and shame using SEP (Shame, Empathy, and Perception).

What Is Motivation?

• Definition of Motivation:

  • Motivation is characterized as the direction and intensity of effort.

  • Direction of Effort:

  • Refers to whether an individual seeks out, approaches, or is attracted to certain situations.

  • Intensity of Effort:

  • Refers to how much effort an individual expends in a specific situation.

  • The direction and intensity of effort are closely related.

Views of Motivation

• Trait-Centered View:

  • Suggests that motivated behavior is primarily a function of individual characteristics or traits.

• Situation-Centered View:

  • Proposes that the level of motivation is primarily determined by situational factors.

• Interactional View:

  • Argues that motivated behavior results from the interaction between participant factors (such as personality) and situational factors.

Participant-by-Situation Interactional Model of Motivation

• Personal Factors:

  • Personality

  • Needs

  • Interests

  • Goals

• Situational Factors:

  • Leader-coach style

  • Attractiveness of the facility

  • Team's win-loss record

• Resulting Participant Motivation is influenced by both personal and situational factors.

Motivation and Performance Situations

• Motive Types:

  • Alone:

  • Approval-oriented leads to lower performance.

  • Rejection-threatened leads to best performance.

  • Competitive Situation:

  • On team, best performance follows approval-oriented motives.

Guidelines for Building Motivation

• Guideline 1:

  • Consider both situational and personality traits in motivating individuals.

• Guideline 2:

  • Understand individuals' multiple motives for involvement (e.g., motives for exercise versus motives for sports).

• Guideline 3:

  • Modify the environment to enhance motivation.

• Guideline 4:

  • Influence motivation through various strategies.

• Guideline 5:

  • Employ behavior modification techniques to change undesirable motives among participants.

Realistic View of Motivation

• Key Variable:

  • Motivation is crucial in learning and performance contexts.

• Influencing Factors:

  • Both physical and psychological factors, beyond mere motivation, influence behavior and must be considered.

• Perceptions of Behavior:

  • Coaches may perceive their behaviors as more positive than those of their athletes, indicating a need for accurate assessment of motivational behaviors.

Achievement Motivation and Competitiveness

• Achievement Motivation:

  • Described as an individual’s orientation to strive for task success, persist through failure, and experience pride in their accomplishments (Gill, 2000).

  • Affects the following factors:

  1. Choice of activity

  2. Effort to pursue goals

  3. Intensity of effort in pursuit of goals

  4. Persistence in the face of adversity

• Competitiveness:

  • Defined as a disposition toward satisfaction when comparing oneself with some standard of excellence in the presence of evaluative others (Martens, 1976).

  • Emphasizes social evaluation or comparison focusing on outcomes.

Stages of Developing Achievement Motivation and Competitiveness

1. Autonomous Competence Stage (< age 4):

   • Focus on mastering the environment and self-testing.

2. Social Comparison Stage (age 5-?):

   • Focus on comparing own performance directly with others.

3. Integrated Stage:

   • Integrates understanding when competing with others is appropriate versus adopting self-referenced standards.

Need Achievement Theory

• Components:

  • Personality factors

  • Situational factors

  • Resultant tendency

  • Emotional reactions

  • Achievement behavior

• Motivations:

  • Motive to achieve success:

  • Probability of success influences the approach to success; focus on pride from success.

  • Motive to avoid failure:

  • Focus on the shame of failure and avoidance of achievement situations and challenges leads to poor performance.

Weiner’s Basic Attribution Theory

• Attribution Examples:

  • Stability:

  • Stable (e.g., talent, ability)

  • Unstable (e.g., luck)

  • Causality:

  • Internal (e.g., effort)

  • External (e.g., quality of competition)

  • Control Factors:

  • Factors within one’s control (e.g., competition plan)

  • Factors outside one’s control (e.g., official’s call)

Achievement Goal Theory

• Goal Orientations:

  • Ego (Competitive) Goal Orientation:

  • Focus on comparing performance with and defeating others.

  • Task (Mastery) Goal Orientation:

  • Focus on improving relative to one's own past performances.

  • Social Goal Orientation:

  • Judging competence based on group affiliation and being liked by others.

Competence Motivation Theory

• Core Idea:

  • Individuals are motivated to feel worthy or competent.

• Key Determinants:

  • Athletes’ perceptions of competence and control are critical for their pursuit of achievements.

• Focus for Professionals:

  • Enhancing athletes' perceived competence and control should be paramount.

Self-Determination Theory

• Proposed by Deci & Ryan (1985, 2000), states that people are motivated to fulfill three basic needs:

  1. Competence:

  • Example: “I am a good runner.”

  1. Autonomy:

  • Example: A pitcher loves to decide which pitches to throw and control the game's fate.

  1. Social Connectedness or Belonging:

  • Example: A soccer player values being part of a team.

Professional Practice Implications for Guiding Achievement Motivation

• Recognize Interactions:

  • Acknowledge that personal and situational factors interact to influence achievement behavior.

• Emphasize Task Goals:

  • Highlight task goals over ego goals.

• Focus on Approach Goals:

  • Encourage approach goals rather than avoidance-based goals.

• Monitor Attributional Feedback:

  • Alter feedback related to the attribution of outcomes.

• Assess Participant Attributions:

  • Identify and correct any inappropriate attributions made by participants.

• Determine Goal Appropriateness:

  • Establish when competitive goals are applicable.

• Enhance Perceptions of Competence:

  • Focus on improving perceptions of competence and control among participants.

Using SEP: Fear of Failure and Shame (Winch, 2013)

• Psychological Threat:

  • Many individuals experience a significant psychological threat from failing, which can lead to motivations for avoiding failure exceeding motivations for achieving success.

• Sabotage of Success:

  • Fear of failure often results in unconscious self-sabotage regarding success.

• Core component of fear:

  • Fear of failure can stem from a fear of shame associated with failure.

Using SEP: Fear of Failure and Shame (Brown, 2021)

• 1-2-3s of Shame:

  • Shame is a universal emotion often not discussed.

  • The less it is talked about, the more it controls individuals.

• Definition of Shame:

  • An intensely painful feeling or experience that arises from believing one is flawed and unworthy of love, belonging, and connection; shame thrives on secrecy, silence, and judgment.

  • Relation to Perfectionism:

  • Shame often underlies perfectionism, as they are inherently linked.

Using SEP: Fear of Failure and Shame (Brown, 2021)

• Differences Between Emotions:

  • Shame:

  • Focus on self, feeling flawed, unworthy; not a motivator for positive change.

  • Guilt:

  • Focus on behavior, discomfort from actions conflicting with personal values; can motivate positive change and behavioral improvements.

Using SEP: Fear of Failure and Shame (Brown, 2021)

• Building Shame Resilience:

  • Recognize feelings of shame and identify triggers for these feelings.

  • Practice critical awareness by evaluating reality check messages and expectations that cause shame.

  • Build connections by sharing experiences and owning one's narrative to speak about shame openly, thereby reducing its hold through secrecy and silence.