This is the 4th lecture of *[[PA Psychology of the Self]]* by [[Keith Campbell]], [[Peterson Academy]]. **Self-efficacy** is one's belief in their ability to achieve goals. ## Approach and avoidance The general term for the opposite self-regulation systems that are in tension, as they regulate reward seeking and threat avoidance. They can also be known as the gas and pedal mechanisms. We tend to treat an event in the distant future with an approach mindset, which comes with more general thinking. More specific thinking, or avoidance starts to come up the closer we get to that event. Relevant theories: - Kurt Lewin: Approach vs Avoidance (Approach avoidance gradient) - Jeffrey Gray: Behavioral activation vs Behavioral inhibition (For non-human animals' motivation systems) - Tory Higgins: Ideal self vs Ought self (From real self perspective) - Andy Elliot: Approach vs Avoidance (From motivation POV) ## Psychodynamic motivations Primary goals, motivations, or ends to orient ourselves towards, from the psychoanalytic tradition with Freud, Henry Murray. Eventually, we end up with [[David McClelland's Theory of Needs|David McClelland's theory of needs]]: - Power - Ability to control environment - Achievement - Ability to reach goals - Affiliation - Motivation to connect People generally orient themselves more in one direction more than another. ## Self-determination theory Building on the psychodynamic motivations, self-determination theorists focus on how those motivations affect the operations of the self. This [[Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory|theory]] looks at: - Autonomy (from Power) - Desire for choicefulness in one's own environment - Competence (from Achievement) - Desire for mastery over one's environment - Relatedness (from Affiliation) - Desire for social connection How does these relate to the approach and avoidance orientations? These motivations are like the flavors that the approach and avoidance orientations can take on. ## Willpower Willpower is the application of self-control in overriding short term impulses, which hinder our long term goals if not taken care of. An experiment done on children's willpower is the marshmallow test. To exercise willpower in this context is to delay gratification. The children that succeeded in demonstrating willpower did so by telling themselves stories. Roy Baumeister Ego Depletion Theory - Willpower and self-control works like muscle training, it gets weaker in the short term but stronger in the long term as it is used. Short term self control looks like overcoming impulses, such as overcoming fear to be courageous; Long term self control looks like goal and identity formation. ## Goal Regulation Theory Carver and Scheier's goal regulation theory states that our emotions are affected by our rate of change in progress towards the goal, and not the achievement of the goal itself. When the goal is achieved, there is a shutdown effect, where there is no positive emotion despite the goal being reached. ## Misregulation **Primacy of affect regulation** is when I regulate my negative emotions instead of the underlying cause of those emotions. **Symbolic self-completion** is when I feel good from attaining symbols related to goal completion without having complete the goal, like wearing an Apple t-shirt even though my goal is to work for Apple. **Escaping the self** is Roy Baumeister's idea of people that "lose themselves" for a minute with alcohol-induced myopia, or an narrow obsession in going to the gym just so they could escape the burden of their selves. ## Intrinsic Motivation **Flow state experiences** due to **internalized mastery** provides that intrinsic motivation and joy. **Art** as in drawing also produces joy, especially for children.[^1] ## Luck and Fortune In goal pursuits, luck and fortune often play a role in dictating our path. Jung calls this **synchronicity**, where acausal but meaningful connections and occur as coincidences. The ancients call this **"fortune favors the brave."** And things often don't go our way, and we need to make do with Freudian **compromise formations**. [^1]: Rewards kill joy. Lepper, Greene, Nisbett '72 educational psychology study on children's intrinsic motivation in drawing. Some kids got a reward for drawing, others (isolated) did not. Few weeks later, kids who did not get a reward wanted to draw again simply because it was fun. Kids who did get a reward did not want to draw (presumably unless offered a reward). Subject: [[Psychology]]