When the going gets tough (original) (raw)
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The motivational impact of messages about how to interpret experienced difficulty with schoolwork was tested in two studies. Students read that experienced difficulty with schoolwork is a signal either of the importance or of the impossibility of succeeding in school, rated how much they agreed, and completed a difficult task (Raven’s progressive matrices). In the absence of reactance (Study 1, N=93), students’ performance reflected an assimilation of the interpretation of experienced difficulty message to which they were randomly assigned. In the presence of conditions conducive to reactance (Study 2, N=181), the effect on performance was more complex, reflecting contrast with or assimilation to message content depending on message acceptance. Contrast (rejecting the message) bolstered performance if the message was that experienced difficulty implies that the task is impossible, whereas assimilation (accepting the message) bolstered performance if the message was that experienced difficulty implies that the task is important.
Frontiers in psychology, 2018
Does experiencing difficulty bolster or undermine future self-images, strategies to get there and actual performance? We build on four insights from prior research to predict that accessible interpretation-of-experienced-difficulty mindset shapes identity and performance. First, people have two different interpretation-of-experienced-difficulty mindsets available in memory; their difficulty-as-impossibility mindset focuses attention on difficulty as implying low odds and their difficulty-as-importance mindset focuses attention on difficulty as implying high value. Second, people are sensitive to contextual cues as to which mindset to apply to understand their experienced difficulty. Third, people apply the mindset that comes to mind unless they have reason to question why it is "on-the-mind." Fourth, social class can be thought of as a chronic context influencing how much people endorse each interpretation-of-experienced-difficulty mindset. We used subtle primes to guide p...
The effects of learned helplessness on the processing of a persuasive message
2003
The current study examines the effects of exposure to unsolvable problems on the processing of a persuasive message. Participants exposed to either unsolvable failure or no-feedback tasks were presented with one of four versions of an advertisement about a hair shampoo and rated their attitude towards this product. Two aspects of the message were manipulated: the quality of arguments (strong, weak) and the attractiveness of the communicator (attractive, non-attractive). In addition, participants rated their anxiety and the frequency of off-task thoughts during the experiment. Attitude towards the target product of participants in the failure condition was less affected by the argument's quality and more influenced by communicator attractiveness than the attitude of participants in the no-feedback condition. Participants exposed to failures reported more anxiety and task-related worries than those exposed to no-feedback, and these ratings were found to mediate the effects of failure on the processing of a persuasive message. Results were discussed in terms of Learned Helplessness theories and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. S tudies of learned helplessness (LH) in humans have shown that exposure to recurrent unsolvable problems can undermine performance on a subsequent test task (see Mikulincer, 1994, for a review). In terms of the original Learned Helplessness theory (Seligman, 1975), these deficits result from a reduction in a person's expectancy of control. Upon recurrent failure to solve a problem, people may develop the expectation that outcomes are uncontrollable and may transfer this expectation to a subsequent test task. As a result, they may put less effort into this task and consequently show performance deficits. Research has consistently shown that people who attribute failure to internal/ stable/global causes perform worse in a new task than people who make an external/ unstable/specific attribution (e.g., Mikulincer, 1986, 1988a, 1988b). Advances in theory and research have produced evidence that suggests a person's perception of control is not affected by unsolvable problems (e.g., Ford & Neale, 1985). Moreover, some studies found performance deficits following unsolvable problems without the mediation of this expectation (Kuhl, 1981; Mikulincer, 1989). These findings have informed the formulation of alternative theories that better account for the effects of unsolvable problems. One of these theories emphasizes the role of task-irrelevant cognitions (Kuhl, 1981; Mikulincer, 1989). According to this theory, exposure to unsolvable problems may strengthen a person's tendency to engage in cognitive activities focused on his/her current negative emotional state (state-oriented cognitions). This cognitive focus is hypothesized to divert attention from task-relevant
Perceived difficulty, energization, and the magnitude of goal valence
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1983
This paper examines the proposition that the mobilization of energy and consequent magnitude of valence of a potential outcome (e.g., goal) is a function of what the individual perceives can and must be done in order to attain or avoid the outcome. An outcome that is difficult to attain or avoid requires a relatively high level of energization and will be relatively attractive, if positive, or unpleasant, if negative. Outcomes that are easy or impossible to attain or avoid require little or no energization and will be relatively low in attractiveness, if positive, or low in unpleasantness, if negative. This formulation was supported by four experiments that demonstrated (a) attractiveness of a goal is a nonmonotonic function of perceived difficulty of attaining it; (b) unpleasantness of a potential negative outcome is a nonmonotonic function of perceived difficulty of avoiding it: (c) the nonmonotonic effect of perceived difficulty on goal attractiveness disappears once instrumental behavior has been completed; and (d)
Goal orientations, coping with school failure and school achievement
European Journal of Psychology of Education, 2006
The present study examined the relationship between goal orientation, coping with school failure and school achievement. Two questionnaires, Goal Orientation (Niemivirta, 1996a) and The School Failure Coping Scale (Rijavec & Brdar, 1997), were administered to 1057 high school students (aged from 15 to 17 years). The first goal of this study was to explore whether students can be classified in groups according to their goal orientation. The results identified four clusters of students with different achievement profiles: learning oriented, work-avoidance oriented, both performance and learning oriented and both performance and work-avoidance oriented group. Learning oriented group used emotion-focused coping the least frequently while students with combined performance and work avoidanc orientation used this kind of coping the most frequently. The second goal was to test the relationship between goal orientation patterns and the adoption of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies, and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that goal orientation could predict school achievement directly and indirectly through coping strategies. Coping strategies were considered as mediators between goal orientation and school achievement. Path analysis demonstrated that direct effects of goal orientation on school achievement were not significant. The relationship between goal orientation and school achievement was mediated by coping strategies. La présente étude a étudié le rapport entre l’orientation vers un but en confrontation avec l’échec et le succès scolaires. Deux questionnaires: l’Orientation vers un But (Niemivirta, 1996a) et l’Echelle Relative l’Echec Scolaire (Rijavec & Brdar, 1997) ont été remplis par 1057 élèves de l’enseignement secondaire (âgés de 15 à 17 ans). Le premier objectif de cette étude était de constater si les élèves pouvaient être classés par groupes en fonction de l’orientation vers un but. Les résultats ont donné quatre clusters d’élèves avec différents profils d’accomplissement: orientés vers l’aquisition de savoir, orientés vers l’évitement du travail, orientés aussi bien vers l’acquisiton de savoir que les performances et orientés aussi bien vers l’évitement du travail que les performances. Les groupes orientés vers l’acquisiton de savoir ont recouru à la confrontation focalisée sur l’émotion le plus rarement, tandis que les élèves avec la combinaison des performances et de l’évitement du travail ont fait recours à cette sorte de confrontation le plus souvent. Le deuxième objectif était de tester le rapport entre, d’une part, les échantillons et l’adoption de deux types de stratégies de confrontation et, d’autre part, entre ces buts et stratégies et le succès académique. Il avait été supposé que l’orientation vers un but pourrait prévoir le succès scolaire directement ou indirectement au moyen des stratégies de confrontation. Ces stratégies de confrontation ont été considérées comme médiateurs entre l’orientation vers un but et le succès scolaire. Les résultats de l’analyse des pistes causales ont démontré que les effets directs de l’orientation vers un but sur le succès scolaire n’ont pas été significatifs. Les stratégies de confrontation ont médiatisé le rapport entre l’orientation vers un but et le succès scolaire.
International Journal of Developmental Science, 2020
The experiment analyzed reactions of 115 first-to fourth-graders after realizing that they performed worse than they expected in a computer game. Based on the VIOLEX model of expectation violation, we assessed immunization against achievement feedback, assimilation (striving to increase performance), and accommodation (willingness for expectation change). Students decreased their expectations for the next round of the game after getting feedback indicating that they performed worse than expected, and younger students decreased their expectation more than older students did. After giving them some time for thinking about their achievement (and for finding potential excuses for the lower-than-expected performance), younger students slightly increased their expectation, while older students showed a further drop in expectation. Analyses of verbal responses showed that immunizing against the discrepant feedback was followed by an increase in expectations, whereas assimilative and accommodative tendencies did not predict persistence and change in expectations. Conclusions are drawn for future research.
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business
There are countless studies about the influence of other people’s emotions on individuals' behavior. However, the influence of proponents' and opponents' future emotions on achievement motivation remains unclear. This study aims to fill this gap. Therefore, departing from the emotional intelligence theory, the author materializes the anticipated emotions of other people concept and tests it using a static group experimental design with success and failure scenarios, involving 203 participants chosen judgmentally. When reminded of the proponents' joyfulness caused by their success, the Mann-Whitney U test with normal approximation, supported by the Monte Carlo estimation, shows that the mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals of the experimental group are enhanced. Whereas, when reminded that they would be envied and make the opponents feel distressed, the performance-approach goals are improved. In the failure scenario, when the parti...
The upside: How people make sense of difficulty matters in a crisis
2022
We tested the prediction that how people respond to all-encompassing life difficulties that may require taking on novel difficult tasks or goals is a function of what they infer about their identities from these experiences of difficulty. We focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and identity-based motivation theory to test our predictions (N=698 U.S. adults, three datasets). People were more likely to see silver linings if they endorsed difficulty-as-importance (experienced difficulties with a task/goal as implying its importance) and difficulty-as-improvement (experienced life difficulties as possibly making them better people). Our structural equation models revealed that people who endorsed difficulty-as-importance were more likely to mask, distance, and wash hands in large part because they saw a silver lining for themselves in the pandemic; for difficulty-as-improvement, effects on action were fully mediated by seeing silver linings. Taken together, our results suggest that people a...
MAKING SENSE OF DIFFICULTY DURING A CRISIS
Journal of Self and Identity, 2022
We tested the prediction that how people respond to all-encompassing life difficulties that may require taking on novel difficult tasks or goals is a function of what they infer about their identities from these experiences of difficulty. We focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and identity-based motivation theory to test our predictions (N=698 U.S. adults, three datasets). People were more likely to see silver linings if they endorsed difficulty-as-importance (experienced difficulties with a task/goal as implying its importance) and difficulty-asimprovement (experienced life difficulties as possibly making them better people). Our structural equation models revealed that people who endorsed difficulty-as-importance were more likely to mask, distance, and wash hands in large part because they saw a silver lining for themselves in the pandemic; for difficulty-as-improvement, effects on action were fully mediated by seeing silver linings. Taken together, our results suggest that people apply their difficulty-as-importance and difficulty-as-improvement mindsets to cope with novel life difficulties.