MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS, GOALS AND STYLES

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MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS, GOALS AND STYLES

• Damon Burton
• University of Idaho

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GOAL MODEL OF MOTIVATION

• (Antecedents)
  (Consequences)
• Beliefs about
  Motivational
• Talent Goals
  Styles
• Capacity Outcome Success-
• 
  Failure-Oriented
• Learning Process
  Mastery
• or Performance
  Oriented

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BELIEFS ABOUT TALENT INTELLIGENCE

• Capacity beliefs intelligence and sport ability
  are fixed and unchangeable.
• The worst thing is to look dumb or incompetent
• Talent is measured now and far into the future.
• Learning beliefs intelligence and talent are
  changeable and controllable.
• The worst thing is to not learn.
• Talent is measured for the present but not for
  the future.

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ROLE OF EFFORT IN TALENT BELIEFS

• Capacity beliefs high ability means you
  shouldnt have to work hard.
• They feel smart when others struggle.
• They perceive a negative relationship between
  effort and performance.
• Learning beliefs hard work always is necessary
  to reach your potential.
• They feel smart when they help others or bring
  out the best in others.
• They perceive a positive relationship between
  effort and performance.
• Effort will get your somewhere better as long as
  you work hard.

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BELIEFS-GOAL RELATIONSHIPS

• Outcome Goals Outcome
  Goals Performance Goals
• Low Challenge High
  Challenge High Challenge
• Capacity 50 32
  18
• Learning 10 29 61

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BELIEFS PREDICT JUNIOR HIGH TRANSITION

• 7th grade important transition that is stressful
  to adolescents because
• work gets suddenly harder,
• workload becomes greater,
• grading is more stringent,
• grades become more important and
• instruction is less personalized.

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IMPACT OF BELIEFS ON FAILURE RESPONSES

• 
  Learning Capacity Depressed
• Group Group
  Group
• Global Self-Putdown 2 7
  6
• Intellectual Blame 3 8
  7
• Negative Affect 4 8
  8.5

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HOW ARE BELIEFS DEVELOPED?

• Feedback patterns have a major impact on beliefs.
• If feedback focuses on traits (e.g., youre very
  talented) to explain success or lack of talent to
  explain failure, capacity beliefs develop.
• If feedback focuses on effort and strategy as the
  keys to success and failure, learning beliefs
  develop

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WHAT ARE MOTIVATIONAL STYLES?

• Motivational Styles are specific motivational
  patterns adopted by performers based on their
  beliefs about talent, how they define
  success/failure (i.e., place highest priority on
  outcome versus process/performance goals) and
  perceived competence.
• These motivational patterns have a profound
  impact of Flow, long-term development and
  performance.

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MOTIVATIONAL STYLES

• mastery-oriented
• success-seekers or
• success-oriented
• failure-avoiders or
• failure-oriented

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MASTERY-ORIENTED (MO)

• Process and performance goals are given highest
  priority in defining success.
• They feel successful when they learn, improve and
  master tasks.
• Perceived competence doesnt influence MO
  performers as long as they believe they can learn
  and get better.

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FAILURE AVOIDERS (FA)

• Outcome goals are given highest priority in
  defining success.
• They feel successful when they win and socially
  compare well.
• FAs normally have low perceived competence
  because they lose often.
• Motivation eventually switches from striving for
  success to trying to avoid failure.

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SUCCESS-SEEKERS (SS)

• Outcome goals are given highest priority in
  defining success.
• They feel successful when they win and socially
  compare well.
• FAs normally have high perceived competence
  because they win or place high often.

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MASTERY-ORIENTED

• Outlook about Competition positive and
  optimistic
• Attributions for Success effort
• Attributions for Failure effort
• Effort Expenditure consistently maximal effort,
• Task Choice very difficult tasks or opponents,
  and
• Response to Failure great persistence that
  prompts increases effort and improves problem
  solving

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FAILURE-AVOIDERS

• Outlook about Competition negative and
  pessimistic,
• Attributions for Success luck or an easy task,
• Attributions for Failure lack of ability,
• Effort Expenditure low on moderate difficulty
  task and high on easy tasks,
• Task Choice very easy or very difficult tasks
  or opponents, and
• Response to Failure give up quickly and quit
  trying will drop out if they can.

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SUCCESS-SEEKERS

• Outlook about Competition positive and
  optimistic,
• Attributions for Success high ability,
• Attributions for Failure effort,
• Effort Expenditure just high enough effort to
  win,
• Task Choice moderately difficult tasks, and
• Response to Failure moderate persistence as
  long as they think they can win, prompting
  increased effort and improved problem solving

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WHAT IS AN ATTRIBUTION?

• Attributions are reasons given to explain
  successes and failures.
• Weiner (1985) suggests that we each act as naïve
  psychologists trying to understand the reasons
  for why a particular outcome occurs.
• For example, a girl may try to figure out why she
  lost a tennis match or did poorly on an exam.

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WHY ARE ATTRIBUTIONS IMPORTANT?

• Motivational is cyclical in nature. How you do
  in one competition influences your motivation for
  future competitions.
• KEY POINT Two factors are important for
  determining future motivation.
• consistent success at challenging tasks,
• taking credit for your success due to factors you
  control such as effort and skill,

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WEINERS (1972) ATTRIBUTION MODEL
External
Internal
Task Difficulty Coaching
Ability
Stable
Effort Strategy Preparation Performance
Luck Officiating
Unstable
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• The
• End