Motivation and emotion/Lectures/Interventions and review

Lecture 12: Interventions and review
This is the twelfth and final lecture for the motivation and emotion unit of study.

Figure 1. Interventions to change motivation and emotion are commonly used in educational settings.

Overview

This lecture applies and reviews the motivation and emotion unit by discussing:

• interventions using motivation and emotion principles
• key points and wisdom gained

Take-home messages:

• Motivation guides engagement in behaviours that optimise well-being
• Emotions provide feedback about progress towards goals
• There is nothing so practical as a good theory

Outline

• Interventions
  • Interventions
  • Practical problems
  • Example interventions
• Review
  • Unit aims
  • Nuggets of truth / Wisdom gained
  • Review of key content

Interventions

The ultimate test of a science is whether its principles can be applied to change desired outcomes.

Motivation and emotion are malleable and can be changed and strengthened.

Interventions can develop motivational and emotional resources which promote life outcomes that people care about (e.g., engagement, learning, performance, well-being) (see Figure 1).

The key to an intervention is create and follow a plan:

1. Explain: Diagnose – why is this happening? What is motivating this person? (Remember: All behaviour is motivated.)
2. Predict: What will happen if nothing is done? What could happen if X changed? What about Y? What about Z?
3. Intervene: What principles or strategies could be applied? How could outcomes be measured? Implement step-by-step plan to alter existing conditions:
   • environment
   • relationships
   • motivation
   • emotion

Change is hard. Complex problems are unlikely to be fully resolved through initial attempts; persistence and adjusted strategies are likely to be needed. Evolve strategy with feedback. If an intervention doesn't work, think about why, and try a different approach.

Examples of brief experimental manipulations

Ch	Motivation/Emotion	Experimental manipulation
3	Trust	Squirt of oxytocin hormone via nasal spray
4	Sexual attraction	Facial metrics: Large eyes, small nose, small chin
5	Extrinsic motivation	Offering a scholarship for making high grades
6	Autonomy	Opportunity for self-direction in pursuit of a personal goal
7	Power	Election into a position of leadership
8	Discrepancy	Goal to strive for
9	Growth mindset	Einstein worked hard to become smart
10	Self-efficacy	Exposure to a highly competent role model
11	Self-control depletion	Resisting an attractive temptation for 5 minutes
12	Positive affect	Receiving a small, unexpected gift
13	Sadness	Viewing a film about a son at his Dad’s funeral
14	Embarrassment	Committing a social blunder in front of an audience
15	Incongruence	Parental negative conditional regard
16	Obsession	Keep a secret from the person you are talking to

Note. Based on Reeve (2018), Table 17.1, p. 423

Use theory to help explain the cause of what is happening. All theories are (potentially) "correct" — our job is to find the time and place when a theory can be usefully applied.

Example mini-theories

Achievement goals	Arousal	Attribution
Broaden-and-build	Cognitive dissonance	Drive
Effectance motivation	Ego depletion	Ego development
Expectancy x Value	Facial feedback	Flow
Goal setting	Implicit motives	Learned helplessness
Mindsets	Positive affect	Psychodynamics
Reactance	Self-actualisation	Self-concordance
Self-determination	Self-efficacy	Stress and coping

Note. Based on Reeve (2018, p. 424)

What theories help predict motivational and/or emotional responses to the following conditions?

• Deprivation from food and people
• Seeing a threatening (angry) face
• Smelling rotting food
• Encountering an obstacle to one's goal
• Expecting a tangible reward (e.g., money)
• Uncontrollable environment
• Failure in front of others
• Observing a competent role model
• Autonomy-supportive teacher

There are two basic strategies for intervening:

• Overcome: Fix what isn't working
  • Repair weaknesses
  • Overcome pathology
• Promote
  • Amplify strengths
  • Improve functioning

Basic intervention strategies

Overcome	Promote
Learned helplessness	Resilient self-efficacy
Hidden costs of reward	Autonomy need satisfaction
Fixed mindset	Difficult, specific, self-congruent goals
Depleted self-control	Mastery goals
Pessimistic explanatory style	Flow experience
Immature defense mechanisms	Organismic valuing process
Hubristic pride	Ego development
Malicious envy	Joy
	Gratitude

Note. Based on Reeve (2018, pp. 425–426)

Practical problems

Whilst these scenarios lack context, it should still be possible to generate some ideas about:

• Why? (explain)
• What will happen; but also, what could be? (predict)
• Implementation (application) of strategies

Explain → Predict → Intervene:

• Child not wanting to brush teeth
• Sales employee quota
• Elite athlete performance
• Weight loss
• Study motivation

These scenarios are explained in more detail below (based on Reeve, 2018, Box 17, p. 426)

Child at home

A 6-year girl resists brushing her teeth every night before bed. She finds the routine boring and doesn’t understand why it’s important. When asked to brush her teeth, she plays with the water and brushes for only a few seconds. Her parents, aware of the long-term benefits of good dental hygiene, find themselves in a constant battle to get her to complete the task properly. None of their strategies seem to work. This nightly conflict drains the family’s energy and patience.

Employee at work

A mid-level sales representative at a large company feels increasingly disillusioned with her role. Despite knowing she has the skills to sell, she faces rejection on nearly every call. Her company only measures her success through monthly quotas, providing no support for personal development or job satisfaction. She meets her quota some months, but the constant rejection and lack of recognition make her feel drained. Her confidence has eroded, and she is beginning to question whether this job aligns with her strengths and interests. She fantasises about quitting but worries about financial stability.

Athlete or musician

A promising 18-year-old athlete (or musician) is in love with her craft. She spends hours practicing, enjoys the discipline, and consistently performs well. Despite her dedication, her growth in skill level has stagnated over the past year. While her peers are progressing rapidly, she feels stuck. Coaches and teachers praise her current ability but offer no new insights on how to break through to the next level. Frustrated, she worries that no matter how hard she works, she won't reach her goal of becoming an elite performer. Her motivation remains high, but she fears plateauing permanently.

Medical patient

A middle-aged man has been advised by his physician to lose 15 kilograms to avoid serious health risks, including a possible heart attack. He acknowledges the logic of the advice but feels disconnected from the urgency of the situation. A long history of poor dietary habits and a sedentary lifestyle has left him with little confidence that he can make meaningful changes. Despite multiple attempts to exercise and eat healthier in the past, nothing has ever stuck. He feels overwhelmed by the prospect of overhauling his lifestyle and is pessimistic that the results would justify the effort.

Suffering student

A university student in his third year is taking an advanced course in a subject he thought he could handle. Despite attending lectures and completing the readings, he performed poorly on the mid-term exam, far below his usual standards. The grade was a shock, leaving him feeling embarrassed and ashamed. He begins to doubt his abilities and contemplates giving up entirely. Each new lecture feels more overwhelming, and his efforts in studying feel futile. As the second half of the semester looms, his motivation plummets, and he wishes he could just drop the course.

Nuggets of truth

After a tsunami of theories and research, let's gather your pearls or wisdom or nuggets of truth about the psychology motivation and emotion:

• What are the greatest insights, significant learnings, or best ideas you've acquired through this unit?
• What was the take-home message(s) from the chapter and presentation you worked on?

Contribute your insights to:

• Nuggets of truth (Wikiversity)

Wisdom gained

Wisdom gained from a scientific study of motivation and emotion includes that:

1. Motivation = behavioural energy, direction, and persistence
2. What we don't know about motivation and emotion exceeds what we do know
3. The brain is as much about motivation and emotion as it is about cognition and thinking
4. We underestimate how powerful a motivational force biological urges can be when not experiencing them
5. Quality of motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) is important
6. To flourish, motivation needs supportive conditions, especially supportive relationships
7. Implicit (unconscious) motives predict behaviour better than explicit (conscious) motives
8. We do our best when we have a specific plan of action to pursue a difficult, specific, and self-congruent goal
9. People with different mindsets pursue goals in different ways
10. The core self-efficacy beliefs of "I can do it" and "it will work" underlie competent functioning
11. Exert self-control over short-term urges to effectively pursue long-term goals
12. All emotions are good because they serve a functional purpose
13. Other people are the source of most of our emotions
14. The more sophisticated our emotional repertoire, the more likely we are to have the right emotions in every situation
15. Encouraging growth is more productive than trying to cure weakness
16. Motivation often arises from outside of conscious awareness
17. There is nothing so practical as a good theory

Readings

1. Chapter 17: Interventions (Reeve, 2018)

Slides

• Interventions (Google Slides)
• Review (Google Slides)

See also

• Images

Lecture

• Growth psychology (Previous lecture)

Tutorial

• Review (Tutorial)

Recording

• Lecture 12 (2024)

References

Cheon, S. H., Reeve, J., & Moon, I. S. (2012). Experimentally based, longitudinally designed, teacher-focused intervention to help physical education teachers be more autonomy supportive toward their students. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 34(3), 365–396. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.34.3.365

Izard, C. E., King, K. A., Trentacosta, C. J., Morgan, J. K., Laurenceau, J.-P., Krauthamer-Ewing, S. E., & Finlon, K. J. (2008). Accelerating the development of emotion competence in Head Start children: Effects on adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 369–397. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579408000175[1]

Yeager, D. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2013). An implicit theory of personality intervention reduces adolescent aggression in response to victimization and exclusion. Child Development, 84, 970–988. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12003