This movie has concepts from Chapter 5. Though as usual, you can also remark on other concepts from other chapters.
Your comment does not need to provide an overview of the movie (we have all seen it). Your comment should be an in-depth analysis of one or more principles from your text. You should use scenes and characters to provide examples of textbook concepts. Your comment should reflect that you are in an upper division, university level Motivation and Emotion course and clearly link elements from the movie to the textbook. This is a comprehensive assignment (linking course lectures, textbook, and the movie) and you cannot do that in just a few short paragraphs.
BE SPECIFIC. At the bottom of your comment, please put a list of the ME terms you used.
James has great motivation to keep boxing even though he gets the crap kicked out of him during the matches. Even through the broken hand and wrist, he needs to box in order to get paid and keep food on the table for his family. Money is tight and boxing is not bringing much money to the table, the Braddock’s have a lot of bills past due. Before the depression he was making over $800 per match and during the depression he made $50 per match. Intrinsic motivation is very powerful and influential and James’ motivation to maintain his family is great enough to keep him going in the depression. Hull’s drive theory was displayed heavily in this movie, hunger, thirst and sex. James was hungry enough to eat a portion of hash like a dog; he could not wait for a spoon. His family suffered to the extent that a Braddock child was externally motivated to steal food for his family to stay together. James was motivated, intrinsically to keep boxing and reach for the fame and fortune which may come along with greatness and pride. During the last match, James’ main motivation was to survive. His motives for boxing changed throughout the entirety of this movie, from feeding his family to life and death.
Extrinsic motivations from the lack of money and the depression lead him to stand in line for extra work shifts. The negative reinforcements of losing electricity, losing his job and a sick child extrinsically motivated James to find work and Mae to send her kids away. The extrinsic motivation of losing his kids set aside James’ pride. He begged for money from the same people he used to box for and whom he was friends with before the depression. His desperation allowed him to get his children back and pay the bills.
Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations work together at times, it is not easy separating a result into extrinsic versus intrinsic. Both pushed James to fight the number two boxer in the nation even though he has not boxed in some time. He knew he was going to get the crap beat out of him, but the reward outweighed the cost.
James’ physiological needs are not a great factor, such as internal and external bleeding and broken bones, otherwise he would not keep boxing. His children eating, bills being paid are motivation enough for his physiological needs to be in second place. Boxer’s brain biology must be different than of a nonboxer. Just as we discussed in class, those who like to skydive have different hormone and neurotransmitter transmission that those who dislike the idea of skydiving. The thought of being in a confined area and knowing I will get beat up is not appealing. The motivation to keep working even with a broken hand helped him out in the end, working out his left arm, leading him to win the fight.
Terms: motivation, Intrinsic motivation, Hull’s drive theory, hunger, thirst and sex, externally motivated, Extrinsic motivations, negative reinforcements, physiological needs.
This movie is full of extrinsic motivations. Due to the time period and desperation of the characters, a majority of behaviors are motivated by external rewards. The Braddock family lacks in physiological needs at the beginning of the movie, that external rewards were needed to stay alive and together.
Extrinsic
Jay found motivation to steal salami when his friend was sent away to Delaware because his parents could no longer afford to feed him. He got scared and felt the need to steal food so that he would avoid a punishment (getting sent away). His motive to steal was extrinsic (external regulation) as the punishment he was trying to avoid was in the external environment. The consequence for his behavior however was not a good one. Getting in trouble was a “punisher” that kept him from stealing again.
Jim owes everybody money in the beginning of the movie and that motivates him to keep fighting even though his hand is broken. The money he would receive for winning is enough of an extrinsic motivation to keep fighting through the pain. That money symbolizes food, electricity, his kids’ welfare, and life to the Braddock family.
When Mae is Praying I got to thinking about whether this was intrinsic or extrinsic, and I decided it was both. She was praying in hopes that God would hear her and something good would come out of it. Jim didn’t pray because after so long of not receiving his reward he lost motivation. Not receiving a reward you are expecting after time becomes a “punisher” and decreases motivation. Intrinsic motivation can also bring somebody to pray. Feeling good spiritually can be good for a person’s psychological well being. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivators are both likely to compel Mae to pray.
My last example of extrinsic motivation is when Jim gets public assistance. He had way too much pride to show his face in that office any other time in his life. His intrinsic motivation to not go to go to that office was the shame he felt as a man and was tried to keep him from the behavior. However, the money (reward) was a strong enough extrinsic motivation to motivate his behavior to ask for assistance.
Intrinsic
Joe’s pep talks before fights are to spark Jim’s intrinsic motivations. He talks about how strong he is, how effective his boxing is, and how much better he is than the opponent. Joe knows that that kind of motivation works better than if he would talk about how much money they would get. However, Joe’s own motivation to give those speeches is extrinsic in hoping it will help Jim win, and bring in money for the both of them.
The rich people’s motivation to help Jim when he is in need is intrinsic. Helping a friend in need makes them feel good about themselves, but here was no reward in it for them other than the fact that intrinsic motivation is better for psychological well-being.
Jim has intrinsic motivation once he is back in the ring. He gets a silly little smile on his face and you can tell he just loves being in the ring. Although he still gets paid, which is extrinsic, once the crowd is cheering and he feels that glory of being in the boxing ring, his intrinsic motivation somewhat took over.
Jim said he knows what he is fighting for in his press conference before his big fight to explain his comeback. Although money was very important to the Braddock family, it was not enough of a reward to keep Jim fighting like a winner. The good feelings he has from having his family with him and the competence he feels as a good father when he can provide for his family is strong intrinsic motivators. He is doing better in his comeback because he figured out he had to put more focus on his intrinsic motivators other than worry so much about his extrinsic motivators. His wife being behind him, the town putting their hope in him, and his kids being proud of him proved to be stronger motivation than the cash reward ever was. As the book states, “the higher a person’s intrinsic motivation, the greater will be his or her persistence on that task.”
In the end of the movie Mae starts crying and screaming when her husband wins. Her doing that shows strong intrinsic motivation to behave in such a way. She is so overcome with joy and happiness for her husband she could not help herself.
ME Terms
Intrinsic, extrinsic, motivation, rewards, punisher, external regulation, psychological well being, competence
James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) is a boxer during the Great Depression. He shows some intrinsic motivation throughout the movie. Being a boxer gave Jim a feeling of freedom and power. (Autonomy) (He had to gain those feelings back after the start of the depression.) His career was very effective (competence) because he was the only fight who had never been knocked out and he met the challenge every fight to keep that status. Braddock also felt emotionally close (relatedness) to the sport. It gave him a place in society and he knew everyone in his profession. (Example: He tells Mr. Johnson that he isn’t scared of fighting Max Bear because boxing is his “Profession” and he knows the dangers he could face in the ring.)
The extrinsic motivation in this film is obvious. Everyone in this film is extrinsically motivated. It’s set during the Great Depression and everyone was trying to earn money, find food, shelter and to just stay alive. Jim shows a huge amount of extrinsic motivation when his family needs money to for food. Jim has a broken hand from one of his fights and he covers is with black shoe polish so that Jake (The manager on the docks) won’t notice that he has a broken hand. Jim gets the job and even with a broken hand he lifts heavy bales so that his family can eat. He also shows extrinsic motivation when his wife May sends their kids away so that they can stay warm. Jim goes to his old employer to beg for money so that he can turn the heat back on in his apartment to get his kids back.
Jim shows introjected regulation when he runs into Max Bear at a nice restaurant the night of the fight. Max asks Jim not to take the fight because he’s killed two men and Jimmy is obviously older and will most likely die as well. Jim decides not to take in or truly accept Max’s words and instead triumphs. He also shows this term throughout the film with his wife May. She doesn’t like that he boxes and it makes her nervous. She tries to make him feel a little uneasy about the fights so that he will stop boxing.
Braddock also shows identified regulation when he gets money to retrain to box. (Towards the end of the film.) He is self-determined to win not only to beat Max Bear but to prove that he is still strong, to realize his dream and to earn some money that will keep his family secure for the rest of their lives.
Terms: Motivation, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Punishment, Introjected Regulation, Identified Regulation
In the movie Cinderella man, we watched James Braddock the boxer and his boxing career set in the great depression. This movie was extremely related to our chapter 5 of motivation and emotion. There were certain principles that stuck out to me.
Extrinsic motivation was shown throughout the entire movie. James and his family were well off in the beginning of the movie in 1929. James was making good money in his boxing career and owned a house with his wife and kids. This all changed a couple years later when the great depression hit. They moved to an apartment and were late on all of their bills. They didn’t have money for milk, and was adding water to make it go further. It was then that extrinsic motivation kicked in. James needed to fight and work so he could receive money. This money was a reward that motivated him. He needed the money for various reasons. Hulls Drive theory also relates this particular part of motivation. James needed basic necessities for him and his family such as food and water. It also goes a little further and the family was needed shelter and heat for the winter months. Extrinsic motivation was also making him stress his body. He was boxing and working labor jobs with a broken hand. He was working as hard as everyone else so he would be chosen to work. Extrinsic motivation was applied to James’s entire family. His oldest son was caught by their mother stealing meat from a butcher shop. He later confessed that he had stolen the food for their family to eat so they could all stay together. He didn’t want to be given away to a different family.
Negative reinforcement was adding to the extrinsic motivation. He had lost his boxing license, his electricity and was losing his kids. This made him so motivated for money to pay for his bills he went for government assistance all while being ashamed, and traveling to ask money from his former boxing acquaintances. In this scene it was emotional to see the pain and need in his face and his embarrassment.
There was also some intrinsic motivation. In the beginning he was boxing for intrinsic motivation. Although he was getting paid a good amount of money, it was his passion. He thoroughly enjoyed boxing. It was then that the ‘hidden cost of reward’ comes into play. Once the great depression hit, James needed the reward from extrinsic motivation. He needed the money, so he was not doing it just because he loved it now.
Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, Hulls drive theory, reward, negative reinforcement, hidden cost of reward
Cinderella Man
Just to start off this post, I wanted to say that having never seen this movie before, I thought it was amazing! Cinderella Man is a truly inspirational movie and I take back all the doubts I had about having to watch this movie. That being said, this film provided a great number of examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as some other concepts we learned from the previous chapters. However, I want to mainly focus on James’ transition in motivational drive that occurred over the span of his boxing career.
The first match I want to focus on is the Mount Vernon fight; the fight that ended in no contest and ultimately caused James’ contract to be revoked. The way I perceived it James motivation to even agree to this fight was entirely guided by external regulation, a type of extrinsic motivation. External regulation can be seen as the kind of motivation used “to get a consequence.” In this particular example, James entered the fight with hopes that he would receive a monetary reward. He also hoped that this reward in return would satisfy another external demand, which was to pay off past due bills and to provide for his family. However, this type of motivation often leads to poor functioning and poor outcomes. James’ definitely did not give his best fight and that in turn led to him not receiving any money for the fight and his contract being revoked.
The second match against Corn Griffin was also another example of James’ behavior being influenced by extrinsic motivation. This time, the two components behind the “hidden cost of reward” came into play. Expectancy occurred when James was approached by Joe; obviously he knew Joe wanted something from him and this caught his interest right away. Joe then offered James $250 dollars, a tangible reward, if he were to box against Corn Griffin the next night without any training. Before this, James had little motivation to fight. However, expecting to get a monetary reward that could potentially help out his family definitely influenced his decision to fight in the end.
In the few weeks before the fight, Mae had told James that even after all they had been through; this was the one fight that she could not support. Frustrated and feeling down, it was hard to tell if James would be able to find the drive to do well in the fight. However, right before he was due to enter the ring, Mae showed up to tell James that she would support him. She told him, “You can’t win without me behind you.” This scene provided a great example of how the cognitive evaluation theory works. In this theory, the psychological needs of competence and autonomy must be met. Of the three propositions stated in the text, the second proposition was acted out. Although James had already made his decision to fight, Mae’s support provided that external support that helped increase his competence in his decision; thus, promoting James’ intrinsic motivation to fight.
In the end, this proved to be very useful because even after everyone told him to back away in the last round, he chose to fight back against Baer. This to me displayed a great amount of intrinsic motivation because in the end he was going out in the way he wanted to fight; he did not give in to the demands of outside forces and only listened to what his heart was telling him to do.
Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, external regulation, reward, external demand, “hidden cost of reward”, expectancy, tangibility, cognitive evaluation theory, competence, autonomy
Today (Tuesday) I went to our regular Thursday classroom to watch the movie. No one ever showed up to show the movie. Earlier tonight I drove across town to a friend's house to watch the movie on Netflix, but it wasn't on Netflix. Then, I went to Family Video on 18th Street and of course it was out of stock until this coming Sunday. I am done wasting my time looking for this movie since it wasn't even important enough for someone to show up to the designated class time to show it. Pretty FRUSTRATING to say the least.
I googled the movie and saw a brief synopsis of it. I will give a very brief link to the book from the main plot I discovered online. I will not give a detailed comment since I wasted nearly 2 hours trying to find and watch the movie today without any luck.
The main character appears to be on the frits of his boxing career. Everyone has given up on this once superstar. However, due to his intrinsic motivation (more specifically integrated regulation), he works his way through the ranks to take on the heavyweight champion of the world. He is not driven by extrinsic rewards of praise or money. He is driven by love and honor for hisself and his family, what he values most. He has an unbelievable work ethic and his family is the reason for it because of how much he values them. This is the reason he has achieved the highest level of integrated regulation. He may have been previously extrinsically motivated when he was in his prime, but this changed when they flash forward five years.
ME Terms: Intrinsic Motivation, extrinsic motivation, integrated regulation
In the beginning of Cinderella Man, we follow the story of James Braddock, a young boxer in the prime of his career. Things are going great for him and his family, as winning his matches keeps the money flowing and his family lives a very comfortable life. At this point, he was intrinsically motivated to box, as he truly enjoyed his job. Fast forward four years into the great depression and James begins to have a difficult time putting food on the table for his wife and three children. He digs down deep inside of himself to continue to provide the best he can for his family, whatever the cost.
When the depression begins, Jim’s career begins to take a turn for the worse. He gets paid a mere fraction of what he originally received during his golden years, and he is winning far fewer matches. Jim boxes because of extrinsic motivation. The little money he does receive is used to pay off bills and obtain food for his family, and this is his largest motivator to continue boxing. After a particularly upsetting match involving breaking his hand, Jim is removed from the league.
It is after Jim’s boxing career goes on hiatus that we truly see how motivated of a character he is. Each day he wakes up, Jim goes off to the shipyard to try to get a shift of work. He does this do to external regulation; he is merely trying to make ends meet, and he clearly does not enjoy working with a broken hand. His kids are also feeling the pain of the depression, and Jay steals from a butcher shop to provide food for the family. Even though Jim could truly use the food, he takes it back to the shop where it was stolen. Claiming that he will always find a way and will not jeopardize his family’s values, Jim is motivated by integrated regulation.
When approached about entering one more fight for a large sum of money, Jim accepts due to identified regulation. He believes that this fight is important and will be his last, and the money he receives will be a beneficial reward to paying the bills for his family. After the fight, he receives a contract again and is lined up for fights. During a brutal fight against Art Lasky, a few of Jim’s ribs are broken. Even so, he fights through the pain due to extrinsic motivation; his family needs the money.
Before the final fight of the film, Jim is made well aware that his opponent has previously killed two men in the ring. He is urged on by the common-folk who consider him a hero, and begged to back down by his wife who wishes not to become a widow. It is here that the “hidden cost of reward” is truly shown. While Jim understands that the money is important, he also comes to terms with the fact that the punishment from this round could cost him his life. Towards the end of the fight, his love for him family helps give him the necessary energy to come back and beat his opponent.
Jim devoted his life to keeping his family safe and provided for, even at the cost of his autonomy. At one stage early on, Jim started collecting assistance from the government, against his will. However, later on in the film when he was better off financially, Jim returned the money because it was no longer necessary. He did this due to internal regulation, as he valued what he earned, and did wish to take what he did not need.
All of Jim’s selfless choices came down to doing what he had to do to keep his family afloat. Jim’s drive for the people he kept close in his life is quite admirable, and his unending motivation to fight through the pain gave his family everything they needed to stay alive.
Terms : Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, external regulation, internal regulation, identified regulation, “hidden cost of reward”, reward, punishment
There are a lot of concepts from chapter 5 and other chapters that are present in the movie Cinderellaman. The movie takes place in the 1920’s during the Great Depression, a time when most people were really hurting for money. Extrinsic motivation is depicted in the movie in the form of money, the main character Jim has a lot going on in his life and with his family and money, above all else, is what motivates him to keep fighting. On the other hand, there is a big factor of intrinsic motivation in the way of autonomy. As the Great Depression consumes the local economy and people are losing their jobs, the sense of control is almost erased. Jim regains that feeling of being able to provide for his family by exercising his autonomy.
Hull’s drive theory is possibly the concept that stands out most to me in the movie. If someone can get the crap kicked out of them and still be driven by motivation to take action (continue fighting) they must be extremely influenced by what’s going on in their life. Another aspect of Hull’s drive theory is when Jim goes to receive government assistance for his bills, we are prefaced in the movie that Jim is a very proud man and that he holds his family’s needs above his own. The fact that he is moved to action despite his pride shows the extent of his determination to escape the situation.
Expectancy theory is shown when Jim fights and works hard to prepare himself because he is expecting a reward. In other words, the only reason Jim showed any interest in fighting was because he thought if he did well it would mean money for his family and ultimately happiness among them all. I think this kind of ties in with the hidden cost of reward that we see. The reward Jim desires is money, and because he is so desperate for that money that’s all he can see. Focused on the money, Jim neglects his body’s signals and gets himself into a situation where he may die if he continues to fight.
Jim does all of this for the improvement of the lives of his family; this may be the strongest form of motivation. Jim puts his most important needs (physiological) in the back seat while he strives to satisfy the less important need of others (comfort/safety).
ME Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, autonomy, Hull’s Drive Theory, expectancy, reward, desire, physiological needs, motivation.
Cinderella Man is a movie filled with examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The intrinsic motivations for James’s boxing career are displayed during the beginning of the movie when his career going well and he and his family are satisfied with life. He boxes, at this point, for the intrinsic motivations of pride and satisfaction. He truly enjoys the sport and it makes him happy when he succeeds.
The extrinsic motivations became obvious when the Great Depression set in and the Braddock family wealth was decimated. Hull’s Drive Theory is present when the family moves to the new apartment and they are running short on food and water. They water down the milk in order to make it last longer. James displays the theory when he eats the piece of hash ferociously because he has a great physiological need for food. The extrinsic motivations are obvious enough. James is motivated to perform in order to earn money to feed his family. Joe offers James $250 dollars, a reward, if he fights Griffen the next night regardless of what kind of shape he is in. James has expectancy form for the reward of money, and his motivation to help his family is once again prevalent. A piece of meat also served as extrinsic motivation for his son when steals it from the butcher shop.
James shows a high amount of integrated regulation when he returns the piece of meat to the butcher, because he would rather have his value system intact than compromised, even when the family is desperate for food. James’ pride is also sacrificed for an extrinsic motivator when he applies for government assistance in order to pay his bills. This government assistance diminishes his autonomy because he is relying on someone else for his well-being. Keeping the family alive and well was the driving motivation behind these actions.
Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, motivation, integrated regulation, reward, expectancy, autonomy, physiological need
“Cinderella Man” is a movie that shows a lot of motivation not just from Russell Crowe, who played Jim, but from everyone because this movie was taking place during the time of The Great Depression the worst time our country has ever seen from financial downfall. So many people went to such great lengths just to survive for so long, and even today the only people that could ever really understand the extreme hardships is those who actually lived through it. Though the Great Depression is part of the movie that's not what this blog is about this blog is about the motivating factors that Russell and his fellow actors had to portray in this movie.
The movie starts off with Russell having a tremendous winning streak and was at the top of his game at that time thinking that nothing could possible go wrong. Since Russell had nothing to worry about he his dopamine levels are at a constant high since he received money, food, and sex to his max everyday making him stay at a constant homeostatic state. All this though came crashing down when the financial troubles for so many peaked at an all time high. Russell was instead of at an all time high from the high levels of dopamine he now was in a constant state of disarray in his psychological drives and physiological needs. The inevitable lack of food, warmth, personal health, and so on his cortisol levels became ever increasing which seemed to be no end until Russell finally got a fight.
Psychological drive and physiological needs became apparent from the start of the scene which stated that Russell's family has been dealing with four years of The Great Depression already. When Russell's little daughter woke up and wanted to eat she was only given a tiny bit of food since there was vary little to give around so she asked if she could have more, but like I said earlier there was not enough. Russell than goes on about a dream of him eating a ton of food saying he was full and then giving his meal to his daughter which this shows due to his care for his family the psychological drive of his appetite had been greatly diminished. The only time that you finally hear that Russell is actually hungry is when his stomach growls and scarfs down his food is when he goes back to boxing. Physiological needs were more noticeable in the kids some examples would be due to lack of food the eldest son stole food from a butcher. Another example is the lack of nourishment and warmth the children started becoming sick since their body's had little ability to maintain itself and to compensate for this Renee sent them to a place where they could be warm.
There were many external motivators throughout this movie. Since Russell's family desperately needed food, electricity, and heat plus getting fired from his boxing career due to many misfortunes he had to adapt to a new lifestyle of working at a dock whenever he had the chance to make some money since his only incentive was his family at the time. Positive reinforcement was a very common reinforcer in this movie which had many examples, but the main one was Russell going back to boxing, and winning money so he could make his children happy by being able to put food on the table. There was also some negative reinforcement is this movie as well, and the best example I can think of would be of Renee Zellweger, who played Mae, because she told Russell when he was going to fight Craig Bierko, who played Max Baer, that she would constantly pray Russell would get hurt just enough so he had to quit. When Russell did break his hand earlier on in the movie Renee was happy because Russell would not fight anymore, and she would be able to see him everyday.
Terms: Dopamine, cortisol, psychological drive, physiological needs, external motivation, adaptation, incentive, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement
Cinderella Man showed many examples of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The very beginning of the movie displayed boxer James Braddock and his family when they were doing well. He was successful boxer, winning a lot of matches and bringing in enough money for him, his wife, and his three children to have a great life. At that time, I believe James was intrinsically motivated to continue his boxing career. It was something he enjoyed, and when money wasn’t tight, that wasn’t the most important thing. He was motivated to keep boxing because he was good at it and he wanted to make others proud. However, that quickly changed during the Great Depression. James and his family could no longer afford their house, so they moved to an apartment. They could no longer pay their bills and could hardly afford to put food on the table for their family.
Physiological needs became an issue when their family began to go hungry and in desperate need of food and water. James became extrinsically motivated to continue fighting so he could fulfill these physiological needs for him and his family. His son, Jay, even becomes extrinsically motivated to steal from the butcher so they would have food to eat. He is worried that his parents won’t be able to afford to keep them there, so he takes it upon himself to try and get food for his family. James is extrinsically motivated every day to get up and try and get some shifts at work, just as many other men are. He rarely gets any shifts, but he keeps trying. Even after he breaks his hand boxing, he goes and tries to find work and ends up working with a broken hand because he is that motivated to get any money he can to provide for his family.
The family begins having really bad luck—in other words, negative reinforcement continues to occur, increasing the James’s extrinsic motivation. These negative reinforcements can be seen when James loses his boxing license, and can no longer fight. As mentioned before, he also now has a broken hand from a fight which makes it more difficult for him to work. He now has no way of earning money, and his family’s electricity gets shut off because they can’t afford it. Mae, James’s wife, decides to send the kids away temporarily because they begin to get sick when they have no electricity or heat. James made a promise in the beginning to his son that he would never send him away and they need a certain amount of money to turn it back on, so James is motivated to go to the emergency relief administration to get money, and he finds any other ways of earning money that he can, including donations from his friends.
I think the extrinsic motivation in this movie is very strong because James will do anything he can to earn money for his family. He puts his family’s needs before his own needs and never stops working towards trying to make a better life for his family.
Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, physiological needs, negative reinforcement.
The movie Cinderella Man is set during the time of the Great Depression. It tells the story James Braddock, a soon to be sports legend, but once the Great Depression hit in the 1930’s, the ex-prizefighter seemed to be beaten up and down for the count, much like the rest of the American population. Chapter 5 relates heavily to this movie because it demonstrates the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and all or most of its supporting parts.
Intrinsic motivation is “the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and in doing so, seek out and master optimal challenges”, according to the book. James did just that in the movie. Being unable to pay his bills, the only thing that meant anything to him was his family he was going to do anything for them. Fueled by motivation and persistence, he did everything he could for his family to get them some type of income so he could support them. He spent time working as a manual labor, even with a broken hand. His will to enter the ring, given the chance by his manager and friend Joe, shows the concept of incentive. The money was the incentive for James to enter the ring, against the wishes of his wife Mae, in order to get just a little money so that he could support his family. The book talks about the concept of competition and how it can be used to control someone’s behavior. “When the social context puts a good deal of pressure on winning, competitors usually compete with a sense of contingency, pressure, and doing others’ work”. Although it goes on to say that competition decreases intrinsic motivation, I believe that this statement fits really well into the whole concept of the movie. Mae, James’s wife, is also seen praying a lot. This can go with both concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Internally, Mae may find peace in praying for her husband to do well in his next fight, for him to stop fighting, to find relief from the Great Depression etc. so she prays because she wants to be heard by God and helped. Extriniscally speaking, the situation that the family is may cause her to pray.
The cognitive evaluation theory which states that “people have psychological needs for autonomy and competence…it is the controlling aspect of an external event that affects the persons need for autonomy”. The autonomy in the movie is James’s decision whether he should take on the fight or not. Support from Mae helps him create a more competent decision, which in turn, solidifies his intrinsic motivation to fight. Extrinsic motivation is also in the film. The Great Depression itself could be a motivating extrinsic factor not just for James’s family but for the American people in general. Because of the Great Depression, James’s is once again willing to do anything to make his family happy.
Identified regulation is an internalized and autonomous term that can be pushed by externally or extrinsic motivational factors. James’s internal need to fight for money and his free will to say yes or no that he will enter the fight, while be pushed by the external event of loss of money is shown in the film as well.
I was briefly reading over some plot summaries as well to see if anything would have popped out at me that I didn’t see while watching the movie and a person by the name of Sujit R. Varma wrote a really interesting bit about the movie that I want to share because I think it sums it up pretty well. “But deep inside, Jim Braddock never relinquished his determination. Driven by love, honor and an incredible dose of grit, he willed an impossible dream to come true. In a last-chance bid to help his family, Braddock returned to the ring. No one thought he had a shot. However Braddock, fueled by something beyond mere competition, kept winning. Suddenly, the ordinary working man became the mythic athlete.”
TERMS: identified regulation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, competition, cognitive evaluation theory, persistence, motivation.
Wow, if there is a movie on MOTIVATION, this was it. It displayed both INTRINSIC and EXTRINSIC motivation along with POSITIVE and NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT.
To start with, huge amounts of intrinsic motivation just to be an athlete let alone one during the great depression with 3 kids and a wife. Each fight he would go out there and put his body through hell, which was to feed and house his family. The driving force seems extrinsic because it would be for physical and tangible objects like food and clothing, however it was the love of his family which was intrinsic. Another intrinsic was the ability to overcome obstacles such as his busted hand. It did not stop him from working, nor did it stop him from fighting.
Extrinsic motivation displayed was to start, the depression it self. He took a huge pay cut once this happened, so much so he had to go and beg rich people for money to keep his kids. The love of his family was Extrinsic as well since they were tangible people along with a negative and positive motivator. The positive was to feed and cloth them, to have the warmth and love and see them everyday, the negative was similar but as well the risk of losing them. It was better for them to live with a more financially stable family however without them he literally had nothing to fight for.
One especially moving scene was before one of his first fights in the depression. He had not eaten in days and his guy was like you need to eat to be able to fight. No eating utensil, just dug in like a dog and started eating. This is HULL’S DRIVE THEORY, the hunger part.
The rewards from all of this were his family, their love and then obviously money, fame and the fact that he still had IT.
Something so amazing yet was his ability even through the strife was to keep his morals. Yes he had to beg just to keep his kids. Yes he had to give up food so they could eat, he lost sleep working and fighting long hours. When his son stole the sausage he made him go back and return it. Amazing.
Motivation, Intrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation, Positive reinforcement, Negative reinforcement
The first thing that comes to mind with this movie is that is set in the great depression, a time when things were not easy for people. Given these circumstances, extrinsic motivation is at a high; especially for the most basic needs like food and water.
The Braddock family struggle to feed their family and food is limited in there home. Jay, one of the children, steals a salami from the butcher shop. Jay won’t say a word about the incident to his mother and just sits in a chair. The preceding reason in Jay’s mind for stealing is that it will help keep his family together, as he knows another child who was sent away to a far off place when the family was unable to provide food. Jays motivation was extrinsically motivated by his want to stay. His consequence was to have to face the butcher and explain that he stole the meat. The punishment was implemented to prevent him from stealing again. Though what most likely reinforced his good behavior was not the positive form of punishment but the positive reinforcement given by his father. His father told him that he promised to never send him away, if he never stole.
Boxing for James is intrinsically motivating for him; it gives him a sense of power and control, autonomy. Though his boxing is also extrinsically motivated by all of the bills he has to pay, he sees boxing as a way to take care and provide for his family. James is so extrinsically motivated to take care of his family that he is willing to work at the docks with a broken hand, lifting heavy boxes to make ends meet. Taking care of his family is a physiologic drive for him.
The one person I thought was truly interesting was James manager/ trainer. He is intrinsically motivated by the need to be an important person. He rides around in a very nice car with fur coats looking like a very wealthy man. In reality he lives in a penthouse with no furniture. He is extrinsically motivated to train and manager James because for him James is the means to make all of his dreams come true. He gets to become a big important man with money and the power associated with that money.
Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, punishment, reinforcement, consequence, physiological drive
The Great Depression was a time in the United States' history where every action and behavior required a great deal of motivation. Some motivation comes from a primitive part of us, much like Hull's Drive Theory would support. Other times motivation comes from extrinsic sources, and likewise it often comes from intrinsic forces as well. When people are tested in such a way that people were tested in that era, the motivation to keep trying often would have felt quite useless.
James “Jimmy” was a highly motivated individual; one of the strong-willed Irish-Americans. Hull's Drive Theory can be applied to his need for the basic aspects of survival. Jimmy needed food and water. Being a boxer, he would need extra nourishment but without money for proper nutrition, he was often running on empty and full of hunger. A starved animal will fight harder for one small morsel of food than a well-fed one. And that drove Jimmy to continually fight for every last penny. Jimmy also fought for the food for his family. He sacrificed his own self-pride in order for his family to be fed by asking the state for assistance. The motivation to feed oneself can cause a man to push through pain, lower his pride, and make significant sacrifices.
Jimmy's physiological needs are pushed aside for everyone and everything else. His psychological needs are held in high esteem and his relationships tend to be kept in the utmost regards. He fights through broken bones, sprains and multiple bruises without any consideration of surrendering. Pain only exists for a moment, but loss lasts forever.
Jimmy is not only motivated to provide food for his family, but to also keep his family together. He promised his son that they would not be separated, and the need to keep this promise drives his behaviors to reinforce this by his own intrinsic motivation . The promises he makes to his family and others he holds in very high esteem, the intrinsic motivation to keep those promises gives him an edge that does not allow him to give in. He also has extrinsic motivation stemming from the time when the children were taken away as the negative reinforcement left a lasting impression.
Jimmy does let the quasi-needs of continuously winning fights and fighting back up the ranks to his previous title become true needs in his mind. However, what Jimmy is striving for was the ability to support his family but once they were back on their feet, Jimmy was unable to allow himself to let go and work the unsteady rhythm of day-to-day work. He puts himself and his family at risk thinking that what he wants is this idea of being the champion. It could be said that Jimmy may have the intrinsic motivation to be competent driving his need to continue boxing. He also may be driven to have autonomy after having nothing to provide his family with as the reliance on others could have issued a trigger in him causing a great need to make severe changes to overcome the past.
Jimmy succeeds in motivating not only himself and his family to continue when the times were difficult, but to motivate an entire audience of the nation as well. His continual perseverance and drive to keep competing gave others hope. Others started to band together and reveled in the relation between each other. Having a bond with one another gave one another strength to continue. Relating to others helped the public become one and gain strength together.
Terms Used: Relatedness, quasi-needs, intrinsic motivation, competent, autonomy, relationships, physiological needs, hunger, psychological needs, extrinsic motivation, negative reinforcement, Hull's Drive Theory.
The first question I asked while watching this movie was: "Why is Jimmy boxing?". In the beginning of the movie Jimmy is extrinsically motivated to box because of money. He was losing and getting hurt, yet he wanted to keep boxing, not for the joy but because he needed money to pay rent and buy food. Though he was extrinsically motivated to box he was intrinsically motivated to get the food in order to provide for his family. Hunger is a major part of this movie and is also shown when Jimmy's son steals food in order to eat. His son was intrinsically motivated to steal the food in order to keep his family together. However, I believe that this behavior could also have been extrinsically motivated. The reward being that he doesn't have to leave his family.
All of the men standing at the docks each morning were extrinsically motivated to stand there in the hopes of being selected for work. Money is such a powerful motivation for the characters in this movie that Jimmy works and boxed with a broken hand. His physiological needs took a back seat to money. Jimmy's motivation increased tenfold when he was negatively punished for not paying the bills. The consequences being that the electricity was turned off and his wife sending the kids away. He was so motivated to get his kids back that he begged for money from the people who had turned him away.
Later on in the movie Jimmy gets the opportunity to box again, this time against a very formidable opponent. At this point of the movie it was heavily stressed that Jimmy went 80 rounds without being knocked out. This brought up the first question again. Why was Jimmy boxing. I believe that Jimmy was both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated during this time of the movie. The money, of course, was the extrinsic motivation. This is shown when he is losing to Griffin and then thinks of his family and ends up winning. But his pride was also motivating him. He was intrinsically motivated to keep his record and to prove that he wasn't a washed up old man. It is also his family's pride he is fighting for. More specifically, he doesn't want to let his children down. So when he thinks about them during the match his intrinsic pride and the extrinsic money motivate him simultaneously and allow him to fight back.
Further along in the movie, once Jimmy has become famous again, he states that he is boxing for milk. Simply to put milk on the table for his children. Now his extrinsic motivation is not money but money for milk. In the very last match of the movie Jimmy's life is on the line. At this point, Jimmy's family is well enough off that he doesn't need to fight for the money. But he is still extrinsically motivated, by his fans. He has become the Cinderella Man; the nobody who fought his way up to the top showing that motivation can get you far in life. The people see Jimmy's success and are intrinsically motivated to have faith that their lives will get better. The hope Jimmy instills in the community is astounding. By the end of the move Jimmy is motivated to box, and win, for the people that are counting on him.
Terms: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Physiological needs, negative punishment
In the movie Cinderella Man, Russell Crowe’s character, Jim Braddock, experiences a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on his journey to win the boxing championship. The movie begins with what appears to be the end of his career and his family beginning to really struggle financially. I would imagine that before this point of needing to box in order to earn money for his family that Jim was intrinsically motivated to get into the sport of boxing. He probably began boxing for fun and for the sense of challenge it gave him. He would have been intrinsically motivated by the competence he felt from his success. Then as he began to make money from boxing his motivation became extrinsic, which can cause a person to lose their persistence and drive for that same activity they once were intrinsically motivated to do. This eventually led to him losing his motivation to give it his all and then to him losing his job.
The movie portrays some very hard times for his family. These hard times begin to ignite his intrinsic motivation through his desire to be competent in providing for his family and also his extrinsic motivation for food and money. Examples from the movie that create this motivation include a scene where his daughter is hungry so he gives her his portion of the food, his son is so hungry he steals from the butcher shop, they have to add water to what is left of their milk, and the gas and electric to their home is turned off. The family hits rock bottom when the kids have to be sent away due to the cold apartment. This extrinsically motivates Jim to find money to turn the gas and electric on, which he has to do in the two most desperate ways, the emergency relief fund and asking the guys from the boxing commission for help. My favorite line from the movie was before his last fight when the reporter asked him to explain his comeback and he said “This time around I know what I’m fighting for…..milk”.
When he does get invited by his manager to fight again he is extrinsically motivated by the money to support his family. As he continues to win fights his extrinsic motivation continues to grow. There is more money involved, there is a lot of pressure from his manager to keep fighting, and he begins to become a hero to Americans during the great depression. The money is a positive reinforcer and reward that motivates him to continue on. The praise he gets informs his competence. Unfortunately extrinsic forms of motivation almost always come with pride. When Braddock has one fight left with Baer for the championship he no longer has the motives to provide for his family as they are doing well now, but now just wants to win and does not want to back down from the fight.
Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, competence, persistence, drive, positive reinforcer, reward
James is motivated throughout the entire movie to continue boxing. He endures many struggles along the way in his boxing career. For example, he breaks his hand and his wrist and he gets beaten up severely. His family is in need of money, and they become ill and hungry because of that. Throughout this movie there are significant examples of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation can be seen from several aspects of this movie. James is intrinsically motivated to do well as a boxer and win his matches. Before each match, James is pep talked to do well. In these pep talks his intrinsic motivation is sparked because he is told how good he is at boxing and how well he can do in the upcoming match. Boxing is a passion for him, and this is especially noticeable in the beginning of the movie.
Once the depression hit, James became more extrinsically motivated to continue boxing. He wanted his family to be taken care of, and that motivates him to win the matches because when he wins he makes money. The better he does the more he keeps wanting to box; thus, the more money he makes. By winning, James received a reward. The reward was the money he was receiving to support his family. The money that he receives goes toward bills and food to support his family. The money can also be explained as positive reinforcement. This also relates to Hull’s Drive Theory and is very relevant in this movie. James needs to provide things such as shelter, food, water, and heat for his family. Extrinsic motivation can also be seen in this movie from the view of May. May is extrinsically motivated to keep her kids well and safe. She sends them away during tough times so they are protected.
Physiological needs are strongly expressed throughout the film. The family experiences hunger and thirst. Even James feels hunger before preparing for a match and his stomach growls loudly because of this. The children also started becoming sick because of the poor conditions that were causing them physiological problems.
Terms: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, rewards, positive reinforcement, Hull’s Drive Theory, physiological needs
The synopsis of the story is relatively simple. There is a mediocre boxer named James (Jimmy) Braddock from New Jersey in the 1930’s. On the verge of retirement, he loses to a guy by “no contest”, meaning Jimmy was doing so poorly that the referee just ended the game before he got hurt. Unfortunately, after a while of working at a construction site, his family can no longer afford to pay the heating bills. His wife (didn’t get the name) sends the children off to stay with relatives because two of them were becoming ill from the cold. With little options left, Jimmy decides to reenter the boxing ring after his manager (?) gets him one last farewell fight. Fortunately for Jimmy, he wins the game. He wins a few more times, giving him momentum until he has to face the defending world champion, Max Baer. This match is decided in the final frame, where Jimmy is unanimously chosen as the winning.
This movie is an excellent movie for describing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Jimmy had a lot of extrinsic motivation from the start of his comeback. He was battling failure in the boxing ring while on the verge of retirement, so he *had* to have great motivation in order make it back and make it big. These negative reinforcers, plus the fact that he had broken his hand in this process, discouraged an easy route to success. His family was suffering from illness and the cold. He and his family were on the brink of poverty and soon to be hungry. In many of his later fights, he had the crowd motivating him by being on his side. These factors helped drive him and persistently work toward his goal. He was going to stop for no one, not even Max Baer.
Jimmy had great intrinsic motivation too. Without this internal drive, he could never accomplish his goals, no matter how much extrinsic motivation there was. He was bound and determined to not let his family down. This is what makes him a good husband and father, although this quality did put his life on the line, since Max Baer had already killed two people. In the wake of Max’s disrespectful and unwarranted comments both before and during the fight, Jimmy was prepared to defend his family’s honor to his last stand. This is a great lesson we shouldn’t take for granted.
Tags: Intrinsic Motivation; Extrinsic Motivation; Persistence; Drive; Negative Reinforcers
Cinderella man demonstrates the power of extrinsic motivation well. Throughout the movie we see a man struggle to feed himself, his wife, and his children. He fights to keep his home and keep his children. His wife wants to send them away until they can afford to keep them. Despite major consequences such as injuries and severe pain his motivation to continue his boxing career remains high. During the course of the movie we watch as James’ wife Mae sends away the children to be cared for by someone else despite James’ complete disapproval of the situation. Due to this, James fights to get his children back. These are all examples of great extrinsic motivation. Hull’s Drive Theory is shown obviously throughout the movie as we watch the family’s hunger and thirst.
James’ final fight was highly controversial due to the fact that there was a high probability that he could be seriously injured or even die. The question we have to ask is what would it take to reach that level of need? James’ boxing was a double edged sword, if he was injured he couldn’t box and if he couldn’t box, he also couldn’t work because he was only qualified for manual labor. He took a big risk in boxing because he could potentially put himself in a worse situation than before. Financial insecurity is a huge motivator for James and is what makes boxing so attractive. The opportunity to earn lots of cash, very quickly is highly motivating for James to the point where he decides to pursue the fights despite his wife very obviously disapproving. James suffered from many serious injuries such as broken bones and internal bleeding. These injuries did not deter James, rather he fought through the pain and fear of more serious consequences in order to try and provide for his family and get his children back. I have never understood the appeal of boxing. In my mind it’s disgusting rather than exciting or awe inspiring. Just as we discussed in class, the type of people that like to skydive have different brains and chemical responses to different environments, those who enjoy boxing must also have different responses to boxing. The movie doesn’t really allow us to understand the intrinsic motivation because most of what we see is driven by money and physical needs. We have seen throughout the course of the movie that pride is not necessarily a factor for James, he is not afraid to beg for money or work from those he used to box for prior to his being removed from the boxing world the first time.
Terms: extrinsic motivation, consequences, Hull’s Drive Theory, hunger, thirst, need, motivator, environment, responses, intrinsic motivation, physical needs
Cinderella Man portrays a variety of concepts from Motivation and Emotion, especially in relation to Chapter 5’s “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation.” There was a lot of motivation and drive in every scene. Throughout the film, James J. Braddock is intrinsically motivated to box out of sheer interest and “for the sense of challenge the activity at hand provides” (pg. 111). James’s psychological needs are fulfilled when he engages in boxing. He feels autonomous because he is free to make a living how he wants and can channel his feelings toward the job at hand. James also feels competent by becoming a heavy-weight champion. He can relate to others for the love of boxing.
Braddock and his family kept on being pushed by negative punishers. The Great Depression took a toll on them as well as many people around them. Every morning men would stand by a gate hoping to get selected to work that day so they could put some food on the table. They were extrinsically motivated to take care of their family and standing by the gate every morning, they might be able to engage in behaviors that would produce their sought-after consequences. When Braddock hurt his hand, he continued to fight so that he could provide for his family. He is a very driven man, but by hurting his hand, he did not fight very well. As a result, Braddock was negatively punished by losing his job as a professional boxer. The negative punishers kept on coming as he and his family lost their electricity and heat because of the overdue bills and their child became ill.
When Braddock’s old friend, Joe, returns to offer him an opportunity to box again, he attempts to motivate James further by offering incentive. The reward to boxing again would fulfill what James is searching for—monetary compensation in order to help his family. With the continuous positive reinforcement, Braddock worked his way back to the top, this time more extrinsically than intrinsically. He thought about his family and what winning would do for his family and that motivated him to success and to never back down. Even when he was working on the docks, Braddock continued to work although his hand was injured so that he could provide for his family.
Before the last fight, James’s wife, Mae, couldn’t keep her feelings inside anymore. She did not want her husband to fight, especially in the championship match. Braddock told her before that he couldn’t win without her support. Right before his match, Mae shows identified regulation by showing up in the locker room to wish Braddock good luck and that she was behind him. The change in her way of thinking and behaving was seen as important to the life and success of her husband. Mae told him that she’d see him at home and that gave him motivation to do the best he could and survive for not only himself, but mostly for his family.
Terms: motivation; drive; intrinsic motivation; psychological needs; autonomy; competence; relatedness; negative punisher; incentive; reward; identified regulation
The entire film was a constant reminder on how extrinsic motivation may play a role in one's behavior and psychological mind set. Initially Braddock took up Boxing because it was his intrinsic passion, to him it was what he loved to do. However, he hit a string of bad luck, as he would call it, and it appeared his career was over. Having made pretty decent money in fights in his first go around it seemed like he would be fine to move on. However as we see this story takes place during the American Great Depression and when things get to rock bottom on all facets, he his left with a tough decision.
In order to provide food for his family we see him steal food, of which he had no concern for what the consequences would be, for the 'punisher' getting caught and in trouble was the least of his worries for the relief of hunger to his family was more prominent and what intrinsically motivated him.
As the times grew worse and the home's generator was shutdown, due to them not paying their bills, James had no other choice but to find a way to provide for his family. His wife, Mae, did not want him to fight, but would generate a understanding given the consequences and would whole heartedley support his effort to go back to the ring. Her portion of the movie in which she tells him that she will be there for him, is a great inspiration to James and acts as an extrinsic motivation to drive Jame's behavior with even more force to obtain the life they so quickly lost.
In his first round about in the ring his intrinsic motivations were for fame and fortune, yet in the unwarranted last go around it had drastically changed. The stock market crashed, taking all of the families money and his dock shifts were being cut down, this time his motivation to engage in fighting was to provide for his family. However, he was in no way as good as he once was and given that his one shot to renter was against a top-tier boxer, there was no way he would be able to revert to his old skill for there was no time. We seen Braddock use his psychological drive and desire to support his family via a mentality that was 'life or death.' He quoted that he was now fighting for milk, even with a broken hand and legs that were about ready to collapse he focused his energy on his will of hope supported by the extrinsic factors of his three kids and his very supportive wife. He first left boxing for it was his families wishes that he stop, and likewise it was no longer 'worth doing' for him any longer. We can see how much of a influence his character has in that family came first, their wishes externally reformed his psychological motivation to no longer fight. However, when it came to hardship, and his whole livlihood was in danger, boxing became 'worth doing' again. The external motivators here are crystal clear.
I have always been a big fan of the film, but hadn't watched it with this approach, it was fascinating. Finally, getting into the ring in his last match he was up against a man who had been known to have actually killed other boxers in the ring. He may not have won the match if it were in his first round about, but given his revived inspiration and 'stop at nothing' motives now, only death would have stopped him. It is truly moving to know that this is a true story and to actually see the real world effects how strong extrinsic and intrinsic motivation can drive someone psychologically to form a mentality that pushes one beyond the limit to exceed unthinkable odds is amazing. Had he been single and been in this match for pure pleasure per say, i dont think he would have had a chance. Yet, injured and fueled by passionate extrinsics he found within himself the will to pull it off. The reward was not money or fame as it had previously been, it was now the well-being of his family, with this mindset it was impossible for him to lose. It shows how strong motivation can actually influence our behavior, for any monetary amount in his previous career didnt seem to stop his losing streak, but 'fighting for milk,' was the ace in the hole. Proving that how we approach and manage our motivation is essential in how we carry out our lives.
Terms: extrinsic/intrinsic motivation, reward, consequence, drive, psychological, behavior, punishers.
Cinderella Man takes place during the Great Depression and follows the family of James and his wife, Mae. Together, they have three children; two boys and one girl in a small downstairs apartment. Times are tough for James and his family, as it is with many families during this time. The docks only select about seven people to work each day and it’s hard from James to find income to support his family.
With many past due bills, games fights at night to help get money for his family. After a bad fight and the people in charge not allowing James to fight anymore due to breaking his hand, James’s wife puts their three children in homes with other family because of heat and lights being turned off due to unpaid bills. James is able to make money in small ways but eventually goes to friends and asks for help. Luckily, it gives him enough money to turn things back on and bring his family home.
Soon, James gets the opportunity to fight again. Knowing it will bring him money and fighting is something he enjoys, he takes the chance to fight and wins. Because of a broken hand, he was able to fight better with both arms. He wins more and more fights and is able to make money to support his family. Eventually, James ends up fighting for the heavyweight championship. James is in a fight with a man who has killed two other fighters in the ring. Defying all odds, James fights, and wins the heavyweight championship.
This movie is a great example of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when one does something for ones own gain, fun, or interest. James has intrinsic motivation with fighting. He has always enjoyed fighting and has fun with it. He has always had a dream to go big in fighting. Eventually, fighting turns into both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for James. Not only does he continue fighting because he enjoys it, but it also gives him money when winning. The money then benefits him and his family, as he is more able to support them.
As for extrinsic motivation, Cinderella Man has many examples of this besides the one listed above. One example is in James’s family when his oldest son steals meat from the butcher. The son knew the family was struggling and tried to help by doing something illegal. The son knew the family was struggling and tried to help by doing something illegal. Another example of extrinsic motivation is when James continued to work at the docks with a broken hand. He knew he needed money for his family and he wouldn’t let a broken hand hold him back from doing what he needed to do. He was motivated by his love for his family to continue working through the hard time. A final example is when he goes to others to ask for money in order to get his children back home with him. He was upset and disappointed at his wife for putting their children in homes with their family and just wanted his children back that he went to others to ask for help.
Within extrinsic motivation, the book discussed rewards. An example of a reward shown in this book is the money James received from fighting. Because of his achievement of winning in the ring, he was rewarded with an amount of money. Another thing shown in the movie was praise. We saw praise from the crowds and James’s family after winning a fight. The behavior of fighting was encouraged by others to make him want to do it more. The praise James received told him that he did a good job.
We come across different examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in our everyday lives, along with seeing rewards and praise (along with other consequences such as positive and negative reinforcers and punishers). The movie Cinderella Man was a great movie to show all these things in everyday life.
Terms: motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, rewards, praise, behavior, consequences, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishers
While James Braddock does exhibit some intrinsic motivation for the sport of boxing, the most obvious type of motivation present in the movie is of the extrinsic variety. James seems to enjoy boxing, and is also intrinsically motivated to care for his family. These two factors play into his intrinsic motivation to box. However, the fact that he cares for his family and that times are so hard lead him to box for a second reason. He is not only boxing for the fun of it, but because he is earning money for it and in times of such need, he will do anything to feed his family and keep them warm.
James is a motivated man overall. He is motivated as an athlete and as a father. He wants to feed his family, but more than that, he wants to keep his family together. When Mae has to send the children away due to illness and hunger, James becomes angry because he promised his son that he would never send his children away. (His son became worried and stole salami so that the family could eat-- however, James' response came in the form of positive punishment, scolding his son for stealing.)
The hunger we saw in Castaway is present in Cinderella Man, as well. This is made evident by the fact that the children are always asking for more food. The scene that best portrays the hunger of the age is when James is about to box on an empty stomach, but gets a portion of hash before the match. James was so hungry, however, that he didn't even wait for a spoon- he couldn't. His biological means were not being met and so he was willing to do anything to eat.
When James wins a match, he is rewarded in two ways-- first, with praise, which increases his intrinsic motivation. He is also rewarded in the form of money, which allows him to feed his family. These extrinsic motivators serve as positive reinforcement, encouraging him to box more in the future. For example, James gets a match with a world-class competitor and wins $250. When he is offered the opportunity to box in another match, he takes it. The consequences of his actions, being money and the praise- serve to reinforce his behavior.
I think this movie shows the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators very well. Moreover, I think it's a testament to how powerful extrinsic motivators could be. While James was intrinsically motivated and stubborn about remaining independent, he went through drastic means to provide for his family-- from asking for money to risking his life. When basic needs are not met, extrinsic motivation is enough to get someone to do just about anything. Negative reinforcement occurs when James' hunger and his family's hunger is taken away.
Terms: motivation, intrinsic, extrinsic, biological needs, praise, reward, reinforcement, behavior, consequences, positive punishment, negative reinforcement.
After watching the movie Cinderella Man, you get a close look at what is to experience intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Boxers are always in a competition, not only for the money, but for the psychological need of winning. Cinderella Man gave me a different persepective on what every professional athlete may go through. Also the movie shows you that when you watch a professional sport, that not all of them play for just money.
James Braddock, the main character, is a professional boxer living in the 1920's. He's extrinsically motivated to keep on boxing professionally so that he can retain an income. His wife doesn't exactly agree with it, but she understands that they need the money. After James breaks his hand in a match, he is left without a job. Making matters worse, The Great Depression is vastly approaching. James settles for a job on the New York docks. His motivation is becoming less and less autonomous. His friend Joe Gould helps him to find a match where James can make a little money. Next, James wins a fight against the number two ranked competitor, John "Corn" Griffin. He most likely agrees to this fight due to external regulation. As James keeps on winning, he uses his earnings to pay the government back for giving him money when he was unemployed. Not only did it show he had a sense of pride, but that he didnt need the extrinsic reinforcer of money to help him. The money he is earning is his primary positive reinforcer.
Next up is a title match against the current champion, Max Baer, who is seemingly unstoppable. James knew what the consequences would be going in. He knew the possibilities of him getting hurt were very high. This didnt stop James though. He was purely motivated to prove he could win. Max even scares James's wife, and says her husband won't survive. This was an unseen "hidden cost of reward." Now that James was famous, people would see his family, and would cause them to become vulnerable. His wife refuses to watch the fight because she is terrified for him. To everyone's shock, James wins the fight and the heavyweight title. This proved that anyone could make a comeback with the right amount of motivation and positive reinforcements.
Terms used: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, competition, psychological need, autonomous, external regulation, extrinsic reinforcer, positive reinforcer, consequences, reward.
The movie Cinderella man was about a man and his family during his boxing career. At the beginning of the move James Braddock played by Jim Crow was a successful and well off boxer that loved his family and the life that he had worked hard to create. Throughout the movie you see Braddock and his family go through hardships due to the great depression and financial difficulty.
I think this movie was a great choice when making parallels from chapter 5. I noticed Braddock was intrinsically and extrinsically motivated throughout the movie. I enjoyed watching this movie because it shows how hard work, determination and motivation pay off at the end, and it did in the movie for Braddock and his family.
During the movie I noticed how Braddock was intrinsically motivated to continue to fight through the different challenges such as money loss, breaking his had and the amounts of lost fights became to take a toll on him. He loved to fight but when the depression hit, it made things harder for him. Examples of this are stealing food for his family; give his daughter the last of the mean and making promises to not send his children away.
James Braddock was extrinsically motivated during the great depression to get up every morning and go stand outside waiting for work even though it wasn’t a guaranteed that he would get a job each day. Braddock also experienced negative reinforces during the movie, Braddock went through many negative set backs such as breaking his hand, losing his boxing license, worrying everyday about working and more. After the hardships Braddock is still motivated by winning, his fans and the love of the game.
I also noticed the different Physiological needs that come into play such as his family going Hungary. During this part of the movie Braddock isn’t the only one motivated by food, him and his son both steal food so their family has something to eat. They are motivated to do what ever they need to get through the hard times. He stays a boxer because times were hard and he needed the money, even though he was barely making enough to make ends meet he continues to do whatever possible for himself and his family.
During this movie you watch a husband and father be selfless by putting the needs and wants of his family before anything else. Braddock worked hard throughout the movie to provide for his family.
Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, physiological
In Cinderella Man there are many solid examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations driving behaviors. Extrinsic motivations, those that come from the environment are very evident throughout the movie. The main character, James Braddock, is extrinsically motivated by the incentive money to put himself in a position to be seriously injured repeatedly. Because it brings money home to pay the bills and put food in front of his children, James is willing to be beaten up and hurt another man for money. Environmental factors such as the economy at the time and the fact that he had a family to take care of increased the power of his motivation to box for money. In the first match after they let him begin fighting again, he was at first fighting for the money, but I think when the crowd started yelling and cheering for him, this became his new motivation.
When the heat is turned off, the mother is extrinsically motivated to take her children out and steal wood to burn in the stove. I think this is very interesting because early in the movie, the boy was punished for stealing meat that the family desperately needed and forced to return it. At this point, his parents were intrinsically motivated by their morals to keep their child doing things the right way. In their dire situation, though, their physiological need to be warm overcomes their intrinsic motivation to be moral. James was intrinsically motivated by his love of his children to ask for assistance from the government as well as the people he worked for in the boxing world. After finally making it in the ring, James is intrinsically motivated to pay back the money he was given from public assistance. This increased his feelings of autonomy after he was forced to put his pride aside and ask for help. This action helped James to feel more confident, like he again had power and freedom in his situation. It also gave him back a feeling of competence, knowing that he was now the one bringing in the money that would support his family. James shows that he has regained these feelings when the man is trying to scare him out of fighting in the final match. At this point, James said, “This is my profession.” very proudly. He knew the dangers involved, but he also knew that this was what allowed him to support himself and his family.
Throughout the movie, the main character and his wife continually put their own needs aside in order to make ends meet. At the very beginning, Mae, his wife, is shown putting water in the milk to make it go farther. In the same scene, James gives his breakfast to his very hungry daughter. It is clear that he is also very hungry, but his intrinsic motivation to keep his daughter happy and healthy won. James also continually overcomes his physiological need to avoid pain in order to get money to keep all three of his kids happy and healthy.
Terms: extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, incentive, physiological need, autonomy, competence
In this movie, you see many examples of both intrinsic an extrinsic motivation. The main character’s incentive for fighting is his family. When he first started boxing it was most likely because he enjoyed it or an intrinsic motivation but then he got an extrinsic reward which was the money so he can support his family. You can tell the extrinsic motivation lowered the intrinsic motivation. You never hear him talking about how he wants to fight because he enjoys it.
The paycheck that James receives after every shift he works is a reinforcer. It makes it so he keeps coming back day after day despite the fact that there are limited positions and the work is hard. Even when he hurts his hand, he continues to work. He continues for the paycheck so he doesn’t lose his kids.
James goes to ask for money when his kids leave. They were short on money for a while, but he didn’t ask until his kids were taken away. This was a negative reinforcer. He wanted his kids so badly, that he was able to ask for help.
During one of James’ fights, he pictures his kids and comes back and fights stronger. This is an extrinsic factor that helps him fight. Though he was tired and hurt, he finds the energy and power to win.
Praise is something else that seems to motivate James in the movie. At the end when everyone’s screaming his name, he seems to gain motivation. When everyone praises him for how good he does, he wants to try more and harder.
Another external factor that motivates people shown in this movie is competition. You can tell Baer is motivated by competition. He stops at nothing to win; he even hits James after the bell rings. Baer’s motivation by competition takes away his intrinsic motivation. He doesn’t seem to be fighting for enjoyment but only to win.
When James is hungry before his fight he becomes very motivated to eat. His body doesn’t have enough glucose so he becomes desperate for food. Despite the fact that his manager will be right back with a spoon, he eats it like a dog with his mouth. He has had so little food that his body is telling him he’s hungry and he becomes very motivated to get food.
When James won the boxing match at the end of the movie, he feels a rush of dopamine. This tells James that he is happy.
Terms used: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, incentive, competition, praise, glucose, reinforcer, dopamine
In the Cinderella Man, Jimmy (James J. Braddock) was trying to keep him and his family afloat during the Great Depression. He was unemployed and could only find work day by day, and sometimes would go days without getting paid. His family started to lose everything, so in order to earn some more money, he began to fight. Jimmy's motivation to fight began as extrinsic. He was motivated by the situation his family was in, he was motivated by consequences that would happen if he didn't earn money in some way. The consequences included the heat being turned off, his family getting sick, his kids needing to be sent to a relatives house, and others. So James really put his effort into boxing and he began to win some fights, and earn his family some money! The winning of money was the reinforcer that kept motivating James to keep fighting, even though it was hard on his body. At one point he broke his hand so he was no longer able to box, and he was rarely finding work, so those consequences that he dreaded became a reality.
He now was extra motivated by the external situation of not having heat, of his family being divided, and his kids getting sick, that he did everything he could in order to get money. He went and asked money from the boxing commission men, he filed for help with the aid relief, and he tried his hardest to get work every day. He would never have normally asked for help from the boxing commission men or from the aid relief, but he was desperate and the consequences were serious if he didn't begin to earn money. The consequences, or negative reinforcers, motivated Jimmy to start boxing again and working extra hard.
He eventually earned money from boxing and working that he brought his kids back, the heat was turned back on, and they had food to eat. As he was earning a more regular pay check, his boxing began to increase as well and he was asked to fight in multiple matches. He was so motivated to win, and earn for his family, that he did win! The more he kept winning, the more money he was receiving, and eventually, he was the New Jersey hero. His motivation to keep going, and to not let the circumstances determine his future, was inspiration for the nation. One day his trainer signed him up for the biggest fight of his life, and even gave him money in order to train. This fight had a $250 purse to it! The positive reinforcement of money and the idea of that massive reward pushed Jimmy to train and to put his entire heart into boxing. This fight was definitely motivated by external motives, but had also turned into intrinsic motivation as he wanted to prove to others that he could win. He wanted to be the best he could be, he wanted to do it for himself, but also for the nation and the people like him. That fight was hard for him and hard for his family, but he put 100% effort and heart into it and he came out on top! The reward, the incentives, and the positive reinforcers of money, pride, and joy all motivated and were results of his win.
James J. Braddock experienced both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in regards to boxing, providing for his family, and proving himself to others. It is interesting how the motivation began as strictly extrinsic and then slowly worked its way to intrinsic. And in the end, he not only was good at it, or enjoyed it, but loved to teach his kids how to box as well.
Terms: extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation. Negative and positive reinforcers. Consequences. Incentives. Reward.
Cinderella Man had many principles talk about in the book; Russell Crowe displayed concepts like Persistence, Creativity, and motivation. The two kinds of motivation that helped me motivate him were Intrinsic and Extrinsic. Close to the beginning of the movie Russell was trying to provide for his family during an economic struggle. His persistence to keep his family fed and Russell’s promise to his son to keep them in New Jersey made him motivated to keep working and boxing to obtain those goals. Even when he was pushed against the wall Russell didn’t give up on his morals.
One scene I remember was when Russell needed money to pay his electric bill and with the job he had that only paid 5 dollars a week was not enough to pay it. Also the fact that his wife had sent the children away because she didn’t want them to freeze to death. So, creatively Russell went and got what relief money he could from the DHS, then headed over to the rich side of town and begged his old boxing friends to help him out this one time. This scene in the movie Russell was primarily motivated by his interest to keep his son’s promise.
There were lots of scenes where External Intrinsic motivates were in play. Russell got a number of incentives to make money during his struggles. One such time was when he got offered a one-time match against the number 2 contender. He was promised 250 dollars if he won the match, which motivated him to box again so he could feed his family. When Russell won the match and astonished everyone with the fight, it reinforced the game commissioner to allow him to box again. The opportunity for Russell to box again also reinforces his motivation to win. The Reinforcer he obtain from the fight increase his behavior towards wanting more out of boxing.
I think at the end of the movie both positive Reinforcer’s and negative were at work. Russell’s final match was filled with positive things such as glory, a large sum of money and the crowd that backed believed in him. On the other hand there were a lot of negative things such as, his opponent thought of him as inferior and didn’t want to box Russell. Baer would taunt Russell and insult his wife along with Russell’s friends hoping that he would be motivated to quit. Not to forget the scene where the gaming commissioner showed Russell the video clip of Baer killing his opponent. But despite these negative outcomes Russell still went through with it. He even said to the commissioner(quote), “Are you trying to tell me something? This is my profession; people down at the docks are dying every day for their profession. So this wouldn’t be anything different!”
Me words: Reinforcer, Positive Reinforcer, Negative Reinforcer, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Persistence, Creativity, Motivation
This movie was a great movie overall and provided a lot of in site on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic motivation can be seen throughout the entire movie. James’s life was steady in the beginning with his boxing career and was able to provide for his family. Once the Great Depression hit, things went downhill and attempted to find a job but with the high unemployment rates, James was not successful in obtaining a job but had the extrinsic motivation to keep trying. They were late on bills and struggled to buy milk. Their electricity was shut off as well because he was unable to buy it for them. His biggest motivators to go back to boxing were his wife and three kids. They were his biggest motivators to keep trying for his family and they are the ones who support him.
He had intrinsic motivation to do what he loved, boxing. It was his passion to be a boxer and succeed. Although there was alot of sweat, blood and tears he was still motivated to continue because it was something that he was passionate for and loved to do. He was greatful for the second chance to do boxing again and was fighting for his family which gave him the motivation to succeed. Hulls’ Drive Theory can be seen because James is willing to go through the fights and get beat up and knocked down and continues to fight. There were a lot of positive rewards that came from his motivation. The rewards he had were his wife and three sons and their love for eachother. Working hard for his boxing career to provide for his family, in the end, brought money and fame which he wanted for his family.
Me Terms: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, motivators, rewards, Hull’s drive theory
Cinderella Man is one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s such a great movie. I really enjoyed connecting the movie to chapter 5. Cinderella Man illustrates examples on term like punishers, incentives, rewards, and so on. Cinderella Man also has elements of motivation throughout the movie and other term in.
After trying to look for work at the docks Jim comes home and he notices his son jumping on a box spring mattress. He asks his younger son Howard, “What are you doing?” Howard immediately stops what he is doing and gets defensive. Howard claims that he is being quiet and behaving, like if something was wrong. Immediately Rosie, Jim’s daughter storms out of the house and tell Jim that his older son, Jay, stole salami from the butcher store. Jim and his older son Jay walk back to the butcher and Jim makes Jay give back the salami he stole. Then Jim gives Jay a lecture about stealing and he makes Jay promise him that he will never steal again. Jim punished his son by giving him a stern lecture. A punishers is any environmental stimulus that, when presented, decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior. So because Jim gave Jay the lecture and made him swear that he would never steal again it decreases the chance of Jay ever stealing again.
Cinderella Man is about boxing so extrinsic motivation, competition, and external events are key concepts in this movie. Any external event, praise, money, grades, a scholarship, surveillance, and so on can be administered in a relatively controlling way or in a relatively way. Consider how praise functions as an extrinsic event sometimes to control another’s behavior and sometimes to inform a person’s competence about a job well done. Joe was praising Jim throughout the movie. Joe was so surprised when Jim won his first fight after his broke his wrist. Joe was saying things like, “Wow where did that come from?” and “Great fight Jimmy!” Jim just shrugs it off like it was nothing, and then comments that while his wrist was broken he was working at the docks. His jobs required him to lift heavy bag so it strengthen his left punches.
When the social context puts a good deal of pressure on winning (like how the audience would cheer Jim on while he was fighting or how everybody in the neighborhood would support Jim by listening to his fights on the radio, or the big championship bout against Max the Bear), competitors usually compete with a sense of contingency, pressure, and doing others work. When experienced in such a controlling way, competition decreases intrinsic motivation because competitors care relatively little about the task itself and relatively much about reward of winning. But, I think that Jim intrinsic motivation did not decrease because of competition, but he was extrinsic motivation increase because he really needed the money so his family could stay together. Jim feels it was his obligation to take care of him family and he made sure that he was going to keep the promise he made to Jay.
Jim love boxing, but he also boxed to financially support his family. Jim experiences intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation because of boxing. Jim boxes because boxing allows Jim to feel free (autonomy), effective (competence), or emotionally close (relatedness). But at the same time, externally regulated behaviors are performed to obtain or to satisfy some external demand. Jim risks his life in the boxing ring to support his family. The reason that Jim boxes is to get a consequence. There are many incentives in Cinderella Man. An incentive is an environment event that attracts of repels a person toward or away from initiating a particular course of action. When Max the Bear is taunting Jim and his family and he really takes it personal. This is what attracted him to expecting the fight against the bear. Another example of an incentive is the bell that rings to start and in the match. Jim is putting up a good fight against Max the bear, Max do not like it because he thought the fight against Jim was going to be an easy victory. After a few rounds of trading punches the bell rings to start a match, but Max ignores the bell and delivers one strong late hit after the bell rings. Jim does not see it coming and gets hit and really gets hurt.
I have seen Cinderella Man plenty of times before but I have never thought about it from a psychological point of view. I have learned so much about motivation from reading the chapter and connecting the terms to the movie. The movie ends with Jim knocking out Max the bear. The movie illustrates example of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The shows a strong family bond can help get you through the gloomiest days.
Terms: punishers, incentives, rewards, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, consequences, external events, praise, competition, external regulation.
This was a great movie! Like Cast Away, I had never seen it. There are definitely principles that are associated with this movie, but I will stick with the more recent stuff from chapter five. Intrinsic motivation is the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges. I believe that James Braddock’s motivation for boxing was intrinsic, as well as extrinsic. James loved boxing, it was his love and passion. However, the man had three small children and a wife that he needed to provide for. This took place during the 1930’s Great Depression Era, so food and shelter were hard to come by. In one particular scene, James goes to his former boxing employers to ask for money. His wife has just sent their kids away so they could stay warm, not knowing he promised them that would never happen. James is showing extrinsic motivation by going and begging for money to get his children back. Extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences, such as food, money, praise, etc. A lot of James’ motivation was extrinsic, and money was a positive reinforcer. The second go round, James was receiving a decent amount of money which kept him training and fighting harder, so that money would keep coming. James was also fighting for himself. He had passion for the sport. It gave him a sense of autonomy and power. The state of New Jersey was on his side and looked at him as their hero. In one amazing scene, right before his fight with Max, his wife goes to church to pray. To her surprise, the place was packed with locals doing the same. I think at that moment she realized, she wasn’t the only one that needed him.
Cognitive Evaluation theory asserts that all external events have both a controlling aspect and an informational aspect. Proposition two was met, stating that external events affect a person’s intrinsic motivation for an optimally challenging activity when they influence the person’s perceived competence. Events that promote greater perceived competence will enhance intrinsic motivation, whereas those that diminish perceived competence will decrease intrinsic motivation. His wife was against him fighting Max Bear. After her moment in the church she realized something. She made her way to the event and told James that she was behind him. In turn, this extrinsic event affected him to have intrinsic motivation.
This movie was so inspirational and is closely related to chapter five’s terms and principles. ME TERMS: Cognitive evaluation theory. extrinsic motivation. intrinsic motivation. positive reinforcers. autonomy.
I have always asked myself, "Why the heck do these guys want to fight? What could possibly be fun about getting hit? Pain is NOT fun!" However, what I haven't really thought about are the other things that might drive or motivate someone to fight. It was much easier for me to understand why Jimmy fought than it is for me to understand why a lot of my friends enjoy MMA fighting. (I still don't think I will ever understand what motivates people in the crowd to watch these guys do what they do, though!)
For Jimmy, his motivation to fight comes a lot from physiological needs. In order to have the money to pay for the electricity to keep his kids at home, or to have food on the table he has to have money. The money is an extrinsic motivator to fight. He will be rewarded for his fights (especially if he wins). I also think he has some intrinsic motivation to fight. He enjoys the fight, you can tell in his demeanor and the effort he puts into training. If he didn't enjoy it or get any type of self satisfaction out of fighting he probably would find other means to receive the money.
Although his physiological needs do have a lot to do with the motivation of getting into the ring, as soon as he is there, they go in the background. Once Jimmy starts fighting the broken hand, the crushed ribs, the growling stomach all suddenly stop mattering. He can somehow block those out and focus on the need to win the fight instead.
One point has been bothering me just a little. I can't decide if the electric company shutting off his power could be seen as a punishment, or a negative reinforcement, or maybe even both? If you look at it one way, shutting it off is a punishment, in which they are trying to get him to stop being late on paying his bill. Or it could be negative reinforcement in that they are adding in an unpleasant stimuli inorder to encourage the behavior of paying the bill. (Did I mention I don't necessarily enjoy deciding which is which between punishment and negative reinforcement. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes I'm pretty sure I over think it way too much).
terms used:
Physiological needs, motivation, drive, extrinsic motivation, punishment, negative reinforcer, unpleasant stimuli
The movie Cinderella Man presents many of the same concepts we are discussing in this course currently. The connections are especially strong among the story and the two types of motivation. In the movie, the main character James Braddock is forced to fight to provide for his family and also to be a beacon of hope for other struggling families during the Great Depression. The correlations between the events in this movie are best drawn between those of intrinsic and extrinsic emotion.
Extrinsic was probably the most obvious motivating force behind all of James’s actions. Extrinsic motivation can be broken down into incentives, consequences, and rewards. The main focus for the correlation I drew was the reason James fought, worked, and returned to the sport of boxing. The main driving force was first and foremost his family. He engaged in boxing and his other loading job because he was promised the incentive of money which is the first component of extrinsic motivation. James could use the money promised to buy food and pay the electric bill. He needed food for his family to eat and electricity to keep them warm. The paycheck was also a consequence for his actions. It acted as a positive reinforcer and increased the probability he would continue to work. Jim returned to those jobs because he would continue to earn more money if he did. There was also a great deal of negative reinforcers in his life. When removed, negative consequences increase the likelihood that the desired action will reoccur. The hunger, sickness, and poverty of his family served as negative consequences because when James worked and earned money, those problems vanished. That motivated James to keep working. Another aspect of extrinsic motivation is punishers. Punishers decrease the probability that an undesirable behavior will be repeated. This once again can be seen in the poverty James and his family live in. When his loading job does not bring in enough money to heat his family’s apartment James is forced to take other actions. He seeks federal financial aid and also asks his former colleagues for financial assistance. Rewards are also an aspect of extrinsic motivation. When James worked, he earned money to feed his family, heat his apartment, and nurse his sick child back to health.
Intrinsic motivation was also a big reason James boxed and worked after he was no longer allowed in the boxing association. Intrinsic motivation arises when a person feels a psychological need that needs to be satiated. An example the text provided which was also clear in the film is that of autonomy. When James was not allowed to box anymore, he felt like he no longer had control of his life. It also had to do with pride and self-respect. That is why it took him so long to seek financial aid. That is also why he was so ready to get back into the ring. He felt a sense of empowerment, autonomy, and pride. That is also why he did not give up or stand down to any competition. Even though he knew there was a possibility he could even die in his final fight, he still fought because he had too much pride and self-respect. Persistence also was a big theme in this film. No matter what challenge was thrown his way, James kept fighting to overcome it. Even after he broke his hand he still fought. Even after he was denied work he returned the next day hoping to get picked for a job. In every single fight he was in he never gave up and persevered. James was also creative in a sense, which is another aspect of intrinsic motivation. One scene where James demonstrated creativity was when he tried to cover up his cast with shoe polish. Optimal functioning and well-being was also shown in James’s actions. This means that pursuing his intrinsic goals led to better functioning and higher psychological well-being than just his extrinsic goals did. Without a doubt some of the biggest motivators for James were his desire to regain and protect his reputation and feel like he held the power over his life again. That is likely what led to his great success.
The Cinderella Man demonstrated every aspect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation we have read in our book and discussed in class. It covered all the features of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This story of perseverance and determination was a great example of everything discussed in Chapter 5 of our book.
Cinderella Man is an outstanding film that provides inspiration in the long, uphill battle that we are taken through in Jim Braddox’s life. Through the late 20’s and during The Great Depression, Braddox and his family struggle to pay the bills and keep themselves fed and healthy.
This film displays motivation all throughout the plot in numerous ways. The heat is turned off in their apartment, the children are getting sick, and there is no money so Jim files for relief money and shamefully goes to ask for money from the upper class men that he knows. Jim fights daily among large crowds of men to get a small sum of money after a long, hard day of manual labor, along with that, he sparingly boxes for extra side money. In the first half of this movie, extrinsic motivation is shown. Money is needed for heat, water, and food. This supplies a physiological need in the Braddox family and motivates Jim to work as hard as he can, even with a broken hand, to keep his family afloat.
After begging his boxing manager for more fights, the fates start turning in Jim’s favor. Win after win, his popularity grows among the public. He is being positively reinforced with acknowledgement and money. A person can see that at first, boxing wasn’t something he was completely passionate about on his own, but as he progresses through each round and each fight, there is a spark that lights in him that intrinsically motivates him to win the fight against one of the hardest known opponents to gain the title of World Champion and win a large reward. This reward plays a huge external motivator upon Braddox because it means he can finally stop groveling for money and take care of his family. His engagement in boxing propels to an elite status. He is behaviorally, emotionally, cognitively tied to his training and the hopeful outcome of winning. All his effort, interest, frustrations, and thoughts are put into boxing.
Terms: Extrinsic Motivation, Physiological Need, Positively Reinforced, Intrinsically Motivates, Reward, Engagement
Throughout the movie Cinderella Man, you can see the struggles Jim’s family goes through to make ends meet. A man with a wife and three kids are in the beginning of the Great Depression and Jim couldn’t be more motivated to get some money to provide for his family. We first see Jim’s son, Jay, steal salami because he is scared his family will be separated if they don’t make ends meet. In the moment after Jay returned the salami to the butcher’s, Jim promised him he’d never let that happen. Staying together as a family is a daily incentive most people don’t realize they have. In this movie Jim goes through many hardships to work for that incentive because of the psychological need of relatedness he feels for keeping his family together.
The Mount Vernon fight was the first battle we see of Jim being extrinsically motivated to keep his electric and heat on. Knowing his hand was in bad shape, Jim still told his manager, Gould, he wanted to fight, needed to fight. After a boring match between Jim and Feldman the crowd’s booing rubbed the Boxing Commission the wrong way and they decided to revoke Jim’s boxing license. Leaving the match without even being paid the guaranteed $50, Jimmy was left with a busted up hand and a disadvantage to being picked for a shift.
Again, Jimmy becomes extrinsically motivated after hearing his son, Howard, coughing due to the punishment his family faces when the electric and heat being shut off during the winter of 1933. The punishment leads him to his family’s lowest point. His wife, Mae, sends their kids off to relatives in order to make sure they are safe and this drives Jimmy to go to the Boxing Commission to basically beg for money in order to get them back.
Jim’s manager, Gould, comes to him offering him a fight at his old stomping grounds at Madison Square Garden with a winning allowance of $250. I think this is both intrinsically and extrinsically motivating because I do think Jim likes being back in his element of being at the Garden, but also extrinsically motivated for the money. In the scene with Braddock vs. Griffin in June of 1934 we get the sense of competition coming from the newspaper reporters, managers, and the crowd and this decreases intrinsic motivation because the competitors are less focused on the task and more focused on winning. You see Gould praising Jim saying he looks great and trying to motivate him as coaches usually do to help their performers do well. You see the crowd praise Jimmy as well with all the clapping and cheering after he knocks out Griffin.
We see Jimmy continues fighting and it becomes a reinforcer for him and although the first match back against Griffin set him ahead with money. He becomes intrinsically motivated again by fighting. He has a passion for it and lives for it. The incentives may keep him in the need of fighting and extrinsically motivated, but it’s the challenge of wanting to be what he was again that keeps him intrinsically motivated.
Terms: extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, reinforcer, competition, praise, incentive, punishment, relatedness, drive
The movie Cinderella Man takes place during the Great Depression. During this time families did not have much for income. Jim and his wife Mae were no exception to this. His family had to share and conserve food. The little amount of money Jim made first came from boxing, until he broke his hand and switched into working manual labor. Both of these types of jobs are strenuous and require a great deal of effort, especially for someone with a broken hand. Jim continued to work to financially provide for his family and had begun to box again. If the only reason he worked was to maintain some form of income, it would come from extrinsic motivation. It appears that Jim was also motivated by intrinsic motivation. He stated that there is no place he would rather be than in the ring, which most likely means that he does it for the fun of it.
When Jim was boxing, he was not only motivated to perform to the best of his abilities, but to not embarrass himself, as well. Embarrassment serves as a form of punishment. It decreases the behavior of making the same mistakes in the ring again. Embarrassment would not be the only consequence Jim would face if he was not boxing to the highest level of his potential, but in addition, he would lose some of his fan base. Therefore, this means that others would not be motivated to come watch the match. The audience could be intrinsically motivated to watch boxing for the fun of it, or possibly, extrinsically motivated by placing bets on competitors. Boxers are not rewarded for bad performance. The basis of performing a task for the incentives or to avoid consequences is the type of extrinsic motivation known as External Regulation.
Although it was difficult for Jim to seek help, such as public assistance, he still did. It was really hard for him and hurt his pride to ask, but the incentive of needing money was vital in his family to be able to survive and stay together. His wife, Mae, believed it would be best for the family to send away the children until they could afford the basic necessities them, but Jim refused. He did everything in his power to locate and be given access to resources that his family was eligible for.
When Jim was told about a match with the Heavy Weight contender, he wanted to know how much he could be paid if he were to accept this match. This contender is bigger than Jim, who was only a Light Heavy Weight contender. Mae did not want him to participate in this fight, because his opponent has already killed two men in the ring. To avoid any consequences, Mae approached a man able about not wanting her husband to fight anymore. After Jim agreed to compete in this match, Mae wanted him to find a way out of it, even if that meant he would have to break his hand again.
The training and preparation Jim went through was vigorous, and it could have developed from introjected regulation of wanting to boost his self-esteem. This training was the most important aspect in his day to day life that could lead to the desired effect of winning his matches. Through the pain and struggle, with a broken hand and broken ribs, he continued to be persistent. Each time one of the opponents hit the ground or the ropes, they had some sort of motivation to get back up. Determination was present during round after round, so Jim could conquer and not become a victim of his misfortunes and despair. He was fighting back against the poverty, past due bills, and for the money he could receive to support and give his children a second chance. He knew what he was fighting for, and it came from the interest he had in supporting his family. Supporting his family reflected a sense of importance that evolved from his identified regulation.
His motivation to win came from more than just the incentive of money. There was definitely intrinsic motivation present. In competition, winning increases intrinsic motivation. With Jim pursuing his intrinsic goals, he will have a greater sense of self-actualization, greater self-esteem, and most likely will have less depression and anxiety. The praise he received also may have contributed to his perseverance.
Towards the end of the movie and as Jim was about to go into the big match, Mae proposed an interesting question—“how much is too much?” The answer to this could vary from person to person, but a person that is intrinsically motivated will continue to strive for the desired outcome much longer than a person who is only extrinsically motivated.
Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, punishment, incentive, consequences, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, praise
Cinderella Man is full of extrinsic motivation. At the beginning of the movie, Jim experiences a great deal of fame and fortune. He is extrinsically motivated at this point for fame, notoriety, women, and money. After the Great Depression occurs, his outlook on life and boxing changes. He is nearing the end of his boxing road lacking the physical stamina to perform at a high level. He is now extrinsically motivated for money to feed his family.
After being decommissioned from boxing, Jim is crushed because he can't find stable work on the lines. When his old trainer approaches him about fighting a one time match against a championship conteder, Jim is ecstatic. He then becomes extrinsically motivated by money and notortiety from the crowd that he used to experience, but also intrinsically motivated by the degree of difficulty of the challenge. The incentive and reinforcer at this point is money to help his family survive the tough times. The punisher in this situation is the beating Jim takes from his fights. With over 80 bouts in his career, his wife is extremely worried and experiences high anxiety when he enters the ring. This decreases the probability that he will enter the ring in the future, but the extrinsic reward of money outweighs the punisher. He is no longer doing this out of intrinsic motivation, but solely for money to pay the bills.
Jim is practicing the most basic, and least autonomous form of motivation; external regulation. He is doing is solely for the incentive to get the paycheck. He would not be boxing at this stage of his career if it wasn't for the lack of financial stability.
With this all said, Jim does work towards regaining enjoyment in the sport by obtaining optimal challenge and flow. He is able to develop his left jab (punch) by working on the line and this carries over into the ring. His desire to win for his family coupled with a strong left hand to accompany his powerful right coincide to produce an optimal level of skill. In addition, the challenge is the highest it has ever been fighting championship contenders. This creates a need for competence and perfect conditions for flow.
ME Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, incentive, reinforcer, punisher, external regulation,flow
I was only able to see about an hour and fifteen minutes of this movie, but it was very easy to relate this movie to terms and concepts that we have learned in class so far. Jimmy loved boxing. He was extrinsically motivated to do it because he got paid pretty good for a match (prior to the Great Depression). I think it is safe to say that he was also intrinsically motivated to box. Even though he was getting paid for it, you could really tell that it was something that meant a lot to him and his family. His wife, Mae, was supportive of her husband and his career, although she did not attend the matches. I would also find it very difficult to watch if my husband was a boxer and constantly getting punched in the face. Once the Great Depression hit, everything changed not only for Jimmy and his family, but everyone. He was no longer boxing for the people he used to and food was very scarce. Another example of when Jimmy was extrinsically motivated was when he went out to the fence to try to get a job to provide for his family. He had a broken hand but was still working...that had to be very painful. There is also an example of Jimmy's son being extrinsically motivated. The son stole some meat from the butcher so the family could eat. He knew money was tight and wanted to help in any way he could. Jimmy does have a certain need for autonomy. He had the choice of fighting or not when he was offered $250 for one fight. He discussed it with his wife and you could tell that she really did not want him to. He however, made the decision to go through with it for different reasons. He also experiences the need for competence. During the fight, he got back into it and was learning after not having done it in quite awhile. Relatedness is a little more difficult, but I do think that he wanted to belong to the boxing association again. That was his career and when he didn't have that, he was kind of lost. Also, with the job he got at the dock gave him a certain amount of relatedness. He was able to make new friends and gain new knowledge.
During the last fight that I was able to see in the movie when Jimmy defeated the huge man (when he was almost certain to lose), he more than likely had a huge rush of dopamine. He took quite a few good hits, but then it changed and he started throwing the good hits. That change in events turned him into have good and pleasurable feelings, which are associated with dopamine. Another hormone that takes place for Jimmy is an increase in his cortisol levels. The Depression was a stressful time for everyone. Cortisol is the "stress hormone." When Jimmy and his family did not have any food and when the electricity was turned off, there is no doubt that the family was experiencing very high stress levels. It was during this time that their children were taken to other family members who could provide more for them. This would have been very difficult for a parent to do, but they understood that in order for their children to survive, they needed to do it.
I think that Jimmy's boxing coach (or however you would describe him) had a very significant role in Jimmy's motivation to box. I believe that he demonstrates to some extent, the context of engagement. He is very involved in Jimmy's career and wants the absolute best for him. He is always there by his side rooting him on. When Jimmy goes to the bar where all of the boxing representatives are to beg for money, his coach feels sympathy for him.
Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, engagement, dopamine, cortisol, autonomy, competence, relatedness
Although I was not able to watch the whole film, I think I got a good idea of both the intrinsic motivation and the extrinsic motivation that Braddock had. Before the great depression hit, Braddock was at the top of his game. He was one of the best boxers around and was making good money, women wanted him and he lived in a nice stable house. He was intrinsically motivated to box. He loved boxing but he was also getting paid to do it, however once the depression hit, he barely got any gigs to go and box because people didn’t have the money to go watch the fights and when he did fit, it didn’t make much. This ended him and his family in a small apartment with little food and it was very difficult for him to pay the bills.
Very early in the movie, it shows Braddock’s son who stole a sausage and he was extrinsically motivated to steal it because he was worried that him and his family would be separated. Braddock also showed extrinsic motivation by having to go to the docks and try to get work for the day, some days he got work, others he didn’t. Even after he broke his hand in one of the fights, he still went to work so that he was able to pay the bills and try to support his family. About half way through the movie, James gets so desperate that he has to swallow his pride and go ask for money from the people that use to support his boxing so that he can turn the electricity back on.
At one point in the movie, James gets the opportunity to be in a fight since the other guy backed out and couldn’t make it. He would be making $250 to be in the fight and right then; there was no question he was going to do it. Braddock knew that he would probably lose since he was going against the number 2 heavy weight champion, before the fight, his old manager gave him food since he had not ate in awhile and once he received the food, Hull’s drive theory of hunger kicked in and he was so hungry that he did not even bother with waiting for a spoon. Once the fight started the two of them went back and forth and at the end, Braddock ended up winning which was both a positive reinforcement for him wanting to keep fighting and also a reward since he did win.
James’ psychological needs were not as important to him as the needs of his family were. His family came first and he wanted to make sure that they had food and water before he worried about himself. Even with a broken hand, he went to work at the docks and he boxed, he did whatever he could to provide for them.
Terms-Intrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation, Hull’s drive theory (hunger), positive reinforcement, reward, psychological needs
Cinderella man
Cinderella Man shows viewers of showing off intrinsic/extrinsic motivations. Jim and his family struggle to pay for basic things such as food and electricity and naturally end up displaying extrinsic motivations as they attempt to cope with trying circumstances.
We see Jim spending the majority of his time attempting to earn money so that he can pay for his family’s food and bills. Though Jim may enjoy boxing, there is a heavy motivation for him to exercise his boxing skill since he knows that winning fights earns him desperately needed money. When not fighting we see him attempting to get chosen to help do work at a docking facility. One of the most salient examples of doing something out of extrinsic motivation is his begging for money. He clearly is not begging for the challenge of acquiring money or because he thinks it is fun, he cries and says if there were any other way to attain the money he needs he would not be begging. His ultimate rival seems to be very extrinsically motivated by popularity/fame at times as well. This can be observed when he opens the hotel door and two women are apparently ready to or have already slept with him.
However it’s clear he does have some amount of intrinsic motivation as he tells the messenger that he wants to fight a boxer who is more capable. That statement would suggest he still at least in part does boxing for the opportunity of challenge it presents. Jim’s coach seems to display signs of being intrinsically motivated as well. We find out that he sells most of his and his wife’s belongings so that he can pay for Jim to be able to devote a significant amount of his time to training instead of working at the docks. The coach explains to the wife that he’s doing this because Jim has something anybody that does his job is looking for but sometimes never finds. He seems to love his job and is excited to take on the challenge of attempting to rise to the top of the boxing world with Jim.
However some extrinsic and intrinsic motivations appear to exist together. The family seems to have little money for food, so when the son steals the meat from the butcher there is a reward being gained that will help to satisfy a physiological need. While that was likely a factor in his decision to steal we see it is not the only factor. He exclaims that he stole because he was worried that if there was not enough food, he and his siblings would be sent away from their mother and father since this happened to a friend of his. He and his siblings could survive if they stayed with the mom’s sister, but he has an intrinsic motivation to stay with his parents because he loves them.
Cinderella man provides viewers with a good view of how extrinsic and intrinsic motivations can manifest themselves under difficult circumstances.
Terms: Physiological need, Extrinsic motivation, Intrinsic Motivation
Cinderella Man
The main character in this movie (James) has many reasons to be motivated. His family is struggling for money. He needs to keep his children and his wife safe and well. In order to do that, he needs to work, but work is very hard to come by. He shows both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in this movie. He is intrinsically motivated to keep his family happy. He plays with his children and makes them promises of a better life. He does these things because he enjoys it and he wants to. Intrinsic motivation is when a person is motivated to do things that they like doing. They are motivated to do certain things because they see them as enjoyable or fun.
He also does a lot of things that involve extrinsic motivation. He goes to a group of rich men because he is short on money. He doesn’t necessarily want to be there, but he knows he has to be. He knows that going to ask them for money will give him a reward in the end. If he can get enough money from them, he can get his kids back and turn their electricity back on. He also starts fighting again to make money. The only reason he does it is to get paid. His wife hates that he fights, but they need the money horribly. The money that James could win if he fought was a huge incentive. The money was the factor that made him want to fight. It coerced him into doing what he did because he needed the money.
His family meant a lot to him. He needed to keep them strong in the tough times that they went through. His family was sort of like a reinforcer. Their happiness made him continue to stick with it when he was at his lowest. There are a few times in the movie when he is fighting, and I thought he was about to lose. All he had to do was think of his family and it motivated him to hit harder and keep on going. Throughout all of the bad, James finds ways to stay motivated and stay strong. This movie shows all of those things very well. Chapter 5 is a great way to display how he makes his choices and why he does what he does.
Terms: Motivation, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Reward, Incentive