Ch 8 Goals

Chapter 8 of the textbook was regarding goal setting and goal striving. The process and success of a goal was described as depending on discrepancy, planning, feedback, and goal acceptance. A goal can be defined as something that an individual is striving to accomplish. From this goal, a person makes a plan and is motivated to take action within that plan to reach their goal.

A goal is created by cognitions and the test-operate-test-exit (TOTE) model. This model states that first an individual tests the present state to the ideal state, and if this comparison shows a discrepancy, then the individual is motivated to take action, or operate, on the environment. After this action is taken, then individual then tests the present against the ideal once again to compare for discrepancy. If the feedback shows little discrepancy, then the individual exits, but if the feedback shows discrepancy still, then the individual repeats the T-O-T-O process until the discrepancy is acceptable.

Once a discrepancy between the present state and the ideal state is recognized, a plan is put into place to reach the intended goal. The discrepancy felt by the individual makes them uncomfortable enough to act on a plan of action to remove this discrepancy. The discrepancy is the motivating factor that provides the energy to carry out the plan. This plan provides a direction for the individual to follow. This motivation to act on a plan is defined as corrective motivation, which activates a decision making process for the individual to decide on what plan of action to take to reduce the discrepancy. This corrective motivation is flexible, in by which the plan may change, the behavior may change, or the individual may withdraw from the plan totally.

Feedback was also an important factor of motivation towards a goal. Goal setting can lead to increased performance when timely feedback that documents performance is present. This feedback allows individuals to track progress (or lack of progress). If the feedback shows the individual is performing at below goal level, then the individual feels dissatisfaction and awareness of discrepancy, which can assist in motivation. When the feedback shows the individual is performing at above goal level, the individual feels satisfaction and competence, which can also assist in motivating the individual to create a more difficult goal.

Goal acceptance is one other factor that can affect the performance towards a goal. If the goal is set by an external force, then the individual must accept or reject the goal before taking action. There are four factors that indicate whether an externally set goal will be accepted or rejected: the perceived difficulty of the imposed goal, the participation in the goal setting process, the credibility of the person assigning the goal, and the extrinsic motivations. The difficulty of the imposed goal can affect whether it is accepted or rejected, meaning that easy goals are more often accepted compared to difficult goals. Also, the more involvement the individual had in setting the external goal, the more likely they are to accept it. The source of the external goal must also be a credible source for the imposed goal to be more likely to be accepted. The last factor of acceptance or rejection is whether there is an extrinsic motivator or not. The presence of an extrinsic motivator can increase the acceptance of an externally determined goal.

The most surprising thing I learned was that between outcome simulation and process simulation, process simulation induce better performance of a goal. Outcome simulation is when an individual visualizes and mentally simulates the feeling of achieving the outcome of a goal, while process simulation is when an individual visualizes and mentally simulates the actual actions and process of getting to a certain goal. The knowledge from this chapter can help to motivate me towards my desired goals because I know that if I set a specific and difficult goal, then I am more likely to complete it. For example, I am making a goal to complete my graduate school application, which is a difficult goal, and I have made a specific deadline to have it completed by as well as written specific times in my planner to work on completing this goal. By writing down times to work on this goal in my planner, I am practicing implementation intentions to help direct me towards my goal.

Terms:
Goal
TOTE model
Discrepancy
Ideal state
Feedback
Corrective motivation
Goal planning
Goal acceptance
Outcome simulation
Process simulation
Implementation intentions

The chapter focuses on goal setting and goal striving. The main concepts are one’s ability to recognize a problem, come up with solutions, put a plan into action, and evaluate the plan throughout the course of its’ action. It also discussed how the level of difficulty of one’s goal could affect how likely it is that they will complete this goal.
In this chapter, the concept of making a plan was discussed. I related to this because I am huge about planning things about. If I know there’s a problem, I will sit down and think of a list of possible solutions. Once I have this list I will go through it to determine which solution is the best one. The list making part of my process falls into the category of corrective motivation. Corrective motivation focuses on one considering possible solutions to their current problem. While my plan is in action I will constantly evaluate the progress and see if it is where I want it to be or if it needs to be adapted. Goal setting is also something that helps to motivate towards where I want to be. If I simply think about wanting to do it, most of the time I will not actually do it. If I actually break down where I hope to eventually be into smaller goals that work me up to it I am much more likely to get there. I use this a lot when it comes to my fitness. I will set small goals like “go to the gym 4 times this week” and then continue to build on that in order to keep me going. This chapter did help me to learn that my goals need to be difficult and specific in order to be effective. If I can learn to make my goals even more specific than I should be able to better achieve the results I desire. Feedback is also very important for me because I need that reassurance that what I am doing is actually effective. This class is a perfect example of that. We write all these papers of the chapters and in return receive a grade(feedback) which tells us if we need to improve or if we are doing well. If we aren’t receiving the grade we desire than it motivates us to put more time and effort into the assignments in order to achieve the grade we want.
The concept that was most interesting to me was discrepancies and how they can cause one to be motivated. A standard of excellence exists whether it be at school, work, or in one’s social life. This standard helps us to see if we are meeting it or falling short. If we seem to be falling short it can cause us to become motivated in order to reach this ideal state. A person can also create a discrepancy by looking at their present state and creating a new goal that becomes one’s ideal state. By doing this you are telling yourself you have not achieved that standard and your new goal will help you to get there. I was able to easily relate to this concept and that is why I believe it was so interesting for me.

Terms:
Plan
Corrective motivation
Discrepancy
Ideal state
Standard of excellence
Present State
Goals
Feedback

In summary, chapter 8 was about planning and pursuing goals. The chapter covered major theories and models, such as inconsistency/discrepancy theory, the TOTE model, corrective motivation, discrepancy reduction, and discrepancy creation. These theories and models revolve around the idea that a mismatch between people’s present state and their ideal state motivates them to act in order to make the two congruent, or more simply put, people work to meet their goals. The chapter goes on to describe what leads to the best performance, including empirically-tested methods such as creating difficult and specific goals, internalizing the goals, setting implementation intentions, and receiving a steady stream of feedback.

The most interesting and surprising part of the chapter involved the section “Mental Simulations: Focusing on Action”. This section was interesting, because I too have been exposed to the wishful-thinking and vision-board methods of goal achievement. I have also been exposed to the mental practice method in my cognitive psychology class. However, I never know if the wishful-thinking/vision-board methods were effective or not, although I had a hunch they weren't. After reading this section, I was surprising to learn that it actually HURT people’s performance toward their goals. This section was clarifying in that way! It was good because it reinforced that mental practice, or simulation the process of achieving a goal, does IMPROVE performance. I have thought about giving this a try after cognitive psychology, but now I feel even more inclined to implement the method in my everyday life.

I set goals for myself in many areas of my life, such as in school, work, music, and fitness. This chapter 1.) will help me look out for some of the pitfalls of goal making and 2.) utilize the tried-and tested methods of goals setting and know in which situations which approach works the best.

The chapter outlines stress, opportunities for failures, and the thwarting of creativity and intrinsic motivation as the pitfalls of goal setting. These are factors that I have noticed in music, for example. I am intrinsically motivated to learn music and would feel all of these things if I were asked to set a goal for playing or writing a song. However, some processes tasks for learning a song are relatively uninteresting (e.g. learning the scale or strumming pattern), and I notice do better on these tasks when I set goals. So know the difference in my volition is important in deciding whether or not I should or should not get a goal.

Building on my comment on the mental simulation section, I will try to implement mental practice throughout my day. For example, when waiting for class to being, I can imagine a strumming pattern or chord progression I am learning. I will also keep in mind whether or not I have the energy (the difficulty), the direction (specificity), and the situational cutes (time and place) to really get the things I want to do done and the songs I want to play played!

Terms:
Discrepancy Theory
Present state
Ideal State
TOTE model
Corrective motivation
Discrepancy reduction & creation
Difficult and specific goals
Goal acceptance
Implementation intentions
Feedback

Chapter 8 is the first of many chapters to cover goals and the various studies and theories that surrounds the concept. Specifically, this chapter focuses on planning and goal-setting regarding motivated behavior. The chapter begins with a summary of cognitive perspectives on motivation, setting us up for our future chapter reading. It then dives right in to planning, and the Test-Operate-Test-Exit (TOTE) Model regarding planning/motivated behavior. Here is where we are first introduced to incongruencies, and the speculations as to why human beings plan. The TOTE Model is a little outdated, however, and the chapter then introduces us to the Corrective Motivation theory, a more contemporary theory that explains planning as a dynamic and ever-flowing system that utilizes discrepancy instead of incongruency. Discrepancy is then split into two forms, Discrepancy Reduction (a deficiency-oriented motivation) and Discrepancy Creation (a growth-oriented motivation). The chapter then moves on into Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation, which is a discrepancy creating process based upon the goal’s difficulty, specificity, feedback, and acceptance. Then the chapter introduces the shortcomings of the Goal-Setting Theory and moves into a discussion of Long-Term Goals. Afterwards, the chapter discusses Goal Striving and Implementation Intentions, the ways in which you take a plan into action. The chapter concludes by combining all the discussed theories into one comprehensive chart and summarizes the benefits of goal-oriented motivated behavior.

What interested me the most was the discussion about discrepancy and incongruency. Both incongruency and discrepancy are where motivation arises in their respective motivational theories (Incongruency – TOTE Model; Discrepancy – Corrective Motivational Model). When I first read through this section of the chapter, I thought I had misread something because they seemed extremely similar, and I wondered why the same phenomenon would bear two names. However, upon reading the section again, I found that there was a slight difference between the two. Incongruency is the base motivational force of the TOTE (Test-Operate-Test-Exit) Model of Motivation. Incongruency arises when the person looks at the present state (actual reality) and compares it with their ideal state (imagined/projected/desired dream). If the present state does not match the ideal state, incongruency arises to correct this. Incongruency simultaneously gives energy and direction to the behavior to correct the gap between present and ideal states.

Discrepancy, on the other hand, is very similar to incongruity. Discrepancy, however, exists on a magnitude. There is a continuum placed between the present state and the ideal state, and the further away from the ideal state the person is, the more the discrepancy shows. The discrepancy acts like an incongruency and motivates the individual to behavior by their want to remove the discrepancy. The main difference between incongruency and discrepancy is that discrepancy exists in two forms: Discrepancy Reduction and Discrepancy Creation. Discrepancy Reduction is a deficiency-oriented motivational phenomenon and is based on feedback that detects discrepancy. The environment feeds back how well/poorly the person is performing compared to the ideal performance. Discrepancy arises when the person performs below the standardized ideal performance Discrepancy Creation is a growth-oriented motivational phenomenon that exists on a “feed-forward” system, as the book puts it. The individual looks to the future and sets a future goal, and the discrepancy arises if their performance does not match their ideal personal performance. Discrepancy Creation is intrinsic, with the feedback existing more internally and less environmentally. They essentially create a higher goal, a future state that does not currently exist save for in the mind of the performer.

As my lovely anxiety-riddled, pessimistic self, I was kind of confused by this chapter for the most part. I had attempted to set goals for myself before, and usually wound up an anxious wreck. I instead turned to a more day-by-day system where I would write down a set of tasks that I have to get done by the day’s end, and once those tasks were done I could relax and take the time to breathe and sit back. This chapter hadn’t brought up anything about fear of failure or anxiety/stress brought on by goal pursuit, so I was beginning to feel a little bit anomalous as the book would have discussed it if it were a common occurrence. Then I reached the criticisms of goal-setting theory portion of the chapter, and it brought up the concept of stress as one of the theory’s pitfalls. While I am not necessarily a high goal-seeking individual constantly challenging myself due to some innate need to prove/improve my own competency (far from it), this little section brought up a very valid point. In those who constantly seek out high challenges can wind up overstressed and essentially burn out. This made perfect sense, because I don’t believe I have ever met one goal that did not cause me to stress out. Even those minor, day-to-day ones that I used as a temporary coping mechanism could cause me copious amounts of stress. So I was not really anomalous at all, I just must get stressed a little easier than others when it comes to challenges, or perhaps that is my body’s natural response when challenged. Either way, something something accelerated heart rate something something cortisol.

Terms used:
Intrinsic Motivation – Pg. 111
Planning – Pg. 207
Test-Operate-Test-Exit Model – Pg. 208
Incongruency – Pg. 208
Corrective Motivational Theory – Pg. 209
Discrepancy – Pg. 210
Discrepancy Reduction – Pg. 211
Discrepancy Creation – Pg. 211
Goal-Setting Motivational Theory – Pg. 211
Feedback – Pg. 215
Goal Acceptance – Pg. 217
Long-Term Goals – Pg. 219
Goal Striving – Pg. 220
Implementation Intentions – Pg. 222

Chapter 8 in our textbook focuses on goal setting, goal striving, and how planning a goal can actually enhance a person’s performance. This chapter focuses on cognitions, aka mental events, specifically plans, goals, and mental simulations. Cognition is important in the motivational process because it helps us realize what is important to us personally based on our behaviors, values, and ways of thinking. The chapter follows this by explaining plans, and how there can be a difference between a person’s “ideal state” and their “present state.” If a person’s ideal representation of running a mile is six minutes, but their present state is at 9 minutes, this causes an “incongruity”. If there is a mismatch between the two, it may be easier for someone to create a plan to get to the ideal state they want. Incongruities cause many people to become more motivated and gives them a clearer picture on how much harder they have to work in order to get to their ideal state. To figure out if a person is congruent with whatever they are doing, they may use the TOTE model, or test-operate-test-exit. At first, someone compares their ideal and present state. If they don’t match up, the person will plan out actions and attempt to fix the incongruency. After fixing whatever “mistake” they are making, they will test again to compare the two states. If it’s incongruent, they will go back to the operating state, however if it is congruent the second time around, the person will be able to “exit” or stop attempting to reach the ideal state, as they are now in it. The chapter then moved on to combining these concepts and how it can influence a person’s motivation.
The most surprising thing that I learned in this chapter was the next thing that was talked about: goal difficulty. According to the book, the more difficult a task is, the more motivated or energized a person is to do it. Before reading this, I would have thought that easier tasks are easier to accomplish, while difficult goals would make us lose motivation or energy. Learning that the more difficult the goal, the more energized a person becomes to accomplish it was surprising, as well as making a specific goal. The more specific a goal is, the more direction a person has. This surprised me because it conflicts with the idea of autonomy a little bit in terms of being confined to something so specific.
One of my long-term goals is to travel to another country in the next two years, before I settle down into a career and whatnot. This chapter helped me to see that it may be more easily accomplished if I made my goal more specific. For example, instead of saying that I want to travel out of the country, I could be more specific in saying that I want to travel to Greece. This would give me more direction into my goal. As my goal is already difficult, it energizes me to complete the smaller steps first, such as getting my passport and researching hotels and what I would like to do while I’m there.

Cognition
Plan
Ideal state
Present state
TOTE model
Incongruency
Goal
Goal difficulty
Specific goals

This chapter included information on how to properly set and accomplish goals. People have incongruity, or discrepancy which means that their ideal state does not match up with their present state. Due to this, people set goals to try and reduce incongruity by making their ideal self match their present self. The chapter also mentioned factors that could determine if a goal will be accepted or rejected when setting a goal within an interpersonal relationship. If the goal is easy for the performer and the performer has a say in the goal, the goal is more likely to be accepted. The goal is also more likely to be accepted if the person assigning the goal is credible to the performer and provides extrinsic motivation. Most of the chapter was about the goal setting and striving processes and the steps to achieve a specific and difficult goal.
The most surprising information I learned was the steps to setting and striving for a goal, I really liked the chart at the end of the chapter showing sequential steps within each process. I thought this was interesting because it is useful in my personal goals. Another thing I thought was interesting was that feedback is a huge part of the goal setting process. This makes sense because feedback can be encouraging to the process, even if it shows failure. Feedback helps us learn. If someone is actively working out, feedback will show muscle gain or fat loss, which is encouraging to the process. If someone is working out from time to time, and not really seeing any results, this can encourage them to be persistent and work out more or do more intense work outs to lose fat and/or gain muscles.
This chapter was really easy to relate to my own life and personal goals. I can see why past goals have failed and how I could change them to accomplish them. For example, one of my failed goals was to go to bed earlier. I think the main reason this failed was because I stay up late watching Netflix or Hulu. To accomplish the goal, I need to follow both the goal setting process and the goal striving process. Under the goal setting process, the first step is to specify the objective to be accomplished, which is going to bed early. This goal is moderately difficult because I typically take naps throughout the day, stay up watching Netflix movies or Hulu shows, and hang out with my friends until late in the evening. It is also difficult for me to sleep past 7:30 AM, which is why it is more realistic that I go to bed earlier. This means I will have moderate effort put into achieving this goal. Next, I need to clarify goal specificity. I would like to be ready for bed by 10:30PM and fall asleep by 11:30PM, since it takes me a while to fall asleep, this seems realistic. I will assess my performance in the middle of April and compare my bed time to now and look for improvement. Within the goal striving process, I will accept this goal because I am the one who made it, showing I am intrinsically motivated to go to bed earlier. A goal attainment strategy I will use will be shutting off all lights around bed time and not using my phone in bed. I read about this in The Happiness Project and decided I need to try this to improve sleep at night. My implementation intention for going to bed earlier will be not napping during the day and watching Netflix or Hulu in my free time during the day when I would typically be napping so when bed time comes, I have already watched whatever I want to watch that day, and I will be tired from no nap throughout the day. Finally, I will receive feedback from my circadian rhythm which will eventually get used to my new sleep schedule, making me less tired throughout the day.
Terms:
Goals, incongruity, discrepancy, goal acceptance, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, goal setting, goal striving, feedback, implementation intention, goal specificity, goal difficulty, goal-attainment strategies

Chapter 8 talks about setting goals, planning towards goals, and striving to achieve those goals. The successfulness of a goal is described in the book as depending on discrepancy, planning, feedback, and goal acceptance. Planning happens when one looks at their current state and imagines how they will get to an ideal state. Once you know all of this, the chapter talks about creating an effective goal-setting program and helps us understand the best ways to plan out/achieve our goals.
The most surprising thing I learned in this chapter was about discrepancy. Sure I understood that goals are made because we aren’t where we want to be, but I had never looked at goals through the idea of discrepancy. The book talks of two types of discrepancy; creation and reduction. According to the book, discrepancy reduction is somewhat of a corrective behavior. For example, if a salesperson is only selling three-hundred dollars of goods a day and they should be selling 500, their boss may say something to them in hopes of reducing the discrepancy. Discrepancy creation comes from more forward thinking people. These people are looking to work towards something higher. An example of this would be a basketball player who scores 15 ppg their Junior year, looking to score 25 ppg their senior year. No one told them that 15 wasn’t enough, they just decided they wanted to be better and created a discrepancy in order to allow them to work more towards that goal. These ideas were interesting to me because they allowed me to look at my goals and where they came from, reduction or creation. I noticed that I set a lot of goals using discrepancy creation, but I don’t achieve many of those goals. However, on occasion, when I am made aware of a discrepancy reduction that needs to take place, I usually fare much better at achieving the goal that came out of that reduction. I think that it is important for me to understand this so I can work harder at discrepancy creation goals, or allow myself to get the goals set for me using discrepancy reduction.
The knowledge of this chapter was extremely helpful in helping me understand what forms of motivation and goal setting I often use, and use best. I have a lot of corrective motivations that lead me to set goals such as losing weight or becoming better in my classes, but I don’t often have very good implementation. I very rarely set super specific goals. For example, when using the gym for an extended period of time, my goals are often broad and not necessarily zeroed in. If I wanted to improve on this, I could state that I want to gain 30 pounds on my bench, or maybe lose 15 pounds. I need to improve the whole process of planning my goals out. In doing this, it may improve my ability to succeed in goals that come out of discrepancy creation instead of only really succeeding on goals of discrepancy reduction. I think it is important to be able to better yourself on your terms, not just because it is necessary for a job or some other outside entity. There is a lot to be gained from this chapter, and I hope that I can learn from it in an effort to improve in my success when it comes to achieving my goals.
Goal
Goal Planning
Discrepancy Creation
Discrepancy Reduction
Corrective Motivations
Implementation

Chapter 8 mostly focused on plans, goal setting and goal striving. According to the book, the word “plan” can be described as when one acts based on perceived incongruity between one’s present state and one’s ideal state. In other words, it would be like a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something depending on one’s desire. There’s a model that the chapter goes into details in called TOTE model, test-operate-test-exit. The TOTE model is in which one acts and appraise until present and ideal states are suitable for him/her. That is when corrective motivation plays its role. It mobilizes the decision-making process in which one’s can try to minimize the present-ideal discrepancy. This can also be done when someone would change their plan or their behavior of how they’re currently managing it or they could completely disengage from the plan. The conflict or discrepancy begins when the present and ideal states don’t match with each other. This will cause the motivations stems to form at this moment. These two types of discrepancies. One is known as discrepancy reduction, which is reactive and target on the overcoming achievement inadequacy based on the response, and the other discrepancy is known as discrepancy creation. Discrepancy creation is proactive and focuses more on expansion and setting future goals.

A goal can be anything that we are all trying to accomplish based on our desires and hopes. The chapter talks about how important it is for us to actually set goals because the performance rates are higher in those who set goals comparing to people who don’t. However, goals don’t always embellish performance because goals should be demanding and precise. If your goals are challenging and difficult, its adversity will strengthen the energy, exertion and stamina. Whereas, if the goals specificity will enhance direction, concentration and focus. After this, feedback takes place which is also very important when given. Feedback can be defined as the information about reactions to a product, a person’s performance of a task etc. It is basically used as a basis for improvement. For example, if someone gets a feedback that their formance was higher in position/or the goal that they set at the beginning, it’ll will make them happy and contented. This is when the discrepancy creation takes place. Whereas, if the feedback shows the performance level lower than the goal level, a person will probably feel defeated and discontented. Goals are not adept or efficient unless someone chooses to accept them. There are four factors that the chapter talked about, that impact whether one should accept or deny them. These factors are, perceived difficulty of imposed goal, participation in the goal-setting process, credibility of the person setting the goal, and relevant extrinsic incentives.

Moreover, goal striving present to carry out the set of goals. Mental stimulation is the method of playing our scenarios in your mind. The chapter goes into details of how if you focus on the goal, it will actually disorganize the goal attainment. But, if you rather focus on the implementation intentions, you will actually have a better chance to achieve your goal because implementation intentions tend to carry out the goal-directed behaviors. Implementation intentions helps us to overcome motivational problems or behaviors that are discouraging us. For example, when someone has to restart or re plan their goal because their first one did not go well, or continuing regarding how the situation is around you. Furthermore, it is also very important to decide when, where or how you will actually complete a goal. Most importantly, planning and preparing yourself will help you to overcome and defeat any confusion or disturbance that you might face on the way. This will also help you to restart something all over again without having any problem and parvail through any difficulty.

The most interesting thing that I read in this chapter was the criticism of the goal setting. The first criticism of goal setting was more about increasing the performance rather than growing motivation. I 100% agree with this because components of a goal setting will involve extrinsic factors which means that they are not the best reassuring motivators. The second criticism that the chapter talks about is the goal setting that is more adequate for unexciting and tedious tasks that are very simple and straightforward. I thought that this point was very interesting because since the beginning of this class, we all have been learning that our motivation gets stronger towards something that interest us more, not towards something that seems uninteresting and unexciting. This is exactly the opposite because it shows that the goal setting isn’t really about how motivated you are, but how well you perform and what the outcomes are of that performance.

Lastly, this chapter really changed the fact how I think when I actually set a goal. I have set a lot of long-term goals where many of them did not go the way I wanted to. Now I know why. I think it is important to take it slow and set short-term goals and work step by step to get to your destiny. This will help to us keep going and maybe later in life, setting long-term goals because then you’ll know how this process goes. As far as the specificity goes, I think I am very specific when I set a goal. There are many challenges that come on the way, but having a right goal setting helps to avoid any distraction or disruption that might happen during the time period. Overall, I really liked reading this chapter because there were many things that I read that I will apply in the future when I set a goal because I know they’ll be very helpful and beneficial.

Terms used:
Goals, Extrinsic Factors, Discrepancy, Plans, Goal setting, Present state, Ideal state, TOTE model, Corrective motivation, Short-term goals, Long-term goals, Discrepancy creation, Discrepancy reduction, Feedback, Goal difficulty, Motivation, Implementation intentions, mental stimulations.

This chapter is about the plans we make throughout our lives which become goals, how we go about forming those goals, how to get through these goals, and the qualities of these goals that are assessed as we go through achieving them. People form short-term goals and long-term goals all throughout their lives, and sometimes we form short-term goals in order to achieve the long term ones. During the process of reaching these goals we need feedback to know we are succeeding, specificity to focus on direction, and difficulty go energize behavior.

The most surprising thing I learned was that goal-setting is not meant to enhance or improve motivation but rather performance. Goal-setting also works best when the tasks are generally uninteresting and are mostly straightforward, with very little outside effort than doing that specific task. When I think about goal-setting I view it as setting up the finish line for things we want to achieve in life, and just that thought makes it motivational, no matter how uninteresting it is. It is explained that goal-setting is used to help generate motivation for those uninteresting tasks, which will in turn aid performance. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if the task is interesting and requires a sort of creativity in achieving it, goal setting does not enhance performance. This is most surprising to me because the way I see it setting a goal to reach something of interest would enhance performance. For example, I have an interest in sign-language. Say I set a goal to be able to sign 100 words fluently within one semester. That is my goal and i am interested in it. It takes creativity and passion to learn so many signs in one semester, so I must be diligent. The end of the semester comes around and I have reached my goal of knowing 100 signs fluently. This goal achievement has thus improved my performance because I am now better able to carry on a conversation with the people in the Deaf Community. This was a generally real goal for me a couple semesters ago, and I believe setting this goal significantly improved my performance, and I was always interested in doing it.

After reading this chapter I am going to be better at forming implementation intentions in order to achieve more of the goals I set for myself. I have frequently been known, as I’m sure many other people have, to set a goal for myself and only focus on what I will get out of it. A specific goal that I have set for myself multiple times is to be more toned physically. I set a goal to look like a particular type of person, but I don’t plan as much as is needed. The most planning I do before I start my workout is what time I will go. I don’t decide what type of workout I will do until I get to the gym, and when I do decide there isn’t a set routine. I decide I want to do something and I just do the exercises that come to mind. This type of routine, I believe is the reason that I haven’t succeeded in achieving my goal the way I would like. With that in mind, I plan to create implementation intentions so that I there is a higher chance of goal attainment.

Terms: Short-term goal, long-term goal, feedback, goal-setting, implementation intentions.

Chapter 8 discusses the cognitive perspective on motivation. This chapter focuses on plans, goal setting, goal striving, and the steps to creating an effective goal setting program.
People create a plan to overcome incongruity, or discrepancy. The experience of discrepancy arises when there is a mismatch between one’s present state and one’s ideal state (pg. 207). Discrepancy acts as a motivator to bring us to action, and the plan directs our behavior toward an ideal state. Test operate test exit, or TOTE (pg. 208), is the cognitive mechanism on how plans energize and direct behavior. A person can test and operate over and over again, until the discrepancy goes away, and then the person can exit. There are two types of discrepancy: discrepancy reduction and discrepancy creation. According to the text, discrepancy reduction is “based on the discrepancy detecting feedback that underlies plans and corrective motivation” and discrepancy creation is “based on a feed forward system in which the person looks forward and proactively sets a future, higher goal” (pg. 211).
Goals generate motivation by focusing on the discrepancy between present level of accomplishment and ideal level of accomplishment, known as goal performance discrepancy (Pg. 211-212). The more difficult a goal, the more it energizes the performer. Goals must also be specific to direct attention and strategic planning. Feedback allows people to track their progress toward their goal (pg. 215). A person can either accept or reject a goal, this is known as goal acceptance. For a goal to be effective, one must “specify the objective to be accomplished, define goal difficulty, clarify goal specificity, specify the time span when performance will be assessed, check on goal acceptance, discuss goal attainment strategies, create implementation intentions, and provide performance feedback” (pg. 226).
I think the eight steps to an effective goal setting program was most surprising to me. Before reading this chapter, I did not realize there were so many steps to attain a goal. I always thought a goal just needed to be obtainable. After reading through the steps, it makes sense to have all of these sequential steps to go from goal setting to goal attainment.
The implementation intentions were also interesting to me. An implementation intention is “a plan to carry out one’s directed behavior…deciding when, where, and how long that underlies one’s goal directed behavior” (pg. 222). People fail to obtain goals because they fail to develop specific action plans and the inevitable volitional problems.
The information from this chapter can help motivate me to reach my desired goals because I now know what it takes to create an effective goal setting program. Following the eight steps will help me to create a direct and specific goal. I can use feedback to evaluate my progress and stay on track to accomplish my goal.

Terms Used:
Plans
TOTE
Discrepancy reduction/creation
Goals
Feedback
Goal acceptance
Goal setting program
Implementation intentions

Chapter 8 talks about goals. It discussed planning, setting goals, and striving to reach those goals. We learned that a plan and a goal are both mental events. These are things that people want to accomplish. The chapter begins talking about planning and the TOTE model. The TOTE model stands for Test-Operate-Test-Exit. These began the theories about why it is people plan things. This model says that the person tests the present state vs the ideal state, and if it shows a discrepancy then that person is more motivated to work towards it. After they have taken this action they then will retest it, if the feedback does not show very much discrepancy then they no longer work on it. The Corrective Motivation theory is also introduced and explains planning as a dynamic system that uses discrepancy. They then split discrepancy up into two things. Discrepancy reduction which is deficiency-oriented motivation and discrepancy creation which is growth-oriented motivation. We learned that a goal can be many things. The chapter discussed how important it is to set goals. If a goal is challenging it will give us the energy to want to accomplish it. Goal specificity however talks about the concentration and time that you focus on that goal.
What I found to be the most surprising part of this chapter was that, the more difficult a task is, the more we are motivated to work towards it. Which I understand and it easy for me to see, but I also question it a bit. This is because I am a person who gives up easily on things that I find to be difficult. It’s crazy to think that there is motivation behind all that we do. I found it interesting that feedback was so important to the goal setting steps. This isn’t something that I would ever think of as having an impact on a goal. This makes sense because encouragement can help with motivation which means helping with one’s goal setting.
What I learned from this chapter was how to correctly set a goal. It is important to set short term goals along with your long term goals. I think it is easier for myself to set long term goals because it means that I have more time to get to them, and I think that by then they will have already been accomplished by me not actually having to do much. I think if I were to set a bunch of small term goal leading up to my big term goals I would be more successful. I also think looking at my feedback or making sure I pay attention to it would help me in my motivation process.

Discrepancy
Short-term/Long-term goals
Feedback
Planning
Goal Setting
TOTE

Chapter 8 started out by talking about the cognitive perspective on motivation. The first of which was plans. Plans motivate behavior because we have an ideal in our minds, and if what is current does not line up with that ideal, then we take action. One way to take action is by using the TOTE model. This is like a test-retest model, and one compares their current state with that of an ideal state and if they do not match up, they act on it. A person continues to do this over and over again until they reach the state that equals the ideal state and eventually exit the plan. Corrective motivation is a way for someone to realize that there are many different ways to change their current state into their ideal state like changing the plan, changing behavior, or withdrawing from the plan. Corrective motivation also involves emotion and that can be either positive emotions or negative depending on the course of the change. Discrepancies occur all the time and because of these, we feel the want to change that current state into our ideal state. One form of discrepancy is discrepancy reduction. This is reactive and relies on a feedback system. Another form of discrepancy is discrepancy creation. This is proactive and has a “feed-forward” system.

Individuals set goals to accomplish something. Goal setting typically enhances performance and those who set goals tend to do better on performance than those who don’t. To see performance improvement, types of goals need to be factored in. Goals that are more difficult tend to increase performance. Goals that have a clear and precise form of action also tend to increase performance. Goal difficulty energizes performance whereas goal specificity directs the individual toward performance behavior. Goals can generate motivation, but outside factors unrelated to motivation may also affect performance. In order for a goal to work, an individual needs feedback to see how progress has been going. If an individual doesn’t have feedback, the performance can be emotionally unimportant and uninvolving. Goals with feedback create a good balance for individuals. In order for a goal to improve performance, one must accept the goal. Goals that are easy to accomplish tend to be more accepted than more difficult goals. Typically, if someone comes up with their own goal, they are more likely to accept it than if someone else is trying to force a goal upon them. Goals can be hard because stress, failure, and creativity and intrinsic motivation can affect them. Short-term and long-term goals can improve performance, but it depends on what those goals are. Short-term goals are better are providing feedback because they happen a lot quicker than long-term. Those with long-term goals tend to quit a lot sooner because of absence of feedback. Focusing on the action of a desired goal will improve performance more than focusing on a desired outcome. On top of focusing on the action is implementing intentions to do those actions will also improve performance. The steps in an effective goal-setting program in Table 8.1 is a way to keep oneself in check to improve performance.

One thing that I found surprising was the mental simulation. I would never have thought that focusing on the goal would not result in an improved performance. I understand why after reading this book, but I’ve always thought that that was how people got started on any of their goals. I also found how tasks that are already interesting and require creativity or problem solving are not enhanced in performance by goal setting. This surprises me because even if something is interesting, one can still set goals to better themselves in whatever task it is that they are doing. If you want to increase performance in something that is interesting, wouldn’t setting a goal help that?

After reading this chapter, I will change the way that I set goals now. I’ve always been someone that has set goals and focused on my desired outcome, which I have learned is not beneficial. I usually would quit my goals because I couldn’t stay interested or wasn’t seeing my desired results fast enough. Instead, I am going to start focusing on the actions towards my goal and implementing intentions to achieve my goals better and try to keep distractions at bay. I think I am also going to set long-term goals but through a series of short-term goals because I think I would benefit more from a more immediate feedback. I am not a patient person when it comes to things like this. I like to see improvement quickly and having feedback constantly after finishing each goal will be more beneficial to myself.

Terms: feedback, goals, plans, implementation intentions, mental simulation, acceptance, discrepancy

Chapter 8 discusses plans of action, goals, and the implementation intentions of following through with one’s personal goal. When planning a goal, the chapter discusses using the TOTE model to dive into action. In order for the TOTE model to be successful, there must be an imbalance between the present state that someone is in, compared to the state that that person wishes to be in. An example of using the TOTE model could be weighing 200lbs and wanting to weigh 190lbs. The person will begin Operating in their environment to strive toward losing weight by eating a lesser caloric intake and working out more than one usually does. The person will continue to strive toward their goal by weighing themselves on a scale, also seen as feedback; in order to see if the person is taking effective actions towards striving to their goal of weighing 190lbs. If there is positive feedback, the person can Exit their regimen or become stagnant with the exercising and eating less. The chapter discusses setting a specific goal is crucial in order to see what behaviors the person needs to change in order to strive towards their goal. Goal difficulty should be medium or high in order energize the person and try hard. In the example of someone exercising, the specifity is the amount of weight the person wants to lose, while the difficulty is the effort one must put in when eating healthier and exercising regularly. The chapter emphasizes focusing on short term goals within a long-term goal in order to stay motivated in making progress; for example, weighing yourself every day while having a goal of weighing 190lbs. An implementation for the example of losing 10lbs may be the event of going somewhere on vacation for spring break. The situational cue for this example may be booking plane tickets in January; then begin striving towards goal of losing 10lbs.

The most surprising thing I learned while reading Chapter 8 is the implementation intentions. I can relate to the bottom of page 233; when I change my work out schedule to a time where I work out in the morning before classes it can be so easy to hit snooze on my alarm clock for the short-term benefit of getting that extra hour of sleep. However, if I get ahead of the idea of snoozing my alarm clock by placing it across the room, I have more time to think about my long-term goals and why I am making the decision to go to the gym before class.

Personally, I am someone who gets very anxious and can sometimes shut down when thinking about a long-term goal because I over analyize every step it takes to get there. What I learned from this chapter is that it is important for me to set up short term goals while on my journey towards a long-term goal in order to not psych myself out over a “mountain” of things I need to complete before reaching my long-term goal. By setting short term goals for myself I will feel more energized to complete short-term goals and not detour from my journey towards my long-term goal.

ME:
TOTE Model
Feedback
Goal Difficulty
Goal Specifity
Implementations
Short term goal
Long term goal setting

Chapter 8 focuses on the cognitive perspective on motivation.
The textbook defines goal as “whatever an individual is striving to accomplish” (Reeves, 211). Every year during spring break I have always had to work or didn’t have the money to go anywhere while many of my friends traveled to Florida, California, Texas, etc. This year I decided enough was enough and I was going to do whatever it took to go to Florida with a group of my closest friends. My goal of going somewhere with a beach generated motivation by “focusing my attention on the discrepancy between my present level of accomplishment (stuck in cold and unpredictable Iowa weather with maybe $100 in my savings account) and my ideal level of accomplishment (saving enough money to kick it on a beach with my good friends). If I wanted to use outcome simulation to motivate myself to make and save money for my spring break trip I would visualize myself.

I thought that outcome simulation was the most interesting section of the book. In the past I have had troubles becoming motivated in the classroom. I would always start out the semester failing my first exams and would have to play catch up. The disappointment of failing a test made the rest of my day feel like the worst day ever, but whenever I took a test and got a good grade it always made the rest of my day feel like the best day ever. I wish I could get in Doc Browns DeLorean and go back to the beginning of my struggles and teach myself how to use outcome simulation. I am a visual person and visualizing myself getting a high grade on my first exam or any of my exams and imagining the feeling of getting the grade would be very affective on my level of motivation and success.

The knowledge I gained from chapter 7 will help me make smart good goals with a plan. When making goals I am going to start choosing difficult goals and be as specific as possible. Before reading this chapter I would only choose goals that were easy and simple because I hate failing and depending on the goal hate being challenged. When looking back at instances where I chose easy and simple goals there has been times where I didn’t reach my goal or the level of performance wasn’t maximized because of lack of motivation. I believe if I start picking difficult goals that I will become more energized and being as specific as possible with the goal will allow the goal to direct me toward a certain course of action. One specific reason why I fail to accomplish what I set out to accomplish when implementing a goal is that I have gotten bored, frustrated, or distracted. I want to use the knowledge I gained about setting goals to remind myself everytime I set a goal that no matter how boring, frustrating, or distracted I get that “performers quit the task when the goal is accomplished, not when they get bored, frustrated, tired, or distracted” (Reeves, 213). I am going to start seeking feedback when performing goals. I am the kind of person that experiences a high level of emotional satisfaction when I engage in positive feedback.
Goal
Plan
Cognitive perspective on motivation
Outcome simulation
Feedback

Goal setting, in early studies of the 60s, was described as a cognitive awareness of a gap between an idealized state (environmental, behavioral, or event) and the present actual state. This created the motivational energy to initiate change. Goal setting then becomes the direction for that energy. This was described in the TOTO model as a series of testing-operating-retesting loops until the objective was met, and the individual exited the goal-directed behavior. Latter thinkers found this overly simplistic in that it was too rigid and fixed compared to the more flexible and adjusting behaviors observed in individuals. These later thinkers turned the discrepancy-action process spurred by the present-ideal incongruity into a more general corrective motivation to which the individual explores the multiple possible paths that could alleviate the present-ideal incongruity. Upon considering all possible paths to relieving the incongruity, the individual may chose to increase effort toward a goal, reduce the ideal to fit more with reality, or some combination of both. The individual may also determine that the goal is not worth the effort given the obstacles and opportunity costs (deploying limited resources might take away from other desired goals), and abandon or withdraw from the planning process altogether, even thought they might not still prefer ideal.

The present-ideal discrepancy also becomes seen as more complex, noting differences between responding to external feedback that suggests to the individual that they are deficient in some desired quality (discrepancy reduction) and responding to an internally-generated ideal (discrepancy creation). The former is reactive, based on external feedback. The later is proactive, based on a “feed forward” system within the individual.

Either way, once the decision to pursue a goal and develop a plan to reach it, and regardless of whether this is based on external feedback or internal imagining, those with goals tend to outperform those who lack goals when engaging in the same behavior. Even here, the nature of the goal can make a difference in the behavior and the level of performance seen. Greater goal difficulty generally leads to higher performance by stimulating greater effort. Of course, unrealistically difficult can lead to discouragement and earlier abandonment of a goal, just as too easy a goal can lead to lower performance and earlier exit. How clearly a goal is specified can make a difference in performance, with vague goals leading to less effort than more narrowly and precisely specified goals. More clearly specified goals generally lead to more strategic planning and focus. More clearly specified goals also make feedback along the way more useful, as it helps to adjust behavior and plans in a more strategic way. So, more difficult goals energize the individual to perform, and more precisely specified goals better direct the individual toward the goal and a particular path toward achieving it. Feedback does not just assist in more effective working of the plan when goals are well specified, but it also spark greater emotional energy that can push the individual to persist and increase intensity. Without feedback, we wander towards a goal and we are threatened with loss of interest and reminders that help us keep working toward the goal. Both feedback can continue to motivate because it can trigger emotional states of satisfaction (I feel good about my progress and am encouraged to continue) or dissatisfaction (I feel bad about my not making the progress I hoped, and so the goal-performance discrepancy causes me to try harder or shift tactics).

When the goal is driven by providing an external ideal or standard in the context of an interpersonal relationship, another dimension comes into play: the degree to which the individual internalized or accepts the goal as their own. If a boss pressures an employee to aim for a sales goal, the degree to which this motivates higher performance depends in part the extent to which the employee buys into the externally suggested goal. There are a few elements at play here. First, the individual determines the perceived degree of difficulty achieving the goal, with easier to achieve goals leading to greater acceptance. Second, the more the individual participates in the goal-setting process, generally, the greater the acceptance. Third, the extent to which the other person involved in setting the goal (boss in the above example) is perceived as knowledgeable, skilled, and trustworthy impacts the degree of acceptance (by the employee in this example). Finally, the individual can be motivated toward greater acceptance if they perceive greater benefit in the form of extrinsic rewards.

There have been criticism to goal setting, as well. For instance, if the person is already intrinsically motivated to perform an activity, goal setting may have less or even no effect on performance. This is especially true when it comes to short-term goals (long-term goals with interesting activities are more likely to improve performance). As mentioned earlier, an overly difficult goal may lead to discouragement and early abandonment of an activity. Goals can increase stress in ways that make to the experience less pleasurable, and therefore deter perseverance. Goal setting can also reduce flexibility and creativity by leading to too narrow a focus that misses out on other opportunities and alternatives. Further, long-term goal planning increases the complexity as multiple goals and paths intertwine, and some have conceived long-term goals in terms of a complex cognitive lattice.

Finally, the chapter looks at the motivational usefulness of mental focus and visualization. Self-help books often encourage readers to visualize the success or image of the individual succeeding, however it turns out that this may actually interfere with performance. It is more likely that focusing on how to achieve the goal rather than the achievement of it increases performance and likelihood of success.

What surprised me most was that visualizing the attainment of the goal was likely a negative in terms of performance and success. I had previously thought it was not helpful, but did not know it could potentially be harmful. The role of specificity I already knew some, but this really fleshed it out and was helpful. I was a bit surprised at something that seemed missing from the discussion. In working with clients, they often get hung up on the goal or end result, and this overwhelms them into in action. Getting them to focus on the first, sometimes small step, is the most important mental shift to start the process of change. Clients often struggle with making this shift, as it seems so insignificant in comparison to the goal, but over and over, this changes the behavior in a more positive direction. This seems implied in parts of the critique, I was expecting more given how most of us in clinical settings have learned to work on clients making this shift in order to get unstuck.

In terms of my own goals, I definitely want to be more precise in my specifications for the goals I produced in the earlier assignment. Beyond this, as some of the goals are jumping at externally-provided hopes toward a larger goal, specifying why meeting this will benefit me will likely enhance my internalized acceptance of the goal.

Terms: goals, cognition, motivational energy, TOTO model, present-ideal discrepancy, corrective motivation, discrepancy reduction, discrepancy creation, difficulty, specificity, feedback, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, acceptance, difficulty, participation in goal-setting, external rewards, credibility of goal setter, short-term vs. long-term goals, complex cognitive lattice, striving, visualization, result vs. process mental focus.

Chapter eight was all about goal setting and goal striving. This chapter explains plans, goal setting, and how we are able to achieve these goals. Goals can be defined as something an individual is striving to accomplish. Goals are made, then a plan of attack is put into place, and then a person is eventually motivated to take the steps to do whatever it takes to achieve their goal. Goal difficulty enhances the likelihood of attaining the goals.
From reading this chapter, I think that it will truly help me with understanding my goals, and goal planning. Right now, I have a lot of goals that are more in the future, that I keep putting off. However, I think after reading this chapter, I am more willing to figure out those plans and goals. This gave a better insight of how to lay out the plans so that I am able to accomplish these goals in a reasonable amount of time. I realized that while I am looking at these long term goals, I need to be thinking about how my short term goals will start playing into these. For example, I know I want to go to grad school, but I need to start focusing on how I am going to be getting into it with my goals now.
The most surprising and interesting thing that I read in this chapter was that the wishful thinking does not make a positive impact on achieving goals. It made a lot of sense after reading it, but before reading it I honestly had no idea. If I had a guess before reading, I would have said that having a wish or thinking about my goal, then it would improve the likelihood of getting to where I want to be. I think this was the most interesting part to me because I tend to use wishful thinking and then if I do not get where I want, I do not understand why. I think that this is the reason why some things are not where they should be for me. In the future, I will stop using “wishful thinking” and actually start using goal setting and planning. I will start to use the TOTE model, which stands for test-operate-test exit. This model is ideal and focuses on growth and helps with setting goals in the future. I think that this model can relate to me by either attaining the grades I want, or going to the gym. I can test it by studying and getting the grades on tests I want. Then I can operate and see what works for me, and test again to see if my studying habits are working for me. If the grades are not where I would like them to be, then I can go back to the operate stage and try to find a new way to study until I find one that fits for me and lets me achieve the grades that I desire. Once I get the grades how I want(ideal state) then I can exit and know I can continue.
Terms:
Goals, TOTE, planning, long term, short term, goal difficulty, ideal state, strive

Chapter 8 discusses planning for goals, the way we set and strive to accomplish them, and how it plays such an important role in our everyday lives. Once an individual has come up with a goal to accomplish, they must first come up with a plan on how to accomplish it. In this stage the TOTE model is used which stands for “test-operate-test-exit. This is where an individual will compare present state that they are in to their ideal state which is where they would like to be. Once a specific plan is thought through, it is then to be tested to see if it works in the operate stage. It is always important to do a retest to see if the plan is continuing to work or if something else may work better. Once this is decided and the goal is getting accomplished, one may be able to exit the test operate test exit method. An example of this would be planning to get better scores on homework assignments. The current received grades are B’s, but A’s are really more ideal in overall grade performance. Some possible plans could be studying longer, spending more time on the assignment, or getting some advice from the professor or fellow classmates. Each of these would then need to be tested and retested to see if it works and continues to work. Finally the data discovered should be prioritized in what works best just before exiting the model.

The most surprising information I learned in this chapter is about goal difficulty along with goal specificity. In chapter 8, it is explained that when a task is more difficult to accomplish, the more an individual is motivated to accomplish such goal. This somewhat makes sense, because when I feel a task is too easy, I would just rather not do it and “waste my time” with it. I would much rather spend my valuable time putting in effort where it is challenging, yet stimulating to my mind. As for goal specificity, it is easier for us to accomplish a goal if we have a specific one in mind. This makes a lot of sense as well, because telling someone to “try harder” or “keep doing what you’re doing” does not give one much to ponder on. For example, when it comes to exercising it is much more effective to run 3 miles on a treadmill in 30 minutes rather than just jogging for awhile. One would be much more accomplished and challenged in the second scenario. It is also easier to plan out for and think of better ways to maybe shed more time off of the miles. Feedback is also something that helps us keep motivated to continue accomplishing goal. In an exercising situation, feedback could come from the reading on the scale lowering of time or feedback from others about being more slim. This is what really keeps us going and wanting to keep accomplishing goals. We ultimately do things for ourselves, but it is nice when others notice how hard we are working for something.

This chapter was filled with so much valuable information on how to go about planning and striving to accomplish our goals. One of my main goals as of right now is to save up enough money for a new car. This chapter has taught me to specify my goals to set up a better, more effective plan. I would now like to say that I want to save up enough money for a decent down payment on a brand new car by graduation next year. This gives me a time frame for how much hours I need at work before then, how much money needs to be made, plan for my other bills, etc. This is also a very challenging goal, because it can be hard not to spend any money that may be left over from other bills. I know it is a huge challenge to be just graduated and buying a new car, but this is what motivates me to accomplish this goal even more. Others think it is crazy an undoable, but I would like to prove others wrong by financing a new car that I love. My current car is an older model, but it works just fine, I would just like to have a newer car with no previous owners. I believe I deserve it for graduating college and hopefully starting my journey into graduate school wherever that may be. I have to think that it sucks right now to save money, but a new car would be worth it in about a years time. I also like to receive feedback on different cars and what would be best suited for me. With a brand new car I would still need to consider overall price, gas mileage, cost of car parts, etc. I also like to receive second opinions from my family members before I would make a final decision, because I trust in their feedback.

Terms:
Goals
Feedback
Discrepancy
Planning
Ideal state
Present state
TOTE model
Incongruency
Corrective motivation
Implementation intentions

The Hierarchy of the four sources of motivation shows us how internal motives drive motivation, these motives are needs, cognitions, and emotions. Chapter 8 focuses on cognitions, which are mental events that revolve around people’s ways of thinking and believing. The chapter is all about some cognitive sources of motivation that follow motivational agents, creating action sequences. The sources of motivation are plans, goals, implementation intentions, and mental simulations.
People formulate plans when they perceive incongruity between their present state and their ideal state in order to achieve that desired behavior, object or event. This incongruity provides energy and direction. According to the test-operate-test-exit (TOTE) model, people operate on the environment after testing both, present and ideal state, and perceiving them as incongruous. After the operate phase, there is another testing and, as long as the incongruity persists, the action continues until both states are congruous (exit phase). People engage in action sequences that follow a pattern: 1) detecting discrepancies between states, these discrepancies can be reactive (discrepancy reduction) or proactive (discrepancy creation), 2) generating plans, 3) instigating plan-regulated behavior, and 4) monitoring feedback.
Goals also generate motivation by focusing on people’s discrepancy. Goal setting and the type of goals are determinant for enhancing performance: Difficult goals energize the performer by stimulating high effort; specific goals help to draw attention to what one needs, reducing ambiguity, and variability in performance.
Feedback also plays an important role in goal setting: it is necessary to document the performer’s progress in order to maximize performance. This feedback creates emotionally meaningful mixture like satisfaction when the goal is attained or dissatisfaction when the goal failed.
The most surprising thing that I have learned are the factors that determine whether a goal will be accepted or rejected. I never thought that there were factors that could summarize people’s reasons of goal choices. These are: perceived difficulty of the imposed goal, participation in the goal-setting process, credibility of the person assigning the goal, and extrinsic incentives. I find interesting that there are not other factors that I think are also important like intrinsic motivation, goal specificity, or the possibility to perform the task with negative emotions that may not necessarily involve difficulty of the goal (stressful or disgusting goals may be rejected). The chapter also discusses goal striving, which helps us to focus on the goal and visualize it with mental stimulations, implemental intentions and goal pursuit.
The knowledge that I have gained from reading this chapter will help me focus more on defining the goals that I want, making them more precise and specific in order to reduce their ambiguity. For example, I am going to change my gym routine, setting more time-specific goals rather than do-my-best-goals when I am in the stationary bicycle or in the treadmill. I will also try mental stimulations: I want to try to focus on how to accomplish many goals that I tend to procrastinate and see if the goal itself backfires as a motivational strategy.

Terms used:
Cognitions
TOTE model
Incongruity
Action sequences
Discrepancies
Plan-regulated behavior
Feedback
Difficult goals
Specific goals
Goal striving
Mental stimulations
Implemental intention
Goal pursuit

Jon Lutz - section 01

The themes of energy and direction continue through this chapter as the building blocks to achievement. The perceived distance from an ideal state from a person’s present state creates discomfort. That person’s desire to relieve this discomfort is measured as discrepancy, the motivating force behind goals. When organize their behavior in order to remove a discrepancy, they go through a flow-chart process of test-operate-test-exit. This process has no finite time cycle, so researchers suggest a more dynamic corrective process where emotion and behavior constantly interact, regardless of that person’s conscious appraisal. Being consciously aware of these processes puts our hands on the levers, so that we may not only set goals but maximize the accomplishing ends of that which we strive.

Setting a goal is not good enough on its own. Creating goals that are optimally difficult will maximize a person’s effort and persistence. Receiving feedback before (discrepancy creation) or after (discrepancy reduction) is necessary for maintaining energy towards goals. Just as important as energy, a goal needs direction. That is to say goal directed behaviors that minimize volitional problems are more likely to succeed. Short term goals can be made to keep feedback salience high, but inevitably distractions and setbacks will challenge any goal. A goal may feature implementation intentions to combat these forces. Specifying when, where, and how as well as devising correctional cues help keep a person on task and recurrect if facing an interruption.

I found outcome simulation to be a surprising pitfall. Often times I focus on future success, which creates a multitude of good feelings. In the moment it feels so inspiring and motivational. How could such positive thoughts be a bad thing? Well, falsing associating good feelings with success itself undermines the the behavior that is actually necessary to achieve success. Focusing on the process itself doesn’t sugar coat the actual necessary experience. For most goals, the necessary practice is grueling, but with a realistic perception of the behavior, the appropriate difficulty and implementation intentions can be applied. A friend of mine who coaches a high school baseball team preaches this point. He tells his players, while at the plate, don’t think about the result (hits and runs). Think about the process (hands, eyes, and swing).

While far past my time as an athlete, I can still find a useful application for the goal setting techniques. Life in college is a smorgasbord of goal setting opportunities. Now I know not to focus the prospects of my good grades. Spending more time thinking about my study habits, planning specific times, and finding more effect strategies are all far more productive cognitive exercises. Every week provides and opportunity to plot out study sessions or build short term goals. Any given day I am surrounded by professionals who provide the information necessary to hone necessary skills, an environment systematically providing feedback. In addition to grades, I can ask other students or professors for help. Not to mention the student help center is a place constructed on motivation science.

Discrepancy
Goals
Energy and direction
Plan
Discrepancy creation/reduction
Implementation intentions

This chapter gives light to the specificities of plans, setting goals, and working to achieve those goals. These steps are presented as forms of mental processing and cognitive mechanisms. The main illustration of what chapter eight specifically focuses on, is the detailed sequence of cognition to action. Starting with forming plans and goals cognitively, this first motivational spring into action is caused by a noticeable perceived discrepancy between one’s present state and an identified ideal state that one desires to reach.

There is a feeling of dissonance or uncomfortability when an individual realizes the discrepancy that causes one to act and plan a way in which they will be able to reach the ideal state. The original energy comes out of the “incongruity” and the action plan becomes a way in which certain behaviors can be organized to pursue the ideal state. The planning of these actions and behaviors come with the act of testing and operating specific behaviors to seek the most successful plan that will overcome the state of “incongruity”. Some of this planning might be more long-term or more short-term depending on the plan of action and the correlating goal being strived toward. Plans are also able to be modified and changed if ineffective, this is also known as corrective motivation, which provides room for revised plans that act a gateway to other possibilities of reducing the discrepancy.

The textbook provides examples of discrepancies that people generally experience. There are two types of discrepancies, discrepancy reduction and discrepancy creation. Discrepancy reduction is based on an environmental ideal state, whereas discrepancy creation is based on a specific goal set by an individual that desires to reach a higher state. Between these two types of discrepancies, goals are set by the individual to focus their motivation on the target of accomplishing a goal.

The motivation to perform and act on the plan depends on the goal that is set. Goals vary in difficulty and specificity so the performance of the plan of action may look different. The text claims that the more specific and difficult the goal, the more attention and strategic planning go toward feeding energy into accomplishing that goal. There are two conditions that all goals to enhance an individual’s performance, which include feedback and goal acceptance. These two contexts increase the willingness of a person to reach their goal. Many people though have difficulty persisting in their willingness to accomplish and succeed in their goal planning because of lacking specificity or feedback. A helpful tool for resisting the failure to persist and finish accomplishing a goal, is the use of a clear and direct step-by-step process that is effective and easy to follow along and manage.

Personally, I learned more about what discrepancies are and how identifying my own discrepancies affect the goals that I set for myself and how I strive to create a plan of action for those discrepancies. For my own desired goals, it was helpful to be more informed about what an effective plan looks like and the necessity for feedback and goal acceptance.

Terms: discrepancy, plans, corrective motivation, discrepancy reduction, discrepancy creation, feedback, goal acceptance.