Psychology Chapter 14: Goals and Self-Efficacy

Motivation and Performance

• Motivation is the impetus that guides behavior, operating consciously or unconsciously.
• Effort is a person's commitment to goal-oriented physical or mental exertion.
• Subjective mental strain during task completion represents effort from a subjective perspective.
• Effort translates motivation to performance, only when effort is aligned with the right task.
• Motivated individuals can also use clever strategies and behaviors to effectively reduce effort.
• The best way to work is smartly and efficiently rather than focusing on hard work.

Comparison of Effort and Motivation

• Motivation refers to a person's willingness to exert physical or mental effort towards a goal.
• Willingness to invest effort is the core of motivation.
• Effort refers to the subjective intensification of mental and/or physical activity to achieve a goal.
• Effort is about the intensification of actions.

Problem 01

• Goal setting affects performance.
• Self-efficacy and performance are linked; boundary conditions influence their relationship.
• Self-regulation affects learning and goal-achievement.
• Motivation influences performance and has boundary conditions.
• Self-determination theory contributes to understanding motivation in a work context.

Problem 02

• Goal setting and performance are linked, with specific and challenging goals leading to higher performance.
• Goals enhance focus, effort, and persistence.
• Goal commitment and feedback help improve performance for challenging goals.
• Task complexity affects how goals impact performance–simple tasks benefit more from specific goals.
• Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their ability to succeed.
• Self-efficacy positively affects performance (engagement, creativity, leadership).
• Ambiguity in tasks weakens the relationship between self-efficacy and performance.
• Task complexity impacts the self-efficacy-performance correlation; high complexity requires clear feedback.
• Goal-setting, timely feedback, and task complexity influence the relationship between self-efficacy and performance.

Page 3

• Goal setting theory explains how goals relate to performance, including moderators such as goal commitment, feedback, and task complexity.
• Goal striving and self-regulation strategies are central to goal pursuit.
• Goal progress as a moderator, with higher self-efficacy improving subsequent performance when falling short of the goal.
• Prior performance influence self-efficacy.
• Performance ambiguity and its impact on the relationship between self-efficacy and performance are key boundary conditions.
• Self-determination theory and its role in motivation and performance are discussed.

Page 4

• Self-efficacy and its moderators affect performance.
• Goal progress moderates self-efficacy’s effect on performance.
• Self-efficacy in high-challenge tasks leads to persistence.
• Self-efficacy lowers investment in easy tasks.
• Ambiguity is a key boundary condition for self-efficacy and performance.
• Prior performance influences self-efficacy, impacting subsequent performance.

Multiple Goal Pursuit Theory (MGPT)

• Focuses on managing and prioritizing multiple goals simultaneously.
• Considers the trade-offs, conflicts, and strategies used to balance different goals.
• Aims to explain how individuals allocate effort across various goals and priorities.

Temporal Motivation Theory(TMT)

• Integrates time as a key motivational factor
• Aims to understand how time pressure and temporal discounting affect prioritization when individuals pursue multiple goals at deadlines.
• Explains how time to reward influences motivation
• Explains why people procrastinate and prioritize immediate rewards over delayed ones.
• Addresses how people manage multiple goals with varying deadlines.

Expectancy Theory (Vroom)

• Motivation depends on expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.
• Expectancy is the belief that effort leads to performance.
• Instrumentality is the belief that performance leads to specific outcomes.
• Valence refers to the value placed on the outcomes.
• Calculating Motivation involves expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.

Goal Setting and Goal Striving

• Goal setting establishes desired outcomes (conscious and unconscious).
• Specific, difficult goals enhance performance more than vague goals.
• Goal commitment, feedback, and complexity moderate goal-performance relationships.
• Goal striving involves self-regulation, especially discrepancy reduction (matching current state with desired outcomes).

Goal Structures

• Hierarchical goal structures are organized with lower-order goals supporting higher-order goals.
• Network goal structures are dynamic with varied relationships.
• Sequential structures prioritize various goals over time.

Discrepancy Reduction

• The theory emphasizes discrepancies between perceived/desired performance and actual performance, driving behavior.
• Higher discrepancies lead to increased effort for goal accomplishment.
• Dynamic resource allocation mechanisms shift resources based on goal progress.

Expectancies, Self-Efficacy, and Related Constructs

• Both self-efficacy and expectancy are prospective constructs, impacting future actions.
• Expectancies indicate the likelihood of action leading to specific outcomes.
• Self-efficacy defines beliefs in one's ability to mobilize resources for goal attainment.

Self-Efficacy

• Belief in one's capabilities to mobilize motivation and effort to meet demands.
• Positive effects: high performance, commitment to change, creativity, and leadership.
• Moderating factors: ambiguity and task challenge influence performance differently.
• High ambiguity may lead to overconfidence and reduced effort.
• High self-efficacy supports high-challenge tasks, encouraging persistence.

Role of Self-Regulation

• Self-regulation is a dynamic process for monitoring progress toward goals.
• Goal striving in self-regulation is central.
• Discrepancy reduction is a core self-regulatory mechanism.
• Feedback and adjustment are crucial components in self-regulation.

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

• Focuses on satisfying basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) to foster autonomous motivation.
• It shows how these needs affect performance, engagement, and well-being at work.
• Autonomous motivation—intrinsic interest and value—is positive, but controlled motivation, which is driven by external pressures, may be negative.