Goal-directed Behavior (Frontiers of Social Psychology) by

Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781135254186
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2012-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

Despite the widely accepted notion that motivation always increases closer to a goal, a closer look at extant theories of motivation, and especially on the standard expectancy-value theory of motivation, suggests that not only the steepness of the gradient but also its direction and shape may change as a result of different effects of distance on expectancy and on value. Building on a recent analysis (Liberman & Förster, 2008; see also Förster & Liberman, 2009), we propose that in order to predict how motivation would change over distance to the goal, one needs to examine distance effects on probability, difficulty, sufficiency, necessity, high-level value, and low-level value and value from fit.

Future research may examine the interactions among those variables. Would, for example, a focus on low-level goals (e.g., Focus on your forehand!) and framing them as a necessity (e.g., You must win!) motivate a prevention-focused tennis player more than a promotion-focused player? And would increasing self-efficacy during training have a weaker effect on the prevention-focused person because goals framed as necessities do not profit from any other increases in expectancy? Furthermore, one may start relating such self-regulatory phenomena to domains other than achievement motivation and performance, such as, for example, consumer behavior (Kivetz, Urminsky & Zheng, 2006). Would, for example, a bonus closer to the goal (“With this purchase you already gained 25 points out of 100 for which you will receive an extra coffee”) increase motivation to consume and affect preferences? How would expectancy (e.g., “Is it realistic that I go to this café so often that I can gain 100 points?”) and value (e.g., “How good is the coffee?”) affect motivation in this case? Last but not least, one may open this field of research in the intergroup domain. Would, for example, E × V play a role when groups are asked to merge or cooperate? Would decreasing distance to the goal (e.g., by telling group members that they have to start cooperation “right now” via e-mail, as opposed to when the groups actually merge) increase motivation to work together? And in case one company “buys” the other one, would increasing expectancy to successfully cooperate yield weaker effects for the “sold” company because for them merging is likely a necessity, whereas for the “seller” this is related to growth and ideal goals and increasing expectancy of success is important? We hope that our framework opens the doors to investigation of goal gradients in domains other than achievement motivation.

Admittedly, the study of gradients is difficult because naturally this involves prediction of the many changes that occur over time. Obviously, in the course of goal pursuit, people can get bored or tired, they can lose or gain confidence in the activity, and they may be exposed to facts that make them change their minds and motivation. However, among these many processes, some general factors can be identified. Thus, even though our analysis suggests that there are more such factors than was formerly assumed, it demonstrates that gradients are real, that they can be predicted, and that they actually drive performance and behavior in various domains.

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