Chapter 11. Motivation

11.1 Introduction

My Slide Activities

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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.

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11.2 Slide 2

Welcome to the Try This! research experience for Chapter 11, Motivation.

This exercise is concerned with “personal projects.” Personal projects are the activities you’re working on, and the interests and concerns you have, at any given point in your life.

Everyone has some projects. For college students, activities such as “make more friends at school” and “figure out what to major in,” are common projects. At other points in life, other projects – e.g., “save for retirement” – motivate many people.

Sometimes projects involve one-time only events (e.g., “throw a party for my friend on her 21^st birthday”). Others involve recurring, long-term aims (e.g., “treat people with respect and kindness”).

Projects may involve physical activities (“prepare to run a marathon”), intellectual activities (“learn a foreign language”), or personal life (“find a boyfriend/girlfriend”).

In this exercise, we’ll ask you some questions about your projects, and what you think of them.

11.3 Slide 3

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As a first step, please pause and think about your major projects – the activities and concerns that motivate you at this point in your life.

After giving this some thought, please list, in the space below, six projects. Specifically, please type into the spaces below a word or phrase that describes each project.

Project #	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6

Submit

11.4 Slide 4

Now we’d like to ask you some questions about your personal projects.

For your first project, __________________, please answer the following two questions:

Question

aIe2lw5dVlrXE99IfvxBNW/6Gv5Y91A3AdQ+5SH4ReBpPwSBbkh2eg0bJwWfoX8MY56i4HQ5nmWaC0LNIk7gx75YLjb7h48l8S0w7SQwIa7IP1I1dIdxJoZxie1rplMzlcxOaxvLTuuSX0T1IqQBoardwOt/zQg3EN8XFK0tN3fTwv1ZAxQGbtNKEKtC+M6/rnAHGc7Hm70VG197TkHWOABtvFUnCJqPru4ts/UnTEPu/RBAIS1f+89vhoa1MFAaxntET1MD/6cx9Av/SBLyJDwJFCwSlcUEWGf682wet/kr47Nq0eysciAfTozsy3DOs4DzNAW9QKmuoiJC7qkUgMM09ymtqFknB+r3NkLhZOeVxQzJSdALJfNWKNGbadsQae4mZQ==

Question

jLFrYbYNLK7Wwi0IpMw0ntvNKy6riv3romB81i6aO8u1mrej3V2o3xbzNwN2gNdfJSJJfzJen/gwXipIzWZYwj9kKBx4px3vQDFP5e29VGcsCIERat4hFXTStszGmLGN2qj6+a9jQq1+QW2gKq/1fVxnQnhEpJz45BhUQNdO0aqXNwM2qcm8hltJrPnsf4KTcdnUsL+Au/naKqfwqdeeJ1+YftzUH/cuUVJmYD376BmkAsSZ5EfwT0y8ENTxaPEcl92X7tvDJTzAHmvPmNGvkUYcjCE4IG5xQhXICkbX0rNiRiAGoojPpuidvfAK79gRMi+hnNZfRblndgP02AO9hg==

11.5 Slide 5

Now we’d like to ask you some questions about your personal projects.

For your second project, __________________, please answer the following two questions:

Question

11.6 Slide 6

Now we’d like to ask you some questions about your personal projects.

For your third project, __________________, please answer the following two questions:

Question

11.7 Slide 7

Now we’d like to ask you some questions about your personal projects.

For your fourth project, __________________, please answer the following two questions:

Question

11.8 Slide 8

Now we’d like to ask you some questions about your personal projects.

For your fifth project, __________________, please answer the following two questions:

Question

11.9 Slide 9

Now we’d like to ask you some questions about your personal projects.

For your sixth project, __________________, please answer the following two questions:

Question

11.10 Slide 10

Next, let’s see how your projects relate to one another.

- Sometimes two projects benefit one another. For example, if two of your projects are (1) procrastinate less and (2) get into med school, the first one benefits the second.

- Sometimes two projects are unrelated. For example, the projects (1) procrastinate less and (2) avoid junk food would be unrelated

- Sometimes projects interfere with one another. For example, if your projects are (1) find more time to relax and hang out with friends and (2) increase your study time, the projects interfere with one another.

On the next screen, you will evaluate how each of the projects you listed relate to each of the others.

11.11 Slide 11

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In the empty cells below, please use a + (plus) sign, a 0 (zero), and – (negative sign/hyphen) to indicate how you think each two of your projects (listed in the row and column corresponding to the cell) are related:

Benefit one another (+)
Are unrelated (0)
Interfere with one another (-).

Your Projects	project 1	project 2	project 3	project 4	project 5	project 6
project 1
project 2
project 3
project 4
project 5
project 6

Submit

11.12 Slide 12

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The research methods you have just completed come from a line of research on personal projects pioneered by the psychologist Brian R. Little (e.g., Little 2014). You will learn more about this research after you return to textbook Chapter 11, Motivation.

For now, here is some information about your projects.

One of the questions you answered concerned the initiation of projects (“initiated by you or did someone else initiate your involvement with the project?”). On the initiation items, your average response on the 10-point scale was ___ (where 10 is self-initiated).

In research by Little and colleagues, people’s responses to this item often are about a 7 on the 10-point scale. In other words, people often are engaged in projects that they initiated themselves.

Another question concerned your confidence, or what psychologists often call perceived self-efficacy, about your projects (“How confident are you in achieving your goals?”) On these self-efficacy items, your average response was ___.

In research by Little and colleagues, people’s responses often are slightly above a 7 on the 10-point scale. In other words, people tend to pursue those projects in which they have a reasonably strong sense of confidence that they can succeed.

Finally you indicated that there are ___ points of interference between your projects. One of the challenges of motivating oneself is that different projects may interfere with one another. Motivation involves not only work toward a goal, but making choices among different goals that may conflict.

11.13 Slide 13

The methods you have just seen are essentially the same as the ones used in psychological research on personal projects and motivation. Before returning to the textbook, note a key feature of these methods: Projects are identified by asking research participants to describe their own projects in their own words. The overall research methods thus combine the qualitative and qualitative approaches to research that you learned about in Chapter 2 of Psychology: The Science of Person, Mind, and Brain:

- Projects are identified qualitatively: participants describe their projects in their own words.

- Initiative and self-efficacy are assessed quantitatively: ratings are made on a numerical rating scale.

Researchers hope to combine the advantages of quantitative and qualitative techniques when studying personal projects.

This activity inspired by and based on:

Little, B. R., Salmela-Aro, K., & Phillips, S. D. (Eds.) (2007). Personal project pursuits: Goals, action and human flourishing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Little, B. R. (2014). Me, myself, and us: The science of personality and the art of well-being. New York: PublicAffairs.