Deck 10: Looking Forward

Question 1

Describe both growth and fixed mindsets. How do they relate to performance and happiness? Provide relevant examples to support your answers.

Answer 1

According to this line of research, people who believe that characteristics are malleable have growth mindsets (also known as incremental theories) and they often accomplish more than people with fixed mindsets (or entity theories) who believe characteristics are stable or inborn (Dweck, 2012; Dweck, Chiu, Hong, & Inquiry, 1995). In academic contexts, growth mindsets are associated with higher performance because they promote more adaptive responses to set backs. That is, when failures inevitably occur, people with fixed mindsets see it as diagnostic of their stable abilities (little can be done to change); those with growth mindsets can take it as feedback that more practice and learning is needed. In these circumstances, growth mindsets encourage persistence and effort.
The central idea is that believing that you can never change sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy, and this is a problem when things are not going well.
Some recent studies suggest the effects are small, however.

Question 2

Why are habits important to goals? How can habits be developed to help meet goals? Support your answers with relevant examples.

Answer 2

Understanding habits is important to goals because people often have goals to break undesirable habits or develop new habits. Indeed, a creating a new habit can serve a goal well by making desirable behaviours occur without thought, after the new habit is established. Many of the useful strategies for goal pursuit reduce the need for willpower; habits are at the pinnacle of this principle. Developing habits takes time and repetition, and during this period the cued behaviour is rewarded; however, once the habit is formed, the cue-induced behaviour can be rewarding on its own (Neal et al., 2006). For example, eating from a bowl of candy at the laundromat starts off as rewarding (yum!); yet once a habit of eating there is established, you might find yourself doing it even when full or with flavours you do not like much. The candy bowl is the cue; your eating has become automatic. Said another way, when habits exist, people's intentions are largely irrelevant (Webb & Sheeran, 2006). This can become a problem when intentions differ from habits (e.g. wanting to avoid sugar, stop smoking, check email less often). When trying to break a habit, it is useful to identify the cue for undesirable behaviour. This cue might then be avoided if possible, or alternatively, implementation intentions can help effortfully replace the response, IF [habit cue] THEN [alternative behaviour]. Consider adding a reward to go along with the alternative behaviour and repeat regularly to foster a new habit.
It is also possible to create a new habit, rather than merely replace a bad habit. The potential for new habits is greatest when you can identify a specific, regular cue that can signal the behaviour and that can be consistently rewarded (at least at first). In these circumstances the benefits of a desirable habit may even outweigh some motivational costs. For example, motivation research shows that rewarding people, e.g. by paying them, for behaviours that they already want to do can reduce motivation once the external rewards stop (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). In essence, their reasons for the behaviour shift from intrinsic to the extrinsic financial rewards. However, recent studies suggest that payments can be used strategically to develop new habits, and those new habits still foster the desired behaviour. For example, researchers randomly assigned some people to be paid to exercise at the gym twice per week for a month, and compared them to people in a control group who were not paid for regular gym attendance (Charness & Gneezy, 2009). Perhaps obviously, the payments increased gym attendance while they were being doled out. More importantly, the paid participants continued to use the gym at higher rates after payments stopped as tracking continued even months later. Said another way, for participants who did not go to the gym before this study, the payments seemed successful in generating a new and lasting habit. Of course, this study does not directly compare intrinsic motivation to new habits, but it does suggest that bribery can be successful in inducing new habits. It may be difficult for you to find someone to pay you to reach your personal goals, but perhaps you can put your intrinsic motivation (and other strategies) to work in service of developing a new habit. Payments are not the only rewards. Moreover, the repetition (vs. financial incentive) is likely more important to habit formation. Another study found that people developed a gym habit without payment, but estimated that it took four visits per week for six weeks (Kaushal & Rhodes, 2015). In sum, if you have a goal that is amenable to habit formation, try committing to a regular schedule for a month to see if this is enough to make it stick. You may also find that it is easier to get started with a one-month commitment, compared to a lifelong plan.

Question 3

What are the main contributions of positive psychology when it comes to understanding emotions and subjective well-being?

Answer 3

Positive psychology's most useful contribution has been to focus more attention of positive topics. At the time the movement began, people's typical (pleasant) experience was largely neglected by mainstream psychology. This is most evident when it comes to emotions. The classic theories were developed to explain unpleasant emotions, and an early focus on facial expressions meant that pleasant emotions were mostly ignored. Today, the list of positive emotions roughly equals that of negative emotions.
Moreover, considering positive emotions more deeply has challenged old theories and definitions of emotion. The broaden and build model has provided space to study the varieties and purposes of positive emotions. Although some work related to the model has required revision (Fredrickson, 2013), the core idea that positive emotions broaden cognition and build resources has been exceptionally generative.
More importantly, our knowledge about subjective well-being has exploded since the positive psychology movement began, and it had a pretty good head start even then. In particular, the Gallup World Poll has provided amazing data-representative samples of planet Earth across many years-and thereby provided useful information about the societal characteristics that contribute to well-being. Governments are increasingly interested in tracking national well-being, and in crafting policy to promote it. Mixing positive psychology with politics carries some risk, but findings seem to support policies that can appeal across ideologies. Happiness tracks freedom, clean environments, wealth and social supports. In addition, positive psychology has made a strong start in developing techniques (interventions) that can meaningfully boost well-being over time. That said, plenty of work remains for researchers and practitioners to further hone our knowledge of what works best and for whom.

Question 4

Grit is strongly positively associated with the big five trait of ______.

A) conscientiousness
B) extraversion
C) agreeableness
D) emotional stability
E) openness to experience
F) All of these

Question 5

People who believe that personal characteristics are malleable and flexible have ______.

A) growth mindsets
B) incremental theories
C) fixed mindsets
D) both growth mindsets and incremental theories

Question 6

Pursuing ______ is both difficult to stick with over time and less rewarding.

A) intrinsic goals
B) specific goals
C) extrinsic goals
D) personal goals

Question 7

______ helps describe the characteristics of goals that produce optimal performance in structured domains such as school and workplaces.

A) Self-determination theory
B) Goal setting theory
C) Broaden and build theory
D) Performance theory

Question 8

Without ______, goals lose their ability to motivate.

A) extrinsic incentives
B) other people
C) a positive outlook
D) pleasure
E) commitment

Question 9

Implementation intentions predict successful goal pursuit among people who ______.

A) use them spontaneously
B) have been taught to use them
C) are very low in self-compassion
D) use them in a group of people
E) Both use them spontaneously and have been taught to use them

Question 10

______ is important for habit formation.

A) Motivation
B) Spacing
C) Repetition
D) Personality

Question 11

When trying to break a habit, it is useful to identify the ______ of the undesirable behaviour.

A) motivation
B) intention
C) cue
D) mindset

Question 12

______ is a hallmark of science because it demonstrates when a study is ______.

A) Replication; repeatable
B) Publication; useful
C) Peer review; accepted
D) Statistical significance; true

Question 13

______ re-tests the basic idea of an original study, but intentionally changes certain aspects of the procedure.

A) Direct replication
B) Conceptual replication
C) Creative replication
D) Elaboration

Question 14

______ is a statistical term that represents findings that appear true when in reality, they are false.

A) Publication bias
B) Replication crisis
C) False-positive
D) True-negative

Question 15

Before data is collected, a study's procedure and analyses are planned and recorded with a ______.

A) pre-registration
B) ledger
C) p-hack
D) replication procedure