Motivational effects of enhancing expectancies and autonomy for motor learning: An examination of the OPTIMAL theory

The OPTIMAL theory proposes that enhancing expectancies and autonomy facilitate motor performance and learning (Wulf & Lewthwaite). Present study with two experiments aimed to examine this proposition by using a modified dart throwing as motor task. In both experiments, motor learning (i.e., retention test) was enhanced by practice conditions, which enhance expectancies for future performance and support learners’ autonomy. Moreover, they led to significantly superior self-efficacy scores during all acquisition phase, retention, and transfer tests. Findings of the present study provided support for propositions of the OPTIMAL theory. Results are discussed in terms of motivational aspects of enhancing expectancies and autonomy and their role on facilitating motor learning.     

Reasons for emotion and moral motivation

Internalism about normative reasons is the view that an agent’s normative reasons depend on her motivational constitution. On the assumption that there are reasons for emotion I argue that (a) externalism about reasons for emotion entails that all rational agents have reasons to be morally motivated and (b) internalism about reasons for emotion is implausible. If the arguments are sound we can conclude that all rational agents have reasons to be morally motivated. Resisting this conclusion requires either justifying internalism about reasons for emotion in a way hitherto unarticulated or giving up on reasons for emotion altogether.     

生育年龄限制感提高女性的计划生育数量

近几年我国已陷入低生育率国家的行列, 提高育龄女性的生育意愿迫在眉睫。本研究结合心理阻抗以及毕生控制理论, 探索女性对于生育的年龄限制的知觉对于其生育意愿和计划生育数量的影响。研究1为问卷研究, 结果显示, 女性距离自己认为的理想生育年龄越接近时, 生育意愿越强烈。研究2和研究3为实验法研究, 分别启动未婚女性(研究2)和已婚女性(研究3)对于女性生育年龄的限制感。结果表明, 生育年龄的时间限制可以提升未婚女性对儿童的内隐态度和已婚女性的计划生育数量。研究2还发现, 这种提升效果对于前测生育意愿高的女性影响更大, 且将最佳生育年龄设定为26岁的提升效果优于设定为32岁。本研究的结果表明, 生育限制感可以提高女性的生育意愿。创设女性对适宜生育的年龄有限制感的环境, 将有助于提升育龄女性的生育意愿。不建议以进一步放开人口生育指标(如全面放开生育数量的限制)作为提高生育率的手段, 这反而可能导致育龄女性的生育意愿进一步下滑。     

Impact of Child and Parent Motivation on Social Skills Training Outcome

This study explores child and parent motivation at the start of a social skills training group program and its relationship with treatment outcome. A total of 59 children (aged 7–12) participated. Parents were more aware of, distressed by, and motivated to change the presenting problem than were their children. Greater parent awareness of their child’s difficulty making and keeping friends and perceived importance of their child learning ways to make and keep more friends significantly predicted more improved social skills. Increasing parents’ awareness and perceived importance of treating the presenting problem at the start of therapy may increase treatment effectiveness.     

Age differences in financial decision making: The benefits of more experience and less negative emotions

The emerging literature on aging and decision making posits that decision‐making competence changes with age, as a result of age differences in various cognitive and noncognitive individual‐differences characteristics. In a national life‐span sample from the United Kingdom (N = 926), we examined age differences in financial decisions, including performance measures of sunk cost and credit card repayment decisions, and self‐report measures of money management and financial decision outcomes. Participants also completed four individual‐differences characteristics that have been proposed as relevant to financial decision making, including two cognitive ones (numeracy and experience‐based knowledge) and two noncognitive ones (negative emotions about financial decisions). First, we examined how age was related to the four financial decision‐making measures and the four individual‐differences characteristics. Older age was correlated to better scores on each of the four financial decision‐making measures, more experience‐based knowledge, less negative emotions about financial decisions, whereas numeracy and motivation were not significantly correlated with age. Second, we found that considering both the two cognitive and the two noncognitive individual‐differences characteristics increased predictions of financial decision making, as compared with considering either alone. Third, we examined how these four individual‐differences characteristics contributed to age differences in financial decision making. Older adults' higher levels of experience‐based knowledge and lower levels of negative emotions seemed to especially benefit their financial decision making. We discuss implications for theories on aging and decision making, as well as for interventions targeting financial decisions.     

The Essentialized Self: Implications for Motivation and Self‐Regulation

Persuasion attempts are more likely to stick and less likely to be counterargued if they fit the ways people naturally make sense of themselves and their world. One way to do that is to yoke persuasion to the social categories people experience as “true” and “natural.” Gelman and Echelbarger's (2019) integrative review of essentialism outlines the emergence of essentialism in children's reasoning. Connecting their discussion with identity‐based motivation theory (D. Oyserman, 2015) and a culture‐as‐situated cognition (D. Oyserman, 2017) perspective, this commentary addresses how an essentialized self can facilitate or impair motivation and self‐regulation and potentiate or undermine persuasive efforts.     

Personality,Motivation, and Internet Gaming Disorder: Conceptualizing the Gamer

Using a group correlational design and path analysis, the authors examined the relationships among personality, motivation, and internet gaming disorder (IGD). Findings showed that significant predictors of IGD included male gender, neurotic and introverted personality traits, and motivation related to achievement.     

Servant leadership and follower voice: the roles of follower felt responsibility for constructive change and avoidance-approach motivation

Our study contributes to research exploring the differential antecedents of employee promotive and prohibitive voice. We first examined the mediating role of employee felt responsibility for constructive change (FRCC) in the positive relationship between servant leadership and their prohibitive and promotive voice. We then tested the differential moderating effects of employee dispositional avoidance-approach orientation, where the indirect effect of servant leadership on prohibitive voice is weakened for the high avoidance-motivated, and the indirect effect of servant leadership on promotive voice is weakened for the high approach-motivated. To test our hypotheses, multi-source data were collected from 231 supervisor-supervisee dyads working in a range of companies and sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As predicted, employee FRCC mediates the positive relationship between servant leadership and prohibitive voice and these indirect effects are significantly weaker for the high avoidance-motivated. We did not observe the predicted weakening effects of high approach-motivation on the indirect relationship between servant leadership and promotive voice. It seems servant leaders may be less influential for those avoidance-motivated individuals already predisposed to enact prohibitive forms of voice, such as voicing concerns about harmful organizational processes and practices. Implications for social exchange and role theories, and managerial practice, are discussed.