MOTIVATION

Attribution Theory and Achievement

Another related theory to help us understand behavior and motivation, like John's procrastination, is attribution theory. In the 18th century, Hume (1739) argued that assuming there are causes for everything that happens is an inherent part of observing the world, because it makes the world more meaningful. Humans want to know. For instance, if someone bumps into you, you wonder why. You may assume he/she is aggressive, clumsy, flirting, that you are in the way, etc. Obviously, what you assume is the cause of the bumping makes a big difference. Likewise, John might ask himself, "Why do I put off studying?" And answer, "because I am dumb" or "because it is boring." He attributes his procrastination to his slowness or to the dullness of the reading. These kinds of assumptions about causes (we seldom know for sure the real causes) will certainly influence how we behave and how we feel.

Heider (1958) was one of the first modern psychologists to write about how the ordinary person thinks about causality--what causes what, or what is attributed to what. Since 1960, hundreds of studies have contributed to understanding why some are highly motivated to achieve and others are not. According to attribution theory (Weiner, 1980), a high achiever will:

1. Approach rather than avoid tasks related to succeeding because he/she believes success is due to high ability and effort which he/she is confident of. Failure is thought to be caused by bad luck or a poor exam, i.e. not his/her fault. Thus, failure doesn't hurt his/her self-esteem but success builds pride and confidence.

2. Persist when the work gets hard rather than giving up because failure is assumed to be caused by a lack of effort which he/she can change by trying harder.

3. Select challenges of moderate difficulty (50% success rate) because the feedback from those tasks tells you more about how well you are doing, rather than very difficult or very easy tasks which tell you little about your ability or effectiveness.

4. Work with a lot of energy because the results are believed to be determined by how hard you try.

The unmotivated person will:

1. Avoid success-related chores because he/she tends to (a) doubt his/her ability and/or (b) assume success is related to luck or to "who you know" or to other factors out of his/her control. Thus, even when successful, it isn't as rewarding to the unmotivated person because he/she doesn't feel responsible, it doesn't increase his/her pride and confidence.

2. Quit when having difficulty because he/she believes failure is caused by a lack of ability which he/she can't do anything about.

3. Choose easy or very hard tasks to work on because the results will tell him/her very little about how poorly (presumably) he/she is doing.

4. Work with little drive or enthusiasm because the outcome isn't thought to be related to effort.

Obviously, our beliefs about what causes and influences our behavior have a marked impact on our expectations and, thus, our motivation. In chapter 6, we will read about "learned helplessness" which, of course, is associated with little motivation. In chapter 14, we will also learn much more about many cognitive factors that affect our behavior and emotions. Therefore, one way to change our motivation is to change our beliefs--our attributions. For example, we could teach (and prove to) unmotivated, underachieving, and depressed people that they can control life-events by exerting more effort. There have been demonstrations that intentionally "trying harder," say on every other day, actually results in more behavioral changes, but it is hard for some people to exert extra effort. The next section is a case in point.

The Motivated Underachiever

Harvey Mandel and Sander Marcus (1988, 1995) have an interesting view of the "unmotivated" student. They say an underachiever with an "academic problem" is not unmotivated, but in fact is highly motivated to do poorly and get mediocre grades! Why? Because they want to avoid success! Why and how would anyone choose to blow off school work which is clearly connected with what one does for a lifetime? Because they are afraid of achievement and want to avoid responsibility. The underachiever unconsciously utilizes excuses to explain why he/she is doing poorly and why it isn't his/her fault. They say, "The exam didn't cover what the teacher said it would" or "everybody did bad" or "my parents had all kinds of things planned for me the night before the exam." The trouble is they believe they want to succeed and they believe their own excuses. The authors call this self-deception "the crap gap." The underachievers also believe that the situation is beyond their control, that they are innocent victims of circumstances. They aren't uncomfortable enough to fight their way out of the gloomy situation they are in.

Since the underachiever is afraid of achieving, the usual efforts of parents and teachers--e.g. offering rewards, threatening punishment, and being assigned a terrific teacher--are ineffective because these methods don't deal with the self-deception and the fears. These underachievers don't want to look honestly and carefully at themselves, their motives, their values, or their future. Why not? Because being successful and realizing that one has the ability to make "A's," take out the garbage on time, change the oil, pay one's own expenses, choose a career, work full-time, etc., means the person is ready and able to "be on his/her own," to be responsible, to be independent, and to keep on taking care of him/herself for the rest of his/her life. On the other hand, being unable to manage your life (without it being your fault) keeps others from expecting you to be mature and capable. Growing up is scary and some, like Peter Pan, don't want to do it (on a conscious and/or unconscious level).

Since this kind of underachiever is not aware of this self-deception, it may be hard for him/her to help him/herself. So, let's see how, according to Mandel and Marcus (1988), a therapist would close the "crap gap," the difference between what the student thinks he/she wants ("good grades") and his/her actual behavior (mostly avoidance of all responsible behavior through the use of excuses). The critical first step is to simply ask the student how well he/she would like to do in school. Get them to state a specific goal, e.g. a "B" average. Second, the therapist, assuming the role of helper, would find out everything about course requirements and exactly how the student prepares to meet the requirements. Third, ask the student what is the problem in one of his/her courses (actually this usually solicits an excuse). Then get all the facts, e.g. if he/she says, "I study about an hour a day but it doesn't do me much good," the therapist will find out exactly how much and how effectively the student studied yesterday (maybe 10 minutes because TV was on).

Fourth, make sure the student realizes the connection between studying and his/her grade two months later: "What will happen if you continue to only study 10 minutes a day on math?" "I'll probably get another D." Fifth, the therapist asks the student for some solution for this particular problem or excuse. A detailed plan, including how to handle barriers, is worked out by the student, e.g. "I'll put in a full hour every night." Sixth, make sure the student knows exactly what he/she proposes to do before the next therapy session. This is done knowing that the student will probably not follow his/her plan--he/she hasn't done what they intended to do before, so why now? The therapist's goal, at this point, is "excuse-busting," i.e. to merely to reduce the "crap gap" by getting the student's views of the situation ("I will study one hour without TV") closer to his/her actual behavior (10 minutes again), to recognize his/her use of excuses, and, eventually, to see his/her role in causing the underachievement.

Seventh, find out if the plan was actually followed. Usually, as expected by the therapist, the student avoids the plan or does poorly for some other reason. Almost always he/she gives the therapist another excuse, e.g. "I forgot my books," "I studied the wrong stuff," or "I tried to study for an hour but friends kept calling," because to stick with the old excuse (TV was on) is admitting that he/she really wants to do poorly (the student is strongly motivated to not recognize this fact). Eighth, excuse after excuse is eliminated by going through steps 3 to 7 with each excuse for not reaching each goal. Gradually, the student begins to see his/her self-conning use of excuses, that he/she is responsible for his/her behavior (and the resulting grades), that he/she has some power to control his/her life. Lastly, as the excuses are striped away and insight gained into procrastination and avoidance of responsibility, the student will want to openly discuss his/her fears, what does he/she really want in life, and how does he/she get there from here. Therapy now becomes a very different process, more nondirective, because the student is responsible, introspective, self-directed, far more emotional and alive but ready to face life as an independent individual, even if scared.

Hopefully, some people will be able without therapy to see that they are lying to themselves by the use of excuses. Then by consciously taking control of their lives (stopping the self-conning), they can help themselves. Others will not be able to see why they are underachievers but they will realize they are not performing up to capacity; they should seek professional help.

Besides the "academic problem" type (about 50% of all underachievers), Mandel and Marcus, especially in their 1995 book written for parents, describe several other kinds of underachievers, usually related to moderately serious psychopathology requiring professional treatment, such as Anxiety Disorder, Sociopathic Disorder (lack of conscience, manipulative), Identity Disorder (confusion about life goals), and Defiant Disorder. Other writers have described the academic indifference of some people as being due to cultural differences, e.g. if you assume that only white middle-and-upper-class students care about getting good grades, and if you aren't in that social-economic group or hate that type of person, then it becomes difficult to take school seriously. Kohl (1995) writes about students who become offended or resentful and say, "I won't learn from you." There may be many ways to be unmotivated. In any case, a wasted mind is a terrible loss to society, but it is even more serious for your own life when it is your mind that is wasted. Do something!