Hope for rehabilitation and vice versa.

Objectives: To use Snyder's (1989, 1994b) hope theory as a framework for understanding rehabilitation goals and designing effective interventions. Conclusions: According to this theory, hope reflects the perceived capacity to generate routes to desired goals (called pathway thinking) along with the associated motivational thoughts to use those paths (called agency thinking). Given that higher hope has correlated previously with superior physical and mental functioning, it is suggested that the hope construct may be helpful in fostering adaptive rehabilitation processes through the use of intervention techniques aimed at creating clearer and more sustainable goals, increasing pathways thoughts, and instilling greater agency. Furthermore, teaching patients about approaches for facilitating their recoveries using a hope-based vocabulary may have therapeutic value beyond the treatment team's use of hope theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Malleability in communal goals and beliefs influences attraction to stem careers: Evidence for a goal congruity perspective.

The goal congruity perspective posits that 2 distinct social cognitions predict attraction to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields. First, individuals may particularly value communal goals (e.g., working with or helping others), due to either chronic individual differences or the salience of these goals in particular contexts. Second, individuals hold beliefs about the activities that facilitate or impede these goals, or goal affordance stereotypes. Women's tendency to endorse communal goals more highly than do men, along with consensual stereotypes that STEM careers impede communal goals, intersect to produce disinterest in STEM careers. We provide evidence for the foundational predictions that gender differences emerge primarily on communal rather than agentic goals (Studies 1a and 3) and that goal affordance stereotypes reflect beliefs that STEM careers are relatively dissociated from communal goals (Studies 1b and 1c). Most critically, we provide causal evidence that activated communal goals decrease interest in STEM fields (Study 2) and that the potential for a STEM career to afford communal goals elicits greater positivity (Study 3). These studies thus provide a novel demonstration that understanding communal goals and goal affordance stereotypes can lend insight into attitudes toward STEM pursuits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

From stress to learning: Attachment theory meets goal orientation theory.

Few investigators have explored connections between attachment theory and goal orientation theory. Although the theories differ in important ways, we suggest there is a striking similarity in their depiction of an adaptive pathway leading from stress to learning goals and constructive strategies, and a contrasting pathway leading from stress to self-validation goals and defensive strategies. We review evidence from two leading investigators—Mario Mikulincer in adult attachment theory and Carol Dweck in goal orientation theory—to show that, following failure and other setbacks, learning as compared to self-validation goals are more likely to lead to cognitive openness, problem-solving, support-seeking, and adaptive emotion regulation. The theories differ in their understanding of the views underlying learning and self-validation goals, and those differences have led to qualitatively different interventions. We suggest how attachment and goal orientation theory interventions can be integrated to maximize optimal functioning in stressful conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-handicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual thinking: Consequences for self-esteem and future motivation.

Researchers interested in counterfactual thinking have often found that upward counterfactual thoughts lead to increased motivation to improve in the future, although at the cost of increased negative affect. The present studies suggest that because upward counterfactual thoughts indicate reasons for a poor performance, they can also serve as excuses. In this case, upward counterfactual thoughts should result in more positive self-esteem and reduced future motivation. Five studies demonstrated these effects in the context of self-handicapping. First, upward counterfactual thinking was increased in the presence of a self-handicap. Second, upward counterfactual thoughts indicating the presence of a self-handicap protected self-esteem following failure. Finally, upward counterfactual thoughts that protect self-esteem reduced preparation for a subsequent performance as well as performance itself. These findings suggest that the consequences of upward counterfactuals for affect and motivation are moderated by the goals of the individual as well as the content of the thoughts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracking the construction of episodic future thoughts.

The ability to mentally simulate possible futures (episodic future thinking) is of fundamental importance for various aspects of human cognition and behavior, but precisely how humans construct mental representations of future events is still essentially unknown. We suggest that episodic future thoughts consist of transitory patterns of activation over knowledge structures at different levels of specificity, with general knowledge about the personal future (i.e., personal semantic information and anticipated general events) providing a context or frame for retrieving, integrating, and interpreting episodic details. In line with this hypothesis, Study 1 showed that the construction of episodic future thoughts is frequently a protracted generative process in which general personal knowledge is accessed before episodic details. We then explored in more detail the nature of this general personal knowledge and tested the hypothesis that it is mainly organized in terms of personal goals. Study 2 showed that cuing participants with knowledge about personal goals increased the ease of future event production during a fluency task. Study 3 further demonstrated that cuing participants with their personal goals facilitated access to episodic details during the imagination of future events. Taken together, these findings indicate that general personal knowledge and, in particular, knowledge about personal goals plays an important role in the construction of episodic future thoughts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hope and academic success in college.

A cognitive, motivational theory is introduced to the educational research community. Hope theory integrates the conceptualization of goals, along with the strategies to achieve those goals (pathways), and the motivation to pursue those goals (agency). In a 6-year longitudinal study, individual differences in hope, as measured by the Hope Scale (C. R. Snyder et al., 1991) scores of entering college freshmen, predicted better overall grade point averages even after controlling for variance related to entrance examination scores. High- relative to the low-hope students also were more likely to have graduated and not to have been dismissed over this 6-year period. Hopeful thinking in college academics is discussed, along with the contributions of hope theory for educational research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reciprocal effects of science on practice: Insights from the practice and science of goal setting.

The hypothesis of this paper is that the science and practice of psychology are interdependent. Science drives practice which drives science. The science and practice of 25 years of programmatic research on goal setting theory in industrial-organizational psychology (I/O) is used in support of this hypothesis. I/O research on goal setting includes findings that (1) high goals lead to higher performance; (2) there is a linear relationship between goal difficulty and performance; (3) variables such as feedback, participative decision making, and competition affect performance to the extent that they lead to the setting of and commitment to high goals; and (4) mediators of goal setting are motivational and cognitive, with other variables mediating the effects of goals on performance in I/O settings. Scientists, practitioners, and scientist–practitioners alike are encouraged to work in unison in order to advance psychology for all. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal setting, conditions of practice, and task performance: A resource allocation perspective.

Hypotheses regarding the influence of goal assignments on performance of a novel, complex task under varying conditions of practice were derived from a cognitive resource allocation model. Goals and type of practice interacted in their effects on two key performance measures. In the massed-practice conditions, trainees assigned specific, difficult goals tended to perform poorer than trainees in the control (do your best goal) condition. In the spaced-practice conditions, goal trainees performed marginally better than control trainees. Self-report measures of goal commitment, and on-task, off-task, and affective thoughts during breaks and task performance provide additional evidence for the independent and interactive effects of goals and practice conditions on motivation and performance. Results provide further support for the resource allocation framework. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social-motivational processes and interpersonal relationships: Implications for understanding motivation at school.

Social-motivational processes and socialization experiences can play a critical role in students' academic success. However, the search for specific mechanisms and processes that explain these social influences on motivation is still in its inception. The purpose of this article was to begin to articulate some of these processes in the hope that more precise explanations of influence will emerge. The 1st section of the article focuses on ways in which social-motivational processes are relevant for understanding motivation to achieve academically, using goal pursuit as a case in point. Models describing complementary, developmental, and hierarchical relations among social and task-related goals and their implications for understanding student achievement are presented. Then, ways in which students' social encounters and experiences with parents, teachers, and peers might influence their adoption and internalization of socially valued goals are examined. New directions for theoretical and empirical inquiry are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement goals and optimal motivation: Testing multiple goal models.

Currently, there is a debate about which types of achievement goals promote optimal motivation. A number of theorists argue for a mastery goal perspective focusing on the adaptive consequences of mastery goals and the maladaptive consequences of performance goals. Others endorse a multiple goal perspective in which both mastery and performance goals can be beneficial. The purpose of the present investigation was to review why this debate has emerged and to offer a critical test of the mastery versus multiple goal perspectives. In Study 1, a correlational approach was used to identify the optimal goals for college participants to adopt for a learning activity. In Study 2, an experimental approach was used to identify the optimal goals to assign for the same activity. Each study revealed benefits of both mastery and performance goals, providing support for the multiple goal perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic for the people: How representations of significant others implicitly affect goal pursuit.

Five studies are presented that explore how representations of significant others may automatically affect goal pursuit. Specifically, evidence is presented that suggests goals may be primed by one's representation of a significant other and that this priming may be moderated by one's closeness to this other individual. It is also shown to be affected by the number of different goals associated with this person. The greater the number of goals associated with a significant other, the less likely this individual will invoke any 1 goal very strongly. Such goal priming is shown to have implications for the extent to which goals are pursued (as seen through task persistence and performance) as well as the extent to which they are inhibited or ignored (especially when an individual is associated with a goal unrelated to a current pursuit). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some psychological effects associated with positive and negative thinking about stressful event outcomes: Was Pollyanna right?

173 undergraduates completed an event-outcome appraisal questionnaire designed to make salient positive and negative thoughts about the outcomes of recent stressful events. Ss' well-being was assessed both immediately after the salience manipulation and again 8 wks later. Results show that positive thinking increased the well-being that Ss reported immediately after their thoughts were assessed but was unrelated to the well-being they reported after the 8-wk delay. It is suggested that although thinking positively about past event outcomes may temporarily lead to perceptions of increased well-being while the thoughts are salient, it has no enduring influence. In contrast, negative thinking was associated with lower reported well-being not only when the thoughts were salient but after a delay as well. Psychological effects associated with both types of thinking were due mostly to self-relevant thoughts rather than to externally relevant ones. Negative thinking about prior stressor outcomes appeared to increase vulnerability to the impact of later ones on several aspects of well-being. It is concluded that the absence of negative thinking, rather than the presence of positive thinking, is beneficial. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"I'm OK but You're Not" and Other Peer-Relational Schemas: Explaining Individual Differences in Children's Social Goals.

This study examined the links among 5th and 6th graders' (279 girls and 310 boys) self- and peer perceptions, social goals, and social behavior. Social goals mediated the effects of self- and peer perceptions on 3 types of behavior: proactive aggression, prosocial behavior, and withdrawal. In addition to their main effects (self-perception predicting variance in agentic goals, peer perception being related to communal goals), self- and peer perception interacted in influencing social goals; for instance, the effects of a positive view of oneself were different in the contexts of a positive versus a negative perception of peers. It is suggested that in order to predict children's social behavior more accurately, researchers should investigate children's dual perceptions of themselves and of their peers--that is, their peer-relational schemas--instead of assessing self-perception and peer perception in isolation from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drug use, agency, and communality: Causes and consequences among adults.

Certain causes and consequences of drug use may be unique to young adults and might involve gender-role expectations that women are most directed toward communality issues, whereas men are concerned with agentic tasks. Failure in these gender-specific tasks would lead to an increase in future drug use and earlier drug use would hinder the development of these skills for men and women. Data were obtained in 1984 and 1988 from 391 women and 156 men in their early to mid 20s as part of a 12-yr longitudinal study of adolescent development and drug use. Analyses were conducted with structural equation models incorporating repeatedly measured constructs of polydrug use, communality, and agency. Results generally supported these expectations when both specific and general effects were considered. In addition, women's drug use also interfered with their agentic goals and men's drug use damaged their communal relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of the State Hope Scale.

Defining hope as a cognitive set comprising agency (belief in one's capacity to initiate and sustain actions) and pathways(belief in one's capacity to generate routes)to reach goals, the Hope Scale was developed and validated previously as a dispositional self-report measure of hope ( C. R. Snyder et al, see record 1991-17270-001). The present 4 studies were designed to develop and validate a measure of state hope. The 6-item State Hope Scale is internally consistent and reflects the theorized agency and pathways components. The relationships of the State Hope Scale to other measures demonstrate concurrent and discriminant validity; moreover, the scale is responsive to events in the lives of people as evidenced by data gathered through both correlational and causal designs. The State Hope Scale offers a brief, internally consistent, and valid self-report measure of ongoing goal-directed thinking that may be useful to researchers and applied professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of hope in academic and sport achievement

Hope is the sum of goal thoughts as tapped by pathways and agency. Pathways reflect the perceived capability to produce goal routes; agency reflects the perception that one can initiate action along these pathways. Using trait and state hope scales, studies explored hope in college student athletes. In Study 1, male and female athletes were higher in trait hope than nonathletes; moreover, hope significantly predicted semester grade averages beyond cumulative grade point average and overall self-worth. In Study 2, with female cross-country athletes, trait hope predicted athletic outcomes; further, weekly state hope tended to predict athletic outcomes beyond dispositional hope, training, and self-esteem, confidence, and mood. In Study 3, with female track athletes, dispositional hope significantly predicted athletic outcomes beyond variance related to athletic abilities and affectivity; moreover, athletes had higher hope than nonathletes.     

When debiasing backfires: Accessible content and accessibility experiences in debiasing hindsight.

Two studies demonstrated that attempts to debias hindsight by thinking about alternative outcomes may backfire and traced this to the influence of subjective accessibility experiences. Participants listed either few (2) or many (10) thoughts about how an event might have turned out otherwise. Listing many counterfactual thoughts was experienced as difficult and consistently increased the hindsight bias, presumably because the experienced difficulty suggested that there were not many ways in which the event might have turned out otherwise. No significant hindsight effects were obtained when participants listed only a few counterfactual thoughts, a task subjectively experienced as easy. The interplay of accessible content and subjective accessibility experiences in the hindsight bias is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A goal systems–self-regulatory perspective on personality, psychopathology, and change.

A motivational framework is presented linking personal goals and self-regulatory functions to normal personality, psychopathology, and the processes of change. First, the utility of goals as a "final common analytic pathway" or integrative unit is considered. Next, the premises of an emerging, goal-centered conception of adaptive functioning are discussed as a prelude to the author's outlining of a multidimensional working model of "goal systems." Reactive depression is reconceptualized in terms of specific self-regulatory dysfunctions under the influence of goal systems to illustrate how dysfunctional goal systems can serve as the central organizing component of psychopathology. A set of 10 propositions pinpoints goal-based sources of vulnerability to self-regulatory dysfunction in depression. A set of 5 propositions details the potential goal-based sources of maintenance of self-regulatory deficits. Finally, 14 theory-based principles of psychotherapeutic change are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: The self-validation hypothesis.

Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important--the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The multifinality constraints effect: How goal multiplicity narrows the means set to a focal end.

In the presence of several objectives, goal conflict may be avoided via multifinal means, which advance all of the active goals at once. Because such means observe multiple constraints, they are fewer in number than the unconstrained means to a single goal. Five experimental studies investigated the process of choosing or generating such means for multiple goals. We found that the simultaneous activation of multiple goals restricted the set of acceptable means to ones that benefitted (or at least, did not harm) the entire set of active goals. Two moderators of this phenomenon were identified: (a) the feasibility of identifying multifinal means, which was dependent on the relations between the different active goals, and (b) the enhanced importance of the focal goal, which resulted in the inhibition of its alternatives and the consequent relaxation of multifinality constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)