Chapter 4 - Behavior Control What You Do, and What It Means Freedom and Choice Self-Regulation Irrationality and Self-Destruction

Behavior Control Korean Air Lines Flight Kim Hyun Hee Themes about human behavior –Influence of values and culture –Trust and obedience of cultural leader –Working as a team –Planned action, focus on details, and goals at different levels –Quest for good backfired

What You Do, and What It Means Human actions are based on meaning –Meaning is learned by culture Thinking allows you to make use of meaning –Perform action mentally before physically Imaging something makes it more likely to happen

Levels of Meaning “By” test to differentiate level of meaning Higher levels - more meaningful Focus on lower levels to solve problems Higher level may invoke guilt; lower level focuses on details of operation

Changing Meaning Focus on low level of meaning –More vulnerable to influence and change views Focus on high level of meaning –Change behavior by shifting to a low level and then back to high level of meaning

Different Meanings, Same Level Entity theorists –Enjoy doing things at which they succeed –Learned helplessness Incremental theorists –Enjoy learning, challenges –Strive to improve performance

Goals, Plans, Intentions Goals –Ideas of some desired future state –Link between values and action Goals are influenced by inner processes and cultural factors Setting and pursuing goals is a vital job of the self

Goals, Plans, Intentions Setting goals –Choosing among possible goals –Evaluating their feasibility and desirability Pursuing goals –Planning and carrying out behaviors to reach goals

Goals, Plans, Intentions Mindsets of setting and pursuing goals differ –Setting goals – realistic –Pursuing goals – optimistic Goals help individuals resume an activity after interruption

Goals, Plans, Intentions Conscious and automatic systems help pursue goals –Conscious system helps set goals; resume activity after interruption; devise alternative plans –Automatic system reminds us of the goal Zeigarnik effect

Goals, Plans, Intentions Interlinked, hierarchy of goals –Distal and proximal goals Planning –Focus attention on reaching goal –Specific guidelines on what to do –Motivate people to work on goals

Goals, Plans, Intentions Plans that are too detailed or rigid can be discouraging Plans tend to be overly optimistic Overly optimistic plans –Planning fallacy –Future versus short term plans

Freedom and Choice

Freedom of Action More or Less Free –Sometimes constrained by external factors –Other times can freely choose Self-determination theory Perceived freedom produces benefits –Panic button effect

Making Choices Two Steps to making choices –Whittle the range of choices to limited few –Carefully compare the remaining options

Influences on Choice Risk aversion Temporal discounting Certainty effect Keeping options open –Status quo bias –Omission bias

Is Bad Stronger Than Good? Avoiding Losses Versus Pursuing Gains Bad outcome of losing has a stronger effect than the good outcome of winning –More willing to take a gamble versus a certain loss People are influenced more by what they stand to lose than what they stand to gain.

The Social Side of Sex Gender, Sex, and Decisions Genders based decision to pursue sex on different factors –Error management theory –Roots in evolutionary theory –Temporal discounting Men’s mind-set emphasizes the present and discounts the future

Reactance Theory ‘Reverse psychology’ Consequences –Makes you want the forbidden option more –Reasserting your freedom –Aggression toward person restricting your freedom People are motivated to gain and preserve their choices

Self-Regulation Effective self-regulation relies on –Standards – ideas of how things could be –Monitoring – keeping track of behaviors –Capacity to change – aligning behavior with standards

Undermining Monitoring Dieting –Eat more while watching television –Eating binges – lose track of monitoring Alcohol intoxication –Reduces attention to self –Difficult to self-regulate

Self-Regulation Capacity to change – Willpower –Willpower can be depleted Resisting temptation uses up willpower –With practice, can be strengthened

Food for Thought Dieting as Self-Regulation Self-regulation principles for effective dieting –Commitment to standards High and low level goals –Monitoring Keeping track of what you eat –Willpower/Capacity to change Decrease other demands to increase strength for dieting

Irrationality and Self-Destruction

Self-Defeating Acts Paradoxical –Rational beings acting irrationally People almost never directly seek failure, suffering or misfortune Self-defeating acts result from –Tradeoffs –Faulty knowledge and strategies

Self-Defeating Acts Self-defeating Tradeoffs –Frequent when reward is immediate; cost delayed –Self-handicapping Faulty knowledge and strategies –“I do my best work under pressure”

Tradeoffs - Now Versus Tomorrow: Delay of Gratification Self-defeating behaviors –Overemphasize the present rather than the future Capacity to delay gratification –Seeing what you wants stimulates greater desire for it Resist temptations by avoiding the sight or thought of it

Life’s Temptations PLAY VIDEO

Suicide Extreme irrational, self-destructive behavior Often involves tradeoffs Fits the now-versus-future pattern –Willing to trade away future to end present suffering

What Makes Us Human? Humans have an elaborate inner system for controlling behavior –Make choices in novel ways – Link here-and-now with distant realities –Use complex reasoning processes –Better developed self-regulation –Capacity for self-destructive behavior