Motivation

Hi! I'm here again! Today I want to continue to speak about how we perceive ourselves and connect this issue with public speaking.

Module 4 of social psychology course offered to watch extra lecture about connection attribution and motivation. In this context, attribution is a mechanism of motivation. It means that motivation depends on  how we explain our successes and failures. Surely, people speak about reasons of their ups and downs in different ways. For this, the term "Locus of control" was created. We can differ two types: internal(my results depend on my skills and abilities) and external(my results depends on external circumstances). Accordingly, people with internal locul of control are highly motivated while people with external one have low motivation. I want to say that our further motivation relies on how we explain our successes and failures. 

Further researches has developed such a concept as learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is a phenomenon observed in both humans and other animals when they have been conditioned to expect pain, suffering, or discomfort without a way to escape it. Eventually, after enough conditioning, the animal will stop trying to avoid the pain at all—even if there is an opportunity to truly escape it. When humans or other animals start to understand that they have no control over what happens to them, they begin to think, feel, and act as if they are helpless. Thanks to this discovery, scientists defined the terms of optimist and pessimist. Optimist explains his successes by constant, universal, internal reasons and his failures by temporary, specific, external reasons. As for pessimist, he speaks about his successes as a consequence of temporary, specific, external reasons and failures as a consequence of constant, universal, internal reasons. Actually, optimists are highly motivated meanwhile pessimists are contrary. Of course, there are exceptions in this theory. Optimism often helps to support constant motivation and moderate pessimism leads to a normal evaluation of temporary difficulties. In this very situation moderate pessimism is more suitable and reasonable. 

Well, now let's remember two previous posts of mine(this one and this one) and connect them with what we're talking about. 

In the first post, you can watch my very first performance. According to my comments to it, I think that I wasn't strict to myself. We didn't have much time for preparing, but all in all me speech was good. I've found features that I like and they're connected with internal locus of control. Let's look at negative comments. I tried to find problems in myself. It's said that I'm more pessimist than optimist. I can say that it's exactly moderate pessimism which is suitable in this very situation. 

In the second post there are two videos of my performances. Our task then was to compare them (the first is spontaneous, the second is prepared). The first speech wasn't so great because of circumstances I can say. We were limited in time. In this case, my failure was explained with circumstances. In such a way optimists behave. 

All in all, I'd like to say that I'd consider myself a moderate pessimist. Now I'm analyzing my behavior and perceptions of my successes and failures (exams for example). Often I try to consider all possible outcomes of events to be ready both for ups and downs. 

I find this topic one of the most complicated. Hope you'll like it! Leave your comments and share your opinion about it.

By CAMOMILE