Self-assessed Motivation Research Articles

Depressive symptoms and upward social comparisons during Instagram use: A vicious circle

On the one hand, social comparisons on social media use lead to more depressive symptoms. On the other hand, more depressive symptoms lead to more social comparison on social media. We propose an articulation of both effects. As users are primarily exposed to positive information leading to upward comparisons on Instagram and depressive individuals engage more in comparisons, they would be more vulnerable to negative impacts of comparisons on the self. Furthermore, at least two interindividual differences might explain this vicious circle, i.e. Instagram type of use and self-assessment motivation. The research tested it with correlation (N = 482), experimental (N = 185), and experimental diary design (N = 168). Two groups were asked to use Instagram actively or passively in the experimental studies. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that while the type of use didn't explain the effects, depressive symptoms, and self-assessment motivation did. Indeed, one with more depressive symptoms indicated perceives others being better off than oneself, which worsened the self-esteem (Cohen's d range for the three studies = 0.01 to 0.10), felt emotions (d = 0.03 to 0.06), and depressive mood (d = 0.02 to 0.06), and this process appears to be mediated by the motivation to self-assess.

Changes in fatigue, barriers, and predictors towards physical activity in advanced cancer patients over a period of 12 months\u2014a comparative study

PurposePhysical activity (PA) is recommended to improve advanced cancer patients’ (ACP) physical functioning, fatigue, and quality of life. Yet, little is known about ACPs’ attitude towards PA and its influence on fatigue and depressiveness over a longer period. This prospective, non-interventional cohort study examined ACPs’ fatigue, depression, motivation, and barriers towards PA before and after 12 months of treatment among ACPMethodsOutpatients with incurable cancer receiving treatment at a German Comprehensive Cancer Center reporting moderate/severe weakness/tiredness during self-assessment via MIDOS II were enrolled. Fatigue (FACT-F), depression (PHQ-8), cancer-related parameters, self-assessed PA behavior, motivation for and barriers against PA were evaluated (T0). Follow-up data was acquired after 12 months (T1) using the same questionnaire.ResultsAt follow-up, fatigue (p=0.017) and depressiveness (p=0.015) had increased in clinical relevant extent. Physically active ACP did not show significant progress of FACT-F (p=0.836) or PHQ-8 (p=0.799). Patient-reported barriers towards PA remained stable. Logistic regression analyses identified motivation as a positive predictor for PA at both time points (T0, β=2.152, p=0.017; T1, β =2.264, p=0.009). Clinically relevant depression was a negative predictor for PA at T0 and T1 (T0, β=−3.187, p=0.044; T1, β=−3.521, p=0.041).ConclusionOur findings emphasize the importance of psychological conditions in physical activity behavior of ACP. Since psychological conditions seem to worsen over time, early integration of treatment is necessary. By combining therapy approaches of cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise in interdisciplinary care programs, the two treatment options might reinforce each other and sustainably improve ACPs’ fatigue, physical functioning, and QoL.Trial registrationGerman Register of Clinical Trials, DRKS00012514, registration date: 30.05.2017

Unemployment Benefit Duration and Startup Success

Despite the importance of business creation for the economy and a relevant share of new firms being started out of unemployment, most research has focused on analyzing the effect of unemployment insurance (UI) policies on reemployment outcomes that ignore self-employment. In this paper, we assess how UI benefit duration affects the motivation for creating a startup while unemployed and the subsequent firms’ success. To do so, we create a comprehensive dataset on founders in Germany that links administrative social insurance with survey data. Exploiting reform- and age-based exogenous variations in potential benefit duration (PBD) within the German UI system, we find that longer PBD leads to longer actual unemployment duration for those becoming self-employed. Furthermore, the UI duration elasticity for these individuals is higher than common estimates for those individuals becoming re-employed. With increasing unemployment benefit duration, the founders’ outcomes in terms of self-assessed motivation, sales, and employment growth lessen. This overall causal effect of PBD can be rationalized with a mix of composition and individual-level duration effects. Therefore, our findings suggest that it is important to consider the fiscal externality of UI on startup success when it comes to the (optimal) design of UI systems.

The relationship between the feedback environment and creativity: a self-motives perspective.

BackgroundFor companies, employee creativity is vital to gaining competitive business advantages. Research regarding creativity has focused on contextual factors such as feedback, but results of studies on the relationship between feedback and creativity are inconsistent; further, only a handful of studies have been carried out from the perspective of coworkers. In this study, we aimed to analyze the association between the coworker feedback environment and creativity, to test the mediating role of feedback monitoring in this relationship and to test the moderating role of self-motivation among employees in China.MethodsA coworker feedback environment survey, a coworker feedback monitoring questionnaire, a self-motivation scale and a creativity scale were used. The staff submitted 264 questionnaires, of which 235 (74.6%) were completed by the participants. Among the respondents in the sample, 132 (56.2%) were men, and 103 (43.8%) were women. The mean age is 30 and age range from 24–49. Mplus 7.11 software was used to perform descriptive analysis, Spearman’s correlation analysis, mediating analysis and moderation analysis.ResultsCoworker feedback environment was positively associated with creativity (β=0.60, p<0.01) after controlling for the demographic variable. Coworker feedback monitoring partially mediated the relationship between coworker feedback environment and creativity (χ2/df=2.5, RMSEA=0.05; CFI=0.93; GFI=0.93). When self-assessment motivation is lower, the positive relationship between coworker feedback monitoring and creativity becomes stronger (β=0.19); the same relationship becomes weaker (β=0.01) when self-assessment motivation is higher.ConclusionIt was suggested that a coworker feedback environment could improve employee creativity by promoting coworker feedback monitoring; creativity could be improved especially among employees who have lower self-assessment motivation.

Exploring the Role of Self-Motives in Postgraduate Trainees' Feedback-Seeking Behavior in the Clinical Workplace: A Multicenter Study of Workplace-Based Assessments From the United Kingdom.

To explore trainees' feedback-seeking behavior in the postgraduate surgical workplace using a self-motives framework. Self-motives include self-assessment "to obtain accurate information about the self," self-improvement "to improve one's traits, abilities, and skills," self-enhancement "to enhance the favorability of self views," and self-verification "to maintain consistency between one's central self-view and new self-relevant information." This project constituted a further framework analysis of previously obtained qualitative focus group data that originally explored trainees' perceptions and use of workplace-based assessment (WBA). Data were collected from multiple centers in the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2013. Content was analyzed to identify references in the data that reflected the above self-motives and in relation to contextual themes identified from within the data. Trainees' motivations for seeking feedback broadly fit within a self-motives framework. Trainees' feedback seeking using WBA related to self-enhancement and self-verification, whereas outside WBA trainees reported self-improvement and self-assessment motives. Where trainees perceived WBA represented an opportunity to learn, they described a self-improvement motive toward seeking feedback, whereas when WBA represented an assessment of learning, trainees described tensions between self-enhancement and self-improvement motives. Surgical trainees' motivations for seeking feedback can be explained using a conceptual self-motives framework. Trainees need to be motivated to seek accurate informational feedback so they can improve their performance within the clinical workplace. To achieve this, trainees need training; current assessment systems must change to allow trainees to seek such feedback without fear and concern about this information being used as an assessment of learning.

Study on learning motivation for innovative talents of local normal universities

In order to improve the learning of innovative talents, the paper organically combine the learning motivation and self-efficacy, in a typical representative of the local normal universities as an example, with a total of 4305 undergraduates, analyzed the relationship between surface motivation and deep motivation, the relationship between learning motivation and self-efficacy, learning time and self-efficacy, and academic performance self-assessment and learning motivation & self-efficacy. Based on the above empirical research, this paper provides reference on the improvement of learning motivation for students of local colleges and universities.

Understanding self-reported staging of dietary behavior in low-income women.

This study examined self-reported staging for the goal of eating a low-fat diet and several specific dietary consumption behaviors to understand better readiness for dieting. Self-assessed motivation, food frequency measures, and psychosocial variables were obtained from 2057 low-income women enrolled in the Maryland Food for Life Program. Results indicated that staging of specific dietary consumption behaviors was significantly related to staging for the global goal of eating a low-fat diet. Women evaluate their motivation about eating low-fat diets based on perceived efforts and specific activities related to dietary consumption with important implications for dietary behavior change measurement and interventions.

Subliminal Priming of Motivation Magnitude

Word primes have been successfully used in the past to facilitate the processing of other words (semantic priming), but also to modify mental states such as emotion, cognition and motivation (conceptual priming). This work documented that the direction of motivational drive can be successfully changed, but left open whether its magnitude can be influenced as well. To find out, we asked subjects to point at subliminally presented (30 ms) words that denoted low motivation (13 subjects) or high motivation (13 subjects). Afterwards, subjects completed a questionnaire of learning-specific motivation. No effect of priming was found for pointing parameters such as reaction time, but an effect emerged for self-assessed motivation level. The subject group primed with high-motivation words rated their motivation higher than the group primed with low-motivation words. The results indicate that not only the direction, but also the level of motivation can be manipulated subliminally, and supports the view that motivation can influence behavior without actor’s explicit knowledge.

Self-Assessment of Knowledge: A Cognitive Learning or Affective Measure?

We conducted a meta-analysis to clarify the construct validity of self-assessments of knowledge in education and workplace training. Self-assessment's strongest correlations were with motivation and satisfaction, two affective evaluation outcomes. The relationship between self-assessment and cognitive learning was moderate. Even under conditions that optimized the self-assessment–cognitive learning relationship (e.g., when learners practiced self-assessing and received feedback on their self-assessments), the relationship was still weaker than the self-assessment–motivation relationship. We also examined how researchers interpreted self-assessed knowledge, and discovered that nearly a third of evaluation studies interpreted self-assessed knowledge data as evidence of cognitive learning. Based on these findings, we offer recommendations for evaluation practice that involve a more limited role for self-assessment.

Self-enhancement and Self-protection Motivation: From the Laboratory to an Evolutionary Context

Existing data suggest that the self-enhancement and self-protection motivations (which elevate or protect the positive self-concept) exert a pivotal influence on self-evaluation and behavior. Moreover, these motivations are more potent than the self-assessment motivation (which works to increase the accuracy of the self-concept) or the self-verification motivation (which works to confirm the self-concept). The data also suggest that the self-enhancement and self-protection motivations serve crucial mental health functions and that these functions are apparent across different cultures. This article relates these findings to the possible evolutionary utility of these motivations. It is argued that self-enhancement and self-protection motivations were evolutionarily selected, because they offered personal, relational, and group-rank advantages to species members who possessed these traits.

The influence of properties of daily life events on selecting other persons in self-evaluation process : From viewpoints of self-assessment motivation and self-enhancement motivation

The influence of properties of daily life events on selecting other persons in self-evaluation process : From viewpoints of self-assessment motivation and self-enhancement motivation

Resolving Conflicts Among Self-Evaluative Motives : Positive Experiences as a Resource for Overcoming Defensiveness

The present research investigates how undergoing a negative or positive experience subsequently influences feedback seeking regarding self-attributes varying in self-relevance. Participants were offered feedback from earlier testing regarding their assets or liabilities for attaining various personal goals (general life goals or specific careers). Overall, self-relevance of a goal increased interest in both assets- and liabilities-focused feedback regarding that goal. As predicted, however, the effect of self-relevance depended on whether participants initially failed or succeeded on an unrelated task. Specifically, after failure, the self-relevance of a goal was more likely to increase interest in assets-focused feedback than interest in liabilities-focused feedback. In contrast, after success, the self-relevance of a goal was equally or more likely to increase interest in liabilities-focused feedback than interest in assets-focused feedback. These results suggest that undergoing a positive or negative experience subsequently influences the relative weight of ego-defensive and self-assessment motives in feedback-seeking decisions.

Randomized controlled trial of a prenatal vaginal birth after cesarean section education and support program

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to assess whether, for women with previous cesarean section, a prenatal education and support program promoting vaginal birth after cesarean delivery increases the probability of vaginal delivery. STUDY DESIGN: Women with a single previous cesarean were recruited before 28 weeks' gestation. Women's self-assessed motivation to attempt vaginal birth after a previous cesarean delivery was measured on a 10 cm visual analog scale: stratum I, low motivation; stratum II, high motivation. Women were randomized by stratum to one of two groups. Those in the “Verbal” group participated in an individualized education program. Those in the “Document” group were provided with a pamphlet detailing the benefits of planned vaginal birth after cesarean delivery. RESULTS: Rates of vaginal birth after cesarean section were similar in the verbal and document groups: verbal, 339 of 641 (53%); document, 310 of 634 (49%); relative risk 1.1, 95% confidence interval 1.0 to 1.2. There was no evidence of heterogeneity across motivational strata. Regardless of treatment group, women with low motivation for vaginal birth after cesarean section were more than three times as likely to undergo elective repeat cesarean than were women with high motivation (47% vs 13%). CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence that an individualized prenatal education and support program, when offered to all women with previous cesarean delivery, results in a clinically significant increase in the rate of vaginal birth after cesarean section.(Am J Obstet Gynecol 1997;176:419-25.)

Determinants of task preferences when performance is indicative of individual characteristics: self-assessment motivation and self-verification motivation

The present study was conducted to examine determinants of information-gathering behavior with regard to one's own characteristics. Four tasks with different self-congruent and incongruent diagnosticity were presented to subjects. As self-assessment theory predicted, high diagnostic tasks were preferred to low tasks. And as self-verification theory predicted, self-congruent diagnosticity had a stronger effect on task preference than self-incongruent diagnosticity. In addition, subjects who perceived the relevant characteristics important inclined to choose self-assessment behavior more than who did not. Also, subjects who were certain of their self-concept inclined to choose self-verification behavior more than who were not. These results suggest that both self-assessment and self-verification motivations play important roles in information-gathering behavior regarding one's characteristics, and strength of the motivations is determined by the importance of relevant characteristics or the certainty of self-concept.

Predictors and Effects of Long-term Dieting on Mental Well-being and Weight Loss in Obese Women

Sixty moderately obese women (mean BMI = 33, mean age = 43), randomized to a lactovegetarian or regular 1300-kcal weight-reducing diet were followed at 3, 8 and 24 months. Weight follow-up was 92%, while 47% complied with the program throughout with no differences between the two diets with respect to compliance rate, weight loss or behavioral tests results. Over 24 months compliers lost a mean 3·9 kg compared to a gain of 1·8 kg in the non-compliers. Short-term improvements in mental well-being measured by the Mood Adjective Check List deteriorated after 2 years to lower levels than at entry. Self-assessed motivation to diet was inversely related to mental well-being at two years. Positive long-term changes of functional status (Sickness Impact Profile) were found. Though subjective prediction of success measured after 3 weeks on diet predicted short-term and maximum weight loss, it did not predict ultimate outcome. More difficulties in resisting emotional and social eating cues (high disinhibition score on the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire) before and during the diet predicted weight gain. The more initial health-related dysfunction (SIP) the greater the weight regain. Psychological characteristics at baseline did not predict compliance or overall weight loss. The magnitude of weight loss after 24 months was related to amount and duration of maximum weight loss.

Determinants of Preferences among Tasks with Diagnosticity of his/her own Ability (2)

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether information gathering behavior differed depending on the characteristics of the ability to be evaluated. Independent variables were controllability and perceived importance and utility of the ability. Subjects chose one of the four forms of tasks in which the diagnosticity of success and the diagnosticity of failure were manipulated. They also judged task preference for each of them. As might have been expected, those who perceived the importance and usefulness of ability preferred to perform tasks more as either the diagnosticity of success or that of failure increased. When the ability was uncontrollable, it was found that task preference of the subjects who perceived the ability to be less important and useful was negatively related to the diagnosticity of failure, but it was not the case when the ability was controllable. These results were discussed in terms of self-assessment motivation and self-enhancement motivation.

Evaluating one's abilities: Shortcuts and stumbling blocks on the road to self-knowledge

Previous research has found that subjects eagerly seek information about their abilities. However, subjects' a priori beliefs regarding their ability generally have not been taken into account. Most people assume that their ability level is high and expect to succeed at achievement tasks. Consequently, the search for ability-relevant feedback may reffect a desire to gain favorable information about the self rather than, or in addition to, a desire to gain accurate information about the self. To explore this issue, the present research examined subjects' interest in evaluating their abilities after controlling for their anticipations of success. In four studies, the search for ability-relevant feedback was most evident when subjects had reason to believe that they would gain positive, rather than negative, information about the self. However, even those led to believe that feedback might disclose incompetence did not completely refrain from further information-seeking. These findings suggest that both self-enhancement and self-assessment motives affect the dynamics of ability evaluation. The discussion considers the implications of the findings for understanding the manner in which individuals acquire self-knowledge.

Self-evaluation of abilities: accurate self-assessment versus biased self-enhancement.

Past research indicates that individuals are keenly aware of the diagnostic implications of their performance. Theories differ, however, in regard to how this awareness influences task choice. According to the self-assessment view, individuals choose tasks that are maximally informative of abilities, regardless of self-esteem implications. According to the self-enhancement view, task choice is often mediated by a concern for self-esteem protection. In the first study, subjects chose among eight forms of a cognitive abilities test that varied in their diagnosticity of success, diagnosticity of failure, and difficulty. In accordance with the self-assessment view, test choice was found to be positively related to diagnosticity of success and, to a lesser extent, diagnosticity of failure. Test choice was also dependent on the interaction of diagnosticity and difficulty in a manner that was more consistent with the self-assessment view. In a second study that provided more precise measurement of perceived diagnosticity and expected success, results indicated that the motives for self-assessment and self-enhancement were each reliably related to task preference. Of the two, self-assessment motivation was a stronger determinant of task preference. Taken together, these results suggest that task choice is governed largely by a concern for accurate self-appraisal. Additional results, however, indicate that current models may require revisions that take into account the less-than-accurate appraisal of diagnosticity.

Self-assessment of need, relevance and motivation to learn as indicators of participation in continuing medical education.

This study examined the validity of using physicians' self-assessed needs, relevance and motivation to learn about clinical topics as a means for setting objectives and priorities for continuing medical education (CME) programmes. In an initial survey family doctors were asked to rate their need, relevance and motivation to learn about 120 different clinical topics. Eight months later, the same population was sent a second mail survey asking respondents to indicate if they had learned about a set of sixteen topics taken from the initial survey and, if so, in what kind of learning activities. Eight of the sixteen topics were highly rated and eight were low rated in the initial survey. In terms of actual participation of family doctors, self-assessed motivation to learn exhibited a strong positive relationship with actual participation. Both self-assessed need and relevance were negative to only moderately positive in their association with actual participation. This evidence contributed to the value of using self-assessed motivation as an indicator of future participation of family doctors in CME and questioned the value of using self-assessed need and relevance as indicators of future patterns of participation.