Lab 2: Experimental Research1. I am passionate about sharing what I know (motivating). I like it when I see people growing
and benefiting from knowledge through motivation and encouragement either through social
media or one on one platforms. I feel that the advantages of their motives should be
investigated more.
2. What impact has been made by motivation in people’s lives? How have people benefitted
from watching or listening to motivations?
3. The independent variable is the motivational speeches people, have watched or received
either through seminars, online platforms, or personal encouragement, and control where they
watch or hear negative, discouraging things from people.
4. The dependent variable is the gain valued outcomes from motivation (e.g improved
performance, personal growth, sense of purpose) .
5. I would measure the dependent variable by self- report, asking them if the passions they
follow result to improved performances, personal growth etc. I would also measure the
participants by asking them, after watching or receiving discouragement, how they started
viewing themselves, and if their work ethic got disrupted.
6. The population of interest is the youths aged 20 years – 35 years. This is because most of
the people in this bracket are still uncertain about their future and hence also they face a lot of
difficulties while stabilizing in life.
7. In this experiment, participants will be divided into 1) motivational speeches, 2) Personal
encouragement , 3) Discouraging and negative speech. After watching the speeches,
participants will be asked to disclose their valued and invalued outcomes. These outcomes
include how much improved performance and personal growth they had. This experiment will
help me determine how beneficial motivational content is to people.
Part 2: Citations
Journal Articles:
Gagné, M., Tian, A. W., Soo, C., Zhang, B., Ho, K. S. B., & Hosszu, K. (2019). Different
motivations for knowledge sharing and hiding: The role of motivating work design. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 40(7), 783-799.
Book Articles:
Steinmayr, R., Weidinger, A. F., Schwinger, M., & Spinath, B. (2019). The importance of
students’ motivation for their academic achievement–replicating and extending previous
findings. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1730.
Website/blog:
Hawthorne, H. (2022, June 15). Understanding the importance of motivation in education. The
Hub | High Speed Training. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from
MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT ON PEOPLE
Lilit Abdulyan
Psych 321
March 19, 2023
Introduction
Having a highly motivated staff reduces turnover by 43% and absenteeism by 81%.
Motivation encompasses a variety of distinct notions such as task values and ability
self-concepts. Motivation is not, however, a singular idea in and of itself (Karari et al., 2022).
Most motivational constructs predicted academic achievement beyond intelligence, and people’s
ability self-concepts and task values are more potent in predicting their achievement than goals
and achievement motives, as shown by the scant research that examined these questions. The
purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that similar results would be achieved if
accomplishment criteria were evaluated at the same degree of granularity as the participants’
ability self-concepts, task values, objectives, and success reasons. According to motivation
theory, a person’s unsatisfied desires produce an inner tension that, in turn, compels that
individual to perform some kind of action (Karari et al., 2022). The effect of motivation can be
evaluated by asking participants how they felt about themselves and if they noticed a difference
in their work ethic after seeing or experiencing anything that may be considered demoralizing.
This can be done by asking participants how they felt about themselves and whether or not they
saw a difference in their work ethic. The topic is essential because it helps in determining
important factors that affect motivation.
MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT ON PEOPLE
There is little primary emphasis on the dynamic relationship that exists between
self-determination theory and the many types of motivation. It is clear that all of the different
incentives proposed by the self-determination theory are associated to favorable outcomes for
employees (Ryan & Deci, 2020). The findings point to a relationship between the five
motivational clusters and three outcomes, namely job performance, the satisfaction of needs, and
assessments of the working environment. In the research on self-determination theory, there were
a total of five different motives investigated, and the autonomous motive received the highest
score. In the realm of organization, there is a knowledge gap about this subject from the
perspective of the research that has been done. Some of these patterns do not immediately
connect to what might be expected based on a priori theoretical predictions, and they are distinct
from the patterns that are seen in circumstances involving sports and education (Ryan & Deci,
2020). The idea of motivation focuses on the internal forces, or motives, that are at play inside an
individual. It has repercussions that are far-reaching for society as a whole, but it is of the utmost
importance to those working in management and business. The new research aim is to determine
whether population is driven to do their jobs delivers based on motivation and the greater
outcomes for their organization.
The participants will be divided into three groups: speech that is positive and
encouraging, speech that is negative and discouraging, and speech that is encouraging others.
The independent variable is the encouraging speeches that individuals have seen or heard,
whether at seminars, on internet platforms, or through personal encouragement (VandeVusse et
al., 2022). These individuals have control over the extent to which they are exposed to negative
and discouraging things from other people because they have seen or heard encouraging
speeches. The dependent variable in this study is gain-valued outcomes resulting from
MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT ON PEOPLE
motivation. The dependent variable would be self-reporting, and I would enquire as to whether
or not they see increases in productivity, self-awareness, and other domains as a result of
pursuing their hobbies.
H1: motivated individuals are more committed to their goals and tasks than individuals
who have not been motivated
MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT ON PEOPLE
Lilit Abdulyan
Psych 321L
March 3, 2023
Lab 3: Literature Review
1. Carolan, P. J., Heinrich, A., Munro, K., & Millman, R. (1970). Quantifying the effects of
motivation on listening effort: A systematic review and meta-analysis: Semantic scholar.
Trends in Hearing. p. 26
Motivation influences the amount of listening effort (LE) exerted or experienced under
challenging conditions, such as in high-noise environments. This systematic review and
meta-analysis is the first to quantify the effects of motivation on LE. The review was
pre-registered in PROSPERO, and performed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Eligible
studies examined the influence of motivation or individual traits (related to motivation) on LE in
adults. Motivational factors, coded as independent variables, included financial reward,
evaluative threat, perceived competence, feedback, and individual traits. LE outcomes were
categorized as subjective, behavioral, or physiological. The quality of evidence was assessed
using an adaptation of the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Nested random-effects
meta-analyses were performed to quantify and compare the influence of motivational factors
across LE outcomes. After assessing 3,532 records, 48 studies met the inclusion criteria and 43
were included in the meta-analyses. Risk of bias was high, for example, many studies lacked
sample size justification. Motivational factors had a small-to-medium effect (mean Cohen’s
d = 0.34, range: 0.11–0.72) on LE. When LE outcomes were considered collectively, an external
manipulation of motivation (perceived competence) produced a larger mean effect size compared
with individual traits. Some combinations of motivational factors and LE outcomes produced
more robust effects than others, for example, evaluative threat and subjective LE outcomes.
Although wide prediction intervals and high risk of bias mean that significant positive effects
cannot be guaranteed, these findings provide useful guidance on the selection of motivational
factors and LE outcomes for future research.
This study analyzed the effects of motivation on listening efforts. This study suggests that
motivation influences the amount of listening effort exerted in challenging conditions. To test
this, they examined the influence motivational factors had on listening effort outcomes. They
tested using systematic review and a meta-analysis. The risk of bias was generally high due to
lack of sample size justification. Concerns were also raised about missing or incomplete outcome
reporting. Overall, this study does suggest that motivational factors have significant effects on
listening efforts.
2. Christina M. Moran, James M. Diefendorff, Tae-Yeol Kim, Zhi-Qiang Liu (2012)
A profile approach to self-determination theory motivations at work,
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81(3), p. 354-363
Self-determination theory (SDT) posits the existence of distinct types of motivation (i.e.,
external, introjected, identified, integrated, and intrinsic). Research on these different types of
motivation has typically adopted a variable-centered approach that seeks to understand how each
motivation in isolation relates to employee outcomes. We extend this work by adopting cluster
analysis in a person-centered approach to understanding how different combinations or patterns
of motivations relate to organizational factors. Results revealed five distinct clusters of
motivation (i.e., low introjection, moderately motivated, low autonomy, self-determined, and
motivated) and that these clusters were differentially related to need satisfaction, job
performance, and work environment perceptions. Specifically, the self-determined (i.e., high
autonomous motivation, low external motivation) and motivated (i.e., high on all types of
motivation) clusters had the most favorable levels of correlates; whereas the low autonomy (i.e.,
least self-determined) cluster had the least favorable levels of these variables.
This study examines self-determination theory and the different types of motivation. This
study suggests that each motivation from self-determination theory relates to employee
outcomes. The findings show that the five clusters of motivation were related to job
performance, need satisfaction, and work environment perceptions. The five motivations of
self-determination theory were measured and the autonomous motivation had the most favorable
levels. No organizational research has examined this issue. Some of these patterns are distinct
from patterns observed in sport and educational contexts and do not directly correspond to what
might be deduced from a priori theoretical predictions. Overall, the findings suggest that at least
most of the motivational strategies in self-determination theory relate to employee outcomes.
3. Kathleen D. Vohs, Roy F. Baumeister, Brandon J. Schmeichel,
Motivation, personal beliefs, and limited resources all contribute to self-control,
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 48, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 943-947,
ISSN 0022-1031, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.03.002.
What effects do motivation and beliefs have on self-control? We tested this question using a
limited resource paradigm, which generally has found that people show poor self-control after
prior exertions of self-control. Recent findings have suggested that motivation and even belief in
unlimited willpower can render persons immune to ego depletion. We replicated those findings,
but also showed they are limited to cases of mild depletion. When depletion is extensive, the
effects of motivation and subjective belief vanished and in one case reversed. After performing
only one self-control task, the typical pattern of self-regulation impairment was ameliorated
among people who were encouraged to regard willpower as unlimited (Experiment 1) or
motivated by task importance (Experiment 2). Those manipulations failed to improve
performance among severely depleted persons who had done multiple self-control tasks. These
findings integrate ideas of limited resources, motivation, and beliefs in understanding the nature
of self-control over time.
This study examines the effects that motivation and belief systems have on self-control.
This study suggests that considering personal values offsets the negative effects of depletion.
Using a limited resource paradigm, findings show that motivation and belief in unlimited
willpower can render persons immune to ego depletion. Additionally, human performance at
self-control reflects an interaction between subjective, psychological factors and physiologically
based energy states. Effects falter as the reduction of limited resources progresses to more
profound levels. Those manipulations failed to improve performance among severely depleted
persons who had done multiple self-control tasks. Overall, findings suggest that motivation and
belief systems do have an effect on self-control.
4. Kende, A., Lantos, N. A., Belinszky, A., Csaba, S., & Lukács, Z. A. (2017). The Politicized
Motivations of Volunteers in the Refugee Crisis: Intergroup Helping as the Means to Achieve
Social Change. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5(1), 260-281.
The refugee crisis in the summer of 2015 mobilized thousands of volunteers in Hungary to help
refugees on their journey through Europe despite the government’s hostile stance. We conducted
a survey (N = 1459) among people who were active in supporting refugees and providing
services to them to test the hypothesis of whether volunteers in the context of this humanitarian
crisis had social change motivations similar to those engaged in direct political activism.
Hierarchical regression analysis and mediation analysis revealed the importance of
opinion-based identity and moral convictions as predictors of volunteerism, while efficacy
beliefs and anger only predicted political activism. Our findings suggest that volunteers engaged
in helping refugees based on motivations previously described as drivers of mobilization for
political activism, but chose volunteerism to alleviate the problems embedded in the intergroup
situation. Although the context of the refugee crisis in Hungary may have been somewhat
unique, these findings have implications for other asymmetrical politicized intergroup relations
in which advantaged group members can choose to offer humanitarian aid, engage in political
actions to change the situation, or do both.
This study examined the refugee crisis, and the volunteers in Hungary that aided
refugees. This study suggests that volunteers had social change motivations that were similar to
those engaged in direct political activism. To test this, there was a survey done amongst those
who were supporting refugees. This research found that volunteers helped refugees based on the
social change motivations, and choose to get involved in political actions to change the situation.
The findings only partially supported the hypothesis about volunteerism, as anger and efficacy
beliefs did not predict volunteer engagement. Nevertheless, the results, rather than show in
similarities, suggested that mobilization for volunteerism was based on social change
motivations more than mobilization for political activism. Overall, this study does suggest that
volunteers mostly helped refugees for social change motivations.
5. Annie S. Ditta, Carla M. Strickland-Hughes, Cecilia Cheung, Rachel Wu (2020)
Exposure to information increases motivation to learn more, Learning and Motivation,
Volume 72, 2020, p. 101668
Low motivation to learn in undergraduate general education courses hinders learning. Research
has identified strategies that increase motivation to learn before students are asked to learn
content (e.g., outlining the utility of the course material for future careers). Extending this work,
we propose that learning any material in a course may beget motivation to learn more, in line
with the notion that the process of learning itself may spark curiosity and interest. Across three
populations (college-aged individuals on mTurk, large public university students, and small
private university students), we found that watching a TED Talk video (i.e., exposure to new
information, learning) pertaining to any topic led to an increase in motivation to continue
learning about that topic and other topics more generally. These results reveal a need to broaden
models of motivation to consider the importance of exposure to content to increase motivation to
learn.
This study examines that after watching a TED talk video how much does a person’s
motivation and desire to learn increase. This study suggests that learning material in a course
may increase motivation to learn more, and spark more interest. The findings show that watching
a video would increase participants desire to learn about the topic. A low motivation topic was
shown in form of a TED talk video, and participants were eager to learn more about the topic
that is not popular in interest. Future work should seek to identify if there are any behavioral
changes that accompany students’ change in motivation. Additionally, researchers should aim to
study how long the change in motivation is sustained to best identify when and how often to
introduce such knowledge exposures. Overall, the findings support the idea that learning material
can be made more motivational through the viewing of videos or in a course.
6. Kettunen, E., Kari, T., & Frank, L. (2022). Digital coaching motivating young elderly people
towards physical activity. MDPI. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7718
The share of the elderly population is increasing globally, and it is important to help them to
maintain their physical activity levels and ability to function to as late an age as possible. This
qualitative intervention study focused on the experiences of young elderly on the ability of a
sport and wellness technology digital coach to motivate them towards physical activity as well as
on what needs and wishes this group has concerning digital coaching solutions. The findings of
the study show that young elderly perceive digital coaching as potential in motivating them
towards physical activity by providing instructive information and motivational feedback. It was
also perceived to have positive influence on their exercise self-efficacy. However, it was also
apparent that digital coaching devices should be tailored for this target group and be easy to learn
in order to attract interest among them. Our findings provide insights for professionals and
companies in sport technology field as well as to health professionals working in health
promotion with young elderly people.
This study analyzed the effects that the young elderly receive from digital coaching as a
way of motivating them for physical activity. This study also states the needs and wishes that
young elderly have concerning digital coaching solutions. This was tested using qualitative
semi-structured interviews, and found that the young elderly do indeed view digital coaching as
motivation for physical activity. The digital coaching provides motivational feedback and great
instructive information. The findings of this study are only based on the user experience of one
particular sport and wellness technology digital coach. The study also only consisted of 30
participants. Overall, this research aims to address social and economical sustainability of elderly
people and their physical activity.
7. Tobin, S. J., & Guadagno, R. E. (2022). Why people listen: Motivations and outcomes of
podcast listening. PLoS ONE, 17(4),p. E0265806.
The aim of this preregistered study was to identify dispositional predictors of podcast
listening and examine the associations between aspects of podcast listening, dispositional
predictors, and psychological outcomes. Three hundred and six adults from a range of countries
completed an online questionnaire that assessed individual difference predictors (the Big Five
personality factors, curiosity, need for cognition, need to belong, age, and gender), aspects of
podcast listening (amount, format, setting, device, and social aspects), and potential outcomes
(autonomy, competence, relatedness, meaning, mindfulness, and smartphone addiction). As
predicted, openness to experience, interest-based curiosity, and need for cognition positively
predicted podcast listening. Contrary to predictions, need to belong negatively predicted podcast
listening, and time spent listening to podcasts was not associated with autonomy, competence,
relatedness, meaning, mindfulness, or smartphone addiction. However, certain aspects of podcast
listening (e.g., parasocial relationships and social engagement) were related to positive outcomes
and to our predictor variables. Furthermore, neuroticism negatively predicted podcast listening.
The study examines the deterrent predictors of listening to podcasts. The study suggests
that people listen to podcasts for psychological outcomes. An online questionnaire was given to
adults that tested the aspects of podcast listening as well as the outcomes. The findings show that
certain areas of podcast listening gave people positive outcomes. Participants might have been
inaccurate when reporting their podcast use and the individual difference measures might not
have adequately assessed the constructs of interest. Future research could use a daily diary
methodology to track podcast use over shorter timeframes to improve the accuracy of reporting
and use alternate measures of predictors and outcomes to further expand our understanding of the
psychology of podcast listening. Overall, the findings support the idea that informational motives
can play a role in podcast listening, and that some aspects of listening are associated with
positive outcomes.
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
Lilit Abdulyan
Psych 321
April 9, 2023
Introduction
Having a highly motivated staff reduces turnover by 43% and absenteeism by 81%.
Motivation encompasses a variety of distinct notions such as task values and ability
self-concepts. Motivation is not, however, a singular idea in and of itself (Karari et al., 2022).
Most motivational constructs predict academic achievement beyond intelligence, and people’s
ability, self-concepts and task values are more potent in predicting their achievement than goals
and achievement motives, as shown by the scant research that examined these questions. The
purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that similar results would be achieved if
accomplishment criteria were evaluated at the same degree of granularity as the participants’
ability self-concepts, task values, objectives, and success reasons. According to motivation
theory, a person’s unsatisfied desires produce an inner tension that, in turn, compels that
individual to perform some kind of action (Karari et al., 2022). The effect of motivation can be
evaluated by asking participants how they felt about themselves and if they noticed a difference
in their work ethic after seeing or experiencing anything that may be considered demoralizing.
This can be done by asking participants how they felt about themselves and whether or not they
saw a difference in their work ethic. The topic is essential because it helps in determining
important factors that affect motivation.
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
There is little primary emphasis on the dynamic relationship that exists between
self-determination theory and the many types of motivation. It is clear that all of the different
incentives proposed by the self-determination theory are associated with favorable outcomes for
employees (Ryan & Deci, 2020). The findings point to a relationship between the five
motivational clusters and three outcomes, namely job performance, the satisfaction of needs, and
assessments of the working environment. In the research on self-determination theory, there were
a total of five different motives investigated, and the autonomous motive received the highest
score. In the realm of organization, there is a knowledge gap about this subject from the
perspective of the research that has been done. Some of these patterns do not immediately
connect to what might be expected based on a priori theoretical predictions, and they are distinct
from the patterns that are seen in circumstances involving sports and education (Ryan & Deci,
2020). The idea of motivation focuses on the internal forces, or motives, that are at play inside an
individual. It has repercussions that are far-reaching for society as a whole, but it is of the utmost
importance to those working in management and business. The new research aim is to determine
whether the population is driven to do their jobs based on motivation and the greater outcomes
for their organization.
The participants will be divided into three groups: speech that is positive and
encouraging, speech that is negative and discouraging, and speech that is encouraging others.
The independent variable is the encouraging speeches that individuals have seen or heard,
whether at seminars, on internet platforms, or through personal encouragement (VandeVusse et
al., 2022). These individuals have control over the extent to which they are exposed to negative
and discouraging things from other people because they have seen or heard encouraging
speeches. The dependent variable in this study is gain-valued outcomes resulting from
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
motivation. The dependent variable would be self-reporting, and I would inquire as to whether or
not they see increases in productivity, self-awareness, and other domains as a result of pursuing
their hobbies.
H1: motivated individuals are more committed to their goals and tasks than individuals
who have not been motivated
Method
The research design will be qualitative. As a result of using a qualitative research
methodology, it is possible to eliminate a number of potential confounding variables, which
makes it much simpler to determine whether or not the independent variable influences the
dependent variable (Bloomfield & Fisher, 2019). Interrogating participants with in-depth
questions about their daily lives will provide for the possibility of gaining a more comprehensive
understanding of a certain group. These inquiries will focus on the participants’ experiences.
While this could make it easier for us to obtain a more in-depth understanding of a community, it
does make it more challenging to derive clear conclusions from the research. We will also have
successful people give lectures and motivational speeches to participants, and have them set
difficult goals for themselves.
There will be a total of forty participants, hence the value of N will be forty. If we wish to
do research on motivation utilizing individuals as participants, we are needed to first get
clearance from the university’s Institutional Review Board (Meslec et al., 2020). This is a
prerequisite for conducting the study. Observation will serve as the basis for measuring the
variables that are reliant on it. The review and approval process centers on the participants as its
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
major concern and objective, with the latter being to guarantee that the participants are not put in
any dangerous situations.
Participants
Interviews with participants ranging from forty to sixty persons, ages 20-35 years
Test questions on: 40- 60 participants
40 participants minimum.
Participants will be both male and female in the age ranges of 20-35. This particular age group
are one’s who are most active in the work field and education, and pursuing their passions in life.
Finding volunteers to participate in user research is often acknowledged as the most
challenging aspect of the process (Bloomfield & Fisher, 2019). Big research institutions
sometimes have specialized divisions called research operations that are tasked with handling the
administrative load of locating study participants and maintaining their records. Smaller research
teams have the option of either using an internal recruiting tool or contracting the assignment out
to a research firm.
The encouraging news is that we will discover a broad selection of resources that might aid
us in our attempts to recruit participants in the study. We can find pre-screened volunteers by
using free or paid user research recruitment platforms like User Interviews, posting ads on social
media like Craigslist, or hiring a research recruiting organization to do everything for you, but it
will cost us. Another option is to post ads on social media like Facebook.
There are various things that compel an individual to take action towards a goal is the
subject of motivation theory (Meslec et al., 2020). Everyone may learn a little bit from this, but it
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
will be especially useful for those in management and business. This is because increasing output
leads to even more production, just as higher money leads to even greater production.
Stimuli
The first manipulated variable will be to have successful people give speeches and lectures
that can influence motivation. The people’s exposure to motivating discourse acts as the
independent variable, and this might take place in the form of seminars, online groups, or
one-on-one conversations (Meslec et al., 2020). Those who have attended motivational
presentations have improved their ability to control the amount of negativity and discouragement
they take in from the actions and words of others. The second is to have participants set difficult
and specific goals for themselves, and see how much their performance improves. The ten
self-reporting of participants will be assigned to manipulated variables, and we would query as to
whether or not they had, as a direct result of participating in their hobbies, experienced advances
in areas such as efficiency, self-understanding, and other areas.
A basic example of the utilization of a control group would be an experiment in which the
researcher investigates the question of whether or not motivation assists people in remaining
dedicated to the achievement of their goals. The unmotivated group that is made to experience
the same conditions as the experimental group is referred to as the negative control group.
In a scientific inquiry, the use of a control group is required in order to establish causality
by separating the effect of a dependent variable from that of an independent one (Noels et al.,
2019). In the treatment group, the independent variable is subjected to change, whereas in the
control group, it is maintained at the same level. After that, the results of these subgroups are
compared to one another.
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
Measures
Motivation is impacted by independent factors such as socioeconomic backgrounds and
personalities. Self-report questionnaires are what will form the basis of the measurement. In the
field of therapeutic psychology, one of the most common types of evaluation employed is the
self-report questionnaire. It consists of a series of written questions that are designed to elicit a
narrative description of the individual who is being evaluated (Noels et al., 2019). We will
provide a high-level overview of the main features of self-report questionnaires, including their
advantages and disadvantages when used in clinical psychology, both in research and practice,
the critical steps required to develop self-report questionnaires, and a description of the reliability
and validity of self-report questionnaires. The advantages and disadvantages of using self-report
questionnaires in clinical psychology, both in research and practice, will be covered. In addition,
we will provide an overview of the procedure that may be followed in order to build self-report
surveys. Some examples of the questions that we may ask: “What are some of the things that you
find to be most helpful in maintaining your motivation at work?”, “Are the benefits you get for
achieving organizational goals a factor in your level of commitment?”, “Do you find that your
performance improves while you’re feeling motivated?”
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
Lilit Abdulyan
Psych 321
April 23, 2023
Introduction
Having a highly motivated staff reduces turnover by 43% and absenteeism by 81%.
Motivation encompasses a variety of distinct notions such as task values and ability
self-concepts. Motivation is not, however, a singular idea in and of itself (Karari et al., 2022).
Most motivational constructs predict academic achievement beyond intelligence, and people’s
ability, self-concepts and task values are more potent in predicting their achievement than goals
and achievement motives, as shown by the scant research that examined these questions. The
purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that similar results would be achieved if
accomplishment criteria were evaluated at the same degree of granularity as the participants’
ability self-concepts, task values, objectives, and success reasons. According to motivation
theory, a person’s unsatisfied desires produce an inner tension that, in turn, compels that
individual to perform some kind of action (Karari et al., 2022). The effect of motivation can be
evaluated by asking participants how they felt about themselves and if they noticed a difference
in their work ethic after seeing or experiencing anything that may be considered demoralizing.
This can be done by asking participants how they felt about themselves and whether or not they
saw a difference in their work ethic. The topic is essential because it helps in determining
important factors that affect motivation.
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
There is little primary emphasis on the dynamic relationship that exists between
self-determination theory and the many types of motivation. It is clear that all of the different
incentives proposed by the self-determination theory are associated with favorable outcomes for
employees (Ryan & Deci, 2020). The findings point to a relationship between the five
motivational clusters and three outcomes, namely job performance, the satisfaction of needs, and
assessments of the working environment. In the research on self-determination theory, there were
a total of five different motives investigated, and the autonomous motive received the highest
score. In the realm of organization, there is a knowledge gap about this subject from the
perspective of the research that has been done. Some of these patterns do not immediately
connect to what might be expected based on a priori theoretical predictions, and they are distinct
from the patterns that are seen in circumstances involving sports and education (Ryan & Deci,
2020). The idea of motivation focuses on the internal forces, or motives, that are at play inside an
individual. It has repercussions that are far-reaching for society as a whole, but it is of the utmost
importance to those working in management and business. The new research aim is to determine
whether the population is driven to do their jobs based on motivation and the greater outcomes
for their organization.
The participants will be divided into three groups: speech that is positive and
encouraging, speech that is negative and discouraging, and speech that is encouraging others.
The independent variable is the encouraging speeches that individuals have seen or heard,
whether at seminars, on internet platforms, or through personal encouragement (VandeVusse et
al., 2022). These individuals have control over the extent to which they are exposed to negative
and discouraging things from other people because they have seen or heard encouraging
speeches. The dependent variable in this study is gain-valued outcomes resulting from
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
motivation. The dependent variable would be self-reporting, and I would inquire as to whether or
not they see increases in productivity, self-awareness, and other domains as a result of pursuing
their hobbies.
H1: motivated individuals are more committed to their goals and tasks than individuals
who have not been motivated
Method
The research design will be qualitative. As a result of using a qualitative research
methodology, it is possible to eliminate a number of potential confounding variables, which
makes it much simpler to determine whether or not the independent variable influences the
dependent variable (Bloomfield & Fisher, 2019). Interrogating participants with in-depth
questions about their daily lives will provide for the possibility of gaining a more comprehensive
understanding of a certain group. These inquiries will focus on the participants’ experiences.
While this could make it easier for us to obtain a more in-depth understanding of a community, it
does make it more challenging to derive clear conclusions from the research. We will also have
successful people give lectures and motivational speeches to participants, and have them set
difficult goals for themselves.
There will be a total of forty participants, hence the value of N will be forty. If we wish to
do research on motivation utilizing individuals as participants, we are needed to first get
clearance from the university’s Institutional Review Board (Meslec et al., 2020). This is a
prerequisite for conducting the study. Observation will serve as the basis for measuring the
variables that are reliant on it. The review and approval process centers on the participants as its
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
major concern and objective, with the latter being to guarantee that the participants are not put in
any dangerous situations.
Participants
Interviews with participants ranging from forty to sixty persons, ages 20-35 years
Test questions on: 40- 60 participants
40 participants minimum.
Participants will be both male and female in the age ranges of 20-35. This particular age group
are one’s who are most active in the work field and education, and pursuing their passions in life.
Finding volunteers to participate in user research is often acknowledged as the most
challenging aspect of the process (Bloomfield & Fisher, 2019). Big research institutions
sometimes have specialized divisions called research operations that are tasked with handling the
administrative load of locating study participants and maintaining their records. Smaller research
teams have the option of either using an internal recruiting tool or contracting the assignment out
to a research firm.
The encouraging news is that we will discover a broad selection of resources that might aid
us in our attempts to recruit participants in the study. We can find pre-screened volunteers by
using free or paid user research recruitment platforms like User Interviews, posting ads on social
media like Craigslist, or hiring a research recruiting organization to do everything for you, but it
will cost us. Another option is to post ads on social media like Facebook.
There are various things that compel an individual to take action towards a goal is the
subject of motivation theory (Meslec et al., 2020). Everyone may learn a little bit from this, but it
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
will be especially useful for those in management and business. This is because increasing output
leads to even more production, just as higher money leads to even greater production.
Stimuli
The first manipulated variable will be to have successful people give speeches and lectures
that can influence motivation. The people’s exposure to motivating discourse acts as the
independent variable, and this might take place in the form of seminars, online groups, or
one-on-one conversations (Meslec et al., 2020). Those who have attended motivational
presentations have improved their ability to control the amount of negativity and discouragement
they take in from the actions and words of others. The second is to have participants set difficult
and specific goals for themselves, and see how much their performance improves. The ten
self-reporting of participants will be assigned to manipulated variables, and we would query as to
whether or not they had, as a direct result of participating in their hobbies, experienced advances
in areas such as efficiency, self-understanding, and other areas.
A basic example of the utilization of a control group would be an experiment in which the
researcher investigates the question of whether or not motivation assists people in remaining
dedicated to the achievement of their goals. The unmotivated group that is made to experience
the same conditions as the experimental group is referred to as the negative control group.
In a scientific inquiry, the use of a control group is required in order to establish causality
by separating the effect of a dependent variable from that of an independent one (Noels et al.,
2019). In the treatment group, the independent variable is subjected to change, whereas in the
control group, it is maintained at the same level. After that, the results of these subgroups are
compared to one another.
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
Measures
Motivation is impacted by independent factors such as socioeconomic backgrounds and
personalities. Self-report questionnaires are what will form the basis of the measurement. In the
field of therapeutic psychology, one of the most common types of evaluation employed is the
self-report questionnaire. It consists of a series of written questions that are designed to elicit a
narrative description of the individual who is being evaluated (Noels et al., 2019). We will
provide a high-level overview of the main features of self-report questionnaires, including their
advantages and disadvantages when used in clinical psychology, both in research and practice,
the critical steps required to develop self-report questionnaires, and a description of the reliability
and validity of self-report questionnaires. The advantages and disadvantages of using self-report
questionnaires in clinical psychology, both in research and practice, will be covered. In addition,
we will provide an overview of the procedure that may be followed in order to build self-report
surveys. Some examples of the questions that we may ask: “What are some of the things that you
find to be most helpful in maintaining your motivation at work?”, “Are the benefits you get for
achieving organizational goals a factor in your level of commitment?”, “Do you find that your
performance improves while you’re feeling motivated?”
Results
All analysis will be done using SPSS v29 Grad Pack. The analysis will focus on all collected
data, with limited chances of missing data except for those lost in the process of data collection.
The survey questions will be evaluated for incidents of leading questions, unflattering results,
and changes in context to eliminate response bias and outliers. That will help in ensuring that the
analyzed data are free of foreseeable atypical respondents and duplicities that can compromise
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
the overall outcome of the data analysis process. In addition, obvious outliers will be eliminated
by assessing the average time the respondents took to answer the questions.
Descriptive Statistics
We will conduct a descriptive analysis of the participant’s demographics, including their age,
professional occupation, gender, and ethnic background. This analysis aims to discern the
differences these demographics may play in the behavior of the two groups in terms of the
effects of motivation on their performance. Motivation is impacted by independent factors such
as socioeconomic backgrounds and personalities. Since these demographics impact personality
and behavioral patterns, finding an average between the groups on gender, age, ethnicity, and
occupational ranks will be a key factor in differentiating the hit rate for motivation on the
outcomes of each group’s response.
Prosocial Intention and Behavior
This study was guided by the hypothesis that motivated individuals are more committed to their
goals and tasks than individuals who have not been motivated. To identify the difference in
commitment to goals and tasks between motivated and non-motivated individuals, the means
will be used. The expectation is that the analysis will point towards the positive impact
motivation has on individual productivity and performance in terms of devotion to achieving
goals and successfully completing tasks. For commitment to goals, repeated ANOVA will show
the difference in commitment levels between the control and treatment groups when the factor of
motivation is added to the equation.
Similar repeated tests will be used to assess the impacts of motivation on devotion to tasks. A
comparison of the t-tests is expected to demonstrate a positive relationship between motivation
DOES MOTIVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TRULY INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS?
and task performance. While gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity may play a role in the
outcomes, the repeated ANOVA tests will help identify the in-group differences and the
implications each factor has on the findings. Regression analysis is anticipated to indicate that
motivations cause satisfaction of the individual need to be recognized and rewarded, and acts as
a driver for overall higher performance of motivated individuals in goal attainment and
commitment to task completion.
Essence Lynn Wilson
PSY 321
March 8th, 2023
Introduction
Increasing rather than waning in popularity over time, Christmas programming is
currently in high demand, with original Christmas-related content created and avidly consumed
by millions of viewers (Larson, 2019; Porter, 2019). Family entertainment channels Hallmark
and Lifetime, both of which provide an endless stream of holiday content during the holiday
season, amassed over 130 million viewers and generated over a billion dollars in revenue during
the 2019 Christmas season alone (Larson & Nussbaum, 2019; Porter, 2019). Indeed, the
popularity of holiday programming has led Hallmark to launch “Christmas in July” and run these
programs throughout the year.
Despite the prevalence and popularity of holiday-related narratives, relatively little is known
about the impact of holiday-themed content on audiences. For instance, are viewers using
holiday content as a mood manipulation to boost positive affect? Numerous viewers reportedly
attend to holiday content to elicit positive emotions, a salient component towards improving
narrative persuasion effectiveness (Murphy et al, 2013) and a notable contributor to greater
prosocial behaviors (Aknin et al., 2018; Khan & Carlisle, 2021) due to containing positive and
altruistic themes (Bindley, 2018). Furthermore, holiday narratives also exhibit greater prosocial
content (Cite), which may give greater access to prosocial thought. If the underlying
mechanism is positive emotion, is the holiday-themed content integral or optional?
To answer these questions, in December, we randomly assigned viewers to view one of two
prosocial programs — Charlie Brown Christmas Special or Charlie Brown’s All Stars (1966) -and measured not only their emotions but their intended and actual volunteer time and money
over the next two weeks. While both narratives feature the same characters and contain prosocial
messages of kindness and loyalty, the latter lacks any mention of Christmas. First, however, we
briefly review the relevant literature on the relationship between prosocial behavior and holiday
themes, narrative persuasion, and emotion.
H1: Viewers of the holiday-themed narrative will directly engage in more prosocial
intentions and behaviors than viewers who watch a similar non-holiday narrative.
Method
We will conduct an online experiment on Qualtrics and it will be approved for exemption by the
university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Participants (N = 409) will be asked to engage in
a longitudinal panel study (timed two weeks before Christmas and immediately after Christmas)
where they were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: watch a clip of the
key scenes of a holiday special (A Charlie Brown Christmas), watch a clip of a non-holiday
special (Charlie Brown’s All Stars) featuring the same characters both with prosocial messages,
or watch no narrative at all (control condition). Participants in the narrative conditions responded
to items about emotions evoked by the narrative, perceptions of the holiday season, past
prosocial actions, and their prosocial intentions for the remainder of the holiday season.
A second survey was distributed as a follow-up two weeks later, starting the day after Christmas.
Participants were asked to detail the extent to which they engaged in specific prosocial behaviors
and specifying the time and frequency of their volunteering as well as the amount of money they
had donated over the intervening two weeks of the holiday season since the pretest. The control
group, who did not watch any narrative still had to meet this study’s eligibility criteria,
participated only in the posttest survey under the guise of understanding their prosocial behavior
during the holiday season and to provide a neutral yardstick against which to measure the impact
of the two narrative conditions.
Participants
Participants (N = 409) were recruited and paid by Qualtrics Panel Services. Eligible participants
identified as female, were aged 21 to 45 years, celebrated Christmas, and all belonged to a
Christian denomination. We focused on females in this study not only to reduce within-group
variance, but because most holiday content viewers are young to middle-aged females (Hurley,
2019). To further reduce within-group variance, participants had to live in the United States, be
employed, have previously volunteered and donated to charity, and not have had a family or
friend die from COVID-19 within the previous 12 months. Whereas lack of employment and
past charitable actions decrease prospective prosocial behaviors (Gneezy et al., 2012), traumatic
events including familial deaths, could encourage charitable attitudes and actions (Olsen et al.,
2021). The follow-up posttest survey received a 71% attrition rate (n = 92) from the previous
pretest survey. There was no attrition loss for the control group.
Stimuli
Experimental Holiday Narrative. A Charlie Brown Christmas Special was chosen as the
experimental stimulus because it communicates the holiday messages of kindness and generosity
through a young child’s journey to seek out the true meaning of Christmas (Cavna, 2013). This
narrative was selected in accordance with Hall’s (2007) framework of television production, in
that the special’s lasting popularity and strong message of seasonal goodwill and is inscribed
with dominant, hegemonic codes pertaining to the holidays. A renowned classic, this special
continues to attract viewers each year as one of the most revisited holiday features that has rerun
annually for over half a century expanding its reach and influence (Lind, 2014; “A Charlie
Brown Christmas”, 2022). Based on the popular Peanuts comic strip created by Charles M.
Schultz, the program provides an enjoyable narrative with a “visual and linguistic environment
[…] rich in social content” and possesses central themes of altruism and social acceptance, seen
in the interactions between its socially awkward protagonist, Charlie Brown, and the other
Peanuts characters (Frank, Vul & Johnson, 2009).
Participants in the holiday narrative condition (n = 164) will be randomly assigned to watch an
edited 10-minute clip of the Christmas special. The clip consist of the last scene of the special, in
which Charlie Brown’s best friend Linus interrupts a play to explain the true meaning of
Christmas and ended with the whole Peanuts family decorating a feeble but beloved tree.
Experimental Non-Holiday Narrative. For the other narrative condition, participants (n = 156)
watched an edited 10-minute clip of the Peanuts special Charlie Brown’s All Stars. The clip
depicts Charlie Brown trying to obtain sponsorship for his baseball team’s uniforms and boost
their reputation after losing a game. The narrative centers around the tension between either
cutting loyal friends who are weak players from the team or focusing on winning to acquire new
uniforms. This narrative includes altruistic themes not associated with Christmas, in that Charlie
Brown tries to support his team through obtaining sponsorships and donations.
No Narrative Control. Control group participants (n = 89) will not watch a narrative clip but will
be asked the same questions about their prosocial behaviors during the holiday season in the
follow-up survey. This helps provide a baseline of prosocial behaviors during the holidays not
deliberately influenced by exposure to a prosocial narrative and thus establish a true control to
increase validity.
Measures
Prosocial behavior will fall into two categories: making donations and volunteering time. We
will measure participants’ past prosocial behavior and intention in the first survey and recent
behavior in the post-test survey. For donations, participants will be asked how likely they will
donate in the next 30 days on a scale of (1) Not at all likely to (10) Extremely likely (M = 7.16,
SD = 2.89), and estimate the amount of money they intended to donate in the next 30 days in the
first survey (M = 11.39, SD = 11.64); and report how much money they actually donated (M =
5.03, SD = 9.76) and frequency of donation behaviors (M = 2.35, SD = 1.48) in the second
survey two weeks later. Similarly, participants were asked how likely they were to volunteer (M
= 5.61, SD = 3.25) and how many hours they intended to volunteer over the holiday season (M =
5.61, SD = 3.25) in the first survey; and reported how many hours they volunteered two weeks
later (M = 20.79, SD = 19.72) and frequency of volunteering behaviors (M = 2.16, SD = 1.39) in
the post-test survey.
Results
All statistical analyses will be performed using SPSS Statistics 27. No missing data will likely be
found, with exception to attrition loss in the second survey. Observations for outlier and
response bias (i.e., repeatedly entering the same value over or middle fencing) were performed in
hopes of no atypical respondents being found or needed to be removed.
Descriptive Statistics
Will will perform a descriptive analysis on demographics regarding age, race, ethnicity,
religiosity, spirituality, religious orientation, parental status, and marital status. This will be done
to determine no between-group difference for demographics related to whether participants had
previously seen the narrative in terms of participants who completed the first survey but not the
second survey, remaining participants who completed both surveys, or the control group who did
not view any narrative.
Prosocial Intention and Behavior
Hypothesis 1 predicts that viewers who watched a holiday-themed narrative will directly engage
in more prosocial intentions and behaviors than viewers who watch a similar non-holiday
narrative. A comparison of means or t-tests will reveal a significant difference between a
donation and volunteer intention, where the holiday narrative will showcase greater intention.
For donation behaviors, a repeated measures ANOVA between the narrative condition is
expected to reveal a significant main effect of narrative on the frequency of donating and
interaction. To account for the control group, an ANOVA test was performed that revealed a
significant difference for the holiday invoking greater donation behavior.
For volunteer behaviors, repeated measures test between the two narrative conditions revealed a
main effect of narrative on the number of hours volunteered such that there will be a significant
increase of hours volunteered between of the holiday narratives following the first survey
holiday narrative (pretest; posttest) and non-holiday narrative (pretest; posttest. Relative to the
comparison group, participants in the narrative conditions will reveal significantly more hours
volunteered is the post-survey and an interaction. Post-hoc analysis using Tukey’s HSD criterion
indicated will reveal higher volunteer hours in the Christmas narrative group than the nonnarrative control group. There were also significant between-group differences in volunteer
frequency. Overall, our hypothesis will be supported by volunteer and donation behavior.
Regression analysis will show that positive emotions will significantly and positively predict
intent to donate and intent to volunteer. For donation behaviors, the analysis will also reveal
significant, positive associations between positive emotions and the amount donated and
frequency of donation behaviors. Participants’ self-reported level of positive emotion will also
significantly, and positively predict hours volunteered and frequency of volunteering (b = .119,
SE = .09). Regression analysis will also reveal that volunteer behaviors will positively and
significantly correlate with donation amount.
Discussion
Intrigued by the growing popularity of holiday-themed programming, this research attempted to
empirically answer the question of whether the presence or absence of a holiday theme in a
narrative encourages greater prosocial intention and behaviors such as volunteering and donating.
To empirically test this, two weeks before Christmas this study randomly assigned 409
participants to one of three experimental conditions: view a holiday classic (A Charlie Brown
Christmas), view a non-holiday but prosocial Charlie Brown special (Charlie Brown Allstars)
that featured the same Peanut characters, or a control group who watched no narrative but
nevertheless did report on their prosocial behaviors over Christmas holiday. While both
narratives feature the same characters and contain prosocial messages of kindness and loyalty,
the latter lacks any mention of Christmas.
Our results are predicted to suggest that holiday-themed narratives do increase prosocial
behavior. Compared to the nonnarrative control group, viewing either Charlie Brown Special
resulted in greater prosocial intent to volunteer and donate during the subsequent holidays and
greater volunteer and donation behaviors.
The predicted results underscore the crucial role holiday narratives play in prosocial behaviors.
The fact that both narratives significantly increased the frequency of donation behaviors and
hours volunteered since completing the first survey, as well as compared to the non-narrative
control, raises another possibility. Perhaps, participants will respond to the familiar Peanuts
brand that both narratives shared. A Charlie Brown Christmas Special is acknowledged as one of
the most popular and most-watched Christmas programs during the holiday season, indicating
that the title character and his friends are strongly associated with the holiday season (Collins,
2015). In other words, the special may lead to increased prosocial activity that can be indicated
by the audience’s lifelong association between Charlie Brown, Peanut’s brand, and goodness in
general.
While few studies have examined the cartoon’s direct influence on viewers, its narrative
structure has been examined by Cohn (2014), who found that Charlie Brown cartoon panels
possessed consistent and complementary tendencies that allowed readers to make sense of the
narrative sequence even when certain sections were deleted or restructured. Given that the use of
narrative can be a valuable tool in encouraging positive behaviors (i.e., health-related), it is likely
that the strong structure of both specials, also written by Peanuts creator Charles Schultz, could
contribute to a shift in respondents’ behavior (Murphy et al., 2013). This suggests that on top of
the seasonal appeal of A Charlie Brown Christmas, Peanut’s overall familiarity with audiences
and strong narrative structure may play a prominent role in engaging viewers.
Possible limitations
This research will take place during the height of the COVID pandemic which severely limits
volunteering opportunities which may account for the disconnect between volunteering intention
and behavior during that specific Christmas holiday. Additionally, understanding how holiday
narratives influence viewers’ attitudes and behaviors may require more research specifically
designed to measure the unique feelings invoked by the holidays (Clark, 2011).
One of the primary screening criteria for the study was that participants had to celebrate
Christmas and be a part of a Christian denomination. According to Pew Research (2017), the role
of religion in Christmas celebrations appears to be declining, yet still plays a prominent role.
Interestingly, A Charlie Brown Christmas is most notably indirectly discussing the birth of Jesus,
which is atypical compared to many Christmas specials that often abide by a model of secularity
(Lind, 2014). Although study participants identify as active Christians, the iconic religious aspect
of the special may have a unique impact on audience members.
As noted in the results section, attrition will be a significant concern, with only 29 percent of
participants completing the post-survey, which may have compromised external validity. The
combined circumstances related to celebrating a demanding holiday season during an ongoing
pandemic could contribute to poorer retention. Finally, an analysis of holiday narratives outside
of the Christmas season and using non-Charlie Brown-related holiday specials would further
clarify the overall impact of holiday-themed narratives on viewers’ behavior.
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