Psychology Archives

Intrinsic Motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

What are the three components of intrinsic motivation? How does each element contribute to intrinsically driven behavior? Intrinsic motivation is made up of three components: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy is having a choice in what you do, and being self-driven. Mastery is wanting to get more skilled and be recognized for competency. Purpose is understanding why you’re doing the work, it is often centered around helping other people. Below, we’ll look at each component entails in practice, and how it contributes to intrinsic motivation.

The Process of Change: Experience, Feel, Change

What is the process of change? What roles do thought and emotion play? It’s widely believed that the process of change involves thoughtful analysis. However, most of the time, the process involves experience and feelings. That’s why using an appeal to emotion can lead to effective change. Keep reading to learn how to leverage the process of change.

Here Is Why You Should Celebrate Milestones

Do you create and celebrate milestones on the way toward a goal? How can celebrating small milestones help you speed up your progress? When you want to reach a distant goal or make a big change, setting and celebrating milestones along the way is critical to reaching the goal and making the change stick. These tactics work because they build emotional momentum and minimize the effort required to make change. Keep reading to learn about the impact of celebrating milestones.

Dealing With Uncertainty: Life Is Like a Poker Game

How is life like a poker game? What can poker teach us about dealing with uncertainty? Life is full of unknowns. We must learn how to deal with uncertainty as we make decisions. If we consider how life is like a poker game, we can learn valuable lessons that we can apply to the decision-making process. Read on to learn how to deal with uncertainty in life.

Love Is Not a Feeling—It Is an Act of Will

If love is not a feeling, what is it? Is “falling in love” genuine? In The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck argues that love is not a feeling. We have feelings that we associate with love, but they are not love itself, and they might not even be based in reality. Peck asserts that real love is an act of will—a committed action that we take even when we’re not “feeling it.” Keep reading to learn how love is not a feeling.

Does the Carrot and Stick Motivation Model Still Work?

What is the carrot and stick motivation? Is the reward-and-punishment approach to motivation still effective? Carrot and stick motivation is an old-school motivational approach that involves offering rewards for desirable behavior, and inflicting punishment for undesirable behavior. According to Daniel H. Pink, the author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the carrot and stick approach is still generally effective but carrots (extrinsic rewards) aren’t the main driver of performance. Rather, they act as a “baseline reward” or a “hygiene factor.” In this article, we’ll take a look at the psychology behind the carrot and stick motivation approach

How to Use the Haddon Matrix to Change Behavior

What is the Haddon Matrix? How does it make change easier? The Haddon Matrix is a thought process that prompts you to think about pre-incident, incident, and post-incident. You can use it to change behavior by considering how to prevent bad behaviors from occurring, reduce harm when the bad behavior does occur, and respond in a way that minimizes the negative effects of the bad behavior. Read more to learn about using the Haddon Matrix model to change behavior.

Visualize Your Goals: Change Starts in the Mind

How does visualizing goals make them more attainable? How can short-term guidelines also help you get there? Goals are hard to reach when they are ambiguous. It helps to make objectives clear and measurable. A great way to do this is to visualize goals, basically painting a picture of your destination. This technique, along with short-term guidelines, puts real change within grasp. Keep reading to learn about visualizing goals.

Made to Stick: The 6 Traits of Sticky Ideas

What makes an idea sticky? What are some examples of sticky ideas? What is the secret to making a story or a message “stick”? Sticky ideas are concepts, messages, and stories that “stick” in the public’s consciousness: they are understandable, memorable, and have a lasting impact. One of the most notable examples of sticky ideas are urban legends. Urban legends are easy to understand and remember, people buy into them and share them. Keep reading to learn about the six traits of sticky ideas.

The Myth of Self-Sacrificing Love: What’s the Truth?

Is self-sacrificing love genuine? Where can it lead? In The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck asserts that self-sacrificing love is a myth. It’s not genuine love. If you believe it is, you are likely to end up with two destructive results: social sadomasochism and destructive nurturing. Read more to learn about this view of self-sacrificing love.