Key Theories of Social Psychology
Senior 6 · Psychology
Key Theories of Social Psychology
Lesson 2 of 5
25 min
In 1973 Mark Lepper, David Greene and Richard Nisbett chose nursery-school children in California who already loved drawing with felt-tip markers. Some were promised a "Good Player Award" certificate with a gold seal and ribbon if they drew; some received the same award as a surprise; others got nothing. About two weeks later the markers were put out again during free play. The children who had expected a reward spent about half as much of their free time drawing as the other two groups.
A reward made a loved activity less attractive. To see why, we need a theory of motivation that separates doing something because you want to from doing it because you have to.
Definition
Intrinsic motivation: doing an activity for its own sake, because it is interesting or enjoyable. Example: reading novels in your free time.
Extrinsic motivation: doing an activity to obtain a separate outcome, such as a reward, a mark or approval, or to avoid punishment.
Overjustification effect: the loss of intrinsic motivation that can follow when an expected external reward is given for an activity that was already enjoyed.
Social facilitation: the tendency for the presence of others to improve performance on simple or well-learned tasks and to impair it on complex or new ones.
Edward Deci and Richard Ryan (1985, 2000) proposed that all people have three basic psychological needs. When they are satisfied, people are more motivated, perform better and feel well; when they are frustrated, motivation and well-being fall.
| Need | Meaning | In a classroom |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomy | Feeling that your actions are your own choice, endorsed by you | A teacher explains why a task matters and lets students choose their project topic |
| Competence | Feeling effective and able to master challenges | Tasks that are hard but achievable, with clear, useful feedback |
| Relatedness | Feeling connected to and cared for by others | A teacher who knows students' names; study groups |
SDT treats extrinsic motivation as a range, from controlled to autonomous, depending on how far the person has internalised the reason for acting:
Rewards are not always harmful. A meta-analysis of 128 experiments (Deci, Koestner and Ryan, 1999) found that expected, tangible rewards for doing an interesting task tended to reduce intrinsic motivation, while positive, informative feedback tended to increase it, because it supports competence. Other researchers (Cameron and Pierce, 1994) argued that the harmful effects are narrower and easier to avoid than SDT suggests; the debate continues.
A cultural question. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper (1999) found that Anglo-American children worked longest on puzzles they had chosen themselves, while Asian-American children worked longest when their mothers had chosen for them. Critics say this shows autonomy is a Western value. SDT replies that autonomy means acting with volition, not acting alone: a choice made by someone you trust can still feel like your own.
In 1898 Norman Triplett noticed that cyclists rode faster when racing others or paced by a team than when riding alone against the clock. He then had children wind fishing reels alone or in pairs and reported that many were faster in pairs. This is often called the first social psychology experiment, but Michael Strube's (2005) reanalysis of Triplett's own data found only a small and unreliable effect.
Later studies found that an audience sometimes helps and sometimes hurts. Robert Zajonc (1965) offered a solution, his drive theory (Figure 2).
The "dominant response" is the one most likely to occur. On a task you have mastered it is the correct one; on a new task it is often an error. Evidence:
How big are these effects? A meta-analysis of 241 studies with about 24,000 participants (Bond and Titus, 1983) found that the presence of others explained only between 0.3% and 3% of the variation in performance. The pattern is real but small.
The Brainwaves Video Anthology: "Edward Deci - Self-Determination Theory". Deci, one of the theory's founders, explains it in his own words. Listen for the three basic needs and for his contrast between autonomous and controlled motivation.
Warning
Social facilitation is not the same as social loafing. Social facilitation concerns working in front of others when your own performance can be seen. Social loafing (Unit 4) is the reduced effort people make when working with others on a pooled task where individual effort cannot be identified.
Tip
A-C-R for SDT: Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness. For social facilitation, remember "the audience makes the easy easier and the hard harder."
Important
Discuss. A school library plans to give pupils sweets for every book they read. Using SDT, predict what may happen to pupils who already enjoy reading, and suggest a better design.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the text, the diagrams (Figures 1 and 2), the table and the exercises.
