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What You See, What You Are, and What You Want: The Influence of Imagery Perspective, Imagined Performance, and Self-Schemas on Motivation

Rea, Jessica Nicole

Abstract Details

2011, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Psychology.
Three studies demonstrate the effect of imagining successes or failures towards a goal on subsequent motivation to pursue that goal depends on the imagery perspective (first- vs. third-person) used to imagine the event. Further, this effect is moderated by the presence or absence of existing relevant self-schemas. Visual imagery perspective creates different levels of meaning-making. Events imagined from the first-person perspective are interpreted bottom-up so that the focus is on the concrete features of the event. Events imagined from the third-person perspective are interpreted top-down so that the focus is on more abstract processing. Three studies manipulated the visual perspective used to imagine a goal-relevant success or failure performance and measured subsequent motivation. Imagining the performance event (success vs. failure) from the first-person perspective led to changes in motivation only when existing relevant self-schemas were certain. Imagining success vs. failure from the third-person perspective led to changes in motivation only when relevant self-schemas were absent. We propose a potential mechanism whereby self-schemas guide the abstraction that occurs from third-person imagery, such that self-schemas lead to interpreting the event so that it is coherent with this self-schema. In contrast, a lack of relevant self-schemas lead people to look for information that will disambiguate this self-schema such that they abstractly interpret the event as indicative of their motivation. Results help shed light on the function of imagery perspective and its effects on motivation and achievement.
Lisa Libby, PhD (Advisor)
Jenny Crocker, PhD (Committee Member)
Wil Cunningham, PhD (Committee Member)
64 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Rea, J. N. (2011). What You See, What You Are, and What You Want: The Influence of Imagery Perspective, Imagined Performance, and Self-Schemas on Motivation [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1316545280

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Rea, Jessica. What You See, What You Are, and What You Want: The Influence of Imagery Perspective, Imagined Performance, and Self-Schemas on Motivation. 2011. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1316545280.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Rea, Jessica. "What You See, What You Are, and What You Want: The Influence of Imagery Perspective, Imagined Performance, and Self-Schemas on Motivation." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1316545280

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)