Abstract: In the past decade or two there has emerged an approach to the study of motivation that focuses on specific cognitive and affective mediators of behavior rather than more general traits or motives. This “social-cognitive” approach attempts to identify very specific psychological processes that, in interaction with situational cues, shape people's actions. This approach grants motivation its own role in shaping cognition, emotion, and behavior, rather than reducing goal-directed behavior to cold-blooded information processing or to mere enactment of a personality type. As we will see, viewing motivation in these terms allows for an understanding of how motivational processes guide and organize patterns of cognition, emotion, and behavior. Thus, this social-cognitive approach leads us to investigate the dynamic interplay of psychological processes as people pursue their goals.
Publication Year: 1998
Publication Date: 1998-10-28
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 3
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