Reappraisal - the "silver bullet" of inspiration

Motivating others to behave in certain ways is one of the most prevalent aspects of human existence and one of the least understood. Maybe this is why people look for short cuts or over simplified approaches or "silver bullets" to motivation. The truth is there is no "silver bullet" to motivation. In the previous blog I explained motivation from the basic psychological processes that take place in individuals, resulting in effort toward specific behavior. I mentioned reappraisal as a tool of inspiration, that is, the way to get an individual to put forth more effort without a change in the existing reward exchange. 

Reappraisal is a key component of emotion regulation in which an individual rethinks or reframes a situation or event in such a way that negative felt emotions decrease and/or positive felt emotions increase. Reappraisal is an especially effective way to deal with negative felt emotions, since suppressing them creates stress and acting on them creates havoc. In this blog we will look at reappraisal relative to its contribution to inspiration.  Typically after one learns what and why something is, they want to know how. So lets examine ways a behavior can be reappraised so that more effort will likely be the outcome of our influencing intent. Reappraisal is a practice one can do themselves or can help another do (one aspect of leadership).

First, there should be an inventory of the key positive and negative outcomes of the behavior of interest. For instance, physical exercise results in 

Positive: lower weight, better cardio, more attractive physically

Negative: sweaty, tired, takes time, usually have to got o gym

Next, find thoughts or ideas about why the positive may be even more positive than they are. This involves seeing how these benefits are instrumental to even greater benefits, such as losing weight leads to living longer which leads to seeing my kids and grand kids in certain important life events such as marriage and having kids. Along with seeing positive outcomes as paths to more positive outcomes, examine the negative outcomes and see if a different way of thinking about them make them less negative. For instance, becoming sweaty is not comfortable or attractive, but sweating does cleanse pores and makes a shower feel very good. Lessening the impact of negative outcomes by seeing positive in them may also involve seeing problems as opportunities, a popular reappraisal technique. 

Third, seeing immediate action or inaction in light of future consequences helps one see that short term benefit may produce a future unfavorable consequence. Effort on a behavior is increased when short gain from failing to act does not compare favorably with long term gain available by acting now with not-so-positive outcome. This reapprasial approach enhances the individual's sense of delayed gratification. When someone chooses to exercise today or for the full hour, although they do not feel like, so that they can lose 20 pounds over 6 months, they have been inspired to exercise through effective reappraisal. Delayed gratification is especially helpful for dogmatic individuals who generally focus on immediate outcomes because of the ambiguity in dealing with the risks and uncertainties of the future.

Effective reappraisal for an individual is subject to the motivation orientation of the individual. There are two motivational strategies people employ. One strategy is to avoid situations where they can be seen as failing or incompetent. This occurs when people have a fear of failure or are overly anxious about what others will think if they do not do well (such as test anxiety). The other strategy is an approach strategy where an individual will be concerned about not receiving an outcome that they desire. In this case the individual will seek out opportunities to achieve, seeing that failure is more about not trying for the reward (approach) than not being good enough to get the reward (avoidance). An individual may have one or the other as the strongest tendency or he/she may have both tendencies competing with each other for their motivational strategy. Research shows that there is some imbalance in the strength of these tendencies in that avoidance generally has more effect on motivation than approach. Thus, we might say this about reappraisal, in general

       

Getting another person to do something you want is generally not as much about them receiving more of what is good, but less of what is bad.

If reappraisal is about rethinking things so felt emotions improve, we must take a brief look at the most common types of psychological processes that result in felt emotions. Some of the key factors that cause individuals to feel the way they do about their behavior and the outcomes of their behavior are (1) fairness, (2) proximity, (3) legitimacy, (4) comfort, and (5) commitment. While all individuals use these factors in making judgments that cause them to feel certain ways about what they do, different individual experiences and characteristics, such as personality, age, sex, and religious beliefs, can cause each factor to be more or less influential in the formation of felt emotion. This is an exhaustive topic, so i will only touch the highlights here.

Fairness may be the preeminent concern of humans. The problem is there are multiple norms of fairness (equity, equality, and needs) that people use to make their judgment, and each individual has subjective views on each of those. This ambiguity around "what is fair" makes clarification an imperative in reappraisal. Regarding motivation, an individual needs to conclude that what they are doing is fair and that what they are doing will be treated fairly by others to feel more positive about the behavior. Rethinking one or both of these will result in more effort.

Proximity is the perspective of immediacy of a behavioral outcome. It is the judgment one makes about whether I should do this now or not. The way a person deals with delayed gratification and the way they deal with uncertainty are two individual differences that can influence the notion of urgency. An individual's patience generally contributes to willingness to act now for benefits that may come later. Dogmatic people struggle with the uncertainties of the future and will generally focus on what is right before them because then they perceive less risks, knowing exactly what they are dealing with. Feedback that elevates the importance of acting now to make the future right helps reframe behavior so that more effort is likely provided. 

Legitimacy is the sense that what i am doing is normal. It is a form of emotional comfort, satisfying the need to avoid blame or shame. Often the consequences of a behavior that are the most important for someone is whether others accept them, not whether the behavior produces "the best" outcome. This would be even more pronounced for those individuals who are socially cued, looking to others for clues on what they should or should not do and looking to what effect one's own behavior has on others. Legitimacy is particularly constraining on behavior when change is involved because it attaches one to the status quo. Making new ideas and ways of doing things less risky helps individuals feel better and willing to act accordingly. This area of reappraisal is especially critical in selling. Getting another to purchase and use your products/services requires behavioral change, which requires the participant of the change to satisfy his/her own need for legitimacy.

Physical comfort has a significant role on individuals' emotions. Pleasure and pain are strong emotions that demand immediacy. Since comfort is more physiologically based than cognitive, it may be more difficult to alter the emotional outcome through reappraisal. However, having someone consider the longer term benefits of momentary pain (like getting a vaccination) or longer term pain from momentary pleasure (like spontaneous sex with a stranger) are opportunities for reappraisal to affect someone's effort toward specific behaviors.

Commitment represents the emotional attachment one has with a behavioral outcome. The use of goals is the most popular technique to strengthen an individual's commitment to behavior. This is especially true for task oriented, high achievers. Goal commitment generally occurs when a person has some voice in the goal (especially independent individuals), the goal is challenging, the goal is specific (especially dogmatic individuals), and the person perceives he/she has sufficient control over the outcome. Competitive goals get the attention of competitive individuals, but may not work well for more independent individuals or those with dominant avoidance motivational tendencies. Performance goals can be problematic when external factors in the environment have a lot to do with determining the outcome. This reduces perceived control, especially for those with an external locus of control (see outcomes as a result of luck, destiny, or actions of others) combined with a high need for control.        

I apologize for this blog being lengthy and challenging your comprehension. I cannot help that reappraisal's role in inspiration is so complex. 

You can see there are no "silver bullets" to inspiration. The expertise to apply these concepts well is difficult to attain. This is why my colleague and I created LMX Concierge.


Transformation depends on effective reappraisal!!

Inspiring is not giving an entertaining speech

Motivation is a comprehensive phenomenon that affects every behavior. Much of motivation is simply the reward exchange judgement someone makes, which results in their effort (giving personal attentional resources) toward a behavior because the benefit they receive from the behavior is worth their effort.

Compensation an employee receives determines the effort they give toward their job description and performance objectives. Athletes give effort toward training and practice so they can receive the rewards that go with winning (monetary and non monetary). Children obey their parents to receive their favor both in praise and gifts. Much of a person's motivation can be explained by reward structures of exchange.

When we think about inspiration, we normally are referring to motivation that results in effort toward behavior beyond the established exchange structures. One problem people have with inspiration is that they simply add to the reward structures, such as bonuses, employee recognition, perks, and so forth. This is just more of the basic exchange based motivation and is not considered inspiration.

There are two venues by which individuals give more effort toward a behavior without increasing the rewards they receive in exchange for their behavior. One way for someone to be inspired to give more effort is by placing a higher priority on the positive rewards from a behavior than on the negative outcomes of the behavior. The second way is to get effort beyond the basic exchange structure of rewards is to stimulate the intrinsic factors associated with the rewards. I'll discuss these in more detail but let me note that the mechanism by which each of these two forces are unleashed (that is, inspiration occurs) requires reappraisal.

Reappraisal is the process of thinking about the consequences of an event in ways that negative felt emotions are minimized or eliminated and positive emotions are generated and stimulated. I'll discuss ways to reappraise later blogs. For purposes of this blog, let's examine the two venues by which a person is inspired.

Every behavior an individual can activate by applying their personal resources toward the behavior has a complex of outcomes. In most cases these outcomes can be both positive and negative. So when we create a compensation structure in exchange for an employee's behavior, the employer generally just perceives that the employee's outcome is positive to them and therefore results in appropriate effort. However, to behave in ways that result in the compensation (a positive thing for the employee), he/she must also receive negative outcomes from that same behavior. the employee must spend time away from other things they may wish to do. They may have to work with people they don;t like. I am afraid i could make a bigger list of negatives than i can of positives in most cases. Employees give more effort on their job tasks when they have placed the positive rewards of compensation as a higher priority than the negative outcomes. In a sense the employee is "inspired" to give more effort when they reappraise the outcomes so that the positive ones outweigh the negative ones. the size of the reward in the exchange has not been increased but the saliency of the job behaviors have been increased through the prioritization process and the job tasks grab more of the employees' attention than before.

Let's look at a more simple example. Suppose the behavior in question is physical exercise. The positive reward for exercise is weight loss, improved cardio system, and appearance. However, exercise also results in being tired and sweaty. It tasks time and usually I have to go to the gym. the amount of effort an individual gives to exercise is the result of placing a higher priority on the positive benefits than on the negative consequences of exercise. When an individual reappraises exercise outcomes in a way that the negatives are diminished and the positives are strengthened, the individual is inspired.

The second way to inspire is to invade one's intrinsics and stimulate or heighten their priority in the decision the individual makes about the direction and intensity they give their attentional resources.

The main components of intrinsic motivation are meaning, purpose, and enjoyment. These are outcomes or benefits to the individual that are sourced from within themselves as an internal byproduct of the behavior and not a benefit provided by someone external to the individual. Again, reappraisal is the mechanism to raise the priority of of intrinsic benefit so that positive emotions are generated by the behavior, resulting in greater effort to increase the outcomes.

In summary, inspiring someone is getting them to give more effort toward a task or goal without changing the existing reward exchange system. This occurs in two ways. One, individuals perceive the external rewards from the behavior in increasing priority over the negative consequences. Second, individuals gain an increasing awareness and desire for the meaning, purpose and enjoyment they receive from the behavior. Prioritization and awareness makes the behavior more useful to the individual and therefore, he or she gives more effort.      

That's inspiration ......

saying "whatever" to duty

I know I run the risk of beating a dead horse by blogging on this today, but I am compelled to do so. You know the south Ala meaning of compel is "can't not do it." This generally gets me into trouble, but I am a disruptor and I just "can't not do it." This is on my mind this week because someone I had known for a long time, who is an executive pastor at a mega-church in Florida, retweeted a message from his Sr Pastor and it hit my facebook. The tweet went something like this, "God's gifts to us are a responsibility, not a privilege." As you might imagine, my response was, "Ummmm, where's the Grace in that, I see God's gifts as a privilege and provision of His Kingdom." I think he was offended and I was dropped from his FB friends.  

Today at church we had 3 questions from The Heidelburg Catechism. Question 55 says, "What do you understand by 'the communion of saints'?" As usual with historic doctrinal treatise, the initial statement is quite good and meaningful. In this case the answer is "first, that all and everyone, who believes, being members of Christ, are in common, partakers of him, and of all his riches and gifts." That's pretty good, that's something appealing, something I could want to be a part of. This makes me feel really special. But. like theologians have often done (such as expanding the meaning of sanctification), they MUST have a second statement that tells us what we should do in response (obligation of the believer). In this case the answer continues, "secondly, that everyone must know it to be his duty, readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts , for the advantage and salvation of other members."

My questions continue to be, "why are pastors, especially those  in high standing with the public, offended when they are challenged about the aspect of "duty" in the Christian life?" and "why must the authors of Christian doctrine use the words 'responsibility', 'duty', and 'obligation' way more often than other word options that are more representative of the Gospel?" Most sound pastors can nuance this issue, but almost all parishioners CANNOT. What did Jesus say and other authors of the New Testament want us to know about Kingdom life? What words would be much more accurate and encouraging to Christians about our response to God's actions on our behalf?

Try
"privilege"
"pleasure"
"response of thanksgiving"
"natural response of adoration"
"act of praise"

Any of these words would be more Biblical and more encouraging to Christians than duty, responsibility, or obligation. I am not sure why this issue is so prevalent, but I do know that it is. Test it for yourself. Listen to sermons, read books, social media and you will hear these words way more often as a description of the Christian life. Proxies for duty, obligation and responsibility tend to be "serve" and "give". There is nothing wrong with serving and giving when they are our act of praise from a heart of thanksgiving, but when they are our duty - our obligation to God - they become legalistic, feeding guilt and pride.

What happens is that the natural human condition (carnal mind) admires and applauds obligation and duty. We naturally gravitate to its value. Why? Because human nature is motivated by social exchange, the norm of reciprocity. When we receive something from another, we are obligated to respond in some way that maintains the favor of the one who gave to us. The world says this is a good thing, the person who receives is a dutiful, responsible person when they respond in equilibrium with what they received, While many of us may desire to 'serve our country", often it is referred to as "our duty" and not as "our thankful response."

Because this is the way the world works, institutions in the world are subject to its influence, even the Church. While Social Exchange and its companion, obligation, are necessary to function in this world, when we take that to our relationship with God, we see God as a giver who demands returned favor. BUT this is not the Gospel of Grace, it demands no return for the relationship to remain in favor with the giver.

This is what it means to be in the world but not of the world. That we can operate in exchange as we function within the world's system, but our heart is sold out to God and His redemptive act of the Cross, where we are transformed by His Grace.

Only then can we truly have joy, freedom, hope and significance. 







Read about it @ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=stuck+in+stinkin+thinkin+caldwell

and then you can say "whatever" to DUTY !!