Social Motivation

Social-Cognitive Processes

Theories of motivation posit several social-cognitive processes that can explain social decision making and behavior. Personal goals determine why people do [Page 1019]what they do. The content of goals directs efforts toward specific outcomes (to comfort someone with a problem), and goal standards define acceptable levels of accomplishment (tell them where to go for help). Beliefs about abilities (“I am able to make friends”) also appear to influence what individuals choose to do and why they persist at certain activities and not others. The stronger an individual's beliefs about personal efficacy and competence, the more likely he or she is to engage in goal pursuit. Finally, beliefs about autonomy and control (e.g., “I am helping someone because I want to”) provide a lens for interpreting past events and a basis for developing expectations for the future. More specifically, they represent reasons for success or failure and therefore for engaging in or refraining from future goal pursuit. Although few theorists have proposed theoretical models specific to these social-cognitive outcomes, Weiner's theory of social motivation (1993) reflects the general principles of attribution theory applied to the social domain. Weiner describes a process whereby attributions and assignment of responsibility for social events and actions generate specific emotional reactions; in turn, these reactions provide the foundation for the development of expectations for the future. Although this model has been used to guide research focusing on how and why individuals judge the social appropriateness and morality of others' actions, it also can explain how individuals judge and subsequently regulate their own social behavior.

Social-cognitive processes studied most frequently are social goals. Researchers have studied social goals from three fairly distinct perspectives. First, researchers have investigated children's knowledge about and choice of social goals as a social-cognitive skill. Based on models of social information processing (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994), this perspective highlights children's interpretations of social situations and their knowledge of which goals are appropriate or inappropriate to pursue under which conditions. In addition, social goals have been defined as relatively enduring aspects of personality that orient an individual toward achieving specific outcomes in social situations. McClelland's (1987) identification of the need for affiliation as a powerful explanatory construct represents some of the earliest work on social orientations and needs. Much subsequent work emanates from Dweck's (1991) proposal that children have social goal orientations that guide problem solving in social situations. Finally, the pursuit of social goals has been studied as a motivational process related to situation-specific competence. In this case, the extent to which children try to achieve certain prescribed goals is examined as a predictor of social competence and person-environment fit (Wentzel, 2003). In this regard, Ford (1992) has identified three general categories of goals that require input from or interaction with the social environment: self-assertive social relationship goals, integrative social relationship goals, and task goals. Social relationship goals and, in particular, goals to benefit the welfare of others and the social group have been studied most frequently (e.g., Ford, 1992; Wentzel, 2003).

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