The Impact of Mental Simulation on Goal-Directed Activity

心理模拟对目标导向活动的影响

• 批准号: 9507642
• 负责人: Shelley Taylor
• 金额: $ 21万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-08-01 至 1998-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9507642&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Impact; Mental; Simulation; Goal; Directed

This research explores the self-regulatory functions of mental simulation, that is the mental rehearsal of real or hypothetical events. The work distingushes between outcome simulations, which involve rehearsal of successful completion of a goal, and process simulations, which involve the rehearsal of the specific steps required to achieve a goal. Previous research suggests that both types of simulations may beneficially affect performance, but that process simulations enhance planning, leading people to make progress on meeting their goals; outcome simulations sometimes enhance motivation and perceived self-efficacy without affecting goal-directed activity. A program of nine experimental studies examines the self-regulatory effects of outcome and process simulations on goal-directed activity and identifies the conditions when process versus outcome simulations successfully facilitate progress toward an educational goal. These studies also examine the relation of mental simulation to the planning fallacy, namely people's overly optimistic estimates of the amount of time and effort it will take to achieve a goal; it is hypothesized that increasing realism may occur at the expense of reduced motivation, task enjoyment, and, paradoxically, longer time to task completion. The research examines the self-regulatory effects of negative simulations, arguing that when such simulations are performed briefly or with otherwise positive simulations, they may benefit goal-directed activity, but that continued rehearsal of negative simulations may bring about a partial self-fulfilling prophecy. The significance of the proposed research lies in its capacity to elucidate the importance of mental simulation as a cognitive underpinning of educational interventions to improve school performance and study skills. This program of research addresses the question of how people achieve their goals by investigating the effects of mental rehearsal (simulation) on goal achievement. A series of experiments compar es the effects of outcome simulations, in which people rehearse the successful achievement of a personal goal, and process simulations, in which people mentally rehearse the steps they will need to go through in order to achieve their goal. It is hypothesized that outcome simulations may "hype" people, making them feel motivated and excited without necessarily producing effective action toward their goals. In contrast, process simulations enhance planning, and, consequently, help people begin goal-directed activity earlier, ultimately achieving more successful performance. This research also examines the effect of mental simulation on the planning fallacy, namely the commonly-reported tendency for people to be overly optimistic about how quickly and easily they can achieve personal goals, and it tests the hypothesis that outcome simulations may exacerbate the planning fallacy, whereas process simulations may reduce it. Finally, the research explores the benefits and liabilities of negative mental simulations, namely imagining how one's efforts may go awry in the process of trying to achieve a goal. All of the studies will be conducted in educational settings which examine the impact of simulations on student achievement. Hence, this program of research is highly relevant to the 'education' component of the Human Capital research agenda. Since the results of the educational investigations translate directly to the work environment, it also has considerable relevance to the 'workplace' component. Finally, it bears directly on the 'disadvantage' component inasmuch as much of the work will focus on students who are the first in their families to go to college, an intrisically talented population that is heavily minority, poor, and at high risk for dropping out of college. The goal of the research is to develop an understanding of mental simulation techniques that can improve school performance and improve cognitive skills, especially among high-risk students.

本研究探讨心理模拟的自我调节功能，心理模拟是对真实的或假设的事件的心理预演。 工作区分结果模拟和过程模拟，结果模拟涉及成功完成目标的排练，过程模拟涉及实现目标所需的具体步骤的排练。 以前的研究表明，这两种类型的模拟可能会有益地影响性能，但过程模拟增强计划，导致人们在实现目标方面取得进展;结果模拟有时会增强动机和自我效能感，而不会影响目标导向的活动。 九个实验研究的程序检查结果和过程模拟目标导向的活动的自我调节的影响，并确定过程与结果模拟成功地促进朝着教育目标的进展时的条件。 这些研究还探讨了心理模拟与计划谬误的关系，即人们对实现目标所需的时间和努力的过于乐观的估计;人们假设，增加现实主义可能会以减少动机，任务享受为代价，矛盾的是，更长的时间来完成任务。 该研究考察了消极模拟的自我调节效应，认为当这种模拟被短暂地执行或以其他方式进行积极模拟时，它们可能有利于目标导向的活动，但持续排练消极模拟可能会带来部分自我实现的预言。 拟议的研究的意义在于它能够阐明心理模拟作为教育干预的认知基础，以提高学校的表现和学习技能的重要性。 这个研究项目通过调查心理排练（模拟）对目标实现的影响来解决人们如何实现目标的问题。 一系列的实验比较了结果模拟和过程模拟的效果，在结果模拟中，人们排练成功实现个人目标，在过程模拟中，人们在脑海中排练他们为了实现目标而需要经历的步骤。假设结果模拟可能会“炒作”人们，使他们感到动力和兴奋，而不一定产生有效的行动，以实现他们的目标。 相比之下，过程模拟增强了计划，因此帮助人们更早地开始目标导向的活动，最终实现更成功的绩效。 本研究还考察了心理模拟对计划谬误的影响，即人们对实现个人目标的速度和容易程度过于乐观的倾向，并检验了结果模拟可能加剧计划谬误，而过程模拟可能减少计划谬误的假设。最后，本研究探讨了消极心理模拟的好处和责任。也就是想象一个人在努力实现一个目标的过程中可能会出什么差错。 所有的研究都将在教育环境中进行，研究模拟对学生成绩的影响。 因此，这项研究计划与人力资本研究议程的“教育”部分高度相关。 由于教育调查的结果直接转化为工作环境，它也有相当大的相关性'工作场所'的组成部分。 最后，它直接关系到“弱势”部分，因为大部分工作将集中在家庭中第一个上大学的学生身上，这是一个有才华的人口，主要是少数民族，贫穷，并且有很高的风险从大学辍学。这项研究的目的是了解心理模拟技术，这些技术可以提高学校成绩和认知技能，特别是在高危学生中。