Social Motivation Lab

Motivation Reviews

The general theme of our lab is (obviously) motivation. In addition to empirical research, we also continue to review the general state of social-psychological research when given the opportunity. Here are some recent research literature reviews.

Readings:

Pittman, T. S. (1998). Motivation. In In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindsay (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology, 4th Edition (pp. 549-590). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Pittman, T. S., & Zeigler, K. R. '06 (2007). Basic human needs. In A. W. Kruglanski & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Social Psychology: A handbook of basic principles, 2nd Edition. New York: Guilford Publications.

Higgins, E. T., & Pittman, T. S. (2008). Motives of the human animal: Comprehending, managing, and sharing inner states. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 361-385.

Justice and Morality

In collaboration with John Darley at Princeton University, we are exploring a variety of influences on our perceptions of wrongdoing, including feelings of moral outrage and punishment inclinations. Such influences include a perpetrator's perceived state of mind, expressions of remorse, and the set of phenomena labeled "moral luck."

Readings:

Darley, J. M., & Pittman, T. S. (2003). The psychology of compensatory and retributive justice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 324-336.

Pittman, T. S., Darley, J. M., & Adams, G. S. '06 (2006). Time and punishment: Do moral reactions to collective harm fade with time? Poster presented at the meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, May 25-28, New York, NY.

Adams, G.S., & Pittman, T.S. (2007). Making reparations: How passage of time, expression of remorse, and provision of compensation affect punishment inclinations. Poster presented at the meeting of SPSP, January 13-15, 2007.

Motivation and Action

One approach to studying motivation is to focus on situations where things have not gone as well as we might have hoped, and to try to understand what determines our reactions to such situations. Such reactions can include changes in how we perceive others, and in whether we choose to try hard or to give up in subsequent situations. One line of research, in collaboration with Tory Higgins at Columbia University, explores the differences and similarities of these kinds of reactions in the realm of understanding and of physical action.

Readings:

Pittman, T. S., & D'Agostino, P. R. (1989). Motivation and cognition: Control deprivation and the nature of subsequent information processing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 465-480.

Pittman, T. S. (1993). Control motivation and attitude change. In G. Weary, F. Gleicher, & K Marsh (Eds.), Control motivation and social cognition (pp. 157-175). New York: Springer-Verlag.

___________________________

Another approach to understanding motivation is to study preferences, how they form and how they change, in more expressive settings in which we are interested in enjoying challenges, and being entertained. Here we can ask about differences between engaging in an activity as an end in itself, or as a means to an end.

Readings:

Boggiano, A. K., & Pittman, T. S. (1992). Achievement and motivation: A social-developmental analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press. link

Pittman, T. S., Boggiano, A. K., & Main, D. (1992). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations in peer interactions. In A. Boggiano & T. Pittman (Eds.), Achievement and motivation: A social-developmental analysis (pp. 37-53). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Judgment and Decision Making

The study of how and why we make choices in situations in which we cannot be certain about the outcomes of our actions is another very interesting realm of human behavior. In collaboration with Orit Tykocinski at Ben Gurion University, we have studied the interesting case in which failure to take an action opportunity makes future action in the same realm less likely (inaction inertia). Our approach has been focused on the role of motivation and emotion in such action patterns.

Readings:

Tykocinski, O., Pittman, T.S., & Tuttle, E. (1995). Inaction inertia: Foregoing future benefits as a result of illusory loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 793-803.

Tykocinski, O. E., Israel, R., & Pittman, T. S. (2004). Inaction inertia in the stock market. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 1166-1175.

Pittman, T.S., Tykocinski, O. E., Sandman-Keinan, & Matthews (2008). When bonuses backfire: An inaction inertia analysis of procrastination induced by a missed opportunity. Journal of Behaviorla Decision Making, 21, 139-150.

Current Research Collaborators

Justice and Morality

John Darley Princeton University

Motivation and Action

Tory Higgins Columbia University

Judgment and Decision Making

Orit Tykocinski Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya