Experiment-1 Level of aspiration PDF

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this experiment is to determine the level of aspiration of the subject....

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EXPERIMENT AIM- To determine the level of aspiration of the subject. INTRODUCTION- There are different tasks in the world, that different people want to do or achieve. The standard that they want to achieve in any task is described by psychologists as the level of aspiration. Frank (1953) defined level of aspiration as, “level of future performance in a familiar task which an individual knowing his level of past performance in that task explicitly undertakes to reach.” Factors influencing level of motivation 1. Motivation: It acts to arouse, sustain and direct behavior. It enables us to function at a higher level and helps to maintain realistic level of aspiration. 2. Attitude: An attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs and behavior towards a particular object, person, thing or event. So, our attitude towards an object determines what our level of aspiration will be towards it. 3. Success or failure: The higher the level of success, more will be the level of aspiration of the person as compared to failure. 4. Personality: If the person is optimistic, they will have a higher level of aspiration as compared to a pessimistic person. 5. Group standards: The certain standards, rules or regulations considered as norms by a particular set of people. 6. Rewards and punishment: Rewards act as positive reinforcers and reinforcement of rewards may follow the achievement of a certain goal, while punishment on the other hand, gives us a push on achieving goals. 7. Social class: The downtrodden class of the society does not have a high level of aspiration, as they have accepted their fate or norms of their particular class. The degree or quality of performance exhibited in a testing situation that a person desires to attain or feels they can achieve. Uses of aspiration  Increases self confidence

 helps in setting goals realistically  Avoid failure  Helps to know how much one must try

REVIEW OF LITERATUREGagné (1975) analyzed the performance of institutionalized delinquent youngsters on paired linked learning tasks to assess if the level of aspiration (LOA) was associated with increased performance under various feedback conditions. Also analyzed were the results of the conditions of feedback. The sample consisted of 48 adolescent males. During the analysis, the following six treatment conditions were randomly allocated to the participants: (1) Delayed Feedback, (2) Delayed Feedback on LOA, (3) Immediate Feedback, (4) Immediate Feedback on LOA, (5) No Feedback, (6) No Feedback on LOA. It was subsequently noted that the conditions for LOA provided substantially better performance than the conditions for no-LOA. Stipek, Roberts and Sanborn (1984) in their study, investigated the ability of pre-school children to develop performance expectations for themselves and others as a result of the value of their success and the prominence of past performance. Thei sample consisted of 60 children, aged 4 years, who were asked to predict performance outcomes either for themselves after they had experienced a series of failures or for another child after the other child had been observed experiencing the same series of failures. The value of success was established by offering reward and the performance made salient, whereas the value of failure was established by lack of reward and the performance made non-salient. Findings support the hypothesis that although young children sometimes fail to differentiate their desires from their expectations, they can make relatively realistic judgments about future performance if their attention is directed to past performance information. Yeung and mcinerney (2007) in their study, investigated the manifestation of students’ school motivation and aspiration over high school years. The sample consisted of 199 students from a school in Hong Kong, who responded to 22 items asking about their school motivation and aspirations in a survey. Upon utilization of structural equation models, it was found that four factors remained consistent with the task, effort, competition, and praise scales of the Inventory of School Motivation. Additionally, on the examination of the change in students’ motivation and aspiration over their high school years, it was observed that 7th-graders had significantly higher scores in task and effort orientations and career aspirations than 9th-graders, and higher scores in praise orientation than 11th-graders. The results suggest that the apparent drop in motivation

scores from Grade 7, especially in task and effort orientations, both pertaining to a mastery orientation dimension that has been assumed to be a major driving force for excellence, calls for urgent attention to student motivation in junior high school classes. Roman, Davids, Moyo, Schilder, Lacante and Lens (2015) in their study, examined the role of parenting styles and basic psychological needs in the adoption of goals and aspirations, and the psychological wellbeing of learners. The sample of the study consisted of 853 learners from across schools in Western Cape, South Africa, of mean age 17 years. The study followed a crosssectional design, utilizing the Parenting Style and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ), Psychological Needs Scale, Aspiration Index and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to gather data. The results suggest that authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles influence the adoption of life goals and psychological wellbeing of adolescents with fathers’ negative parenting possibly reducing adolescent wellbeing. Extrinsic life goals were a significant predictor of positive affect, while need frustration was a significant predictor of negative affect. These findings suggest parenting styles and basic psychological needs influence life aspirations and psychological wellbeing of learners in a developing country context. Mahler, Simmons, Frick, Steinberg and Cauffman (2017) in their study, examined the independent effects of expectations and aspirations, and the aspiration-expectation gap (i.e., strain) on delinquent behavior. The study also shed light on the effect of impulse control on expectations, aspirations, and strain to motivate behavior. The sample of their study consisted of 1117 male participants in the adolescent age group (13 to 17 years). The participants, after obtaining consent, were interviewed to gather information regarding IQ (Intelligence Quotient), impulse control, expectations and aspirations for the future, and self-reported offending. The results indicated that both aspirations, expectations and strain uniquely influence criminal behavior, and that aspirations interacted with impulse control, such that aspirations affected delinquency only among youth with higher impulse control. The findings further suggest that aspirations may only influence behavior if youth also have the psychosocial capabilities to consider their future aspirations when behaving in the present.

METHODSDescription of the test-

The test is designed to investigate the level of aspiration of the subject. Each page of the test booklet consists of 50 circles. The subject is asked to draw lines in the circle following the sequence – Right eye, left eye, Nose and Mouth – so as to depict a face. Before each trial, the subject is asked how many circles they expect to be able to fill. There is one practice trial followed by ten trials, each of which is of duration 30 seconds. HypothesisLevel of aspiration of the subject will increase with enhancement of performance.

Materials Required:Measure of Aspiration Level test booklet, pencil, timer.

Demographic details of the Subject: Name – ABC Age – 48 years Gender - Female Qualification – PhD (sociology)

AdministrationThe subject was provided with the test booklet. Each page of the booklet consisted of 50 circles. The subject was asked to draw lines in the circle following the sequence – Right eye, left eye, Nose and Mouth – so as to depict a face. Before each trial, the subject was asked how many circles they expected to be able to fill. There was one practice trial followed by ten trials, each of which was of duration 30 seconds.

InstructionYou will be given the test booklet, within which you will find 50 circles. You will have to draw faces in the circles using four lines in the following sequence – Right eye, left eye, Nose and Mouth. You will have to work from the left of

each row, proceeding towards the right and then move to the next row. You will have one practice trial followed by ten trials. Each trial will last 30 seconds.

Procedure:After the formation of rapport with the subject and having them feel comfortable, they were given instructions, followed by the provision of the test booklet. Each page of the booklet consisted of 50 circles. The subject had to draw lines in the circle following the sequence – Right eye, left eye, Nose and Mouth – so as to depict a face. Before each trial, the subject stated how many circles they expected to be able to fill. There was one practice trial followed by ten trials, each of which was of duration 30 seconds. The data was recorded accordingly.

Observational Report:The subject was comfortable and cooperative throughout the test.

Introspective Report:During the test I was thinking of all the tips and tricks that I could use to make more faces in less time. I was not nervous at all. In fact, I was eager to do this test. I have not done a psychological test before. I am pretty happy with my scores. This was kind of fun.

Precautions-The experiment was conducted in a quiet room to reduce any disturbances in the environment. -The items of the list were not disclosed to the subject prior to administration. -Test was conducted in a well-lit room.

Result Obtained:

RAW DATA TABLE − Depicting GDS and ADS scores TRIAL

EXPECTE D SCORE

ACTUAL SCORE

GDS

ADS

NTR SCORE

Practice

-

25

0

-

0

1

30

34

5

4

1

2

40

35

6

-5

0

3

40

36

5

-4

0

4

40

35

4

-5

0

5

35

36

0

1

1

6

40

36

4

-4

0

7

40

36

4

-4

0

8

40

36

4

-4

0

9

40

38

4

-2

0

10

40

37

2

-3

0

+ SCALE

X

X

38

5

TOTAL

− SCALE

X

X

0

-31

=2

MEAN

X

X

3.8

-2.6

X

The subject has a mean GDS score of 3.8 and a mean ADS score of -2.6, both of which place the subject in the average asipiration level category. The NTR score was 2, which means the participant has low aspiration level.

Discussion:

Whenever the participant reached near to her expected score in a trial, she used to increase her expected score for the next one. Due to that, her actual score always ended up being less than her expected score by a point or two, resulting in the NTR score being low.

Interpretation: According to the result, the participant has low GDS and ADS score which depicts that she has low level of aspiration and the NTR score was low as well which shows that she has low level of aspiration and is a person who takes a lot of risks.

Conclusion: The level of aspiration of the subject was determined. The hypothesis was proven correct I.e., the level of aspiration of the subject increased with improvement of performance.

References: Gagné, E. E. (1975). Effects of immediacy of feedback and level of aspiration statements on learning tasks for delinquent youngsters. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 3(1), 53-60. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916031 Stipek, D. J., Roberts, T. A., & Sanborn, M. E. (1984). Preschool-age children's performance expectations for themselves and another child as a function of the incentive value of success and the salience of past performance. Child Development, 55(6), 1983–1989. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129773 Yeung, A. S., & McInerney, D. M. (2005). Students’ school motivation and aspiration over high school years. Educational Psychology, 25(5), 537-554. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410500046804 Roman, N. V., Davids, E. L., Moyo, A., Schilder, L., Lacante, M., & Lens, W. (2015). Parenting styles and psychological needs influences on adolescent life goals and aspirations in a South African setting. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 25(4), 305-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2015.1078087 Mahler, A., Simmons, C., Frick, P. J., Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E. (2017). Aspirations, expectations and delinquency: the moderating effect of impulse control. Journal of youth and adolescence, 46(7), 1503-1514. Retrieved from URL: https://sites01.lsu.edu/faculty/pfricklab/wp-

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