Mods 16/17 Blog2

BLOG 2
Yes, you should actually do this. It can be surprising. Remember your responses to the things in bold for the blog post.

• Grab two identical pieces of paper (or some material) and crumple them into paper balls.
• Stand in front of a trash can or receptacle of some kind.... Reflect on your confidence level.

Well seeing as I usually miss the garbage when I throw random papers and trash to it, my guess is maybe one out of 2 will make it.

• (try to) Toss the ball into the trash can. ....Did you make it? WHY didn't you make it?

I made them both!!! (Surprisingly)

• Move back 5 (or more) feet. Reflect on your confidence level THIS time. Try again.

Well I made them before, just gotta focus.

• Did you make it?

I made the first one, not the second one.

Did you do all of the above? Ok, now you can write:

• Use what you have read about factors of intrinsic motivation to explain what happened.

I didn't have much confidence in myself to make these shots the first time. My floor is usually littered with stray papers and food wrappers all around the trash can (yes I know, I'm gross) and my boyfriend even laughed at me when I told him what I had to do. Not the greatest confidence booster. However, I ended up making the first two, so my confidence seemed to increase for the second round... and I just wanted to prove my boyfriend wrong!

• Do you think your original goal (distance from the trash can) was reasonable? (If you set reasonable goals and complete them, intrinsic motivation increases!)

I think my original distance was reasonable, it was probably 3 or 4 feet away. This increased my confidence since it didn't seem too difficult, though my past experience weighed down on me as well.

• How did you confidence level change from the first try to the second? If it increased, did you make your first shot? If it decreased, did you miss your first shot? (Success completing reasonable goals increases intrinsic motivation and confidence for next time)

My confidence increased because I did make the first shot, I realized it wasn't that difficult and that if I just attempted to throw with the same force and position, then I could do it again/

• When you asked yourself WHY you didn't make the shot/s, what did you blame? Where these factors controllable or uncontrollable? What could you do next time to change those factors and improve your changes? (If failure/success is blamed on factors that are not controllable, such as luck, there's nothing you can do to improve, which makes a person feel helpless, and lowers intrinsic motivation. If it is attributed to factors that ARE controllable, and the person identifies those factors, they can feel empowered and will work to change those factors).

I think the reason I didn't make the last one was because I overthought it. I was trying to recreate previous throws. Also, I threw it with much less force than I anticipated... it was semi-pathetic! I think also I could have balled the paper up more to make it heavier so I had more control over it. My reasons are pretty controllable. I think I got nervous for the last throw as well, since I wanted a perfect 4/4. I actually tried a 5th time just for the heck of it, and I did in fact make it, which made me pretty happy!