Effect of Motivation and Setting Time Limit to the Task Completion of Selected College Students of De La Salle Lipa SY 2011-1012

Objectives

To ascertain the effect of motivation to the task completion of selected College

students of De La Salle Lipa

To identify the effect of pressure specifically, setting time limit to the task

completion of selected College students of De La Salle Lipa

Introduction Motivation is thought to be a combination of the drive within us to achieve our aims and the outside factors which affect it. With this in mind, motivation has the following two forms, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation from within, a desire to perform well and succeed. The following will be true: Desire to overcome the problem or task; Development of skills and habits to overcome that problem; Rehearsal of successful habits until they are perfect; A feeling of pride and enjoyment in performing the skill; Repeated goal setting in order to progress and maintain motivation. While extrinsic motivation comes from a source outside of the performer. These are things which can encourage the performer to achieve. Extrinsic motivation comes from a source outside of the performer. These are things which can encourage the athlete to perform and fall into two groups. Tangible rewards and intangible rewards. Physical rewards such as rabbit and wiggles are the tangible rewards while the intangible rewards are praises, recognition and achievements.

Motivation is related to the intensity and direction of behavior. That is, the level of arousal and the way in which we behave affect our motivation and hence performance. There are currently two theories, Hulls Drive theory and Inverted U Law, which try to explain this. Hull's Drive Theory demonstrates a linear relationship between performance and pressure. This means at low levels of arousal, performance is low and performance increases in line with an increase in arousal. This theory also explains that people often do not perform well under pressure. Habits are described as the performance which is dominant within each person. Competitive people tend to perform better under pressure due to their superior skills and the use of stress management techniques. This theory can be expressed using the following equation: Performance = habit x drive (pressure) Inverted U Law states that arousal improves performance up to an optimal point. Past this point, performance begins to decrease. There are three rules which surround this theory, activity, skill level and personality. In activity, some work is better performed at low arousal, mainly those which require small, precision movements and control. While in skill level, average individual require all of their attention to be focused on the task in hand and so do not cope as well with overpressure. Competitive individuals have the skill well practiced and so do not require such high levels of concentration meaning they can deal better with the pressure level. And on personality as extroverts perform better in high-pressure, high arousal situations. Introverts tend to do better in a state of low arousal. This is thought to be connected to part of the brain called the RAS or reticular activating system. This controls the level of arousal. Introverts have a highly stimulated RAS and so avoid stressful situations, whereas extroverts need high arousal situations to stimulate the RAS. Pressure is a perceived expectation of the need to perform well under challenging situations. Fear of failure and expectation are tied to pressure. When a person worries about disappointing others, for example, he or she is putting pressure on him or herself to not fail or look silly. Pressure is the one that either motivates or discourage individual to do the job. When a person is pressured by something they try to persuade or force them to achieve their goal. When the individual are pressured they either decrease or increase their performance. When someone

takes this pressure as positive, they are motivated to have a better performance but if someone takes it as negative they fail to achieve their goal or perform well. The first step is to understand that pressure starts inside with a persons thoughts about the big event or meeting others' expectations, for example. High expectations from ones self and others - turn into pressure. However, pressure is not some external force that grips an individual by the neck and strangles him. "Research has shown that it's not necessarily the time pressure, but it's the perception of that time pressure that affects you," says Michael DeDonno, a Doctoral student in Psychology at Case Western Reserve University. "If you feel you don't have enough time to do something, it's going to affect you."

Materials Wire Electric buzzer Bulb Ply wood 2x2 Good lumber Nails

Hammer Paint Rubberize tape Rabbit (Price/ Extrinsic Motivation) Token (wiggles)

Instructions

1.

The subject will be asked to trace the wire with psych word using the rod asking

them to please not let the rod touch the wire. They will also be informed that whoever got the shortest time in finishing tracing the wire with minimal error will be given a price which is a rabbit.

2.

There will be two trials. In the first trial, the subject will trace the wire being not

pressured by time. Meaning, the subject can take time to trace the wire. But every time the rod touches the wire, there will be an alarm and the recorder will record how many times it rung all throughout the trial. The other experimenter will also record the time the subject finish tracing all the wire.

3.

In the second trial, the subject will be pressured by time. The subject will only be

given 1 minute and 50 seconds to finish tracing the wire. Time to time, the experimenter will remind the subject of the time. In this trial, the number of times that the alarm had rung will also be recorded. 4. After the whole day experiment, the experimenters will study the data and identify

the winner. The winner will be contacted to inform the win and give the price.

Data Gathering

Table 1. Number of Errors and Time Finished in the First and Second Trial
N o. 1 2 3 Subject Trial 1
Number of Errors Time Finished

Trial 2
Number of Errors Time Finished

Guide Questions
1. Did the price for having the shortest time and minimal error motivate the subjects?

2. What is the difference in the performance of the task between first and second trial? 3. What are the different pressures involved in the experiment and how did it affect the subjects performance?
4. When did the subject performed better, with or without time pressure?

5. What are the extraneous variables that affected the results of the experiment?

Data Collected During the Trial Experiment

The experimenter asks the subjects to try the experiment for them to know what the average time in finishing the game. Below are the results of the try outs. Name Korina Princess Anne Rea Gladys Christopher Michael Paolo Eli Gino Number of Errors 30 36 11 13 11 24 49 14 20 33 Time 1min. 13secs 1min. 30secs. 1min. 8secs. 1min. 16secs 1min. 27secs. 1min. 24secs 1min 2mins. 7secs. 1min. 52secs 2mins. 15secs

It is found out that the average time in finishing the game was 1 minute and 50 seconds. After getting the average time in finishing the game, the experimenter try another subjects to perform the experiment with and without time pressure using the obtained average time which is 1minute 50seconds. Below are the results of the experiment. Name Sharmaine Chesca Tin Mara Enzo Lindsey Merzie Kat Elaine Patricia Without time pressure Number of error Time 54 1min. 54secs. 30 1min. 3secs. 23 1min. 5secs. 31 1min. 51secs. 11 59secs 69 1min. 36secs. 35 1min. 5secs. 62 1min. 1sec. 9 2min. 9secs. 10 1min With time pressure (1min & 50sec) Number of error Time 70 2mins. 4secs. 20 1min. 4 secs. 16 54secs. 24 1min. 23secs. 7 43secs 52 1min. 17secs. 27 51secs. 35 1min. 18secs. 12 38secs. 6 55secs.

Based on the data gathered the number of time and number of error decreases when the subject is under time pressure. It is because the subjects are pressured to finish the game within 1minute and 50seconds trying not to commit too much errors. It also shows that number of error diminishes even though they were in a hurry.

Extraneous Variables
These extraneous variables were observed during the conduction of the trial experiment in the students park having few subjects. Extraneous Variable/s Gender of the Subject - A female subject reacts differently with a male subject every time the bell rings. How to Control It The gender of the subjects will be considered. It will be collected by the experimenters and they will try to discuss, in the interpretations, the differences with the results of both gender. Audience
- The audiences, specifically the friends of the

The audience will be wished to not distract the subject during the first trial. But during the second trial, few and small distraction are allowed but only verbally. This is to add

subject try to distract the subject during the performance of the game.

pressure to the subject which is the objective of this trial. In the interpretation of results, this will be considered and discussed. Environment the pressure to the subject since the subject tries not to disturb others. - Because of the openness of the area, the subjects feel uneasy with people watching the performance of the game. Bell - The bell seems to be too loud that gives too much pressure to the subjects. The experimenters will try to cover the bell to lessen the loudness of it. The experimenters will try to find a suitable will be taken into consider in interpreting the results.

- Because of the loudness of the bell, it added to area for the experiment and the environment

CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH

Effect of Motivation and Setting Time Limit to the Task Completion of Selected College Students of De La Salle Lipa SY 2011-2012

You are asked to participate in an experimental study conducted by Gladys Irah Carandang, Rea Joy Cuevas, Anne Marie Geli & Rochelle Lanzon from the Psychology Department. This experiment is part of our requirement in our subject Experimental Psychology. Your participation in this experiment specifically in our game named A-MAZE-MENT is entirely voluntary. There are no known risks if you decide to participate in this research study, nor are there any costs for participating in the study. The information you provide will help the experimenters to understand the effect of motivation and pressure on the game performance. The information collected may not benefit you directly, but what they learn from this study should provide general benefits to students, professors, administrators, institutions and researchers. If you fully submit yourself, please complete the needed information below.

No.

Name or Nickname

Year &Section

Gender

Contact Number (optional)

SCRIPT
Introduction of the Experiment to the Subject/s Good day! We are students from BS Psychology 3rd year, Section B. We are currently conducting our experiment entitled Effect of Motivation and Setting Time Limit to the Task Completion of Selected College Students of De La Salle Lipa SY 2011-1012. This experiment as the title implies, aims to identify the effects of motivation and pressure specifically time pressure to the task completion of the students. Please give us a chance to introduce our experiment and how we come up with this kind of game. We call this game as The A-Maze-Ment Psych because we think that it would suit our experiment. We used psych name to be the pattern of our wire because we are psychology majors. We come up with the generalization in this game that every hardship has its ends. And just what Billie Jean King said, No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win -- and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance. Like this game, it is okay to repeat because as we learn as we commit mistakes, we make ourselves strong and capable to reach and achieve our goal in the end.

Before we begin, let me first explain the instructions and guidelines for the game. This game is composed of two trials. During the first trial, you are given an unlimited time to finish the game but you also need to finish it with minimal errors. In the second trial, you will be given a time limit. You are required to finish the game for only 1 minute and 50 seconds. And still try to avoid errors as necessary as possible. The person who will have the minimal error and will finish the game in the shortest time will be the winner and obtain the price, the rabbit. If you are willing to be a subject in our experiment, please sign the consent slip to participate in the research.

In the Second Trial The subject/s will be informed after 30 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute and 30 seconds and lastly when the time is up, to let the subject feel the time pressure more.