Quantified Self: A catalyst for self-improvement
Evaluating the augmented process of reflective learning
Technology Background
The Quantified Self (QS) is a movement to incorporate technology into data acquisition on aspects of a person's daily life. Using this information, the user is able to reflect on their experience and make informed decisions about their lifestyle.
Process Break Down (NIke Fuelband example)
In data collection, we observe the use of software and hardware, like in Nike’s fuelband, in-built accelerometers and GPS tracking via the phone app aided in detecting physical activity and no. of steps taken. For information processing, Nike combines contextual data (eg. perceived activity type) with motion-intensity into an accumulative Nike Fuelpoints© scoring system. In data visualization, users can see their progress of daily goals. Lastly, after our reflection under Action Taking, you can track your daily process, adjust your daily goals, and customize your daily target to suit your day’s activities.
Process evaluation
Reflective process
An individual’s reflective process differs from person to person, thus some learn and improve faster. QS tools essentially add new information to facilitate the reflection process. Firstly, data clarity helps remove guesswork and users reflect based on an aggregate between objective (sensor data), self and peers evaluation on the past experience. In contrast to our volatile memory, QS enables reference to past data without losing clarity, enabling analytics that adds meaning through pattern making, data aggregation, averages, and, etc.
Behavioral analysis
We can analyze behavior through Foggs Behavioral Model (FBM) in which the 3 elements: Motivation, Ability, Trigger must converge at the same time before a desired behavior could happen. A successful behavior trigger happens when motivation and ability are above a certain level (activation threshold) at the point of trigger.
Maintaining motivation could be the biggest hurdle in goal achievement, QS tools strengthen motivation when they provide positive feedbacks (badges, goals, metrics, points, progress) for positive behavior. More comprehensively, using the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs we could explains that our desire for social status, achievements and community support is what drives us.
Timing triggers are critical in driving desirable behavior with QS; triggers that occur when motivation and ability are under the activation threshold could develop negative emotions and behaviors such as frustrations, ignorance. QS tools provide the means of passive and active trigger, where effective use of such triggers could mean better adherence to self-improvement plans and higher frequency in self-optimizing behavior when used appropriately.
Author Daniel Pink argues in his book Drive- The surprising truth about what motivates us that motivation is mostly intrinsic. He defines the three categories of motivation – autonomy, mastery and purpose. For the author, “old fashioned” methods such as “carrots and sticks”, a.k.a. rewards and punishment, should not be regarded by companies, as money is the dominant factor.
Drive begins with a look at the work of scientists, Harry Harlow and Edward Deci and their early experiments on motivation. As a result of their research on motivational theory, these two individuals uncovered a completely different and unique way of looking at what drives human behavior. Harlow, in his experiment with rhesus monkeys, and Deci, with his Soma puzzle cubes, found that rewards and were not the only factors at work in motivating task completion. The notion of “intrinsic motivation”, or pursuing a task for the sake of enjoyment and self-fulfillment was born.
The TTM works under the assumption that change of behavior is not quick and decisive, but rather a process that moves through various stages. These stages are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. The two main steps that are the most significant in the process of behavior change are contemplation and action. During contemplation people are cognizant of the consequence of their choices. They are able to recognize behavior is becoming a problem. In addition, they consider pros and cons to making a change, such as quitting smoking. Although the behavior is recognized, this
Have you ever thought about how people become motivated to do things? Maybe you even wonder what motivation really is. Motivation is the desire to do things. Motivation creates a drive that pushes a person close to their breaking point and beyond. It helps an individual reach goals that some couldn’t even imagine of doing. But have you ever truly thought about what motivates people. What really gives people that drive? What empowers people to reach their aspirations? If so you are not alone, a ton of people has thought about what it is the gives people such a drive. Including American psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow has created a psychological advanced thinking on what he think inspires people to do such gargantuan complex things. Maslow made a theory, which states that people fulfill needs in stages or levels in life. There are five stages that are divided into basic needs, such as safety, love, and esteem, and growth needs like self-actualization.
To be in a position to motivate people, it is key to understand what actually motivates them in
Motivation is defined as individual internal process that energizes, directs and sustains behavior. Motivation depends on how much the person wants something and how likely they think they will get it. Managers struggle to improve motivation in the workplace, but with the right tools they can become successful. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a pyramid of personal satisfaction that need to be met so a person can reach their full potential and be happy. Each level of the pyramid is stratified from the bottom up. A person cannot move up the pyramid until the bottom needs are met. Maslow’s hierarchy is usually a personal tool used to assess how an individual is doing, but businesses adapted this tool to use in the workplace and improve morale.
Most recent theories on motivation conclude that people will start certain behaviors under the belief that this behavior will accomplish desired goals or outcomes. With Lewin (1936) and Tolman (1932) leading the charge, the goal-oriented behavior led researchers to want to understand more on the psychological value people attribute to goals, people’s expectations on reaching these goals, and the structures which keep people striving to achieve these goals. After some recent findings on goal-oriented behavior, researchers were able to differentiate different types of goals, whereas before researchers assumed that goals that were valued the same, with the same expectations of achievement, would need the same amount
Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, by Daniel H. Pink, is a riveting book that discusses the evolution of what motivates us as humans and how our view on motivation is slowly changing to meet the needs of our society. The introduction opens with a story of an experiment on what motivates us conducted on rhesus monkeys by Harry F. Harlow in 1949, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin (P. 07), and later picked up again by Edward Deci, a psychology graduate student from Carnegie Mellon University in 1969, who performed a similar experiment with two groups of college students (P. 11). In this experiment, these men looked at the differences in motivation by observing the effects of extrinsic rewards on the human psyche and collecting data on the results of some simple tests. The results were astonishing, contrary to all previous beliefs, both the humans and primates showed that after receiving extrinsic rewards their motivation to complete tasks dropped drastically. It was determined that for simple and repetitive tasks, extrinsic motivation techniques, such as the carrot and stick method, can work well; but for complex tasks requiring creativity, extrinsic motivation can have a negative outcome on the success of ones work.
Throughout history, motivation has been one of the components to survival. Motivation is needed to get up in the morning and go on about the day in order to survive. As humans began to evolve, so did society, which meant our drive and motivation were derived from different goals rather than one common one. Rather than depending on biological drive, humans started to depend on the system of rewarding the good behavior and punishing the bad. This operating is known as Motivation 2.0 (Pink, 2009). However, this method is flawed due to the fact that this implies that humans are no different from a herd of livestock.
The theory of motivation is seen in both the negative and positive experiences. Reinforcement is an action that follows a specific behaviour, increasing the likelihood of that particular behaviour being repeated in the future (Potgieter, 2013). With regards to positive reinforcement, Thorndike’s Law of Effect proposes that one is more likely to repeat a specific behaviour when it results in something positive (eg: a reward) (Potgieter, 2013). Positive reinforcement consists of two aspects namely; intrinsic and extrinsic rewards (Potgieter, 2013). Intrinsic rewards are derived from an engaging in tasks willingly and attempt to improve their own skills whereas, extrinsic rewards are when a task is undertaken in order to attain a certain outcome (Weiten, pg 285).
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Motivation is an important function in organizations to motivate their employees for their ability to perform well, improving their skills, increasing productivity, job satisfaction and employee extension. Employees also are not a machines that we could just program their task in their brain and they will do it automatically, they require motivation to actually do their job properly. And so, after discussing the process models of the Maslow’s “Hierarchy of needs”, Douglas McGregor theory X and Y, and also the Herzberg’s “two factor motivation hygiene theory.” understanding the ways of motivating people, the human nature, and the substance of nature. I believe that the true motivation can only come from within and also managers can actually motivate all of their employees.
Motivation is taking on a whole new world then it once did, it is not only taking on people to do small personal tasks like quitting smoking, but instead people are starting to re...