Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Ulysses pact and motivation

Ulysses pact and motivation:
What is the Ulysses pact and how does it relate to motivation?

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Overview

Figure 1. Ulysses tied to the mast of his ship, painted by John William Waterhouse Ulysses Pact Scenario The Ulysses Pact originates from a famous episode in Homer's Odyssey, where Ulysses (otherwise known as Odysseus), on his journey home, must sail past the island of the Sirens (mythical creatures whose enchanting song lures sailors to their doom). Ulysses knew he could not resist the Sirens' call but wanted to hear it nonetheless: he orders his crew to fill their ears with beeswax so they cannot hear the Sirens' song, and instructs them to tie him tightly to the mast of the ship. He ordered them not to change course under any circumstances and to attack him if he were to break free of his bonds. Ulysses was driven temporarily insane and struggled to break free of his bonds to meet with the Sirens, which would have meant his death. His men, however, kept their promise, and they refused to release him.

The Problem of Self-Control:

In our daily lives, maintaining self-control against immediate temptations can be a constant struggle. Whether it’s resisting unhealthy foods while dieting, staying focused on long-term financial goals, or avoiding procrastination in academic or professional tasks, the challenge is universal. This problem is critical because failure to exercise self-control can lead to negative consequences such as poor health, financial instability, and unfulfilled potential.

Why This Is Important:

The importance of this issue lies in its broad applicability to human behavior. Self-control is not just about resisting temptations; it’s about aligning our actions with our long-term goals and values. When we fail to maintain self-control, it can be a demoralizing experience leading to halted progression or complete failure. Understanding how to manage and overcome these challenges is crucial for achieving success in various aspects of life, from personal health to professional development.

How Psychological Science Can Help:

Psychological research provides us with a deeper understanding of self-control and the strategies that can enhance it. Ulysses pact is an example of a pre-commitment strategy. By making a decision in advance to restrict one’s future choices, individuals can safeguard against the temptation to stray from their goals. This approach leverages our understanding of human behavior, including how we can reduce cognitive load and conserve willpower by limiting the number of choices available, and providing barriers to tempting situations. Motivational psychology offers evidence of strategies like Ulysses Pact that help improve self-control, enhance motivation, and achieve long-term goals.

Focus questions: What psychological principles underpin the effectiveness of the Ulysses Pact in enhancing self-control? How can the Ulysses Pact be applied in various real-life situations to improve motivation and goal attainment? What limitations or potential drawbacks are there when using precommitment strategies like the Ulysses Pact?

Psychological Principles of the Ulysses Pact

This section explores the Psychological theories that make Ulysses Pact an effective strategy in self-control and resisting temptation. Ulysses Pact is the creation a binding contract with ones self to commit to a plan when in state of mental clarity in order to continue through difficult circumstances and mental barriers.

Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is a mental barrier or disturbance caused by the misalignment of ones beliefs and actions. It can be debilitating as one struggles to follow through with a plan of action such as commitment to a fitness routine (Harmon-Jones & Harmon-Jones, 2022) due to the mental discomfort or anguish.

• The Ulysses Pact creates a binding commitment that aligns with long-term goals, reducing the tempting allure exacerbated by cognitive dissonance.
• By preemptively resolving the conflict between short-term desires and long-term objectives, the pact minimizes the discomfort associated with cognitive dissonance.
• Individuals are motivated to honour their pre-commitments to avoid the psychological discomfort of dissonance. (Hopefully find some supportive literature otherwise this point may change)

Self-Determination Theory and Pre-commitment

Self-determination theory (SDT) suggests that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are critical for motivation. The Ulysses Pact supports autonomy by allowing individuals to make choices that align with their true values, and increased autonomy aids overall satisfaction and successful behaviour change(Ng et al., 2012, p.327).

• The Ulysses Pact enhances autonomy by enabling individuals to align their present actions with their long-term values and goals.
• By structuring commitments that support competence, individuals can achieve greater self-regulation and success in their pursuits.
• The pact also supports relatedness, as commitments can be made in collaboration with others who share similar goals.

Applying Ulysses Pact in Everyday Life

This section explores how the pact can be utilized to enhance motivation and self-control in different real-life scenarios, such as health, finance, and personal development.

Ulysses Pact in Health and Wellness

In the context of health and wellness, pre-commitment plans such as Ulysses Pact can be a powerful tool for maintaining discipline in diet, exercise, and wellbeing (Brinthaupt et al., 2013).

• Pre-commitment strategies like the Ulysses Pact help individuals resist unhealthy food cravings by limiting future choices.
• The pact can also be used to establish and maintain exercise routines by committing to a fixed schedule or partnering with a workout buddy.
• Setting up automatic processes such as health check-ups, individuals can safeguard against lazy habits of self-care.

Financial Management and the Ulysses Pact

Financial management often requires long-term discipline and delayed gratification. The Ulysses Pact can help individuals stay on track with their financial goals by setting up barriers to impulsive spending.

• Automatic payments on essential services such as bills can force prioritization of funds to essentials first
• The pact can also involve budgeting to avoid spending in excess by creating a healthy boundary.
• Financial pre-commitments, such as retirement contributions or debt repayment plans, ensure that long-term financial goals are prioritized over short-term desires.

Effectiveness and Limitations of Ulysses Pact

It is important to note not only the benefits but the limitations of Ulysses Pact, as with many principles and strategies it is not universally applicable.

Where are pre-commitment strategies effective and where are they not?

• Include research on pre-commitment strategies and their effect on achieving long-term goals.(Trope & Fishbach, 2000)
• Look at the nature of commitment to the pact, is there evidence of people failing because the contract was not strong enough, or if strong enforcers show negative results or side-effects.[Will talk about (Ariely & Wertenbroch, 2002)]
• What does the literature suggest about Ulysses Pact on reducing impulsive behaviour particularly?

Drawbacks & Challenges

Ulysses pact can be of great benefit in health and wellbeing though there should be limitations placed so as not to impose on another's autonomy (Dresser, 1984). Major challenges presented by the Pact, improper implementation.

• Are there any common problems or major problems when implementing the pact?(Ariely & Wertenbroch, 2002)
• Is a rigid plan going to lead to frustration or even failure?
• How can the Pact be compromised by external factors such as peer pressure and environmental triggers?

Learning features

NREMOVABLE TEMPLATE Use embed links throughout. Sections such as the scenarios help break up content into easily digestible info. Utilize quizzes later once there is more information on the page. Quizzes Using one or two review questions per major section is usually better than a long quiz at the end Quiz conceptual understanding, rather than trivia Don't make quizzes too hard Different types of quiz questions are possible; see Quiz Example Quiz. Choose your answers and click "Submit": 1 Quizzes are an interactive learning feature: True False 2 Long quizzes are a good idea: True False

Conclusion

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

Relevant wiki links.

• Ulysses Pact
• Cognitive dissonance
• Self-determination theory

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

(At least 6 references) Can utilize the 'Insert' > 'Reference List' later.

1. Harmon-Jones, E., & Harmon-Jones, C. (2022). Individual differences in dissonance arousal/reduction relate to physical exercise: Testing the action-based model. Plos One, 17(10), e0275990–e0275990. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275990
2. Ng, J. Y. Y., Ntoumanis, N., Thøgersen-Ntoumani, C., Deci, E. L., Ryan, R. M., Duda, J. L., & Williams, G. C. (2012). Self-Determination Theory Applied to Health Contexts: A Meta-Analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(4), 325–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612447309
3. Brinthaupt, T. M., Kang, M., & Anshel, M. H. (2013). Changes in exercise commitment following a values-based wellness program. Journal of Sport Behavior, 36(1), 3–22.
4. Dresser, R. (1984). Bound to Treatment: The Ulysses Contract. The Hastings Center Report, 14(3), 13–16. https://doi.org/10.2307/3561181
5. Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment. Psychological Science, 13(3), 219–224. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00441
6. Trope, Y., & Fishbach, A. (2000). Counteractive Self-Control in Overcoming Temptation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(4), 493–506. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.493

NREMOVABLE TEMPLATE References & short descriptions for later removal (Just to keep track) (Harmon-Jones & Harmon-Jones, 2022) Cognitive Dissonance and it's relation to decreased exercise (Ng et al., 2012, p.327) SDT, self motivated, autonomous behaviour is positively correlated with satisfaction and behavioral change. (Brinthaupt et al., 2013) Providing a Pre-commitment value based plan increased fitness scores, (Diet & Exercise) (Dresser, 1984) looks at situations (particularly mental health) in which Ulysses pact should and shouldn't be used. Indicating there is a balance and one can impede on another's autonomy if taken too far. (Ariely & Wertenbroch, 2002) Notes that external influence is better than self imposed deadlines, and that people tend not to set optimal guidelines upon themselves. (Trope & Fishbach, 2000) Short term and long term effects

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

• Increase Your Brain's Will Power | David Eagleman (Youtube.com)
• ModelThinkers | Ulysses Pact

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link