Mike Wheeler's Achievement Motives

 


Achievement motives shape why someone ultimately chooses to pursue a goal, and we see in Stranger Things how what shapes Mike's goals and how he pursues them respectively. Both hope for success and fears of failure both work together to shape Mike's actions and how he interacts with others throughout the seasons. Today, we will be looking specifically at his hope for success/success orientation and fears of failure, analyzing them throughout the series.

Looking firstly at hope for success/success orientation relating to Mike Wheeler's specific goals, we can see this play out in the first season of the show. One specific goal that Mike has in the first season is to protect others and lead the group, which is largely driven by a hope for success from Mike. By acting out and protecting others and leading the group, Mike believes that he can make a difference, feel competent, and more. A specific scene where this is demonstrated of where he can make a difference and protect is when he specifically hides Eleven in the basement in the first season. In episode three of the first season, he has to purposefully hide Eleven from his mother to avoid detection.

Failure avoidance/fear of failure also relate and influence Mike Wheeler's specific goals. Failure avoidance goals are goals that are motivated by avoiding mistakes or disappointment. This for sure plays out in Mike as a leader, where he holds a specific goal of not letting others down. This can be seen specifically in the first season too, near the later episodes of episode seven. In one scene in the episode, Mike and Lucas get into a verbal disagreement and eventual fight over Eleven. Lucas gets mad that they are being chased by the government and Lucas is blaming it all on Mike for allowing Eleven to come in. Lucas tells Mike that if he had just done the right thing and helped them at first they would not be in this situation, which causes Mike to fight Lucas. Mike fights Lucas because he became defensive at the thought of letting other people down and failing, which is something he strives to avoid. Instead of being able to own up to his mistakes and failure, he became defensive and combative.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mike Wheeler's Primary and Secondary Appraisals Explained

Image
  To avoid having to write a book length of information, we will be analyzing Mike Wheeler's primary and secondary appraisals from the 1st season. We will discuss Wheeler's primary appraisals or judgements about various situations and his secondary appraisals about ways to cope.  Appraisal theories of emotion discuss that cognitions precede emotions. More specifically, people make appraisals or judgements about a situation, to determine firstly if the situation is relevant, interesting, dangerous, important for goals, etc. If the situation is relevant, the person then appraises if they have the resources to cope or handle the situation. Together, primary and secondary appraisals help to influence our emotional response. In the beginning of the season, Will, Mike's best friend, goes missing after leaving his home after an intense Dungeon and Dragon's game. As the next day unfolds, Will is not seen at school which makes Michael and his two other friends, Dustin and Lucas,...
Read more

Mike Wheeler's Self-Efficacy Explained

Image
In this week's blog posting, we will be analyzing how Mike Wheeler's self-efficacy plays out in Stranger Things. Self-efficacy, put simply, is the belief someone has about their own ability to succeed or carry out at a particular task. In other words, it is the confidence someone has in being able to do something successfully.           Sources of Self-Efficacy       Before we look at how Mike's self-efficacy changed over time, it is important to first elaborate on the sources of Mike's self-efficacy. One source of self-efficacy for Mike that is perhaps the most displayed in the show is friendships or relationships. Time and time again, Mike's confidence and his belief that he can carry out the tasks he has are constantly being shaped by his friends. For example, in season 1, Mike gets attacked by two school bullies at the quarry near his house until Eleven shows up and defeats the bullies using her powers. This moment is pivotal in the ...
Read more

Who is Michael Wheeler?

Image
  Who Is Michael Wheeler? I will be analyzing Michael Wheeler from the famous Stranger Things tv show. Wheeler is a student at Hawkins Middle School, where he and his best friends Will, Dustin, and Lucas go about their days. Passionate about science, Wheeler and his friends are part of the AV club, which is a club that experiments and builds radios. Michael is a very compassionate person who cares deeply for his friends, and will do anything to help them out. This is seen especially to be true when he forms a deep bond with his friend, and later significant other, Eleven.  Context Living in rural Indiana as a middle schooler, Michael finds himself living a normal kids life in the 1980s until one of his best friends, Will, disappears. As he and his friends investigate, they soon find that Will's disappearance is not just a normal disappearance, as he disappeared into another dimension that mirrors ours called the Upside Down. Michael and his friends soon find themselves having ...
Read more