Mike Wheeler's Expectancy-Values Part 2

Expectancy-value theory seeks to explore and explain why people choose to engage in certain tasks. The expectancy component, like self-efficacy, seeks to explore how likely people believe they will succeed at a task. However, for today, we will be looking more at the value part, which describes how important the task is to us. 

Mike Wheeler's has several values that drive his motivation. One value that Mike holds from the start of the show which guides him as a loyal friend and leader are the values of friendship. Friendship is incredibly important to Mike as we have seen from earlier blog posts where friendship is so important in fact, that it serves as the motivation for Mike to seek and look for his friend Will who was kidnapped to the upside down. 

Another value that Mike holds is bravery. Mike values bravery since it is a trait that allows him to be successful as a leader. From time to time again, Mike is thrown into treacherous situations, especially in season three in one episode when he must confront and attack Billy to distract him and let the rest of the crew escape. This example shows just how much Mike values bravery because even when his life is in grave danger and feels great fear, he steps up to protect those around him, ultimately showing he cares and is willing to put others first before himself.

A third and final value Mike holds throughout the seasons is justice, especially in season one. When Mike is looking for Will in the first season, he is met with resistance from authority figures like his mother who refuses to allow him and his friends to search for him. Instead of obeying, Mike rebels to seek answers and justice for his friend Will. Mike knows that giving into the authority figures will only endanger Will further, nor will it actually help to solve his disappearance.

Throughout the seasons, one can observe how Mike's values are indeed not static and change slightly. This can be observed from season one to season three. In season one, Mike values the ideas like friendship and loyalty. He values these as seen by his desire to stay close to those around him, search and fill Will, and protect those around him. In season two however, Mike starts to gain the value of romance as he starts to develop a romantic interest in Eleven. This change in value starts to affect his goal striving as Mike starts to distance himself slightly from his friends to spend more time with Eleven. Mike distances himself and values friendship slightly less and romance slightly more as he becomes more motivated with serving Eleven and keeping her safe. However, by season three, Mike's values unfold into full-blown interest and romance into Eleven, ultimately affecting his relationships with his other friends like Will, Dustin, and Lucas. In fact, this change in value starts to negatively affect his relationship with Will. In season 3, episode 3, Mike and Will get into a verbal fight where Will states that Mike values Eleven too much over the rest of the group and does not want to hang out with them. Mike disagrees and still claims he values the group just as much as he used to, although Will adamantly disagrees. 

While Mike values loyalty in season one and to a lesser extent in season two, he actually begins to value loyalty much more as danger rises in season three. As the Mind Flayer wrecks havoc on Hawkins and attempts to raise an army, the level of danger that is growing forces Mike to become more loyal to keeping his friends safe. This is seen again in season three, episode seven, where Mike shows his loyalty more than ever by fighting possessed Billy to keep his friends and others safe. Before this scene, Mike had never proven his loyalty more than ever by directly exposing himself to grave danger where he could have easily perished.