Self-relevancy

In describing her system for evaluating a Personal Semantic Network, Claudia Strauss notes that self-relevant associations are tied to the person’s self image (2005). In each case where the keywords appeared, self-relevancy is established. Consultant A provides an intrinsic motivation:

• A38: There is absolutely nothing better than when you teach yourself something and then it actually works. And you, you, you just want to like explode because you’re so happy. Like, “Oh my God. I actually did it? No... It works?” Like when I put my site online and I saw it, it was this huge moment for me because... you know, it’s really out there. I’ve done it. I learned how to do it totally by myself and that is extremely rewarding. Those, those little moments all the time along the way, too, when you’re, you’re putting it together or you try something for the first time and it works. And you just can’t believe you did it. That’s exciting.

Consultant C provides an equally compelling, but extrinsic example:

• C28: I mean it just came to a point where [pause] I want a certain GPA… I need a certain GPA… to some extent. I mean it’s… it’s for me… I’m planning on going for a tenured track position after this… and I, I get a “B” because I took a risk… that’s not… that’s not something I’m necessarily going to be comfortable explaining. Um, and it also has to do with, sort of, image… Like I, I respected Dr. Romberger and I didn’t want to turn something in to her where I was afraid she would look at it and go “What is this steaming pile of nothing?” [laughing]…. And, you know, if I hope to get a recommendation from the professor, I would like the work I had produced to have been, sort of, consistently positive… maybe even… maybe not as memorable, but, sort of, consistently positive. And I feel… I felt a real anxiety about that. I mean that… that was a… that was a problem for me to think that [pause]… How would I know if it was good enough for the standards that were set for the class?