Peggy's values & goals
Peggy Olson is a woman who is constantly weighing the cost of her actions with the cost of the consequences - in other words, her motivations, values, and expectancy of success are always at war with one another as she navigates what it means to be a woman in the advertising industry.
Both Atkinson’s model and the contemporary model of motivation agree on the same depiction of achievement motivation as a consistent struggle between approach and avoidance. Atkinson’s model proposed four variables: achievement behaviors, the need for achievement, the probability of success, and the incentive for success. So if a person’s need for achievement is high, their probability to succeed is high, and the task is difficult, the incentive for success is high as well, and they will approach the situation. However, if a person has a low probability of succeeding, and their motivation to avoid failure is high, there is a negative incentive value, and they will avoid the situation. The more contemporary view of motivation deals more with WHY a person decides to pursue goals, not if the achievement actually occurs. The two achievement goals under this theory are mastery goals and performance goals. When a person is in pursuit of mastery goals, it’s to develop more competence, improve one’s self, and it’s done through hard work and consistency. When a person is in pursuit of performance goals, it’s to display competence, show little effort, and to be the best. It inherently deals with competition and doing better than others. That being said, there are two types of performance goals that show themselves very differently.
1. A performance-approach goal: to show off your knowledge, to get the best grade in the class, to prove your ability to others
2. A performance-avoidance goal: I do not want to fail at this, I do not want others to see how bad I am at this
Ultimately, it’s agreed that mastery goals represent the healthiest mindset for goal setting, as they are also associated with a growth mindset approach. But performance goals can still have a place in the healthy function of a person’s motivations, especially if they are used in tandem with mastery goals. A desire to work hard and master a subject, and a desire to display that competence often results in a person who is high-achieving and self-motivated. Now, let’s return back to our main character.
When Peggy starts as a secretary, her motivation in keeping her job represents a performance-avoidance goal. She frequently says things like, “I will get better, I need this job, I need to work.” Though she’s motivated to improve, and in fact received incredibly high marks at the secretary school she went to, she’s driven to succeed out of fear. We come to find out that Peggy’s dad died of a heart attack in front of her at age 12, leaving Peggy, her sister, and her mom alone. Her sister is older, and gets married and has children relatively young. Though her family is fine financially, Peggy’s options are essentially to work or find a husband. Peggy is not interested in finding a husband at 21. Thus, her desire to keep this job means she has a goal of avoiding the failure of losing the job.
Now let’s jump ahead in Peggy’s story. By the third season, Peggy is in a unique position. The advertising industry is a cutthroat environment. Even the men in that office have a fear of failure and often have goals that are performance-avoidance. Though Peggy displays strong mastery goals - working late, taking in criticism but standing her ground, and asking for advice - she has to have several performance goals to compensate for the way men view her as a woman in advertising. She’s not so much concerned with the idea of outright failure, but it’s not enough for her work to be good. If she wants to keep her job, and if she has any goals of moving up, she has to be BETTER than the men she works with. She has to be the MOST competent. Not only to prove that she is the best in the industry, but to prove her place as a working woman to her peers and to her family. She’s “giving up” a family but she is the BEST in the ad game.
Both Atkinson’s model and the contemporary model of motivation agree on the same depiction of achievement motivation as a consistent struggle between approach and avoidance. Atkinson’s model proposed four variables: achievement behaviors, the need for achievement, the probability of success, and the incentive for success. So if a person’s need for achievement is high, their probability to succeed is high, and the task is difficult, the incentive for success is high as well, and they will approach the situation. However, if a person has a low probability of succeeding, and their motivation to avoid failure is high, there is a negative incentive value, and they will avoid the situation. The more contemporary view of motivation deals more with WHY a person decides to pursue goals, not if the achievement actually occurs. The two achievement goals under this theory are mastery goals and performance goals. When a person is in pursuit of mastery goals, it’s to develop more competence, improve one’s self, and it’s done through hard work and consistency. When a person is in pursuit of performance goals, it’s to display competence, show little effort, and to be the best. It inherently deals with competition and doing better than others. That being said, there are two types of performance goals that show themselves very differently.
1. A performance-approach goal: to show off your knowledge, to get the best grade in the class, to prove your ability to others
2. A performance-avoidance goal: I do not want to fail at this, I do not want others to see how bad I am at this
Ultimately, it’s agreed that mastery goals represent the healthiest mindset for goal setting, as they are also associated with a growth mindset approach. But performance goals can still have a place in the healthy function of a person’s motivations, especially if they are used in tandem with mastery goals. A desire to work hard and master a subject, and a desire to display that competence often results in a person who is high-achieving and self-motivated. Now, let’s return back to our main character.
When Peggy starts as a secretary, her motivation in keeping her job represents a performance-avoidance goal. She frequently says things like, “I will get better, I need this job, I need to work.” Though she’s motivated to improve, and in fact received incredibly high marks at the secretary school she went to, she’s driven to succeed out of fear. We come to find out that Peggy’s dad died of a heart attack in front of her at age 12, leaving Peggy, her sister, and her mom alone. Her sister is older, and gets married and has children relatively young. Though her family is fine financially, Peggy’s options are essentially to work or find a husband. Peggy is not interested in finding a husband at 21. Thus, her desire to keep this job means she has a goal of avoiding the failure of losing the job.
Now let’s jump ahead in Peggy’s story. By the third season, Peggy is in a unique position. The advertising industry is a cutthroat environment. Even the men in that office have a fear of failure and often have goals that are performance-avoidance. Though Peggy displays strong mastery goals - working late, taking in criticism but standing her ground, and asking for advice - she has to have several performance goals to compensate for the way men view her as a woman in advertising. She’s not so much concerned with the idea of outright failure, but it’s not enough for her work to be good. If she wants to keep her job, and if she has any goals of moving up, she has to be BETTER than the men she works with. She has to be the MOST competent. Not only to prove that she is the best in the industry, but to prove her place as a working woman to her peers and to her family. She’s “giving up” a family but she is the BEST in the ad game.
Your writing is lovely. You combine story-telling with analysis. I appreciate the depth of your thinking and descriptions!
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