Lisa Simpson...

 

Lisa’s blues

To illustrate how Lisa’s motivations align with the value component of the expectancy and value theories (EVT), I chose to focus on an episode called Lisa’s Blues. One key understanding of the value construct is that it is multidimensional. It can be both distal related to a more trait-like personality characteristic but also proximal fluctuating from situation to situation. That is Lisa’s case too. While she is a model child with previously unchanged intrinsic motivation for school, for instance, one day Lisa experiences a mood swing (or?) and she loses her motivation to do anything. “What’s the point? There is so much suffering in the world. Will it make a difference if I don’t wake up one morning?” Lisa’s questioning stems from trait-like distal values and beliefs she has such as an innate stable interest in the wellbeing of the world, in higher meanings of life, in her scope of agency and of her ability to make a positive difference. In other words, that day, Lisa has no expectancy for success (she feels her agency will not help change the world for the better), which causes her not to engage in the day’s activities (school, family), feeling no more enjoyment, interest, utility, or benefits from doing them. These activity values are more proximal categories that Eccles, in her EVT model, labeled subjective task values and listed as follows: attainment value, intrinsic value, utility value and relative cost. Attainment value has been associated to the importance of doing well on a specific activity or task. Intrinsic value has been equated to interest or enjoyment one gains from engaging in an activity. Utility is about the perception of future usefulness of doing a present activity. The relative cost in EVT refers to how doing a present activity negatively affects a person emotionally, or in terms of effort load or missed opportunities for doing something more valued.

That day, Lisa feels all these things combined. While we don’t know the proximal trigger for these feelings, we can see how the situational factors in her immediate environment affect her current state of mind. Her family, again, one by one, initially does not pay attention to her  “mood” relying on their previous perceptions of her always doing fine. Lisa begins to see the flaws in her family members: her materialistic father, her mother concerned with appearances, her brother who is only interested in silly superficial fun. Although Lisa still says things that reflect her more stable personality traits (“Don’t go for the glitter. Look for substance”), her day is overwhelmed by sadness and distrust. Playing saxophone becomes her only relief, and jamming with a blues player in the street, seems to be a turning point in her emotional state. This blues player, and later, her mom in a sudden realization, tell her that it is okay to be sad if that means to be yourself in a given moment. Making a blues song about her imperfect family helped Lisa own, process, and overcome her sadness… In the end, the whole Simpson family goes to a jazz club to listen to Lisa’s blues player friend, actually singing Lisa’s song about her unsupportive family (something like “My father belongs to a zoo” etc.). Finally, putting her negative feelings out there had a cathartic effect. In the end, she, and everyone else understood the gravity of the moment and moved on.

Beyond the specifics of the plot, Lisa’s story in this episode, illustrated the intricate causal linkages between manifest situational values for present activities and more elusive overarching multilayers in terms of cultural milieu, socialization, trait, and state cognitive and affective factors that trigger children’s specific interpretations of experiences, and ultimate behaviors.