personal psychology unit 5: motivation & emotion

motivation

*Motivation* is the force behind the behavior that makes us avoid some aspects of life and pursue other aspects. Another way of looking at motivation is to see it as the initiation, intensity, direction, and persistence of our behaviors. Psychologists see motivation as the link between stimuli and behavior. In other words, motivation can cause us to react in particular ways to the stimuli that is present in our lives. Psychologists often distinguish motivation by the needs (also known as drives) that it is targeted to. *Primary needs* are basic needs which we all have, such as food, water, and air to breathe. *Secondary needs* are those that we learn. For example, you have the primary need of food. Yet, you may have preferences in the food that you eat, such as chocolate, pizza, or chips. These would be considered secondary needs, along with needs for things like money, acceptance, esteem, or creativity. Psychologists often argue that humans seek homeostasis, or the tendency to move toward a need-free or drive-free state. This may sound complicated, but if we examine it from a basic level, it becomes a little clearer. For example, you have a need for food and you are hungry. You attempt to achieve *homeostasis* for this need by having something to eat.

subjective experience

Although subjective experience sounds complicated, it is the part of emotions that you are most familiar with. Subjective experience is simply what it feels like for you to be happy, scared, sad, or any other emotion. Individuals often experience emotions differently, such as in their intensity. Some individuals have emotions that tend to go out of control while other people seem to feel very few emotions. *Alexithymia* is the inability to feel one's one emotions and individuals who experience this report that experiences which would create intense emotions for others are a bland experience for them. Scholars have noted that emotions often rely on evaluation. Think about having a conversation with someone and that person says something that upsets you. In order to become angry, you have to evaluate the comment as a slight to you or as something that you should be angry about. Magna Arnold introduced the idea of evaluation or appraisal to emotions in 1960. *Appraisal theories* focus on how individuals process and evaluate the situations they are in with relation to emotions. Some psychologists take this idea a step farther by arguing that emotions are propositional. In other words, we evaluate and we make judgments. For example, we may only become angry at the person's comment if we judge them to have meant to hurt us with the comment rather than making an innocent mistake. One famous study examined a subject's interpretation of the situation and their physiological response. *Schachter and Singer* developed the *two-factor theory of emotion* which argues that people must have both an autonomic physiological arousal and a social label that helps individuals interpret their feelings. The researchers injected some subjects with a mild stimulant and gave others a placebo. Individuals who were given the stimulant were told about the side effects, told nothing, or given false side effects. Once the injection was given of the stimulant or placebo, the individuals were placed in situations that were either pleasant or created to make someone angry. The researchers found that individuals experienced greater intensities of emotions when they did not know the effects of the stimulant. In other words, the people who knew about the side effects of the stimulant just labeled their responses to the drugs. The researchers believed that this showed that we interpret our physical responses by our knowledge of the situation that we are in. Psychologists are interested in many aspects of the subjective experience of emotions. For example, some study how emotions can affect an individual's health. Others study a particular emotion and how it relates to a person's behavior. In recent years, more scholars are focusing on what it means for a person to be happy. Studies indicate that *women and men tend to be equally happy and that young and old also appear to have the same general level of happiness*. Psychologists have even studied the age old question of whether money creates happiness. The answer appears to be both yes and no. A person's income may allow them to be happy, but other aspects in addition to money have to be present. Both a strong religious faith and a close network of friends are highly related to happiness.

biologically-oriented perspectives

Behaviorists have created a clear definition of motivation through the theory of operant conditioning. As you may recall, operant conditioning states that humans (and animals) learn to behave in some ways to receive rewards and to avoid behaving in other ways in order to avoid punishment. Yet, behaviorists have also noted that we are more likely to act if we have an unfulfilled need. For example, you are more likely to seek out food when you are hungry than when you have just eaten your fill. To take this into consideration, behaviorists came up with *drive-reduction theory*, which states that motivation comes from a combination of both reinforcement and drive. For example, if an animal's basic needs aren't being met, the animal will begin to act. If the animal comes across an action that reduces the need or tension, the animal will begin to associate the action with drive reduction. In other words, the behavior is reinforced and is more likely to occur again. Think about a hungry dog that discovers food in a trash can. The dog is likely to raid another trash can because the action reduced its drive for food before. In this case, the dog is trying to fulfill a *primary drive* or an innate need for things like food and water. Humans also try to fulfill secondary drives or drives learned through conditioning or other mechanisms. One example of a *secondary drive* is money. Our drive for this item has to be learned because it does not directly fulfill any of our primary drives or needs. However, drive-reduction theory doesn't explain all human behavior. It does not explain why individuals may continue to eat after they are full or why individuals may stay up late playing video games when they are exhausted. Individuals are also driven at times by *incentives* or external rewards rather than the internal drives that the theory assumes. For example, you may be motivated more by the money your parents promised you for a good grade than by a secondary drive such as seeking success. Another biologically-orientated theory is *arousal theory*. Arousal is seen as a state of psychological activation or in other words a state in which your mind and body are "revved up" or "in the zone." Arousal theory states that each of us has an optimal level of arousal and that we are constantly trying to reach this level. If our state of arousal is too high, we act in ways to reduce it. For example, if we are hungry, we eat. If our state of arousal is too low, we act in ways to increase it. For example, if we are bored, we may go to the mall or call a friend. The *Yerkes-Dodson Law* says that as arousal increases, our performance and motivation also increase, up to the optimum level where more arousal decreases performance and motivation. For example, if we have to complete a simple task like loading the dishwasher, you may find that your motivation to do the task increases if you have music on or someone to talk to. With harder tasks, however, you may need to minimize distractions to lower your arousal level. For example, if you have to give a speech in front of your class, you will often do a better job if you are not too nervous.

intro

Can you tell when someone is lying? Catching a liar isn't always an easy task, which you may already know if you've ever tried to play a game with someone that involves bluffing. Although some people have better "poker faces" than others, many people believe that there are signs that can tell you if someone is lying. Some of the more common theories are that liars won't make eye contact, act nervous, blush, or blink more often. But, do any of these signs always signal a lie? Psychologists say that the face does show lies, but not in the ways that we may expect. Instead of looking for shifty eyes or a sweaty brow, detecting a lie is often easier if we look for the hints of other emotions. Researchers say that a liar's face will "crack" at some point, giving away glimpses of other emotions. The face is a complex network of muscles and nerves and humans are not able to voluntarily control all of them. Yet, we shouldn't throw those old theories of liars out the window, as most indicate emotion. For example, if you are questioning your friend about something and you notice them blinking rapidly, the blinking may not exactly signal a lie but a glimpse of another emotional response to the one that they are trying to put on their face. The micro-expressions, it seems, give away that poker face. In this unit, we will examine two areas related to lying: motivation and emotion. Our motivations and emotions are often intertwined in ways that research is only beginning to understand.

cognitive perspectives

Cognitive approaches to motivation often center on goals. For these perspectives, *goals* are desired outcomes that we have through social learning. You may have the goal of earning a lot of money, and this is a goal that you've learned to want through social learning (in other words, you weren't born wanting money). *Goal-setting theory* argues that conscious goals influence much of our motivation. Students set goals of getting better grades on the next test than they got on the last one and baseball players set goals of improving their batting averages the next season. Conscious goals often involve using old strategies that have worked for us in the past (studying harder or choosing which pitches to swing at more carefully) or adapting new strategies when older ones aren't working. Cognitive theorists have also noticed that people tend to be more motivated when rewards are involved. They have been interested in whether people are more motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic rewards. *Intrinsic motivation* is the enjoyment of the activity itself. *Extrinsic motivation* is some form of external reward. *Self-determination theory* states that people have an innate need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others. When these three things are met, intrinsic motivation will grow. In other words, activities that produce these three aspects will have intrinsic motivation accompanied by them. In studying intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, scholars found that offering rewards for activities that produce these three aspects can actually decrease motivation. The rewards may become a sort of forced motivation that backfires. For example, let's say that someone really likes to play a musical instrument and has intrinsic motivation for the activity. For some individuals, having their parents offer to pay them for every time that they practice (extrinsic motivation) may actually make the individual less motivated to play. For someone who hates to practice their musical instrument, however, extrinsic motivation may be a way to get them to practice. Thus, the effects of an extrinsic reward depend on the situation and how the individual perceives it.

emotional expression

Emotional expressions are the outward signs of emotions. They include things like facial expressions, postures, or gestures. Like the peripheral theory of emotion, some scholars argue that the *face* is actually the primary center for our emotions. They believe that we have a certain emotion because our faces show the emotions. In other words, you become happy because you smile. Studies have shown that some facial expressions are associated with particular emotions. When shown pictures of people's facial expressions that mimic surprise, fear, anger, disgust, happiness and sadness, people around the world are generally able to identify the emotion that corresponds with the expression. Studies have also shown that facial expressions do have some effect on our emotions. When people change their facial expressions according to direction, they may find that their body reacts. For example, some studies have found that when a person mimics an angry expression, their temperature actually rises.

humanistic perspectives

One of the most famous theories on motivation comes from Abraham Maslow. Maslow argued that people have a *hierarchy of needs*, with basic survival having to be met before higher needs like esteem. One of the ways to visualize Maslow's theory is to think of the hierarchy of needs as a pyramid. Maslow argued that the lower levels of needs must be filled before an individual can meet the higher needs. In other words, you must first meet your needs of food and water (basic survival) before you can meet your need for self-esteem or friendship. The highest level on the pyramid is self-actualization or motives to grow and express oneself. These are the only needs that do not represent a lack of something. Instead, they are growth needs. Many of our behaviors meet a variety of needs. For example, going to school can meet your needs for friendship, achievement, and creativity. Maslow suggested that individuals may remain focused at one level of need and not go beyond that level. For example, if you are focused on finding shelter each day, you will have less energy and focus for other levels of needs, like trying to earn the respect of others. Maslow thought that few people actually reached the level of self-actualization, where that level became the primary focus of life.

evolutionary perspective

Some of the earliest thoughts on motivation looked to nature. Psychologists thought that, like animals, humans were motivated by instincts. *Instincts* are patterns of behavior that occur without learning and are relatively consistent. Most psychologists today do not believe that instincts play a large role in influencing our behaviors or motivations. One reason for this is that behavior is different from culture to culture. If motivation was due to instincts, we would expect to find that behavior remained relatively consistent from culture to culture. Humans are also adaptive as situations change or we encounter new situations.

quiz game ?'s

States that as arousal increases, our performance and motivation also increase, up to the optimum level where more arousal decreases performance and motivation. ~Yerkes-Dodson Law Argues that people must have both an autonomic physiological arousal and a social label that helps individuals interpret their feelings. ~Two-factor Theory of Emotion Needs that we learn. ~Secondary Needs Drives learned through conditioning or other mechanisms. ~Secondary Drives Basic needs which we all have, such as food, water, and air to breathe. ~Primary Needs Innate need for things like food and water. ~Primary Drive The force behind the behavior that makes us avoid some aspects of life and want to pursue other aspects. ~Motivation Extended periods of an emotional state. ~Moods States that emotions occur as our peripheral nervous system reacts and the central nervous system interprets the reaction. ~James-Lange Theory The enjoyment of the activity itself. ~Intrinstic Motivation Patterns of behavior that occur without learning and are relatively consistent. ~Instincts External rewards. ~Incentives The tendency to move toward a need-free or drive-free state. ~Homeostasis States that basic survival has to be met before higher needs like esteem. ~Hierarchy of Needs Argues that conscious goals influence much of our motivation and goals. ~Goal-setting Theory Desired outcomes that we have through social learning. ~Goals Some form of external reward. ~Extrinsic Motivation Positive and negative feelings. ~Emotions States that motivation comes from a combination of both reinforcement and drive. ~Drive-Reduction Theory States that stimuli produce both a physical response and an emotion at the same time. ~Cannon-Bard Theory Focus on how individuals process and evaluate the situations they are in with relation to emotions. ~Appraisal Theory

emotions

When considering motivation, it is necessary to think about what roles thoughts and feelings have in the process. Are we motivated by rational reasons? Or do emotions provide us with the motivation for some of our actions? In general, psychologists have argued that it's probably a combination of the two. Motivation more than likely requires both thought (cognition) and emotion. *Emotions* are positive and negative feelings. They often have a combination of subjective experience, physiological signs, and behavior. *Moods* are extended periods of an emotional state. For example, if you feed sad (emotion) for a period of time, we might say your your mood is depressed or blue. Understanding more about emotions can help us better understand the role that they play in motivation and behavior. Let's take a closer look at some of the components of emotions.

sociocultural perspectives

While many psychological perspectives on motivation start from the individual, some scholars have looked at how culture affects motivation. What is valued and seen as a worthy goal differs from culture to culture. Some cultures view accumulating wealth as a positive goal, while other cultures, such as some groups in New Guinea, punish individuals who try to gather individual wealth. Psychologist Erich Fromm has argued that a culture's structure shapes individuals' motives so that they want to behave in ways that benefit the culture's structure. For example, in a capitalist culture, the structure needs people who will work and who will spend the money that they earn. The structure then shapes individuals' motives so that they want to buy different items.

physiological components

You may have already noticed that emotions are often linked to bodily responses, like rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, or increased body temperature. The *James-Lange theory* states that emotions occur as our peripheral nervous system reacts and the central nervous system interprets the reaction. The peripheral nervous system includes our muscle movements and automatic responses. In other words, when presented with a stimulus, our muscles and other automatic responses react to the stimuli. The central nervous system then interprets the reaction and forms an emotion. Let's say that you find a bomb. The James-Lange theory would argue that your body would react by running away from the bomb. Your brain would then interpret the running as fear. This theory, however, hasn't held up well when put to the test. An alternate idea is the *Cannon-Bard theory* which states that stimuli produce both a physical response and an emotion at the same time. For example, if you saw a bomb, you would experience both fear and a racing heart at the same time, rather than the fear coming after the racing heart.