Human Motivation: Chpt 1: Introduction

Behavioral expressions of motivation

1) attention: concentration and on-task force 2) effort: exertion put forth while trying to accomplish a task 3) latency: the time a person delays a response following an initial exposure to a stimulus event 4) persistence: the time between the initiation of a response until its cessation 5) choice: when presented with two or more course of action, showing a preference for one course of action over the other 6) probability of response: given a number of different opportunities for the behavior to occur, the number of occasions that particular goal directed response occurs 7) facial expressions: facial movements, such as wrinkling the nose, raising the upper lip, and lowering the brow (e.g. A disgusted facial expression) 8) bodily gestures: like posture, weight shifts and the movements of the legs, arms and hands

Motivational reasons to exercise

1) fun, enjoyment: intrinsic motivation 2) personal challenge: flow 3) forced to do so: external regulation 4) paid to do so: Extrinsic motivation 5) accomplish a goal: goal 6) health benefits: value 7) inspired to do so: possible self 8) a standard of excellence: achievement Strivings 9) satisfaction form a job well done: perceived competence 10) an emotional kick: opponent process 11) good mood: positive effect 12) alleviate guilt: introjection 13) relieve stress, silence depression; personal control 14) hang out with friends: relatedness

Internal motives

A motive is an internal process that energizes and directs behavior. It is therefore a general term to identify the common ground shared by needs, conditions and emotions. The differences between a motive vs a need, cognition or emotion is simply the level of analysis. Needs, cognitions and emotions are just three specific types of motives. Needs are conditions within the individual that are essential and necessary for the maintenance of life and for the nurturance of growth and well being. Competence and belongingness exemplify two psychological needs that arise from the self's requirement for environmental mastery and warm interpersonal relationships. Competence and belongingness are both essential and necessary for psychological maintenance, well being and growth. Need serve the organism and they do so by generating wants, desires and Strivings that motivate whatever behaviors are necessary for the maintenance of life and the promotion of well being and growth. Cognitive refer to mental events such as thoughts, beliefs, expectations and the self concept. Cognitive sources of motivation revolve around the person's ways of thinking. Emotions are short lived subjective-physiological-functional-expressive phenomena that orchestrate how we react adaptively to the important events in our lives. That is, emotions organize and orchestrate four interrelated aspects of experience: 1) feelings: subjective, verbal descriptions of emotional experience 2) physiological preparedness: how our body physically mobilizes itself to meet situational demands 3) function: what specifically we want to accomplish at that moment 4) expression: how we communicate our emotional experience publicly to others By orchestrating these four aspects of experience into a coherent pattern, emotions allow us to anticipate and to react adaptively to the important events in our lives. Other emotions, such as anger and joy, show similar coherent patterns that organize our feelings, preparedness, function, and expression in ways that allow us to cope successfully with the circumstances we face.

Putting it all together: a framework to understand the study of motivation

Antecedent conditions affect the person's underlying motive status and the rise and fall of the person's motive status creates an integrated sense of wanting to or not and the urge to approach (move toward and engage) vs avoid (escape from and disengage) that expresses itself through a pattern of energetic and goal directed behavior, engagement, brain and physiology activations and self report.

Motives

Internal experiences: needs, cognitions, and emotions that energize the individual's approach and avoidance tendencies

Self-report

What people say their motives are sometimes are. It what people's behavioral and physiological expressions suggest their motives are. Because of such discrepancies, motivational researchers typically trust and rely on behavioral, engagement and physiological measures to a greater degree than they trust and rely on self report measures.

24 theories of motivation and emotion

1) achievement motivation by Elliot in 1997 2) arousal by Berlyne in 1967 3) attribution by Weiner in 1986 4) cognitive dissonance by Harmon-Jones and Mills in 1999 5) Cognitive Evaluation by Deci and Ryan in 1985 6) Differential emotions by Izard in 1991 7) drive by Boles in 1975 8) dynamics of action by Atkinson and Birch in 1978 9) Effectance motivation by Harter in 1981 10) ego development by Loevinger in 1976 11) expectancy x value by Vroom in 1964 12) facial feedback Hypothesis by Laird in 1974 13) flow by Csinzwntmjhalyi in 1997 14) goal setting by Locke and Latham in 2002 15) learned helplessness by Peterson, Maier and Seligman in 1993 16) opponent process by Solomon in 1980 17) positive affect by Isen in 1987 18) psychodynamics by Westen in 1998 19) reactance by Worman and Brehm in 1975 20) self actualization by Rogers in 1959 21) self determination by Ryan and Deci in 2000 22) self efficacy by Bandura in 1997 23) sensation seeking by Zuckerman in 1994 24) stress and coping by Lazarus in 1991a

Two Perennial Questions

1) what causes behavior? This questions can be elaborated into the study of how motivation affects behavior's initiation, persistence, change, goal directedness, and eventual termination. This question is one grand question or five interrelated questions. Either way, the first essential problem is to understand how motivation participates in, influences and helps explain a person's ongoing stream of behavior. Importantly, motivation and emotion influence more than just behavior. They influence our thoughts, feelings and our dreams and aspirations. What causes activity: not only our behavior, but also our thoughts; our feelings and our dreams? 2) why does behavior vary in its intensity? I. What causes behavior: 1) why does behavior start? 2) once begin, why is behavior sustained over time? 3) why is behavior directed toward some goals yet away from others? 4) why does behavior change its direction? 5) why does behavior stop? II. Why does behavior vary in its intensity?

To flourish, motivation needs supportive conditions

A person's motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded. Environments can be nurturing and supportive or environments can be neglectful, frustrating and undermining. Those who are surrounded. H social contexts that support and nurture their needs and Strivings show greater vitality, experience personal growth and thrive more than those who are surrounded by social neglect and frustration. Recognizing the role that social contexts play in people's motivation and well being; researchers seek to apply principles of motivation in ways that allow people's motivations to flourish. This book looks at education; work, sports and exercise and therapy.

There is nothing so practical as a good theory

A theory is a set of variables (e.g. Self efficacy, goals, effort) and the relationships that are assumed to exist among those variables (e.g. Strong self efficacy beliefs encourage people to set goals, and once set, goals encourage high effort). Theories provide a conceptual framework for interpreting behavioral observations and they function as intellectual bridges to link motivational questions and problems to satisfying answers and solutions. A theory can serve as a useful guide in how to understand and then solve a problem. The list of theories can serve as a means for monitoring your growing familiarity with contemporary motivation study.

Brain activations and physiology

As people prepare to engage in various activities, brain sites become activated and the nervous and endocrine systems manufacture and release various chemical substances (e.g. Neurotransmitters, hormones) that provide the biological underpinnings of motivational and emotional states. 1) brain activity 2) hormonal activity 3) cardiovascular activity 4) ocular activity 5) electrodermal activity 6) skeletal activity

Behavior

Eight aspects of behavior express the presence, intensity and quality of motivation. 1) attention 2) effort 3) latency 4) persistence 5) choice 6) probability of response 7) facial expressions 8) bodily gestures When behavior shows on task attention, intense effort, short latency, long persistence, high probability of occurrence, facial or gestural expressiveness or when the individual pursues a specific goal object in lieu of another, such is the evidence to infer the presence of a relatively intense motive. When behavior is occasionally off task and show lackadaisical effort, long latency, fragile persistence, low probability of occurrence, minimal facial and gestural expressiveness or the individual pursue an alternative goal object which is the evidence to infer an absence of a motive or at least a relatively weak motive.

Types of motivations exist

Emotions show that motives vary not only in intensity but also in type. In many people's minds, motivations is a unitary concept. Its key feature is its amount or its intensity level. How much? In contrast, several theorists suggest that important types of motivations exist. Intrinsic motivation is different than Extrinsic. The motivation to learn is different from the motivation to perform. Thus, humans are motivationally complex.

External events

Environmental, social and cultural source of motivation that have the capacity to energize and direct behavior. They exist as specific stimuli (money) or events (being praised). They precede behavior and functionally pull approach behavior out of the person or functionally push avoidant behavior out of the person.

Expressions of motivation

How can you tell when someone is motivated? Or is not motivated? Motivation is a private, unobservable, and seemingly mysterious experience. You cannot see another person's motivation. Two ways to infer motivation: 1) observe behavioral manifestations 2) pay close attention to the antecedents know to give rise to motivational states. When we know the antecedents to a person's motivation, we can predict people's motivational states in advance and we can do so rather confidently. But these antecedents are not always knowable. More often than note, motivation must be inferred from its expressions via the person's behavior, engagement, physiology and self report.

Motivations included both approach and avoidance tendencies

How do I motivate myself? How do I motivate others? The problem is sometimes you get what you wish for. Several motivational systems are aversive in nature: pain, hunger, distress, fear, dissonance, anxiety, pressure, helplessness, and so on. We do welcome many approach-oriented motivational states (e.g. Interest, hope, joy, expectation, desire, achievement motivation, self actualization). But many other motivational states are not so welcomed (e.g. Fear, frustration) as they ready us to avoid aversive, threatening and anxiety provoking situations. Attention getting motives like anxiety and tension essentially like the proverbial needle I our side until we give the aversive motive it's due and adjust our behavior accordingly. Often motivational and emotional states operate under the principle, "the greater the irritation, the greater the change." Human beings are curios, intrinsically motivated, sensation seeking animals with goals and plans to master challenges to develop warm interpersonal relationships and to move toward attractive incentives, Psychological development and growth. Such an approach orientation to motivation focuses on desired goals and involves approaching and moving toward desired goals and outcomes. It is also true that people are stressed, frustrated, plagued by insecurities, pressured, afraid, in pain, depressed and encounter aversive situations from which they wish to flee. Such avoidance orientation focused on undesired goals and involves avoiding and moving away from undesired outcomes. To adapt optimally, human beings have and need a motivational repertoire that features just as many aversive, avoidance based motives as positive approach based ones. Thus we need to learn both approach and avoidance tendencies.

Themes in study of motivation

Includes a wide range of assumptions, hypotheses, theories, findings and domains of applications. 1) motivation benefits adaptation 2) motives direct attention and prepare action 3) motives vary over time and influence the ongoing stream of behavior 4) types of motivation exist 5) motivation includes both approach and avoidance tendencies 6) motivation study reveals what people want 7) to flourish, motivation needs supportive conditions 8) there is nothing so practical as a good theory

Motivation study reveals what people want

It reveals what people want: literally, the content of human nature. Motivation and emotion concerns what we all hope for, desire, want, need and fear. It examines whether people are essentially good or evil etc.

Motives vary over time and influence the ongoing stream of behavior

Motivation is a dynamic process: always changing, always rising and falling rather than a discrete event or static condition. It is helpful to think of motivation as a constantly flowing river of needs, cognitions and emotions. Not only do motive strengths continually rise and fall, but people always harbor a multitude of different motives at any one point in time. Typically, one motive is strongest and most situationally appropriate while other motives are relatively subordinate (e.g. One motive dominates our attention while other motives are relatively dormant). The strongest motive typically has the greatest influence on our behavior, but each subordinate motive can become dominant as circumstances change and can therefore influence and contribute to the ongoing stream of behavior.

Engagement

Refers to the behavioral intensity, emotional quality and personal investment in another person's involvement during an activity. To monitor another's engagement, one needs to keep track of that person's behavior, emotion, cognition, and voice. It represents the extent to which the person's activity is characterized by positive emotion such as interest and enjoyment rather than by negative emotion such as sadness or anger. Cognitive engagement expresses the extent to which the person actively monitors how well things are going and uses sophisticated learning and problem solving strategies. Voice expresses the extent to which the person expresses the needs, preferences and desires of the self and seeks to change one's environmental circumstances for the better.

Subject Matter

The point of motivation theory is to explain what gives behavior its energy and its direction. It is some motive that energizes the athlete... The study of motivation concerns those processes that give behavior its energy and direction. Energy implies that behavior has strength --that it is relatively strong, intense, and persistent. Direction implies that behavior has purpose. That it is aimed or guided toward achieving some particular goal or outcome. It is the responsibility of a theory to explain what those motivational processes are and also how they work to energize and direct a person's behavior.

Motivation benefits adaptation

When motivation sours, personal adaptation suffers. People who feel helpless in exerting control over their fates tend to give up quickly when challenged. Helplessness spurs the person's capacity to cope with life's challenges. People who are bossed around, coerced, and controlled. H others tend to become emotionally flat and numb to the Joe's and aspirations embedded within their inner psychological needs. Being controlled by others source the person's capacity to generate motivation of his or her own. In contrast, when students are excited and people with high quality motivation adapt well and thrive. People with motivational deficits flounder.

Motives direct attention and prepare action

Who is to say whether our attention is allocated in one direction or the other? Much of that say comes from our motivational states. Motives have a way of gaining, and sometimes demanding our attention so that we attend to one aspect of the environment rather to another. Motives affect behavior and prepare us for action by directing attention to select some behaviors and courses of action over others. 1) various aspects of the environment 2) a motive typically aroused by that environmental event 3) a motive appropriate course of action 4) hypothetical priority given to each course of action as determined by the intensity of its associated motive. Because interest, thirst and rest are not urgent at that particular time, their salience is low and they fail to grab attention. The motive to avoid a headache's pain is highly salient and therefore a strong candidate to grab attention and channel behavior toward taking aspirin. Pain like many motives has an intrinsic ability to grab, hold, and direct our attention. Motives therefore influence behavior by capturing attention, interrupting what we are doing, distracting us from doing other things and imposing a priority onto our thinking, feeling and behaving.