Motivation Chapter One

Motive

"a person's internal disposition to be concerned with and approach positive incentives while avoiding negative outcomes" -McClelland

Briefly describe each of the following six physiological systems that express a person's underlying motivational or emotional process: 1. cardiovascular activity 2. plasma activity 3. hormonal activity 4. ocular activity 5. electrodermal activity 6. skeletal muscle activity

1. contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood vessels (in response to challenging task) 2. 3. chemicals in saliva or blood, such as coritsol (stress) or catecholamines (fight or flight) 4. eye behavior - pupil size, eye blinks, and eye movements 5. electrical changes on the surface of the skin (in response to threatening) 6. activity of the musculature, as with facial expressions, bodily gestures, or shifting ones weight from side to side (desire to leave). (15)

Explain the purpose of a theory in terms of helping (1) motivation researchers understand complex phenomena, (2) generate testable research hypotheses, and (3) recommend practical applications to improve people's lives?

A validated theory serves as a practical tool to recommend applications that can improve people's lives; Researchers develop a deeper understanding of motivation and emotion testing theories and by refining and applying theories, researchers develop workable solutions to life's motivational problems. (pg 5-6)

Why do motivation researchers care so much about monitoring a person's engagement during an activity?

Can allow to infer the underlying causes of motivation (14)

Explain why motivational psychologists do not soley depend on self-report questionnaire data to assess motivational states

Many researchers lament the lack of correspondence between what people say they do and what they actually do (15)

Motives vary over time and influence the ongoing stream of behavior

Motivation and emotion are dynamic processes - always changing, always rising and falling. Motivation is a constantly flowing river of needs, cognition, and emotions. (19)

How can you tell if someone is motivated? What do you measure to assess the quantity and quality of a person's motivation?

Motivation is a private experience, and you cannot see this experience. Observe publically observable manifestations: behavior, engagement, psychophysiology, brain activations, and self-report. Second, pay attention to antecedents that give rise to behavior. (12)

Explain the meaning of the following theme in motivation study: Motivation benefits adaptation

Motivational and emotional states provide key means for individuals to cope successfully with life's inevitable, changing, and somewhat unpredictable demands. When motivation sours, personal adaptation, functioning, and well-being suffer. Being controlled undermines the person's capacity and willingness to generate motivation on his or her own. (17)

If a person was highly afraid, what would a motivational psychologist measure to infer the presence and intensity level of fear?

Pay close attention to the antecedents (12)

What is the problem with the idea that the best way to motivate people is to increase their self-esteem?

Self-esteem is not a causal variable. It is an effect - a reflection of how our lives are going. (This is different from saying that self-esteem causes our lives to go well). (8)

How do motivation researchers answer this question: What causes behavior?

Split into five interrelated questions; study of how motivation affect's behavior's initiation, persistence, change, goal directness, and eventual termination. (pg 7)

How do motivation researchers answer this question: Why does behavior vary in its intensity?

The idea that motivation can vary within the individual means that a person can be actively engaged at one time, yet the same person can be passive and listless at another time. (pg 7)

What is the subject matter of motivation study?

The study of motivation concerns those internal processes that give behavior its energy, direction, and persistence. (9)

Why is it important to say motivation is a science?

The term science signals that answers to motivational questions require objective, data-based, empirical evidence gained from well-conducted and peer-reviewed research findings.

State the two perennial questions in the study of motivation:

What causes behavior? Why does behavior vary in its intensity?

Expression

communication of the emotion

Needs

conditions within the individual that are essential and necessary for the maintenance of life and nurturance of growth and well-being; functional

External events

environmental, social, and cultural offerings that affect a person's internal motives

Engagement

how actively a person is in the task

Behavioral engagement

how effort fully involved a person is during an activity in terms of effort and persistence

Cognitive engagement

how strategically the person attempts to process information and to learn in terms of employing sophisticated rather than superficial learning strategies

Theory

intellectual framework that organizes a vast amount of knowledge about a phenomenon so that it can be better understood; needs to identify the relations that exist among naturally occurring, observable phenomena and why those relations exist (pg 5)

Provide a definition and example of these two aspects of motivated behavior: latency and persistence

latency: duration of time a person waits to get started on a task upon first being given an opportunity to do so Persistence: time between when a behavior first starts until it ends (13)

Cognitions

mental events, such as thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and the self concept; cognitive sources of motivation revolve around the person's way of thinking

Physiological Preparedness

physical body

Behavioral expressions of emotion

provides information regarding presence/absence of motivation; intensity of motivation, and quality/type of motivation

Emotions

short lived, subjective-physiological-functional-expressive phenomena that orchestrate how we react adaptively to the important events of our lives

Feelings

subjective, verbal description of the event

Emotional engagement

the presence of positive emotions during task involvement, such as interest, and to the absence of negative emotions, such as anxiety.

Function

what do you want to accomplish

Motivation varies not only in its intensity but also in its type.

Human beings are motivationally complex; both avoidance and approach techniques; (21)