Psych 365 Chapter 1

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

As it said in the book, this questions referred to as "why" questions is split up into five questions, so we are basically digging deeper to understand what causes behavior. We can dig deeper by using the "why" questions. For example, asking a pianist why she started playing piano, what keeps her going, why did they choose this instrument compared to others, etc. This can be applied to everything in life.

Brain Activation

Brain Activations underlie every motivational and emotional state. Because each motivation and emotion generates a different pattern of neural activity, researchers can use very sophisticated equipment (EEG) and machinery (fMRI) to detect, monitor, and measure brain-based neural activity. Hormonal Activity: chemicals in saliva or blood, such as cortisol or catecholamines. Cardiovascular Activity: contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood vessels (as in response to an attractive incentive or a difficult/challenging task). Ocular Activity: eye behavior - pupil size (extent of mental activity), eye blinks (changing cognitive states), and eye movements (reflective thought). Electrodermal Activity: electrical changes on the surface of the skin (as in response to a significant or threatening event) Skeletal Activity: activity of the musculature, as with facial expressions (specific emotion), bodily gestures, or shifting one's weight from side to side during a boring hallway conversation (desire to leave).

Engagement

Engagement refers to how actively involved a person is in a task. It is a multidimensional construct that consists of the four distinct, yet intercorrelated and mutually supportive, aspects of: Behavior: on-task behavior, effort, persistence Emotion: presence of: interest, enjoyment, enthusiasm; absence of: distress, anger, anxiety, frustration. Cognition: using sophisticated learning strategies; seeking conceptual understanding rather than surface knowledge; and self-regulation, such as planning. Agency: contributing constructively into and changing the environment for the better; asking questions; and expressing preferences.

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. An example of this would be a rat in a maze; the rat could be running down each pathway and at one dead end there could be a piece of cheese that wasn't there before. This rat gets excited the next time he starts the maze, and has more motivation to go through the maze, because there is a reward somewhere. Persistence: Time between when a behavior first starts until it ends. There could be lack of persistence if we are not interested in a task or there could be much persistence if we are interested in a task. For example if I wanted to learn how to play the organ I would do my best to learn this new challenge and exceed in it. But, if I didn't want to know how to play and my parents were making me take lessons, then I would drag my feet and not do as well.

Explain the meaning and importance of the phrase motivational science. That is, why is it important to say motivation is a science?

Like it said in the book: "The term science signals that answers to motivational questions require objective, data-based, empirical evidence gained from well-conducted and peer-reviewed research findings." So this means that in order to figure out and understand motivation, we must go through a lengthy process similar to the process of conducting studies and testing out a hypothesis. There must be objectivity in this science as well as anything else in Psychology. But, with the information that we collect we are able to answer the question "Why?" as well as being helpful not only to ourselves but to others as well. Reality (in all its complexity) → Theory (as created by motivational psychologists) → 1. Applications; Recommendations (How to support and enhance motivation and emotion in applied settings) or 2. Hypothesis (as derived from the theory) → Data (to test the adequacy of each hypothesis → Goes back to theory

Explain why motivational psychologists do not solely depend on self-report questionnaire data to assess people's motivational states.

Many researchers lament the lack of correspondence between what people say they do and what they actually do. There is also a lack of correspondence between how people say they feel and what their psychophysiology indicates that they probably feel. Hence, what people say their motives are sometimes are not what people's behavioral, engagement, psychophysiological, and neural expressions suggest their motives are.

Ten Themes in the Study of Motivation

Motivation benefits adaptation Motives direct attention Motives are intervening variables Motive strengths vary over time and influence the stream of behavior Types of motivation exist We are not always consciously aware of motives Motivation study reveals what people want To flourish, motivation needs supportive conditions Motivating others will require effort to be effective There is nothing so practical as a good theory

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

Motivational and emotional states provide a key means for individuals to cope successfully with life's inevitable, changing, and somewhat unpredictable demands. Take away the motivational and emotional states, and people would quickly lose a vital resource to adapt, to function productively, and to maintain well-being. When motivation sours, personal adaptation, functioning, and well-being all suffer.

Explain the meaning of the following theme in motivation study: Motivation varies not only in its intensity but also in its type.

Motive and strengths change over time. People forever harbor a multitude of motives of various intensities; any one of which might grab attention and participate in the stream of behavior, given appropriate circumstances. Motives are not something a person either does or does not have, but instead, these motives rise and fall as circumstances change.

Behavior

Seven aspects of behavior express the presences, intensity, and quality of motivation: Effort: Exertion put forth during a task. Percentage of total capacity used. Persistence: Time between when a behavior first starts until it ends. Latency: Duration of time a person waits to get started on a task upon first being given an opportunity to do so. Choice: When presented with 2+ courses of action, preferring one course of action over the other. Probability of response: Number (or percentage) of occasions that the person enacts a particular goal-directed response given the total number of opportunities to do so. Facial expressions: Facial movements, such as wrinkling the nose, raising the upper lip, and lowering the brow. Bodily gestures. Bodily gestures, such as leaning forward, changing posture, and intentionally moving the legs, arms, and hands.

Reason why people do what they do.

Table 1.1

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 tat same person can be passive and listless at another time. The idea that motivation can vary between individuals means that, even in the same situation, some people can be actively engaged while others are passive. Some motives are relatively strong for one person yet relatively weak for another.

What is the subject matter of the motivation study? That is, if motivation is defined as the study of those processes that give behavior its energy and direction, then identify the various processes that give behavior its energy and direction.

The study of motivation concerns those internal processes that give behavior its energy. Energy: implies that behavior has strength - that it is relatively strong, intense, and hardy or resilient. Direction: implies that behavior has purpose - that it is aimed or guided toward achieving some particular goal or outcome. Persistence: implies that behavior has endurance - that it sustains itself over time and across different situations. Motives are internal experiences - needs, cognitions, and emotions. They are the direct and proximal causes of motivated action. External events and social contexts are important too, because they act as antecedents to motives. Antecedents provide the supportive conditions under which motivations and emotions can rise and increase, and antecedents provide the frustrating conditions under which motivations and emotions fall and decrease.

There is nothing so practical as a good theory

Theories provide a conceptual framework for interpreting behavioral observations, and they function as intellectual bridges to link motivational questions and problems to satisfying answers, solution, and applications.

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

Theory: is an intellectual framework that organizes a vast amount of knowledge about a phenomenon so that the phenomenon can be better understood and explained. The study of motivation and emotion exists to answer the question "Why?" A theory of achievement motivation needs two things: It needs to identify the relations that exist among naturally occurring, observable phenomena. It needs to explain why those relations exist.

What is the problem with the idea that the best way to motivate people is to increase their self-esteem? That is, why don't motivation researchers recommend that practitioners (e.g., teachers, parents) boost people's self-esteem with the intention of increasing their motivation?

There is no evidence that self-esteem motivates people.

Explain the meaning of the following theme in motivation study: Motives vary over time and influence the ongoing stream of behavior.

Typically, the strongest motive has the greatest influence on our behavior, but each subordinate motive can become dominant as circumstances change and times passes ad can therefore influence and contribute to the ongoing stream of behavior.

How can you tell that someone is motivated? That is, to assess the quantity and quality of a person's motivation, what would you measure?

We are able to identify motivation in 2 ways: 1. The first way is to observe motivation's publicly observable manifestations - behavior, engagement, psychophysiology, brain activations, and self-report. 2. Pay close attention to the antecedents known to give rise to motivational states.

Self-Report

We can collect data needed to infer the presence, intensity, and quality of motivation by simply asking. People can typically self-report their motivation, as in an interview or on a questionnaire. They can be useful and informative, but they also need to be backed up and verified by the person's behavioral, engagement, psychophysiological, and neural activity.

State the two perennial questions in the motivation study.

What Causes Behavior? Why does Behavior Vary in its Intensity?

Motivating others will require effort to be effective

When activities are fun and engaging, people more often are curious and will learn more and be more motivated to do things.

Sensation Seeking

It is the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experiences. -Search for new experiences -Risk Taking -Disinhibition - Boredom Susceptibility -Sensation Seekers -Age -Gender -Social Interactions

Psychophysiology

It is the study of the interaction between bodily and mental states. Refers to the processes by which psychological states (motivation, emotion) produce downstream changes in the body's physiology.

All components necessary for behavior to occur

Knowledge: how to perform the behavior. Competence: capable of doing the behavior. Motivation: impetus or reason for the behavior.

Briefly describe each of the following six physiological systems that expresses a person's underlying motivational or emotional process—cardiovascular activity, plasma activity, hormonal activity, ocular activity, electrodermal activity, and skeletal muscle activity.

Hormonal Activity: chemicals in saliva or blood, such as cortisol (stress) or catecholamine's (fight or flight reaction). Cardiovascular Activity: contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood vessels (as in response to an attractive incentive or a difficult/ challenging task). Ocular Activity: Eye behavior - pupil size (extent of mental activity), eye blinks (changing cognitive states), and eye movements (reflective thought). Electrodermal Activity: electrical changes on the surface of the skin (as in response to a significant or threatening event). Skeletal Activity: activity of the musculature, as with facial expressions (specific emotion), bodily gestures, or shifting one's weight from side to side during a boring hallway conversation (desire to leave). Plasma Activity: activity of the hypothalamus shows us that with oxytocin we tend to connect with others with higher rates of oxytocin levels.

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

If a person was fearful, I would think a motivational psychologist would measure the brain activations, such as the hormonal, cardiovascular, ocular, electrodermal, and skeletal activities. We are able to measure stress levels, blood pressure, changes on the surface of our skin, and so forth with these brain activities.

Sensory Deprivation

It is reducing sensory stimulation from touch, sound, and light to lowest level possible

o To flourish, motivation needs supportive conditions

• A person's motivation cannot be separate from the social context in which it is embedded. • There are four areas of application for motivation that is stressed: • Education: an understanding of motivation can be applied to promote students' classroom engagement, to foster the motivation to learn and develop talent, to support the desire to stay in school rather than drop out, and to inform teachers how to provide a motivationally supportive classroom climate. • Work: an understanding of motivation can be applied to improve worker productivity and satisfaction, to help employees set goals, to keep stress at bay, and to structure jobs so that they offer workers optimal levels of challenge, control, variety, and relatedness with their coworkers. • Sports/exercise Sports: an understanding of motivation can be applied to identify the reasons youths participate in sports, to design exercise programs that promote lifelong physical activity to understand how factors such as interpersonal competition, performance feedback, and goal setting effect performance. • Therapy: an understanding of motivation can be applied to improve mental and emotional well-being, to cultivate a sense of authenticity and optimism, to foster mature defense mechanisms, o explain the paradox of why mental control efforts so often backfire, and to appreciate the contribution that the quality of the interpersonal relationships we have plays in our own motivation, emotion, and mental health.

• Themes in the Study of Motivation o Motivation benefits adaptation

• Changes in hunger, stress, and mastery motivation allow people to become complex adaptive systems. • One theme that runs throughout this book is that motivational and emotional states (e.g., hunger, stress, mastery) provide a key means for individuals to cope successfully with life's inevitable, changing, and somewhat unpredictable demands.

o Types of motivation exist

• Humans are curious, intrinsically motivated, sensation-seeking animals with goals and plans to master challenges, warm interpersonal relationships, and move toward attractive incentives, psychological development, and growth. • It is also true, that when we are stressed, frustrated, plagued by insecurities, pressured, in pain, etc. we wish to flee. To adapt optimally, we have and need a motivational repertoire that also features aversive, avoidance-based motives. • A full understanding of the rich fabric of human motivation includes an appreciation for both approach and avoidance tendencies.

o Motives are intervening variables

• Motivation and emotion are variables that intervene between these causes (antecedents) and effects (outcomes) to explain the why that underlies cause-effect relations.

o Motive strengths vary over time and influence the stream of behavior

• Motive and strengths change over time. • People forever harbor a multitude of motives of various intensities; any one of which might grab attention and participate in the stream of behavior, given appropriate circumstances.

o Motives direct attention

• Motives capture attention; interrupt what we are doing; distract us from doing other things; prepare us for motive-congruent action; and impose a motive-congruent priority onto our thinking, feeling, and behaving.

o We are not always consciously aware of motives

• Motives vary in how accessible they are to consciousness and to verbal report. • Motives, cravings, appetites, desires, moods, needs, and emotions that regulate human behavior are not always immediately obvious or consciously accessible. That is, we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.

o Motivation study reveals what people want

• The study of motivation and emotion reveals what people want and why they want it. • It literally reveals the contents of human nature.