Motivation and Emotion Theories

Motivation

The biological, emotional, cognitive, or social forces that activate and direct behavior

Activation

Initiation or production of behavior

Persistence

Continued efforts/determination to achieve a particular goal

Intensity

Greater vigor of responding that characterizes motivated behavior

Instinct Theories

The view that certain human behaviors are innate and due to evolutionary programming

Instinct

Automatic, innate behavior shared by all members of a species that compels an organism to perform an action/respond in order to survive and reproduce

Fixed action patterns

Innate, involuntary, unlearned behavior sequence that is completed without further influence once triggered

Evolutionary perspective

Instinctual, biologically based behaviors from evolution influence motivation; how adaptive problems consistently faced by humans shape how we think and reason

Drive Theories

The view that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs

Drive

A need or internal motivational state that activates behavior to reduce the need and restore homeostasis

Homeostasis

The idea that the body monitors and maintains internal states, such as energy supplies, at relatively constant levels; suboptimal levels trigger drive to bring it back up

Potentiation

Repeated stimulation of the same pathway between neurons strengthens the synapse and makes it more effective

Incentive Theories

The view that behavior is motivated by the pull of external goals/rewards

Incentive

External stimulus that motivates behavior by offering reward or avoiding punishment

Arousal Theories

The view that people are motivated to maintain an optimal median level of arousal

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Predicts that there are different levels of arousal that are optimal depending on how well-practiced the skill is—high arousal reduces performance on unpracticed skills

Strength of Instinct Theories

Continued importance of idea that some human behaviors are innate

Weakness of Instinct Theories

Describing and labeling behaviors does not explain their relationship to motivation

Strength of Drive Theories

Can still explain motivated behaviors that have biological components (hunger, thirst, sexuality)

Weakness of Drive Theories

Cannot fully explain motivation due to multiple factors (ex. social influence on eating beyond hunger)

Strength of Incentive Theories

Used to understand craving/drug addiction—learn what environmental cues predict positive drug effect, which triggers incentive motivation that is made stronger over time

Weakness of Incentive Theories

Doesn't account for our desire for physiological arousal (not based on internal drive or external incentive)

Sensation-seeking

The degree to which an individual is motivated to experience high levels of sensory and physical arousal associated with varied and novel activities.

Humanistic Theories

The view that emphasizes the importance of psychological and cognitive factors in motivation, especially the notion that people are motivated to realize their personal potential.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Hypothesized levels of motivation that involve basic physical needs, psychological needs, and self-fulfillment needs.

Self-actualization

The full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, and potentialities (living up to potential).

Peak experience

Altered, higher state of consciousness that comes from feeling close to one's authentic self.

Need to belong

The drive to form and maintain lasting positive relationships that are characterized by mutual concern and caring.

Need for affiliation

The need to associate with like-minded people in social groups.

Social isolation

Threatening because belongingness and affiliation are evolutionarily key to our survival, leading to loneliness and negative effects on both psychological and physical well-being.

Social rejection

Activates physical pain areas in the brain, alerting us that close ties we rely on for survival are threatened.

Self-Determination Theory

Optimal human function can occur only if the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are satisfied.

Autonomy

The need to determine, control, and organize our own behavior and goals so they are in harmony with our own interests and values.

Competence

The need to learn and master appropriately challenging tasks.

Relatedness

The need to feel attached to others and experience a sense of belongingness, security, and intimacy.

Intrinsic motivation

Desire to engage in tasks that are inherently satisfying and enjoyable, novel, or optimally challenging.

Extrinsic motivation

We act to earn external rewards or avoid punishment.

Overjustification effect

Extrinsic rewards for an internally rewarding activity can make the activity less intrinsically rewarding.

Achievement motivation

The desire to direct your behavior toward excelling, succeeding, or outperforming others at some task.

Mastery goals

Intrinsically motivated development of skill and self-referenced improvement.

Performance goals

Goals that center on achieving competitive outcomes.

Fixed mindset

Perceives abilities as unchangeable.

Growth mindset

Associated with mastery goals.

Subjective well-being (SWB)

A person's overall evaluation of their life, including cognitive components (life satisfaction) and affective ones (positive emotions, absence of negative emotions).

Flow

The state of optimal experience where a person is fully immersed and energized in an activity, resulting in deep focus, enjoyment, and a sense of effortless action.

Mood

A milder emotional state that is more general and pervasive; less easily provoked and unaware of the cause.

Emotion

A complex psychological state that involves cognitive experience, physiological response, and behavioral or expressive response.

Cognitive experience

One of the components of emotion that involves the mental processes related to understanding and interpreting feelings.

Physiological response

The bodily reactions that occur in response to emotional experiences.

Behavioral or expressive response

The outward expression of emotions through actions or behaviors.

Factors related to SWB

Demographics, socioeconomic status, health and functioning, personality, social support, religion and culture, and geography and infrastructure.

Achievement motivation in cultures

Linked with succeeding in competitive tasks in individualistic cultures, while collectivistic cultures have more socially oriented achievement motivation.

Mastery-oriented goals

Associated with better long-term educational outcomes.

High challenge and high skill

Conditions necessary for achieving a state of flow.

Emotional intelligence

The capacity to understand and manage your own emotional experiences, as well as to perceive, understand, and respond appropriately to others' emotional responses.

Basic emotions

Biologically innate, evolutionarily determined, and culturally universal emotions including fear, surprise, anger, disgust, happiness, and sadness.

Interpersonal engagement dimension

The degree to which emotions involve a relationship with another person or people, as identified by Markus & Kitayama.

Amae

A Japanese concept of emotional dependence on others and the need to be in good favor and depend on them.

Facial expression dialects

Cultural variations in facial expressions that influence focus when communicating emotion, such as focusing on eyes versus other facial features.

Pleasant/unpleasant dimension

One of the two dimensions used to classify emotions, indicating whether an emotion is perceived as positive or negative.

Level of activation/arousal dimension

The second dimension used to classify emotions, indicating the degree of activation or arousal associated with an emotion.

Survival and reproduction function of emotions

Darwin argued that emotions function to help us survive and reproduce, informing other organisms about an individual's internal state.

Emotional expressivity

The degree to which individuals express their emotions, with women potentially exhibiting higher emotional expressivity.

Cognitive experience of emotion

The mental processes involved in experiencing and interpreting emotions.

Ekman's analysis of facial expressions

Ekman analyzed and coded facial expressions involved in basic emotions, finding them to be universal across cultures and among both blind and sighted people.

Cultural universality of emotions

The concept that basic emotions are recognized and expressed similarly across different cultures.

Evolutionary determination of emotions

The idea that emotions have evolved as mechanisms for survival and social interaction.

Emotional experiences

The subjective feelings and responses that individuals have in reaction to stimuli or situations.

Display rules

Social and cultural regulations governing emotional expression, especially facial expressions.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of human traits, motives, or behaviors to nonhuman animals or inanimate objects.

Fight-or-flight response

Rapidly occurring series of automatic physical reactions that involve the hypothalamus and amygdala in the brain & adrenal glands in the body.

Polygraph

Measures physiological changes associated with emotions like fear, tension, and anxiety to infer lying.

Microexpressions

Fleeting expressions that can help detect deception by revealing fear, guilt, or anxiety.

Amygdala

Part of the limbic system involved in emotion, memory, and basic emotional drive, located at the base of the temporal lobe.

Fear Stimulus Pathways

The routes through which visual stimuli are processed in relation to fear.

Thalamus → amygdala

First pathway that bypasses the cortex to go directly to the amygdala, transmitting basic information with little detail.

Thalamus → visual cortex → prefrontal cortex → amygdala

Second pathway that sends information to the visual cortex, then to the prefrontal cortex for context interpretation, and finally to the amygdala.

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Regulates amygdala, inhibits emotional response, and contributes to decision-making and self-control.

Orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex

Receives connections from thalamus, sensitive to how rewards inform decisions, helps regulate social behavior.

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Executive function center overseeing much of social cognition, with close connections to orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex and thalamus.

Emotional regulation

Contributes to health and well-being by allowing us to create and maintain close interpersonal relationships and cope with adverse life events.

Reappraisal

Emotional regulation strategy involving reframing how you think about an event to reduce negative emotions.

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

Emotions arise from the perception of body changes.

Physiological response patterns

Vary by emotion, with fear, anger, and sadness associated with accelerated heart rate.

Anger vs. Fear physiology

Anger produces greater increases in blood pressure than fear and increases skin temperature, while fear lowers skin temperature.

False negatives in polygraphs

Innocent people may be fearful or anxious when asked questions, leading to incorrect results.

Interplay between amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Important for emotional regulation.

Cultural differences in emotional expression

Different cultures may focus more on bodily sensations, behaviors, and others rather than personal mental states.

Learning from experience

The ability to evaluate complex stimuli and moderate responses based on past experiences.

Facial feedback hypothesis

The view that expressing a specific emotion, especially facially, causes the subjective experience of that emotion.

Walter Cannon's theory

Challenge to James-Lange theory; body reactions are similar for many emotions, but subjective emotional experiences are different (e.g., increased heart rate for both fear and rage). Emotional reaction is often faster than physiological reaction.

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

Emotion is the interaction of physiological arousal and the cognitive label that we apply to explain the arousal.

Cognitive label

We cognitively label physiological arousal as a given emotion based on our appraisal of a situation.

Adrenaline experiment

Participants injected with adrenaline; uninformed participants reported feeling happier or angrier than informed participants.

Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Emotion

Emotional responses are triggered by a cognitive evaluation (appraisal)

Zajonc's theory

Critique of cognitive appraisal theory; 'feel first and think later'; while complex stimuli must be consciously appraised, we do have instantaneous responses to some threats.

Self-Efficacy

The degree to which someone is convinced of their ability to meet the demands of a specific situation.

High self-efficacy

Related to a task → view as challenge to be mastered, exert more effort.

Mastery experience

Experiencing success at moderately challenging tasks in which you have to overcome obstacles and persevere.

Social modeling/observational learning

Observing and imitating behavior of those who are competent at a task in order to gain knowledge of how to achieve goals.