Motivation & Emotion – Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering the central concepts, theories, and conflicts discussed in the lecture on motivation.

Motivation

An internal process that starts, directs, and sustains behaviour toward approach or avoidance of goals.

Intrinsic Motivation

Drive to engage in an activity for its own sake because it is inherently satisfying or enjoyable.

Extrinsic Motivation

Drive to perform a behaviour to obtain external rewards or avoid punishments (e.g., medals, praise).

Approach Motivation

Tendency to move toward desirable situations or stimuli, anticipating positive outcomes and emotions.

Avoidance Motivation

Tendency to withdraw from situations perceived as threatening, anticipating negative outcomes and emotions.

Behavioral Activation System (BAS)

Neural system linked to sensitivity to reward and generation of positive emotion; underlies approach motivation.

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)

Neural system linked to sensitivity to threat and negative emotion; underlies avoidance motivation.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

Inner struggle when a single situation has both attractive and unattractive aspects.

Approach-Approach Conflict

Inner struggle when choosing between two equally desirable options.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

Inner struggle when choosing between two equally undesirable options.

Physiological Needs

Biologically based requirements such as hunger, thirst, pain avoidance, sex, and temperature regulation.

Psychological Needs

Innate requirements for autonomy, competence, relatedness, and agency that foster growth and well-being.

Autonomy

Need to experience choice and self-direction in one’s actions.

Competence

Need to feel effective and capable of achieving desired outcomes in interactions with the environment.

Relatedness

Need to establish and maintain meaningful bonds with others.

Self-Determination Theory

Framework proposing that satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness underlies intrinsic motivation.

Self-Efficacy

Belief in one’s capability to organise and execute the actions required to manage situations and attain goals.

Outcome Expectancy

Anticipated consequences—emotional or practical—attached to achieving a goal or performing a behaviour.

General Self-Efficacy

Broad confidence in one’s ability to cope with life’s challenges and opportunities.

Mastery Experience

Direct personal success in a task, the most powerful source of self-efficacy.

Vicarious Learning

Gaining efficacy by observing others’ successful performances.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Pyramid model suggesting needs progress from physiological and safety to love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation.

Self-Actualisation

Top level of Maslow’s hierarchy: the motive to realise personal potential through creativity and authenticity.

Goal

A specific object or outcome an individual strives to achieve; a key driver of motivated behaviour.

Goal Specificity

Clarity and concreteness of a goal, which enhance achievement likelihood.

Goal Difficulty

Level of challenge in a goal; higher difficulty can raise performance yet reduce success rates.

Real Self

One’s current self-perception, influencing motivated behaviour.

Social Self

How one presents oneself to others, often linked to social roles and expectations.

Ideal Self

Image of the person one would like to become, guiding aspirations and motivation.

Sustainability Behaviour

Actions (e.g., recycling, conserving energy) aimed at environmental preservation, often predicted by self-efficacy and approach motivation.