Motivation & Emotion – Key Vocabulary
Importance & Broad Relevance of Motivation and Emotion
Lecturer: Nicola Schrota stresses that motivation and emotion are core to understanding human functioning.
Application domains (mentioned explicitly):
Personal life decision-making and well-being.
Interpersonal relationships.
Work/organizational psychology, human resources.
Education (children & adults).
Therapy & counselling.
Sport and performance settings.
Take-home idea: Concepts you learn here travel widely across contexts; cultivate transfer thinking.
Course Road-Map (3 sessions)
Session 1 (current): Nature of motivation.
Session 2: Nature and taxonomy of emotion.
Session 3: Dynamic interaction between motivation & emotion and their impact on behaviour.
Visual Kick-Off Example – The Runners Photograph
Tasks for students: infer (a) training motives, (b) in-race motives, (c) emotions displayed.
Motives surfaced in class discussion:
Extrinsic rewards (medals, trophies, public recognition).
Early encouragement & positive feedback → developed sense of competence/self-efficacy.
Identity motive: “I am a runner” (self-concept as motivational fuel).
Emotion cues:
Facial/bodily signs of focus & determination (possible “blended” emotions).
Anticipatory pride for front runner vs. possible disappointment for rear runner.
Immediate illustration of bidirectional links: motivation shapes emotion, felt emotion reshapes moment-to-moment motivation.
Working Definitions of Motivation
Internal process that gives direction & energy to behaviour.
Alternative wording: process of starting, directing, and maintaining goal-oriented activities.
Everyday examples: choosing to attend university, staying engaged in lecture, studying for exams.
Why Do Humans Need Motivation? – Four Perspectives
Survival & growth: guides approach toward beneficial stimuli and avoidance of harm.
Humanistic: fosters unfolding of personal potential.
Social-evolutionary: drives prosocial interactions, cooperation, child-rearing.
Affective: supplies anticipated positive vs. negative emotions that regulate behavioural persistence.
Two Fundamental Directions
Approach Motivation
Orients organism toward desired stimuli, opportunities, rewards.
Anticipated affect: positive (joy, pride, satisfaction).
Neurobiological correlate: Behavioural Activation System (BAS) → sensitive to reward cues and generator of positive affect.
Avoidance Motivation
Orients organism away from threats, punishment, loss.
Anticipated affect: negative (fear, anxiety, disgust).
Neurobiological correlate: Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) → sensitive to threat cues and negative affect.
Empirical Illustration – Sustainability Behaviour (Schrota & Jatbullah)
Two-study design connecting self-efficacy, changeability beliefs, and approach motivation for pro-environmental acts.
Key statistical highlights (Study 1):
Self-efficacy → Approach motivation: r = .44 (strong).
Changeability belief → Approach motivation: weaker but significant.
Approach motivation → Reported recycling/energy-saving behaviour (positive path coefficient shown in path model slide).
Interventions (Study 2):
Program boosting self-efficacy and program boosting malleability beliefs both elevated approach motivation.
Self-efficacy-centred intervention produced strongest increase in intention to purchase “green” products.
Pedagogical purpose: demonstrates how abstract constructs translate to measurable change in applied arenas.
Approach–Avoidance Conflict Typology
Real life often features mixed valence cues → motivational conflicts.
Approach–Avoidance conflict: single option has pros & cons (e.g., better-paid job vs. night shifts).
Approach–Approach conflict: must choose between two attractive options (e.g., two desirable job offers).
Avoidance–Avoidance conflict: choice between two aversive options (e.g., dentist visit vs. ongoing toothache).
Affective fallout: worry, stress, cognitive rumination until one tendency outweighs the other.
Sources of Motivation: Internal vs. External Triggers
Internal (need-based): physiological deficit (hunger) instigates approach to food.
External cues/incentives: sight/smell of pastry can induce hunger & purchase even without prior deficit.
Interaction: external cues often amplify or modulate internally generated states.
Needs That Power Motivation
Physiological Needs (survival anchored)
Hunger → approach food.
Thirst → seek fluids.
Sex → species survival & individual bonding.
Pain avoidance → rapid withdrawal; note clinical case of congenital analgesia (no pain) underscores adaptive value.
Psychological Needs (Self-Determination Theory core)
Autonomy – desire to self-govern decisions/actions.
Example: researcher choosing own topics; employee resisting micromanagement.
Competence – desire to be effective and master environment.
Examples: finishing a complex project, learning software, providing for family.
Relatedness – desire to belong, connect, form close bonds.
Examples: making friends in new city, family calls, adverse effects of solitary confinement.
Agency/Sense of causality – broader feeling that one’s actions make a difference.
Intrinsic Motivation (IM)
Behaviour undertaken for inherent satisfaction rather than separable consequence.
SDT claim: fulfilment of autonomy, competence, relatedness naturally elicits IM.
Personal examples to reflect on: painting, hiking in nature, deep conversation, solving puzzles.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Historical Model)
Pyramid (bottom → top):
Physiological (food, water, air).
Safety (body, employment, resources, health).
Love/Belonging (family, friendship, intimacy).
Esteem (self-esteem, recognition, status).
Self-Actualization (creativity, morality, realizing potential).
Empirical caveats:
General trend: deficits at lower levels dominate attention, but not absolute.
Counter-examples: altruistic kidney donation (sacrifices personal safety for relatedness/values).
Goals as Immediate Motivational Drivers
Definition: cognitive representations of desired end states.
Interaction loop:
Needs shape goal selection.
Goals channel behaviour and self-regulation.
Components of goal motivation:
Outcome expectancy: belief goal attainment is possible.
Anticipated affect: vision of pride, satisfaction fueling effort.
Empirical findings (Goal-Setting Theory):
Specific & concrete goals outperform vague intentions.
Challenging (yet attainable) goals ↑ performance, albeit with risk of failure disappointment.
The Self as Motivational Engine
Real (actual) self: current self-description → guides congruent behaviour.
Social self: how we present to others; role-based scripts (therapist, parent, team leader) can prime matching actions.
Ideal self: aspirational blueprint → motivates growth and change (e.g., envisioning oneself as healthier, more skilled).
Classroom exercise suggested: write ideal-self paragraph and note resulting action impulses.
Self-Efficacy (Bandura)
Definition: belief in capability to organize & execute actions for specific outcomes.
High self-efficacy → greater task initiation, persistence, resilience.
Low self-efficacy → avoidance, quick disengagement.
Major sources:
Mastery experience (most powerful).
Vicarious modelling (observing peers succeed).
Verbal persuasion (encouragement from others/self-talk).
Physiological/affective cues (interpreting arousal as readiness vs. fear).
General self-efficacy: cross-domain confidence in managing life’s demands; often accumulates from multiple domain-specific successes plus supportive social messaging.
Ethical & Practical Implications Discussed
Designing interventions (e.g., sustainability) must respect autonomy while enhancing perceived competence.
Workplace policy: balancing approach incentives (bonuses) with avoidance factors (overload) to reduce conflicts.
Parenting/teaching: cultivate self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation rather than reliance on extrinsic rewards alone.
Solitary confinement example highlights human rights concerns tied to denying relatedness need.
Looking Ahead
Next lecture: systematic classification of emotions (basic, secondary, blended) and their regulatory functions.
Final session: integrative models where motivation & emotion co-determine attention, cognition, and behaviour across contexts.