Motivation and Emotion

Motivation and Emotion

What is your main motivation to get a college education?

• This serves as an introductory question reflecting on the individual's reasons for pursuing higher education.

Motivational Concepts

Perspectives Used to Understand Motivated Behaviors

• Drive-reduction theory

• Arousal theory

• Hierarchy of needs (Maslow)

Drive-Reduction Theory

Fundamental Concepts

• Drive-reduction theory addresses the question: What motivates behavior?

• Three Assumptions:

  1. Homeostasis: The body's need to maintain a balanced internal state.

  2. Incentives: External stimuli that motivate behavior.

• Key Terms:

  1. Need: This encompasses essential resources for survival such as food and water.

  2. Drive: Internal states that arise from needs, e.g., hunger and thirst.

  3. Drive-reducing behaviors: Actions taken to alleviate drives, such as eating or drinking.

Limitations of Drive-Reduction Theory

• Discussion point on why drive-reduction theory may not fully explain motivated behavior, implying that not all motivations stem directly from physiological needs.

Arousal Theory

• Explains that some motivated behaviors actually serve to increase arousal rather than decrease it.

• Yerkes-Dodson Law: Proposes that there is an optimal level of arousal for peak performance—too little or too much arousal can hinder performance.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow's Five Levels of Human Needs

• The hierarchy is depicted as a pyramid, with the lower levels representing more basic needs:

  1. Physiological Needs: Basic requirements such as food, water, and shelter.

  2. Safety Needs: Security and stability.

  3. Belongingness and Love Needs: Friendship, intimacy, and family.

  4. Esteem Needs: Prestige and feelings of accomplishment.

  5. Self-Actualization: Achieving one's full potential, including creative activities.

  6. Self-Transcendence: Highest level, follows self-actualization.

Summary of Motivational Theories

• Drive-Reduction Theory: Proposes that physiological needs create an aroused state that demands reduction.

• Arousal Theory: Suggests we are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal for stimulation.

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Illustrates how we prioritize more immediate survival needs over higher-level psychological needs.

Hunger

Cannon-Washburn Hunger Study

• Investigates What triggers hunger?

• Participants have an empty stomach; Washburn ingests a balloon that tracks stomach contractions.

• Method: Washburn presses a key each time he senses hunger.

• Key Observation: Hunger pangs correspond to stomach contractions.

Types of Hunger Triggers

• Physiological Signals:

  • Hunger can manifest without stomach pangs due to other cues such as low blood glucose levels.

  • Hypothalamus: An integral brain structure that regulates appetite.

• Appetite Hormones:

  1. Ghrelin: Hormone that stimulates appetite.

  2. Orexin: Increases appetite.

  3. Leptin: Hormone that helps to decrease appetite.

  4. PYY: Hormone that reduces appetite signals.

Obesity and Health Implications

• Physical Health Risks Associated with Obesity:

  • Elevated chances of diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

  • Increased occurrence of depression and experiences of bullying.

• Physiological factors influencing obesity include fat storage, while environmental factors encompass lifestyle choices, like exercise frequency.

Self-Determination Theory

• Articulated by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, states that human beings have three basic psychological needs:

  • Competence: Mastery and control over life and environment.

  • Autonomy: The need for control over one’s behaviors and goals—also emphasizes the importance of choice.

  • Relatedness: A sense of belonging and connection to others, including caring relationships.

Key Motivation: Need to Belong

• Humans naturally form connections with others who share similar group identities.

• Example Scenario: Discovering a coworker is a fan of the same sports team as you.

• In-group Bias: The tendency of individuals to favor members of their own group over those of others.

• Research Reference: Tajfel et al. (1970) conducted “Minimal Groups” studies exploring social categorization effects.

Benefits of Belonging

• Belonging is crucial for survival and contributes positively to mental health by fostering social identity and connections.

The Need to Belong: Ostracism

Effects of Exclusion and Isolation

• Excluded individuals often experience a period of initial effort to restore acceptance, which can lead to:

  • A depressed mood.

  • Withdrawal into solitude.

  • Possible changes in behavior, becoming disagreeable or hostile.

• Feeling loved activates brain areas associated with rewards and satisfaction—has potential to temper the pain of ostracism.

Achievement Motivation

• Defined as the desire for significant accomplishment, mastery of skills, and high standards of performance.

• Grit: Refers to an individual's passion and perseverance in pursuing long-term goals.

• Discerns between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

• Impact Finding: Research shows that self-discipline is a more reliable predictor of school performance, attendance, and graduation honors than merely intelligence test scores.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

• For a brief overview of the concept of grit, interested individuals can refer to Angela Lee Duckworth's TED Talk.

Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition

Contextual Examples of Emotional Reactions

• Evaluative scenarios include:

  • Someone walking closely behind you in a dark alley.

  • Receiving an acceptance letter from Rutgers.

  • Failing an exam after extensive study.

  • Being cut ahead of in line during a wait.

Components of Emotions

• Emotions are comprised of three interconnected elements:

  1. Event: An external stimulus.

  2. Physiological Response: Bodily changes in response to the stimulus.

  3. Cognitive Label: Interpretation of the physiological cues, shaping the emotional experience.

Which Comes First: Body or Feeling?

• Exploring whether physiological reactions or emotional feelings arise first in the context of situation-based stimuli.

Theories of Emotion

Key Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory:

  • The sequence begins with a physiological response, followed by the cognitive interpretation leading to emotion:

  • Example: Angry dog barking leads to heart rate increase (physiological response) followed by fear (emotion).

• Cannon-Bard Theory:

  • Proposes simultaneous occurrence of physiological response and emotion when exposed to stimuli:

  • Example: Angry dog barking leads to both increased heart rate and experiencing fear concurrently.

• Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory:

  • Emotion results from a combination of physiological responses and cognitive labels:

  • Example: Experiencing rapid heart rate and using cognitive interpretation results in the emotion of fear, or possibly interpretable as being in love depending on context.

The Spillover Effect

• Arousal from one event can carry over to influence responses in subsequent events.

• The Schachter and Singer Experiment explores these emotions in complex, social contexts.

Lazarus' Cognitive-Mediational Theory

• Emphasizes the role of cognitive appraisal in determining emotional experiences, which may occur with or without conscious awareness:

  • Framework: First acknowledgment of primary appraisal (identifying a threat) followed by secondary appraisal (deciding how to respond) results in emotional outcomes, whether negative (stress) or positive (motivation).

Summary of Emotion Theories