MOTIVATION & EMOTION

MOTIVATION & EMOTION

 1) How do motives function in our lives,
 2) How do our diverse motives influence
behavior?
 3) What happens when motives conflict with
one another?
 4) Are there research-based guidelines for goal
attainment?
 5) How do biological, psychological and
environmental factors influence our emotions?
 6) How do these factors interact with one
another?
 7) How does culture influence emotional
experience and expression?
MOTIVATION
 Motivation ???
 …. A process that influences the direction,
persistence and vigor of goal-directed
behavior….
 According to Darwin’s theory of evolution,
instincts motivate much of our behavior.
 Instinct is an inherited characteristic
common to all members of species that
automatically produces a particular response
when the organism is exposed to a
particular stimulus.
MOTIVATION
 According to Hull’s drive theory of
motivation, physiological disruptions to
homeostasis (a state of internal physiological
equilibrium that the body strives to maintain)
produce drives, states of internal tension
that motivate an organism to behave in ways
reducing this tension. For ex: hunger, thirst..
 For Hull, reducing drives is the ultimate goal
of motivated behavior.
MOTIVATION
 Approach and avoidance motivation:
 There are two kinds of systems:
 The behavioral activation system (BAS):
 → It is roused to action by signals of potential reward and
positive need gratification.
 → Acitivity in this neural system causes the person to begin or to
increase movement toward positive goals in anticipation of
pleasure.
 → The BAS produces emotions of hope, elation and happiness.
 → The prefrontal area in the left hemisphere involved in goal-
directed planning and self-regulation is part of the BAS.
 → The BAS links approach motives and desired incentives with
positive emotions.
 → People high in the BAS prefer change and novelty.
MOTIVATION
 Approach and avoidance motivation:
 There are two kinds of systems:
 The behavioral inhibition system (BIS):
 → It responds to stimuli signaling potential pain,
nonreinforcement and punishment.
 → It produces fear, inhibition of behavior, escape and
avoidance.
 → It is involved in several structures of limbic system
and right frontal lobe.
 → The BIS links avoidance motives with negative
emotions such as fear, depression and guilt.
 → People high in BIS prefer familiarity.
MOTIVATION
 Cognitive processes: Incentives and
expectancies:
 Whereas drives are viewed as internal
factors that push an organism into action,
incentives represent environmental stimuli
that pull an organism toward a goal.
 For ex: To a student, anticipating a good
grade can be an incentive for studying ..
MOTIVATION
 Cognitive processes: Incentives and
expectancies:
 Why do people often respond differently to
same incentive?
 According to expectancy X value theory, goal-
directed behavior is jointly determined by the
strength of the person’s expectation that particular
behaviors will lead to a goal and by the incentive
value the individual places on that goal.
 For ex: James works hard because he believes the
more he studies, the more likely he will get an A, and
he strongly desires an A. In constrast, Harrison values
an A but believes that studying hard is unlikely to
produce a high grade for him. Therefore, Harrison
doesn’t study as hard as James does.
MOTIVATION
 Cognitive processes: Incentives and
expectancies:
 Cognitive theorists also distinguish between
extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
 Extrinsic motivation → performing an
activity to obtain an external reward or avoid
punishment
 Intrinsic motivation → performing an
activity for its own sake – because you find it
enjoyable or challenging.
 For ex: A student who studies hard solely to
get a good grade (rather than learn) is
exhibiting extrinsic motivation.
MOTIVATION
 Psychodynamic views:
 The psychodynamic perspective views
motivation within a broader context of
personality development.
 Freud proposed that energy from
unconscious motives (sexual and aggressive
instincts) make up one’s motivation.They
guide how we act and feel.They are often
disguised and expressed through socially
acceptable behaviors.
MOTIVATION
 Maslow’s need hierarchy:
 Maslow proposed the concept of need hierarchy, a
progression containing deficiency needs (needs concerned
with physical and social survival) at the bottom and uniquely
human growth needs at top.
MOTIVATION
 Maslow’s need hierarchy:
 To Maslow, self-actualization represents the need to
fulfill our potential. And it is the ultimate human
motive.
 Self-actualization motivates us to perfect ourselves
mentally, artistically, emotionally, socially, to explore
activities for their intrinsic satisfaction, to live deep and
meaningful lives dedicated to betterment of all people.
 Some people who approach self-actualization such as
Einstein, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, … achieve self-
transcendence.
 Self-transcendence refers to moving beyond a focus
on self to commit themselves to the welfare of others, to
spiritual fulfillment, and to causes higher than themselves.
MOTIVATION
 Self-determination theory:
 It focuses on three fundamental psychological needs –
competence, autonomy, and relatedness- and on how they relate
to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
 According to the theory, these needs are basic and universal.
When they are satisfied, people are most self-actualized.
 a) The need of competence → a basic human need to
experience oneself as capable, to master new challenges, and to
perfect skills. It motivates many exploratory and growth-inducing
human behaviors.
 b) The need of autonomy → is satisfied when people who
experience their actions as a result of free choice without
external interference. It leads to greater ownership of behaviors,
feelings of personal control.
 c) The need of relatedness → our desire to form meaningful
bonds with others, to care and to be cared for. For ex: When
adolescents feel that their autonomy is supported by their
parents, they feel a strong sense of relatedness to their parents.
MOTIVATION
 Selfdetermination theory focuses on
distintions between intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation.
MOTIVATION
MOTIVATION
 Social motivation:
A socially oriented lifestyle had an adaptive
value (survival value) for evolutionary
theorists due to:
 - affording greater access to sexual mates,
 - more protection from predators,
 - an efficient division of labor,
 - passing knowledge across geenrations
MOTIVATION
 Social motivation:
 For Hill, we affiliate for four basic
psychological reasons:
 - to obtain positive stimulation
 - to receive emotional support
 - to gain attention
 - to permit social comparison
MOTIVATION
 Social motivation:
 Social comparison involves comparing our
beliefs, feelings, and behaviors with those of
other people. It helps us determine whether
our responses are normal and enables us to
judge the level of our cognitive and physical
abilities.
MOTIVATION
 Achievement motivation:
 In 1950s, McClelland, Atkinson and their coworkers
began to explore individual differences in need for
achievement – a positive desire to accomplish tasks
and compete successfully with standards of
excellence.
 For McClelland and Atkinson, the achievement
behavior can stem from a positively oriented motive
for success and a negatively oriented motivation to
avoid failure – fear of failure. Need for achievement
is the positive orientation toward success.
 The BAS system → the achievement domain
 The BIS system → fear of failure
MOTIVATION
 Achievement goal theory:
 It focuses on the manner in which success is defined both
by the individual and within the achievement situation
itself.
 At the individual level, achievement goal theorists are
interested in the achievement goal orientation people
have. They differentiate mastery and ego orientation.
 Mastery orientation → the focus is on personal
improvement, giving maximum effort, and perfecting new
skills
 Ego orientation → the goal is to outperform others.
 At the situational level, it focuses on motivational
climate. Motivational climate encourages or rewards
either a mastery approach or ego approach to defining
success. It is influenced by significant others such as
parents, teachers, coaches, supervisors ..
MOTIVATION
 2x2 Achievement goal theory:
 Each of us can be described in terms of an
achievement motivation profile.
 There are four kinds of achievement goals:
 a) Mastery-approach goals → the desire to
amster a task and learn new knowledge or skills
 b) Ego-approach goals → a competitive
orientation focusing on outperforming other
people
 c) Mastery-avoidance goals → a fear of not
performing up to one’s own standards
 d) Ego-avoidance goals → avoiding being
outperformed by others.
MOTIVATION
 2x2 Achievement goal theory:
 Where performance in academic settings is
concerned, the optimal motivational pattern
is a combination of mastery-approach and
ego-approach goals.
MOTIVATION
 How does achievement motivation
develop?
 Parents’ providing a cognitively stimulating
home environment (intrinsic mot) –
encourage and reward achievement but not
punish failure – mastery motivational climate
 Cultural norms (individualistic – personal
achievement; collectivistic – expectation of
family)
MOTIVATION
 Motivational conflict:
 There are three basic types of conflict:
 a) Approach-approach conflict occurs when we
face two attractive alternatives and selecting one
means losing the other. For ex: a choice between
two desirable careers ..
 b) Avoidance-avoidance conflict occurs when we
must choose between two undesirable alternatives.
For ex: Do I study boring material for an exam, or
do I skip studying and fail?
 c) Approach-avoidance conflict involves being
attracted to and repelled by the same goal. For ex: A
man desires an intimate relationship with a woman
but fears the possibility of future rejection.
EMOTION
 Emotions???
 …. Feeling (affect) states involving a pattern of
cognitive, physiological and behavioral reactions
to events ….
 Emotions have adaptive functions:
 - an emergency arousal system increasing
survival chances
 - helping the formation of intimate relations and
broadening thinking and behavior (new ideas, ..)
 - making up essential form of social
communication
 - making up important source of life satisfaction
and psychological adjustment
EMOTION
 The nature of emotions:
 Our emotional states share four common features:
 1) Emotions are triggered by external or internal
eliciting stimuli
 2) Emotional responses result from our appraisals of
these stimuli, giving the situation its perceived
meaning and significance.
 3) Our bodies respond physiologically to our
appraisals.
 4) Emotions include behavior tendencies. Some are
expressive behaviors (smiling, crying..) Others are
instrumental behaviors (studying for an anxiety
arousing test, fighting back in self-defense ..)
EMOTION
 1) Emotions are triggered by external
or internal eliciting stimuli:
 Emotions are responses to situations, people,
objects, or events.
 The eliciting stimuli triggers cognitive
appraisals and emotional responses.They can
be external and internal.
EMOTION
 2) Emotional responses result from our
appraisals of these stimuli, giving the situation
its perceived meaning and significance.
 Mental processes can evoke emotional responses.
They influence how we express emotions and act on
them.
 Cognitive appraisals are the interpretations and
meanings we attach to sensory stimuli.
 Both conscious and unconscious processes are
involved in appraisals.
 Cognitive appraisals provide explanations for why
different people have different emotional reactions to
the sam event.
EMOTION
 3) Our bodies respond physiologically to our
appraisals.
 Emotions involve important interactions between several
brain areas including limbic system and cerebral cortex.
 Sensory input to the thalamus can be routed directly
to the amygdala in the limbic system, producing an
unconscious emotional response before cognitive
responses evoked by the other pathway to the cortex
can occur.
 Amygdala serves as early-warning system for
threatening stimuli. It controls physiological and
behavioral components of emotional responses.
 Cerebral cortex receives sensory input from thalamus
and processes it as perceptions and interpretations,
conscious part of emotions.
 Prefrontal cortex regulates emotional expressions.
EMOTION
 4) Emotions include behavior tendencies.
 Expressive behaviors are the person’s
observable emotional displays like smiling,
crying .. Cultural display rules dictate when and
how particular emotions are to be expressed.
 Instrumental behaviors are directed at achieving
some emotion-relevant goal. For ex: A person in
love searches for ways to evoke affection from
his partner. A mother angered by her child’s
behavior finds a nondestructive way to get her
point across. …
EMOTION
 Theories of emotion:
 The James-Lange somatic theory → Our bodily
reactions determine the subjective emotion we
experience. For ex: We know we are afraid or in love
because our body’s reactions tell us so. The
experience of emotion is caused by somatic feedback
and physiological arousal.
 The Cannon-Bard theory → The subjective
experience of emotion and physiological arousal do
not cause one another but instead are independent
responses to an emotion-arousing stimuli. Emotional
experiences result from signals sent directly from
thalamus to cortex, not from bodily feedback.
EMOTION
 Theories of emotion:
 Facial feedback hypothesis → feedback
from facial muscles to the rbain plays a key role
in determining the nature and intensity of
emotions we experience.
 Cognitive-affective theories → examine
how cognitions and physiological responses
interact. Schachter’s two-factor theory of
emotion → the intensity of physiological
arousal tells us how strongly we are feeling
something, but situational cues give us the
information we need to label the arousal and
tell ourselves what we are feeling.