MOTIVATION AND

CHAPTER 9

EMOTION
 MOTIVATION

• What is motivation?
- concerns the factors that direct and
energize the behaviour of humans and
other organisms
• Psychologists try to figure out the motives
underlying behaviour
• e.g. eating to satisfy hunger, using fb
messenger to talk to a friend
• Motivation is concerned with the forces
that direct future behaviour, while
emotion pertains to the feelings we
experience throughout the course of our
lives
 WHY STUDY MOTIVATION AND
EMOTION TOGETHER?

• Interrelated
• Emotions motivate our
behaviour
• Emotions can also reflect our
underlying motivation
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO STUDYING
MOTIVATION

• Different factors are involved in

motivation – biological,
cognitive, social factors  all
seek to explain the energy that
guides people’s behaviours
APPROACH #1 - INSTINCT APPROACH

- when psychologists first tried to

explain motivation, they turned
to INSTINCTS
- e.g. sex may be explained as a
response to the instinct of
reproduction
- what are some problems with
the instinct approach?
 APPROACH #2 - DRIVE-REDUCTION
APPROACHES

• After rejecting instinct approach, moved onto

drive-reduction approach
• Drive reduction approach – theory
suggesting that when people lack some
basic biological requirement such as water, a
drive to obtain that requirement is produced
• Drive – motivational tension, or arousal, that
energizes behaviour in order to fulfill some
need
• Homeostasis – our bodies’ desire to maintain
an internal steady state
APPROACH #3 - AROUSAL APPROACHES

• seek to explain behaviour in which the goal is

to maintain or increase excitement
• Arousal approaches to motivation – belief
that we try to maintain a certain level of
stimulation and activity, increasing or
reducing them as necessary
• Contrasted with drive-reduction – if levels of
stimulation too low, we try to INCREASE them
• Some people seek out more arousal than
others (sensation-seeking)
 APPROACH #4 - INCENTIVE
APPROACHES
• suggest that motivation stems from the
desire to obtain valued external goals, or
incentives
• e.g. a good grade is the incentive that
motivates people to study
• Many psychologists believe that the
internal drives proposed by drive-
reduction theory work together with the
external incentives of incentive theory
APPROACH #5 - COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• suggest that motivation is a product of

thoughts, expectations, and goals – their
cognitions
• Intrinsic motivation – causes us to
participate in an activity for our own
enjoyment
• Extrinsic motivation – causes us to do
something for money, a grade, or some
other concrete, tangible reward
• Importance of intrinsic motivation over
extrinsic
SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY OF MOTIVATION

• Self-determination theory (SDT) - theory of human

motivation in which the social context of an action has
an effect on the type of motivation existing for the
action.
• Has different mini-theories – but you only need to
know about the Basic Psychological Needs Theory
• Need for autonomy – the need to be in control of
ones own behaviour and goals
• Need for competence – need to be able to master the
challenging tasks of ones life
• Need for Relatedness – need to feel sense of
belonging, intimacy, and supported in relationships
• Intrinsic motivation
• http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/
 MASLOW: HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
• Maslow – model of motivation
• Considers different motivational needs –
must meet primary needs first, then
progress to higher-order needs
• hierarchy of needs looks like a pyramid –
more basic needs at bottom
• Very important level – self-actualization –
state of self-fulfillment in which people
realize their highest potential in their own
unique way
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 MASLOW: HIERARCHY OF NEEDS III

• What is a drawback to Maslow’s

model?
• It is important for 2 reasons –
• 1st – it highlights the complexity of
human needs
• 2nd – it emphasizes that until more
basic biological needs are met,
people will be relatively
unconcerned with higher-order
needs
 MOTIVATION BEHIND HUNGER AND
EATING
• Researchers find that people often have
incorrect beliefs about hunger and eating
• Biological explanations of hunger vs social
explanations of hunger
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Ltd.
 BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN REGULATION
OF HUNGER

• Nonhuman species unlikely to become obese

• Internal mechanisms cause this
• Mechanisms by which organisms know whether they
require food or should stop eating complex – one
important factor – changes in level of glucose
• Glucose regulated by the hypothalamus – damage to
this part of the brain affects eating behaviours
• Weight-set point may be affected by damaged
hypothalamus
• Metabolism (rate at which food is converted into
energy to be expended by body) important
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Ltd.
 SOCIAL FACTORS IN EATING
• Internal biological factors do not provide a full
explanation for our eating behaviour
• External social factors also play a role – e.g.
you are at your partner’s house for dinner
and his or her mom keeps offering you food
• Cultural influences and our own individual
habits play an important role in determining
when, what, and how much we eat
• Also may find yourself going to the fridge
when you are depressed
• Herman and Polivy (U of T) – social
facilitation, modelling, impression
managmeent
 EATING DISORDERS

• Anorexia Nervosa – severe eating

disorder in which people refuse to eat,
while denying that their behaviour and
appearance are unusual
• Bulimia – binge on large quantities of
food then purge by vomiting, using
laxatives, or extreme exercise
• What causes these (and the other)
eating disorders – sociocultural,
psychological or biological…
 THIRST

• Extracellular Thirst:
• When water is lost from fluids
surrounding the cells of the body
• Intracellular Thirst:
• When fluid is drawn out of cells
because of increased concentration
of salts and minerals outside the
cell
• Best satisfied by drinking water
 SEXUAL MOTIVATION

• Non-Homeostatic Drive:
• A drive that is relatively independent of physical
deprivation cycles or bodily need states.
• Hormonal regulation
• Estrogens
• Androgens
• Testosterone
• Evolutionary factors
• Parental investment theory
• Gender differences in sexual activity
• Gender differences in mate preferences
 THE MYSTERY OF
SEXUAL ORIENTATION

• Heterosexual – Bisexual – Homosexual

• A continuum
• Theories explaining homosexuality
• Biological

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 SECONDARY DRIVES

• Need for Achievement

• Need for Affiliation

• Need for Power

 EMOTIONS

• IDENTIFY THE
EMOTIONS
 UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONAL
EXPERIENCES

• EMOTIONS – feelings that generally have

both physiological and cognitive elements
and that influence behaviour
• e.g. happy – when we are happy, our
heart rate may increase, we may think
`happy` thoughts, etc.
• What are the functions of emotions?
• Prepare us for action
• Shape our future behaviour
• Help us interact more effectively with others
 DETERMINING THE RANGE OF
EMOTIONS
• Over 500 words having to do with
`emotions` in the dictionary
• Important for psychologists – sort through list
and find most important
• Researchers argue how to best do this (and
whether we should do it at all)
• Most researchers suggest that list of SIX
basic emotions would include (at minimum) –
• Happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust and
______
• New emotion added?
 (P. 237)

Figure 9.16
Primary and mixed emotions. In Robert Plutchik’s model there are eight primary
emotions, as listed in the inner areas. Adjacent emotions may combine to give the
emotions listed around the perimeter. Mixtures involving more widely separated
emotions are also possible. For example, fear plus anticipation produces anxiety.
 THE ROOTS OF EMOTIONS

• Bodily reactions go hand in hand with

experience of emotion
• Physiological changes occurring without your
awareness but emotional experience
accompanying them will be obvious – you
would report being scared
• Some theorists propose that there are specific
bodily reactions that cause us to experience a
particular emotion – experience fear because
heart pounding
• Other theorists – physiological reaction is the
result of the experience of emotion
 THEORIES OF EMOTION

• James-Lange
• Feel afraid because pulse is racing
• Cannon-Bard
• Thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the
cortex and the autonomic nervous system
• Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory
• Look to external cues to decide what to feel
• Evolutionary Theories
• Innate reactions with little cognitive
interpretation

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 P. 345)

A contemporary model of emotion.