PSY 101: Introduction to

Psychology
Lecture 6
Chapter 6: Emotion & Motivation
Ms. Ashma Rahman
Lecturer
Department of History and Philosophy
The Discussion Will Focus on:

1) Definition of the concept of Emotion

2) Function of Emotion
3) Types of Emotion
4) Theories to Understand Emotion
 Understanding Emotional Experiences
what actually emotion is, that triggers different behaviors in us?

Emotion is defined as a characterized feelings that have

physiological and cognitive aspects/elements and that
influences our behavior. ( Feldman, 2008)

e.g. suppose you are walking late night on a street and you hear
footsteps behind you. The physiological arousal occurs as your
heart starts pounding and your response could be a quick run
toward the police check post and your cognitive aspects would
be your worry about the money with you and out of this entire
situation your feelings would be fear and panic.
The Emotion does play a very important role in our life.
From the massive devastation done in a war to the sacrifice of
one’s most valuable thing is driven by emotion in one way or
another.

Part of its job is to provide energy and motivation that let us

meet our goals.
It is an integrated response of our mind and body to some
stimuli.
e.g. one might lock himself in a room for an entire day for
failing in the final exam. This particular response might have
a feeling of shame and sadness that will lead to a lose of
appetite and an increase in sleep.
The functioning components of the Physiological arousal that is involved
in a typical emotional response

• The Autonomic Nervous System instantly become activated when

confronts a emotional situation. The Sympathetic part of autonomic
Nervous System → then arouses the increased functions of vital body
organs. ( the important job of this section of nervous system is to
prepare u for emergency situation) after the emotional phase is over the
Parasympathetic Nervous System → calms down the increased activity
of the organs. ( heart, brain) and relaxes our body.

An example of physiological changes (or arousal) are a pounding heart

(palpitations triggered by stress), sweating palms, “butterflies in the
stomach” (anxious and nervous feelings), and other bodily reactions.
Emotion is manifested in Behavioral Expression– it can be
verbal or nonverbal
Nonverbal Expression– includes changes in facial expression,
posture, gestures, etc.

Facial Expressions of– happiness, anger, sadness, surprise,

disgust and fear are found to be universal.
• It not only reflects an emotional experience but also helps to
label emotions globally. Researchers found proof in its favor
which led to a hypothesis known as facial-feedback
hypothesis.
• Which says that, the facial expression of basic emotions are
similar regardless of the culture and the race.
 Identifying Facial Expressions

•
 The Functions of Emotions

1) Prepare us for action: It links the environment

and our physiological responses. E.g. if
someone sees a dog, then the emotion fear
will get associated with physiological arousal of
sympathetic nervous system and it will prepare
the person for “fight or flight” response.
2) Shape our future behavior: it promote
learning that help us to make appropriate
response in the future. E.g. the emotional
experience of some unpleasant event teaches
us to avoid similar kind of thing in the future.
3) Help us interact more effectively with others:

Our behavioral expression became more effective with the

combination of our facial expression, gesture and posture. The
combination of all the components such as the physiological
arousal, conscious awareness and our feelings help us to deal
with the people around us much more efficiently.

e.g. imagine your best friend gave you the news of his/her new
job at a big corporation and you reacted like robot to her/him
without any sign of joy in your face or gesture/posture, even
though you consciously felt happy for him/her. Definitely, it
won’t carry the right message that you wanted to deliver.
 Types of emotions
Primary/Basic Emotions:
scientists have concluded six basic types emotions regardless
of culture, race, ethnicity etc.
They are:
• happiness,
• anger,
• sadness,
• surprise,
• disgust and
• fear
 Based on the feelings of emotional
experience, the typology of emotion is:

Emotion
s

Positive Negative

Love Joy Anger Sadness Fear

 Rots of emotions/ Theories to understand
emotion

• The Schachter-Singer Theory

 Schachter-Singer (Two-Factor) Theory

• It says that, we identify the emotion we are

experiencing by observing our environment
• They belief that emotions are determined jointly
by physiological arousal and its interpretation,
based on environmental cues.
• Physiological arousal
• Cognitive labeling
• Arousal  Interpret external cues ( the
environment)  Label emotion (feeling of fear, joy)
 Schachter-Singer (Two-Factor) Theory
it put the person who is experiencing the emotion in an active
role, Since the emotion depends on how the environmental
factors ( cues) will be interpreted and labeled. For example, a
street dog resting across the street might create a very fearful
experience for someone who had a bad memory of street dog.

The same event might trigger a very different emotional

experience for someone who have lost his dear pet recently.

Here the physiological activity took place might be the same but
the emotion produced by the arousal is very different in nature.
Which occurred due to the different types of interpretation of
the environmental cues.
 Motivation
The discussion will include

• Explanation about the concept of motivation

• Types of motivation
• Theories to understand motivation
• Some important learned motivation
 Explaining Motivation
What is Motivation?

• Motivation is the factor the energizes and

directs behavior (Feldman, 2008)
• It is what either starts or stops behavior.

• It is the internal and external forces that drive

our thoughts, moods, and behaviors.
 Explaining Motivation
• Motivation is that invisible force that forces
someone to strive for a specific result despite
repetitive failure.
• The range of motivator is huge and is not clearly
defined yet. But the basic needs of a cretin
species mostly function as constant.
• The motivating factors those we get to learn
from our surroundings varies greatly according
to cultures and experiences.
Human Needs and Motivation
• For human, motive is normally the specific
reason for performing a specific action. It can
be an incentive, a particular goal or objective.
• Example: They ran away to avoid being
punished (motive = to avoid being punished).

Types of Motives
• Primary Motives
• Secondary Motives
• Primary Motives are based on biological needs
that must be met for survival. They are innate,
like hunger, thirst, sex, pain avoidance, needs
for air, sleep, elimination of wastes, and
regulation of body temperature.
• Secondary motives: motivated to do something
for fame, power, affiliation, approval, status,
security, and achievement. Based on learned
needs, drives, and goals.
• Helps explain many human activities like making
music, creating a web page, trying to win a
skateboarding contest etc.
 Types of Motives

For something to be a motivator for someone, the value of

that particular thing must be known by the individual.
For the primary motivators our body automatically knows
the worth of those. e.g. the value of food is instinctually
known by our body irrespective of any experience. A
newborn’s cry for food. No one teaches him/her to cry.
On the other hand, the value of secondary motivators are
learned. It varies with culture and society. The
secondary motivators are directly or indirectly
associated with the primary motivators. E.g. money.
 Theories of (Approaches to) Motivation

Different theories to look at motivation

• Instinct theory
• Incentive theory
• Cognitive theory
 Instinct Theory: Born to be Motivated

• Instincts: Inborn patterns of behavior/ feature that are

biologically determined rather than learned and can be
found in all the members of a certain species. E.g. dog’s
capacity to smell.

• Instinct theory proposes that, organisms are motivated

to engage in certain behaviors because of their genetic
programming (Instincts) and because these behaviors
lead to success in terms of survival. E.g. the behavior
pattern to search for food is pre-programmed in us.
 The flaws of Instinct Theory

• The theory basically indicated the instinctual

behavior of ours. Here, the complexity of
different types of social behaviors remained
unaddressed.
• There was no specific number of instincts that
was provided in this theory.
 Incentive Theory
This theory suggests that behavior is motivated by the
desire to obtain valued external goals, or incentives or
rewards (e.g., grades, money, affection, food)
• You come to class to get a grade of ‘A’
• You work out to get compliments
• You go to work to earn money to buy a house
• We became motivated for something which is
valuable to us, or which can provide us any means of
incentive.
Flaw of this theory: But in reality, not all of human
behavior has a direct reward attached to it.
Cognitive Theory
• This theory suggests that motivation is a product of people’s thoughts,
expectations, and goals—their cognitions. That means, one will be
motivated if s/he feels or thinks that particular task or goal as worth
trying.
• For instance, the degree to which people are motivated to study for a test
is based on their expectation of how well studying will pay off in terms of
a good grade.
 Cognitive theorists distinguish between two types of motivations.
• Extrinsic Motivation: A type of motivation in which a person performs an
action because it leads to an outcome that is separate from or external to
the person. Example: Going to work for money.
• Intrinsic Motivation: A type of motivation in which a person performs an
action because the act itself is rewarding or satisfying in some internal
manner. Example: Creating a web site for fun.
 Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• People are born good. They all have the capacity to become the
best of themselves. People strive for a positive view of the self to
realize their own potentials fully. These needs were innate but
without a supportive, nurturing environment, this essential
striving for full potential can not take place.
Sequence of needs
• Basic needs must be met before moving on to tackle the higher
ones.
• For example, if you don’t have enough to eat, or scared that you
may lose your house, you probably won’t strive much for personal
accomplishment.
 
A pyramid can represent the model with the
more basic needs at the bottom and the higher-
level needs at the top.
• Self-actualization
– Motivation to be developed with our fullest
potential
– A state of self-fulfillment; in which people realize
their highest potential in their own unique way.
e.g. individual discovers his skill of arts and excels
in it.
– Maslow suggested that self-actualization occurred
in only a few famous individuals
Some highly powerful learned motivations

• The Need for Achievement

• The Need for Affiliation
• The Need for Power
The Need for Achievement: Striving for Success
• Need for Achievement
• A habitual desire to achieve goals through ones
efforts. The desire to excel or meet some internalized
standard of excellence. People want to do well in any
situation.
The Need for Affiliation: Striving for Friendship
• Need for Affiliation
• An interest in establishing and maintaining
relationships with other people.
• People who have higher affiliation needs are
particularly sensitive to relationships with others.
The Need for Power: Striving for Impact on
Others
• Need for Power

• A tendency to seek impact, control, or

influence over others and to be seen as a
powerful individual.
• Individuals with high power need tend to
show high levels of aggression, participate
more frequently in competitive sports/events.