Motivation

Motivation Motivation: What does it do for us? Connects our observable behavior to internal states Accounts for variations in behavior Creates perseverance in the face of adversity

Motivation Three “Types” of Motives: Primary Drives (Biological): Necessary for Survival Hunger – Influenced by: Brain (“Hunger/Satiety Center”), hormones External controls Social influences Culture Thirst – Influenced by: Cells & Salt loss/Hypothalamus External/environmental factors Sex – Influenced by: Hormones Pheromones? Experiences & learning Culture Balut: Boiled fertilized duck egg in the shell w/ nearly fully grown embryo Casu Marza (Italy): cheese w/ live insect larva that can “jump” up to ½ foot

Motivation Three “Types” of Motives: Stimulus Motives (Innate): Unlearned, Encourage “Exploration” Exploration/curiosity: do organisms “need” stimulation? Manipulation: may explain our need to touch everything! Contact: Harlow’s monkey studies

Motivation Three “Types” of Motives: Learned (Social) Motives Aggression: may be motivated by pain or frustration – cultural? Achievement (need to excel): 3 types Work orientation: do a good job Mastery: improve abilities Competitiveness: match skills w/ opponent Affiliation: work for common cause (“belongingness”) “Joiners” vs. “Loners”

Drive-Reduction Theory (1940’s-1950’s) Behavior is motivated by biological needs IOW: Our drive is to reduce our needs. Need = requirement for survival Drive = impulse to act in way that satisfies need Primary Drives: biological needs (thirst, hunger) Secondary Drives: learned drives (money) Body seeks Homeostasis: Balanced internal state Push-Pull factors Nature (biological push) / nurture (psychological pull) Create an example of Drive-Reduction theory. Limitations of theory?

Motivation Motive: Needs, wants, desires They can be biological, social, etc. STIMULUS  MOTIVE  BEHAVIOR So what motivates us? …. Instincts? (old idea) …. Drives? (newer idea) …. Incentives? (rewards)

Motivation The Theories (what is the stimulus?): Evolutionary/Instinct Theories: Inborn behavioral patterns; unlearned, uniform, & universal fixed action patterns Do humans have instincts? The modern view?

Motivation The Theories (cont.): Arousal Theories: “motivation” is to achieve/maintain some level of physiological arousal Drive-Reduction Theory (“Push” theory): internal state of tension/arousal (the “drive” -- based on physiological need) that motivates (or “pushes”) the organism to reduce the tension, return to homeostasis (or physiological “balance”) Drive-reducing Behavior (eating, drinking) Need (food, water) Drive (hunger, thirst)

Motivation The Theories (cont.): Optimal Arousal Theory: some “ideal” level – if below optimal, motivation to increase, if above, motivation to decrease Zuckerman’s “Sensation-Seeking” Scale…

Arousal Theory Arousal Theory We seek optimum level of excitement / arousal High optimum level of arousal = high excitement behaviors Perform better at high level of arousal Yerkes-Dodson law (1908): performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. Different tasks require different levels of arousal for optimal performance

Yerkes-Dodson Law: theory that says a degree. of Yerkes-Dodson Law: theory that says a degree of psychological arousal (stress, anxiety, etc.) can actually improve performance, but only to a point; too much or too little arousal will decrease performance.

Motivation Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation Extrinsic: Desire to perform behavior because of promise of reward or threat of punishment Intrinsic: Desire to perform behavior for its own sake, for “internal” reward Examples?

Motivation Extrinsic /Intrinsic: Which is better? Intrinsic generally has the edge Extrinsic still valuable, & the two often work together Problems with extrinsic motivation: Behaviors maintained by extrinsic alone may not last once motivation is gone Will a student’s grades go down if parents stop giving them money for earning As & Bs? Evidence suggests removal of extrinsic motivator results in lowered behavior levels Overjustification Effect: if we give extrinsic rewards for things someone already loves to do, the intrinsic motivation may be replaced by the extrinsic motivation (athletes, musicians)

Motivation The Theories (cont.): Incentive Theory (“Pull” theory): External goals motivate behavior Modifed by the Expectancy-Value Model: motivation to pursue a given goal depends on your perceived likelihood of reaching the goal and the value of that goal Competency Theory: We have the need to prove ourselves. Incorporates the idea of Locus of Control: our belief that we control the outcome of our own lives (also comes into play in depression theories)

Motivation The Theories (cont.): Humanistic Theory: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Abraham Maslow (Humanist) Needs motivate behavior Natural hierarchy of human needs “Lower” needs must be met before higher can be met Criticisms?

Maslow’s Hierarchy Maslow said that there is a natural hierarchy or rank to the needs humans have. Before one of the higher needs can be fulfilled, the needs on the levels below must be met, at least to some degree. Most needs are met at a rate of about 85% before a person can move onto a higher need.

Criticism of Maslow Although critics will admit Maslow’s Hierarchy was the first real step toward a comprehensive theory of motivation, they say it isn’t complete. People often neglect their basic biological needs for more social needs Cross-cultural needs: individualistic vs. collectivist cultures see needs differently Sensation seeking: Why would someone jump out of a plane for “fun?” Other areas it doesn’t explain?

What is Emotion? Emotion is a 4 part process consisting of physiological arousal, cognitive interpretation, subjective feelings, and behavioral expression. While our emotions are very different, they all involve a state of mental and physical arousal focused on some event of importance.

Emotion Basics Emotion and motivation are complimentary process. The concept of emotion emphasizes arousal, both physical and mental, while motivation emphasizes how this arousal becomes action. Emotions help us respond to important situations and to convey our intentions to others.

Origins of Emotions The biggest breakthrough in the study of emotions was the discovery of two distinct emotional pathways in the brain. One of the pathways is fast, and operates mainly at an unconscious level where it screens incoming stimuli and helps us respond quickly to stimuli even before they reach consciousness. These cues seem to have a built-in, innate sensitivity to certain cues-explains why we have more fears of spiders, heights and lightening than cars or electricity.

Origins of Emotion The other pathway is much slower and linked to explicit memory. While it generates emotions more slowly, it delivers more complex information to our consciousness. This system relies heavily on the cerebral cortex, which is why we can feel fear, despite knowing there is no real basis for that feeling.

Experienced Emotion The ingredients of emotion

The Limbic System While the two pathways differ, they do have some things in common. Both rely heavily on the limbic system. The amygdala plays an especially important role in both emotion pathways. In the past it was thought that the amygdala was simply involved in negative emotions. Recently it has been discovered that it plays a role in positive emotions as well.

Expressed Emotion People more speedily detect an angry face than a happy one (Ohman, 2001a)

Why We Have Emotions Emotions are the result of genetics and learning, especially early in life. Emotions serve as arousal states that help organisms cope with important recurring situations. Learned emotional responses, along and genetics are both important components of many psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders and phobias.

Universality of Emotions Despite different languages, cultures and social norms, studies suggest that people “speak and understand substantially the same ‘facial language’ the world around.” Essentially, people share a set of universal emotion expressions that give support to the idea of a biological heritage of the human species.

Seven Basic Emotions Paul Ekman, a leading psychologist in emotions, suggests humans everywhere can recognize seven basic emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, happiness and surprise. Anger Happiness Disgust Surprise Sadness Fear

Expressed Emotion Culturally universal expressions

Experienced Emotion Infants’ naturally occurring emotions

Display Rules According to Ekman, the seven emotions are universal, but the display rules vary greatly, depending on the culture. He defines display rules as the permissible ways of displaying emotions in a given society.

Anger

Contempt

Disgust

Fear

Happiness

Sadness

Surprise

Reading Emotion In addition to being universal, the ability to read facial expressions is nearly ageless. Psychologists think that children as young as 5 years old have the same ability to recognize emotion on a person’s face as an adult does.

More Emotions While we can recognize Ekman’s seven emotions, most of us can think of others like greed, envy, regret, optimism, etc. Robert Plutchik suggests that rather than seven, we have eight primary emotions and eight secondary emotions. He depicts this in his “Emotion Wheel.” More complex emotions occur when pairs of adjacent emotions combine. Ex: love is a combination of joy and acceptance.

Emotion in Men and Women In our culture, on average, women are viewed as far more emotional than men. This may be the result of two factors. Biology, and the genetic make-up of men and women do lead to women “having more emotion.” Higher levels of certain hormones Culture, may be the bigger of the two causes. Boys and girls learn different lessons about emotion and emotional control. Boys are largely taught to hide emotions that may be seen as weaknesses and are praised for emotions that show strength and dominance. Girls are taught the exact opposite. Display rules of emotion

Expressed Emotion Gender and expressiveness Number of expressions Men Women Sad Happy Scary Film Type 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 Number of expressions

Experienced Emotion Catharsis Feel-good, do-good phenomenon emotional release catharsis hypothesis “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges Feel-good, do-good phenomenon people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

Subjective Well-Being Experienced Emotion Subjective Well-Being self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life used along with measures of objective well-being physical and economic indicators to evaluate people’s quality of life

Experienced Emotion Moods across the day

Experienced Emotion Does money buy happiness? Average per-person Year 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Average per-person after-tax income in 1995 dollars Percentage describing themselves as very happy $20,000 $19,000 $18,000 $17,000 $16,000 $15,000 $14,000 $13,000 $12,000 $11,000 $10,000 $9,000 $8,000 $7,000 $6,000 $5,000 $4,000 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Percentage very happy Personal income

Lateralization of Emotion Different parts of our brain deal with different emotions. In the cerebral cortex, the right hemisphere generally specializes in negative emotions and the left hemisphere generally processes more positive and joyful emotions. The idea that each hemisphere specializes in different classes of emotion has been called lateralization of emotion.

Psychological Theories of Emotion There are multiple theories on how our emotions affect out behavior and mental processes. James-Lang Theory: An emotion provoking stimulus a physical response, that then leads to emotion. Emotion follows behavior “We feel sorry because we cry; angry because we strike; afraid because we tremble.”-William James Cannon-Bard Theory: A theory that an emotional feeling and an internal physiological response occur at the same time. Emotion and behavior happen simultaneously

James-Lange Theory of Emotion Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli Fear (emotion) Pounding heart (arousal) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus)

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) Fear (emotion) Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger: physiological responses subjective experience of emotion

Psychological Theories of Emotion Two-Factor Theory: This theory suggests that the emotions we feel depend on two things: 1) our internal physical state 2) the external situation we find ourselves in. Attractive female researcher study (pg 308)

Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory of Emotion Cognitive label “I’m afraid” Fear (emotion) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) To experience emotion one must: be physically aroused cognitively label the arousal

James-Lange theory Cannon-bard theory Two-factor theory Physiological arousal trembling increased heart rate Stimulus: snake Emotion fear Physiological arousal trembling increased heart rate Emotion fear Cannon-bard theory Stimulus: snake Cognitive interpretation “I feel afraid!” Physiological arousal trembling increased heart rate Two-factor theory Emotion fear Stimulus

Psychological Theories of Emotion Cognitive Appraisal Theory: The thought that we look back on a situation and consciously decide how we should feel about the situation. Ex. Grades, Papers, Projects, Tests Opponent-Process Theory: Theory that we trigger one emotion by suppressing its opposite emotion. Ex. Drugs-the highs experienced by some drugs are replaced with lows (withdrawals). Eventually people take drugs not for the highs, but to avoid the lows.

Yerkes-Dodson Law Yerkes-Dodson law: A theory that a degree of psychological arousal helps performance, but only to a certain point. Too much or too little arousal can decrease performance. Also known as the Inverted U.