Motivation And Emotion April 25, 2008

Motivation, what is it?

One of the challenges for modern psychology is to understand what motivates people to act.

Motivation An urge or a need that leads to goal oriented behaviour. It directs our behaviours. The urge is triggered by a stimulus, so stimulus is the one which initiates need, and it results in behaviour.

Motivation is classified in 3 categories: biological, psychological, and social.

Biological Motivators We don’t learn about it, we’re born with it. Biological Motivators over any other type of drive. The drive: homeostasis

Psychological Motivations The drives are related to mental well being. Psychological drive may come from a desire to obtain/gain a missing piece of information. In essence: information is the food of curiosity. Example: Rumors - Infotainment.

2 Psychological Drives Sex Aggression

Sex Biological or Psychological? The 2 reasons: Individual (not species) and arousal (not homeostasis).

Aggression Active Aggressive Manner (ex: confront) Passive Aggressive Manner (ex: rumor)

Social Motivators We’re not born with it, it is learned. David McClelland (Achievement Motive, 1953): Type A and Type B person. Final social motivator: Belongingness. People engage in behaviors because they feel a need to belong to a group. Positive Negative impacts.

Emotion One behavior may be linked to a variety of emotions (I.e: crying - sad, fear, happy). The ability to read emotion may lead to an improved understanding to a person’s behavior.

James-Lange Theory, 1880s William James (US), Carl Lange (Denmark). Some stimulus in the environment results in a physiological change which is then interpreted as an emotion. The process is instantaneous.