Motivation and Emotion Chapter 8 Motivation and Emotion

Motivation: What Makes Us Act as We Do? Motivation: All processes involved in starting, directing, and maintaining physical and psychological activities

Behavior motivated by… Biological factors – food, water, sex Eat piece of cake, pursue relationship Emotional factors – panic, fear, love Hurt someone, give up career, become parent Cognitive factors – perceptions, beliefs, expectations Try out for team if confident Social factors – parents, friends, media Buy something popular that you don’t like

How Psychologists Use the Concept of Motivation Connects observable behavior to internal states Relates biology to behavior Accounts for variability in behavior Helps explain behavior over time Explains perseverance despite adversity Based partly on desire to feel certain emotions Motivation affects emotion MOTIVATION & EMOTION ARE INTERTWINED!!!

Types of Motivation Drive: Biologically instigated motivation; usually from a need Physiological Motive: Reason or purpose for behavior Social/psychological Used to describe motivations that are learned

Types of Motivation Conscious motivation: Having the desire to engage in an activity and being aware of the desire Unconscious motivation: Having a desire to engage in an activity but being consciously unaware of the desire Intrinsic motivation: Desire to engage in an activity for its own sake Extrinsic motivation: Desire to engage in an activity to achieve an external consequence (reward)

Theories of Motivation Instinct theory: View that certain behaviors are determined by innate, automatic, involuntary and unlearned responses Emphasizes biological factors Fixed-action patterns: Genetically based behaviors, seen across a species, that can be set off by a specific stimulus (instincts)

Theories of Motivation Drive-reduction theory: View that motivation arises from imbalances in homeostasis Emphasizes biological factors Homeostasis: body’s tendency to maintain a biologically balanced condition Need: biological imbalance that threatens survival if left unmet; produces drives Brain responds to needs by creating drives Need for food hunger drive motivates you to find food

Theories of Motivation Social-Cognitive Theory: motivation due to cognitive processes Locus of control: An individual’s sense of where his or her life influences originate–internally or externally

Theories of Motivation Freud’s Psychodymanic Theory: motivation from the unconscious Focused on mental disorders more than everyday behaviors Everything we do based on either Eros – desire for sex Thanatos – aggressive/destructive impulse

Maslow’s Humanistic Theory Hierarchy of needs: The notion that needs occur in priority order, with the biological needs as the most basic

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Theories of Motivation Arousal theory: motivated to behave in ways that keep us at our optimal level of arousal (heart rate, tension, elec activity) Seek excitement when bored Seek relaxation when over-aroused

Theories of Motivation Incentive theory: behavior is directed toward attaining desirable stimuli and avoiding unwanted stimuli Focus on environmental stimuli instead of internal processes

Rewards Can Sometimes Squelch Motivation Overjustification: The process by which extrinsic rewards can sometimes displace internal motivation Nisbett & Lepper – children/drawing; those told of reward before were less inclined to draw for fun later Usually when reward is given regardless of quality of performance and when it is tangible View the next slide and make up a story.

Measuring the Need for Achievement Projection: Process by which people attribute their own unconscious motives to other people or objects Need for achievement (n Ach): Mental state that produces a psychological motive to excel or reach some goal Influenced by intrinsic & extrinsic motivation Low nAch – very easy or very difficult tasks to succeed or not look silly failing High nAch – moderately difficult tasks for an attainable challenge (generally more success in life)

Motives in Conflict Approach-approach conflict: A situation in which you must choose b/w 2 positive options -2 people you like have asked you to prom Avoidance-avoidance conflict: A situation in which you must choose b/w 2 negative options -2 people you dislike have asked you to prom (but you want a date)

Motives in Conflict Approach-avoidance conflict: A situation involving an option that has both a + and a – aspect -Someone you dislike invites you to a sold out concert Multiple approach-avoidance conflict: A situation involving two or more options when each has + and - aspects -Job #1: good money, great company, long commute, rival works there -Job #2: average money, OK company, short commute, best friend works there

Hunger Motivation The multiple-systems approach to hunger Set point: Refers to the tendency of the body to maintain a certain level of body fat and body weight Brain receptors/hypothalamus – fat/sugar in blood Lack of Leptin – keep eating Pressure detectors in stomach – full or empty Other mechanisms – sweet and fatty foods Physical activity Thirst/hunger: Seek a stimulus Pain: Avoid/remove a stimulus

Where Do Our Emotions Come From? The Neuroscience of Emotion Two distinct brain pathways for emotional arousal: Fast & unconscious – fear and avoidance Slow & conscious – more complete appraisal The biological mechanisms at work behind our emotions include: The limbic system The reticular formation The cerebral cortex The autonomic nervous system Hormones/neurotransmitters

Psychological Theories of Emotion James-Lange theory: A stimulus produces a physiological response that in turn produces/ causes an emotion Emotion AFTER physiological response I’m afraid because I run; not I run because I’m afraid No phys. response = no emotion Cannon-Bard theory: An emotional feeling and an internal physiological response to the stimulus occur at the same time One is not the cause of the other I am afraid AND running.

Psychological Theories of Emotion Two-factor theory of emotion: Emotion results from the (1) physical arousal to a stimulus and (2) the cognitive interpretation of that arousal to the stimuls. Schachter-Singer Theory What does this physiological response mean? Increased heart and sweating = happiness OR fear? Depends on if stimulus is friend or enemy. Often misattribute emotion

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: Theory that individuals consciously decide on an appropriate emotion after the event (Lazarus) Event  thinking  arousal/emotion Based on perceptions of the event Winding road = fear or beauty? B+ = great or horrible? Opponent-process theory: Theory that emotions have pairs; when one is triggered the other is suppressed or that one follows the other.

Inverted “U” (Yerkes-Dodson Law) Inverted “U” function: Describes the relationship between arousal and performance Both low and high levels of arousal produce lower performance than does a moderate level of arousal Better off if …Easy tasks = high level; Hard tasks = low level Performance Low High Arousal Level

Developing Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence: Ability to understand and control emotional responses; understand emotions of others, too When have you needed to mask an emotion? Marshmallow Test: Delay of gratification; subdue impulses; more success

What Do Our Emotions Do For Us? Emotions have evolved to help us respond to important situations and to convey our intentions to others

Cultural Universals in Emotional Expression Seven universal basic emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, happiness and surprise (Ekman) There are huge cultural differences in the context and intensity of emotional displays Display rules: Permissible ways of displaying emotions in a particular society

The Emotion Wheel (Robert Plutchik)