Introduction to Social Motivation Flashcards
What is motivation?
any internal process that gives behaviour its energy, direction, and persistence
- the “why” we do something
energy factor that motivation could affect:
- behaviour has strength
- the intensity of a behaviour
- ex: intense workout vs. low intensity
direction factor that motivation could affect:
- behaviour has purpose
- where the intensity of a behaviour is being directed
- ex: efforts can be directed towards studying or socializing
- behaviour can be directed towards something or away from something (ex: procrastination is a very strong force that pushes us away from a task)
persistence factor that motivation could affect:
- behaviour has endurance
- you might be able to study for 2 hours one day and 30 mins the next day
- motivation impacts how long a behaviour lasts
What three things can the internal processes of motivation take form in?
- Needs
- Cognition
- Emotion
Internal process: Needs
conditions that are essential for the maintenance of life and for the nurturance of growth and well-being
ex: hunger drives eating behaviour
ex: thirst, sleep, autonomy, competence, relatedness
Internal process: Cognition
mental events (thoughts) capable of energizing and directing behaviour
e.g., beliefs, expectations, goals, plans, attributions, mindsets, self-concept
Internal process: Emotions
short-lived feeling-arousal-purposive-expressive phenomena that help us adapt to the opportunities and challenges we face during important life events
Why study motivation?
to not only describe behaviour but to be able to explain it
Using the scientific method allows us to use objective empirical evidence gained from well-conducted and peer-reviewed research to answer questions
- we can infer causation
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Effort
- exertion put forth during a task
- percentage of total capacity used
ex: amount of time spent taking notes during a lecture
ex: are you just skimming your notes or are you actively using bodily energy to study and engage with the material
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Persistence
Time between when a behaviour first starts until it ends
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Latency
- “the delay”
- duration of time a person waits to get started on a task upon first being given an opportunity to do so
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Choice
When presented with 2 or more courses of action, preferring one course of action over the other
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Probability of Response
number of occasions that the person enacts a particular goal-directed response given the total number of opportunities to do so
ex: the amount of times students answer questions asked by prof in class
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Facial Expressions
Facial movements
Behavioural Expressions of Motivation: Bodily Gestures
ex: leaning forwards, changing posture, moving legs, arms, hands
Engagement Expressions of Motivation: Emotion
how we feel about what we are/are not doing
- interested?
- enjoyed?
- enthusiastic?
OR
- distressed?
- angry?
frustrated?
Engagement Expressions of Motivation: Cognition
- thinking processes that our minds do to process information
- What is the level of sophistication of the strategies you’re using to process information - the more sophistication, the more motivation (like planning, seeking conceptual understanding)
Engagement Expressions of Motivation: Agency
- tells us how deeply someone is involved in taking control and making things happen in their environment
- the ability to enact your will
Psychophysiological Expressions of Motivation: Hormonal Activity
a saliva sample/swab at a given moment/during a task can let us measure the level of a stress hormone present at that moment and tie it to your internal state of whether you’re stressed or relaxed
Psychophysiological Expressions of Motivation: Cardiovascular Activity
when we’re excited/stimulated our heart rate and blood pressure tend to go up
contraction vs. relaxation of the heart and blood vessels
Psychophysiological Expressions of Motivation: Ocular Activity
- can sit someone in front of an eye tracker to see where their eyes are going at any given moment to infer what it is that captures their attention and what they’re interested in
- pupils dilate when we’re interested in something, they open up to take in a lot
Psychophysiological Expressions of Motivation: Electrodermal Activity
we can measure the electrical conductance of your skin, if you’re stressed/aroused our sweat glands become active and we can measure through the levels of salt, the electrical conductivity in your skin which varies based on how aroused you are
Psychophysiological Expressions of Motivation: Skeletal activity
ur muscles can show through our posture if we are up and tense, or relaxed, appearing interested or less so
- the way our body moves, gestures, facial expressions
Measurement of Brain Activation
- would have to hook someone up to electrical machinery
- the rush of blood in an area shows activation and it may help us learn what someone’s thinking of
- electrical signals can be measured in the brain which tells us what parts of the brain are active
Self-Reports of Motivation
- Just ask! “how motivated are you? Why are you motivated to do a certain thing?”
- Limitation: people are just not very good or aware of what’s going on inside of them
Antecedent Conditions:
- What kind of environments/situations/ contexts lay the foundation to set the stage for certain internal processes
- what kind of approaches, what kind of ways can we design or set someone up in their environment to have a particular feeling that they feel is positive and desireable
What do we mean when we say: “motivation and emotion are intervening variables”
That it comes in between two things
it comes in between the environment and the outcomes
