Motivation Flashcards
Motivation
a need or desire that serves to energize or direct behavior; includes the influences that account for the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of behavior
Sources of Motivation: Biological Factors
food, water, sleep, sex
Sources of Motivation:
Emotional Factors
fear, panic, hatred, love, anger
Sources of Motivation:
Cognitive Factors
perceptions of the world, beliefs that you can/can’t do it
Sources of Motivation:
Social Factors
reactions from friends, teachers, family, media
Theories of Motivation:
Instinct and Evolutionary Theory
instincts are innate, automatic disposition towards responding in a particular way when confronted with a specific stimulus
Learning of species; specific behavior motivates organisms to do what is necessary for their survival
Problem with this theory is that it as not as common in humans as with other species. Humans have some institutional behavior at birth, but their instincts dissipate over first few months
Most psychologists believe that human behavior is directed by physiological and psychological factors.
Theories of Motivation:
Drive-Reduction Theory
Motivation arises from imbalances in homeostasis. When the balance of the equilibrium shifts we are motivated to try and right the balance.
Imbalance creates a need, brain responds by creating a drive and them prompts the organism to take action to satisfy drive
Need: Food
Drive: Hunger
Drive Reducing Behavior: eating
Theories of Motivation:
Incentive and Cognitive Theory
Needs push us into action
Incentive is the object we seek r the result we are trying to achieve through our motivated behavior. Incentives, positive or negative, pull us in one way or another to satisfy our needs. Drives push us to reduce needs, incentives push us to obtain them. Incentives are influenced by biological and cognitive factors
Extrinsic Motivation
Engaging in activities for external rewards. Reducing biological needs or helping obtain external incentives.
Intrinsic Motivation
Engaging in activities because they are rewarding and fulfill our beliefs and expectations
Theories of Motivation:
Optimum Arousal
Human motivation aims not to eliminate arousal but to seek optimum levels of arousal. We try to increase arousal when it is low, vice versa. There is an optimum level of arousal that is where performance on a given test is optimal. Yerkes-Dodson Law: we perform best when arousal is moderate
Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs
- Self Actualization
4: Esteem
3: Love, belonging
2: Safety
1: Physiological
Hunger
Glucose levels affect hunger. Body is normally good at maintaining Glucose Levels, yet insulin decreases glucose in blood, lowering glucose levels, making us feel hungry. Levels in blood are monitored by receptor neurons in stomach, they send signals to brain, specifically hypothalamus
Hypothalamus
The part of the brain that deals with Hunger
Lateral Hypothlamus
responsible for feeling hungry
Ventromedial Hypothalamus
responsible for felling full
Set Point Theory
the weight at which your body finds stability. Weight tends drift around the level at which constellation of factors that determine food consumption and expenditure achieve an equilibrium
If weight is lost, food intake increases and energy expenditure decreases
If weight is gained, food intake increases and energy expenditure increases
Environmental Factors
Availability of Food: eat because the presence of food
Quantity: people tend to consume what is in front of them
Palatability: the better it tastes, the more people will eat
Eating by the clock: eat because its time to eat
Presence of others: people eat more in front of others
Learned Preference & Habitat
Different cultures illustrate the role they play in determining food consumption as well as when and what they eat.
Obesity
the condition of being overweight. BMI of 30 is obese
Anorexia Nervosa
a normal weight person loses weight continuously but still thinks they are overweight
Bulimia Nervosa
disorder where someone overeats, the vomits, exercises, and fasts
Individual differences in achievement
for any high achiever the need to achieve stays constant
Thematic accerception test
test that measures an individual’s need for achievement. People are shown pics and told to write a story about what is happening.
Situational Determinants
Situational factors can also influence achievement strivings
Atkinson Model
Pursuit of achievement increases as probability and incentive value goes up
Job: necessary to make money Career: opportunity to advance Calling: fulfilling a socially useful activity
Flow and Rewards
Flow is the experience of no work or a lot of work. It marks immersion into work.
No work; apathetic & underwhelmed
Lots of work; anxious & overwhelmed
People who flow in their work are driven by intrinsic rewards
Motivating Achievement
A stable, learned characteristic in which satisfaction is obtained by striving for and attaining excellence.
High Achievers
choose challenging tasks that are realistic, come from parents who encourage them to try new tasks, praise and reward success, encourage them to find ways to succeed, discourage complaining, prompt them to continue to more difficult challenges, cultural influences
Low Achievers
motivated by a desire to avoid failure, choose easy tasks
Sexual Motives
Biological (sexual maturity, sex hormones, sexual orientation)
Psychological (exposure to stimulating conditions, sexual fantasies)
Socio-Cultural (family and society values, religious and personal values, cultural expectations)
4 Phases
- Excitement Phase
- Plateau Phase
- Orgasm Phase
- Resolution Phase
Excitement phase
Level of physical arousal rises rapidly
Vasocongestion: engorgement of blood vessels, penis enlarges and swollen testes, vagina walls expand and vaginal lubrication in females
Plateau phase
Excitement peaks (breathing, pulse, blood pressure)
Women: tightening of vaginal phase
Men: secrete fluid (not sperm)
Orgasm phase
when sexual arousal reaches peak intensity increase in breathing, pulse, and blood pressure. sexual release
Women are more likely to be multiorgasmic
Resolution phase
engorged genitals release blood. male goes through a refractory period.
Biological Theory
homosexuality involves a hereditary predisposition
Evolutionary Theory
did not gain much support
Freudian Perspective
males are more likely to become gay if raised by a weak father and strong mother
Behavioral Theory
homosexuality is a learned preference after same sex stimuli being paired
Cannon-Bard Theory
emotion triggering stimulus & body’s arousal take place simultaneously. Thalamus produces physical and emotional responses simultaneously as it sends messages through brain and body
Two Factor Theory
(Schachter-singer) our physiology and cognition are composed of physical arousal and cognitive label
James Lange Theory
Physiological activity preceeds emotional experience. Bodily changes cause you to feel emotions
3 Emotional Components
Cognitive
Physiological
Behavioral
Cognitive
Emotion is a highly personal subjective experience
Physiological
Automatic arousal generally accompanied by visaral arousal
Behavioral
body language, non verbal behavior that expresses emotions
6 Fundamental emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disdain
Zajonc
emphasizes that some emotions are immediate w/out conscious appraisal, emotional reactions can be quicker than our interpretation of a situation
Lazarus
although the brain does process much unconsciously, even instantaneously felt emotions require some form of cognitive appraisal of the situation
Physiological Similarities & Differences
physiological responses are similar across emotions of fear, anger, love, boredom. Different during rage, fear, and joy
Amygdala
differences in activation during emotions of anger and rage Left hemisphere (happy) vs Right hemisphere (depressed)
Gender, Emotion, & Nonverbal Behavior
Women are better at discerning nonverbal behavior and emotions
Most people find it difficult to detect deceptive emotion. Trained professionals could only guess 54% of the time.
