Motivation and arousal Flashcards
Definitions of motivation and drive
Motivation is the drive to want to learn and achieve success.
Drive is motivated behaviour towards achieving a goal.
Exam tip- drive and motivation can be interchanged in answers
Intrinsic motivation - internal or drive from within, eg wanting to achieve mastery for it’s own sake, fun, enjoyment etc
Extrinsic motivation- from an external source, for example trophies, rewards
Key areas of motivation
Motivation involves our inner drive towards achieving a goal
Motivation depends on external pressures and rewards that we perceive in our environment
Motivation concerns the intensity (often referred to as arousal level) and the direction of our behaviour
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
This is the internal drive to participate or to perform well. These include:
Having fun and enjoying an activity
The satisfaction that can be felt through playing a particular game
Personal accomplishment and a sense of pride
The physical feelings of well-being when you are exercising
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic factors can be extremely powerful in determining whether we want to learn a particular skill and whether we want to perfect it, examples are
Rewards such as medals, badges and prizes
Pressures from external people such as parents or peers groups
Reinforcement from others can ensure that an action is repeated. This is important in extrinsic motivation as rewards act as reinforcements
Extrinsic motivation can foster intrinsic motivation for example a swimmer might participate to earn a swimming badge but feel a sense of enjoyment from taking part in the activity and this may lead to lifelong participation
Relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
The need to win can be intrinsically and extrinsically motivating. The performer could strive for success in order to gain a sense of satisfaction or achieve recognition
Rewards do not inherently undermine intrinsic motivation
It is often not the presence of extrinsic rewards that motivates a performer but rather the way the performer perceives the reward.
The performer should put the rewards into the proper perspective
People who have influence over the performer (e.g. coach, teachers, parents) should understand they can influence the performers perspective greatly
If there is too much focus on winning then the feelings of pleasure from taking part will be forgotten.
Arousal
Arousal refers to the intensity of our behaviour or the amount of drive we experience to achieve something.
Effects of arousal
It can have physiological effects such as; increased heart rate, breathing and the production of sweat.
High levels of arousal can cause us to worry and become anxious, which is a negative aspect if it is not controlled.
How arousal is used by a performer dictates future performance and motivation
As a performer’s arousal level increase they experience a state of alert and readiness (often called getting ‘psyched-up’) however if arousal level becomes too high then a performer can lose concentration and become distracted (‘stressed-out’)
Theories of arousal
Drive Theory
Inverted U Theory
Catastrophe Theory
Drive theory
As Arousal level increases so does performance level
This theory says that increase arousal beings about the likelihood of a dominant response:
Dominant responses for learned behaviours are often positive
Dominant responses for beginners can often be incorrect and have a negative impact on performance
Drive reduction can also be an issue. This is when a performer perceives a task to be completed and drive is reduced.
Inverted U theory
As arousal levels increase so does performance but only to an optimum point.
Once past this point performance decreases
Participants can become anxious if they are over-aroused and their performance usually suffers
It needs to be modified to apply it to different types of activities, skill levels and personalities.
Catastrophe theory
As arousal levels increase so does performance but only to an optimum point.
If arousal level is too high (past this point) then there is a sudden decrease in performance
This is due to high cognitive/somatic anxiety
If cognitive anxiety decreases then performance can improve
If anxiety continues then performance will continue to decrease
Factors affecting arousal levels
1 Types of Activities
Fine motor controlled movements need arousal level to be fairly low for optimal performance.
Gross activities require fairly high levels of arousal for optimal performance
2 Skill Level
Highly skilled performers need little conscious attention to perform skills so can cope with higher levels of arousal
Beginners will need to attend to many details related to movement and be consciously aware so even moderate levels of arousal may cause them to lose concentration
3 Personality
Extroverts can cope with higher arousal levels
Introverts prefer lower levels of arousal
Peak flow experience
This refers to achieving optimum performance levels and its association with an emotional response.
Many athletes can relate to being ‘in the zone’ when nothing matters except for their performance and nothing can go wrong.
The arousal theories help explain this by showing that performance is related to the amount of inner drive and self-motivation.
The use of mental strategies can help performers achieve this experience
Reticular Activation System
(RAS)
This is located in the central core of the brain stem and maintains our levels of arousal.
It can enhance or inhibit the incoming sensory stimuli.
Personality can have an impact on this area:
- Extroverts tend to inhibit the response and introverts tend to enhance the response
- Introverts dislike high arousal conditions as their RAS is already stimulated
- Extroverts seek high arousal levels as their RAS lacks stimulation
