Motivation/Emotion Flashcards
Motivation
Motivation is the factor that directs and energizes the behaviour of humans and other organisms.
Instincts
Instincts are inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically determined rather than learned.
Drive-reduction approaches to motivation
Suggest that a lack of some basic biological requirement such as water produces a drive to obtain that requirement.
Drive
A motivational tension, or arousal, that energizes behaviour to fulfill a need.
Primary drives
Basic drives such as hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex. These are related to biological needs of the boy or of the species as a whole.
- We usually try to satisfy a primary drive by reducing the need underlying it.
Secondary drives
Behaviours that fulfill no obvious biological need. It’s prior experience and learning that brings about needs.
Arousal approaches to motivation
When each person tries to maintain a certain level of stimulation and activity.
- This model suggests that if our stimulation and activity levels become too high, we try to reduce them.
Incentive approaches to motivation
Suggest that motivation comes from the desire to obtain valued external goals, or incentives.
- The desirable properties of external stimuli account for the person’s motivation.
Cognitive approaches to motivation
Suggest that motivation is a product of people’s thoughts, expectations, and goals-their cognitions.
Hierarchy of needs
Maslows model suggests that before more sophisticated higher-order needs can be met, certain primary needs must be satisfied.
Homeostasis
The body’s tendency to maintain a steady internal state.
- This underlies primary drives.
Self actualization
A state of self fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential in their own unique way.
What is the analogy for homeostasis?
Think of this as the way a thermostat and a furnace work in a home heating system to maintain a steady temperature.
Intrinsic motivation
Causes us to participate in an activity for our own enjoyment rather than for any concrete, tangible reward that it will bring us.
Which is better, intrinsic or extrinsic motivation?
We are more likely to persevere, work harder, and produce work of higher quality when motivation for a task is intrinsic rather than extrinsic.
Extrinsic motivation
Causes us to do something for money, a grade, or some other concrete, tangible reward.
Biological explanations for the need for food/ eating
- One hypothesis is injury to the hypothalamus affects weight set point
- Metabolism is another hypothesis for why people gain/lose weight differently when they could be doing and eating the exact same thing.
social factors in eating
- Portion distortion
- We eat on a schedule, even if we’re not hungry
- We put roughly the same amount of food on our plates every day regardless of our daily activity level.
- We eat for comfort, because we’re sad, or because we’re bored.
- We eat mindlessly, while doing other things.
Need to Belong/Affiliation
The need to belong/affiliation is the need to associate with and maintain social bonds with others.
Why is it a fundamental human need?
It has strong evolutionary components to bonds.
What happens when people feel or are actually excluded?
When people feel excluded or are excluded it leads to pain, and attempts to re-establish bonds.
Need for Power
The need for power is a tendency to seek impact, control, or influence over others, and to be seen as a powerful individual.
Characteristics of people high on the need for power?
Men show unusually high levels of aggression, drink heavily, act in a sexually exploitative manner, and participates more frequently in competitive supports
Women who have a high need for power show concerns for others or display highly nurturing behaviour.
Need for achievement
The need for achievement is a stable, learned characteristic in which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and attaining a level of excellence.
Characteristics of people high on the need for achievement?
People with a high need for achievement seek out situations in which they can compete against some standard.
They tend to avoid situations in which success will come too easily and situations in which success isn’t likely.
Characteristics of people low the need for achievement?
Low achievement people tend to be motivated primarily by a desire to avoid failure.
They seek out easy tasks, being sure to avoid failure, or to seek out very difficult tasks for which failure has no negative implications.
Emotions
Emotions are feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behaviour.
What are the primary functions of emotions?
Preparing us for action
- Emotions act as a link between events in our environment and our responses.
Shaping our future behaviour
- Emotions promote learning that will help us make appropriate responses in the future.
Helping us interact more effectively with others.
- We often communicate the emotions we experience through our verbal and nonverbal behaviours, making our emotions obvious to observers.
Ekman’s research on the 6 universal emotions and cross-cultural differences.
The six universal emotions are happiness, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust, and fear.
- These are the emotions of the human race.
- Ekman had a group of isolated tribe members, and their ability to identify basic emotions were quite similar to those of Westerns.
James-Lange theory
The James-Lange theory of emotion suggests that we experience emotions as a result of physiological changes that produce specific sensations.
Cannon-Bard theory
The Cannon-Bard theory assumes that both physiological arousal and the emotional experience are produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus, which they suggest emanates from the thalamus in the brain.
Schacter-Singer theory
The Schacter-Singer theory emphasizes that we identify the emotion we are experiencing by observing and comparing ourselves with others.
Research exploring the Neuroscience of Emotions in terms of patterns of activation in the brain while recalling positive or negative experiences.
Researchers have found that specific emotions produce activation of very different portions of the brain.
- Happiness was related to a decrease in activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex, whereas sadness was associated with increases in activity in particular portions of the cortex.
Why is happiness such an elusive emotion for so many of us?
- Hedonic treadmill
- Tendency to make upward rather than downward social comparisons
- Asymmetry of affective experience
Hedonic treadmill
We quickly adapt to new circumstances requiring even greater “thrills” to achieve contentment.
Subjective well-being
Peoples own evaluation of their lives in terms of both their thoughts and their emotions.
- It’s the measure of how happy people are.
What factors DO and DO NOT predict happiness or subjective well-being?
One theory is that each individual has a set-point for happiness.
- Some evidence suggests that the set point is determined at least in part by genetic factors.
Happiness depends far more on internal factors than external factors.
