Week 7 Flashcards
Motivation
- The driving force behind behaviour that leads us to pursue some things / avoid others
- Energises, directs, & sustains our behaviour
Types of Motivation
Primary/Biological
Secondary/Psychosocial
Primary Motivation
Primary/Biological
Origin:
- built into biology of species
(universal)
Consequences of Deprivation:
- physical illness
death
Examples
- hunger thirst sex sleep
elimination
Secondary Motivation
Secondary/Psychosocial
Origin:
- acquired through experience (individual & cultural differences)
Consequences of Deprivation:
- unpleasant emotions, psychological trauma
Examples:
- status power affiliation achievement
Psychodynamic Motivation
Drive/instinct model
► Sex or libido (life): desire for pleasure, love, sexual intercourse
► Aggression (death): elimination of enemies, prevention of harm
Two additional needs:
► Relatedness
► Self-esteem
Conscious Motives - Psychodynamic
Conscious motives
► Motives you are consciously aware of
► Flexible & controllable, activated when goal/task at hand
► Assessed via self-report, non-projective tests
Unconscious Motives - Psychodynamic
Unconscious motives…
► Motives expressed over time without conscious effort / awareness
► Assessed via projective tests (e.g. Thematic Apperception Test)
Psychodynamic Motivation Redevelopment
A modern reconceptualisation of drives…
► Wishes: represent desired states -> positive feelings
► Fears: represent undesired states -> negative feelings
Thematic Apperception Test - Psychodynamic
Present ambiguous stimuli:
What is happening? Who are these people? What led to this? What happens next?
- Responses presumed to tell us something about the individual’s unconscious motivations
- Person presumed to project needs, hidden desires, impulses, conflicts when describing/explaining stimuli
TAT predictions
Sometimes highly predictive of future outcomes
► Achievement themes -> business/entrepreneurial success
► Intimacy themes @ age 30 -> marital adjustment 20 years later
TAT does not often correlate with self-report
TAT predicts different outcomes to self-report
► TAT predicts long-term outcomes
► Self-report predicts in-the-moment effort & success
Evidence for two different types of motives
Behavioural Motivation
Avoid “motivation” label; suggests causal role of internal states that we cannot measure
Operant conditioning: We are motivated to engage in behaviours that are rewarded & avoid behaviours that are punished by environment
However, internal state influences reinforcement…
► Hungry vs. sated rat
Drive Reduction Theory - Behavioural
Drive-Reduction Theory
Behaviour is motivated out of desire for drive-reduction
Drive: state of tension arising from physiological deprivation (need)
Critique:
► Ignores boredom, need for stimulation
► Ignores other cognitive processes
*Homeostasis -> Biological Need -> Drive -> Goal Directed Behaviour -> Need Satisfied
Cognitive Motivation - Goal Setting Theory
Conscious goals motivate our behaviour, especially performance on work tasks
Maximum job performance occurs only under certain conditions:
► Discrepancy between has / wants
► Specific (rather than general) goals
► Somewhat challenging (not too easy) goals
► Belief in ability to attain goal
► High commitment to goal
► Continuing feedback to gauge progress
Locke’s SMART-C formula
Cognitive Motivation - Expectancy-Value Theory
Expectancy-Value Theory
Motivation is a joint function of value & expectancy associated with a goal
Value: How much the goal matters to us
Expectancy: How much we believe we can accomplish goal
We will be more motivated to pursue goals if we highly value them & highly expect we are able to accomplish them
Cognitive Motivation -Self-Determination Theory
Self-Determination Theory
Two types of motivation
► Extrinsic motivation
- Engagement in behaviour due to external outcomes
► Intrinsic motivation
- Engagement in behaviour for its own sake, due to personal interest & enjoyment
Needs for Self-Determination Theory
Three fundamental needs:
1. Competence
► Need to feel effective & capable
2. Autonomy
► Need to feel agentic & free from external control
3. Relatedness
► Need to belong, feel meaningfully connected to others
Conditions that allow individuals to meet these three needs are considered to be most intrinsically motivating
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- People motivated by desire for personal growth
- Needs organised in a hierarchy
- If an individual’s needs are not met, they cannot be motivated by the needs at the next level
- image
Evolutionary Motivation
Humans motivated to maximise reproductive success (both own & genetically related others):
► Survival: stay alive
► Reproduction: spread one’s genes
► Inclusive fitness: protect one’s genes
Primary motives that emerge cross-culturally
► Power► Love
Psychosocial Motivation - Relatedness
Attachment
Intimacy
Affiliation
Psychosocial Relatedness - Attachment
desire for physical & psychological proximity to another person -> comfort & pleasure
► infants, adult love
Psychosocial Relatedness - Intimacy
closeness -> self-disclosure, warmth, mutual caring
► adult relationships, intimate friendships
Psychosocial Relatedness - Affiliation
interaction & communication with broader social networks -> obtain support, share experiences
► friends, acquaintances
Important for physical & mental health
► lack of social relationships/support -> depression, sickness, mortality
Psychosocial Motivations - Agency
Power Competence Autonomy Self-esteem Achievement ► Need for achievement = nAch
Psychosocial Motives - Achievement
Achievement goals reflect a blend of three motives:
Performance-approach goals
Performance-avoidance goals
Mastery goals
Performance-approach goals - Achievement
► Motivation to attain a goal
► To meet a socially defined standard
Performance-avoidance goals - Achievement
► Motivation to avoid failure
► Particularly when publicly observable
Mastery goals - Achievement
► Motivation to increase competence, mastery, or skill on a specific task
Emotion
An evaluative response to a situation that typically involves:
Physiological arousal
Subjective experience
Behavioural or emotional expression
Basic Emotions
- Universal emotions common to human species
- Similar to primary colours in perception – all other emotions & emotional blends are derived from these
- Most classifications include 5 – 9 basic emotions
- Ekman identified six cross-cultural emotions
Ekman’s 6 emotions
- happy
- sad
- fear
- anger
- surprise
- disgust
Physiological arousal
When we are situations that induce emotions, we tend to become physiologically aroused
► e.g. muscle tension, fast heart rate, sweaty palms
But what comes first?
► The experience of the emotion or the arousal?
► Does fear come before a pounding heart? Or is it the other way around?
Common sense Physiological Arousal
Stimulus -> Emotion -> Arousal
James-Lange Physiological Arousal
Stimulus -> Arousal -> Emotion
Cannon-Bard Physiological Arousal
Stimulus -> Brain Activity -> Arousal + Emotion
Schacter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
- Emphasised cognitive appraisals
- Appraisal of situation to identify emotion
- Physiological changes due to lots of different situations
- Cognitively appraise context of situation to label physiological responses as reflecting a particular emotion
- Physiological arousal not tied to specific emotions
Subjective Experience - Intensity
Emotional experience varies in intensity
► e.g. content vs. happy vs. ecstatic
Individuals differ in emotional intensity
► Extreme upper-end of bell curve: severe personality disorders, emotions spiral out of control
► Extreme lower-end of bell curve: people who do not appear to have emotional states, indifferent
-> Alexithymia: inability to recognise own feelings
Subjective Experience - Valence
Positive affect: pleasant emotions (e.g. happiness)
► We usually try to pursue these emotions
Negative affect: unpleasant emotions (e.g. sadness, anxiety)
► We usually try to avoid these emotions
Within these two factors, emotions are usually correlated► People who experience one negative emotion (e.g. sadness) tend to also experience others (e.g. anxiety, guilt)
- Individual differ in emotional experience & preference for emotions
Pennebaker et al. (1989) Negative Emotions
► Holocaust survivors spoke for 2 hours about their experiences
► More expressed emotion -> better health over a year later
Kelley et al. (1997)
► Patients with painful arthritis spoke into tape recorder about stressful or trivial events
► Speaking about stressful events -> better emotional/physical shape three months later
► More unpleasant emotion while speaking about stressful events -> less painful joints three months later
Overt Emotional Expression
Different ways emotion can be expressed: ► Facial expressions ► Posture ► Gestures ► Tone of voice
Facial Expressions
- We can assess both valence (positive vs. negative) & intensity of emotion by detecting facial muscle movements
- Facial expression can not only indicate, but also influence emotional experience (Ekman et al., 1993)
► When people imitate positive & negative expressions, their emotions tend to change accordingly
Emotion Regulation
Efforts to control emotional states
People can regulate emotions before or after they occur
► Reframe meaning of event beforehand -> less upsetting
► Suppress emotion after event -> relatively ineffective
Gender differences:
► Men often inhibit fear & sadness
► Women often inhibit anger
Positive Emotion Expression
People who express positive emotion usually have better social outcomes than people who do not
EXCEPT when winning
► Non-expressive winners evaluated more positively & more likely to be befriended compared to expressive winners
(Kalokerinos et al., 2014)
Happiness
Happiness is NOT related to: ► Gender ► Age ► Attractiveness Happiness is related to: ► Living in a democracy ► Culture (individualist happier than collectivist) ► Social connections ► Strong religious faith ► Money?
