Chapter 9 Motivation and Emotion

1. Chapter 9Motivation and Emotion

2. Motivation • Dynamics of behavior that initiate, sustain, direct, and terminate actions • What makes us start, persist, focus on, and stop what we do?

3. Types of Motives • Primary (or Biological) Motive: Innate (inborn) motives based on biological needs we must meet to survive • Stimulus Motive: Innate needs for stimulation and information (but not necessary for survival) • Secondary (or Learned) Motive: Based on learned needs, drives, and goals

4. A Model of Motivational Activities • Model of how motivated activities work • Need: Internal deficiency; causes • Drive: Energized motivational state (e.g., hunger, thirst); activates a… • Response: Action or series of actions designed to attain a… • Goal: Target of motivated behavior • Incentive Value: Goal’s appeal beyond its ability to fill a need

6. Arousal: The need for stimulation

7. Stimulus Drives • Reflect needs for information, exploration, manipulation, and sensory input • Sensation Seeking: Trait of people who prefer high levels of stimulation (e.g., the contestants on “Eco-Challenge” and “Fear Factor”) • Yerkes-Dodson Law: If a task is simple, it is best for arousal to be in the middle; if the task is complex, lower levels of arousal provide for the best performance

8. Figure 9.11 FIGURE 9.11 (a) The general relationship between arousal and efficiency can be described by an inverted U curve. The optimal level of arousal or motivation is higher for a simple task (b) than for a complex task (c).

9. How to Cope With Test Anxiety • Preparation • Relaxation • Rehearsal • Restructuring thoughts

10. Learned Motives • Social Motives: Acquired by growing up in a particular society or culture • Need for Achievement (nAch): Desire to meet some internal standard of excellence • Need for Power: Desire to have impact or control over others

11. Measure Your Own Need for Achievement • We’ll use two measures • Caution—be aware of the social desirability response bias • Use meta-cognitive skills—”Do I honestly feel this way or am I just trying to look good?”

13. Scoring • Test 1 • Count the number of “yes” responses • The more “yes” responses, the higher your need for achievement • Test 2 • Give yourself a point each time any of the following is mentioned: • Defining a problem • Solving a problem • Obstructions to solving a problem • Techniques that can help overcome the problem • Anticipation of success or resolution of the problem

14. Achievement Motivation • Characteristics of those high in need for achievement • moderate risk takers • Avoid goals that are too easy or too hard • Complete difficult tasks • Earn better grades • Tend to excel in chosen occupations • Attribute success to ability; failure to insufficient effort • More likely to renew efforts when they perform poorly • Can you think of some disadvantages of a direct, objective test like this?

15. Measuring the Need for Achievement • TAT • Measuring the need for achievement is complex and difficult to do. • It involves looking at not only how much, but also why some people achieve more than others. • A projective personality test, the Thematic Apperception Test or TAT, has been used for this purpose.

16. TAT—Thematic Apperception Test • Developed by Henry Murray, personality theorist • Projective device consisting of 20 drawings (black and white) of various situations • People must make up stories about the people in it • Central themes are examined and interpreted • Good at revealing feelings about a person’s social relationships • Disadvantages?

17. Abraham Maslow and Needs • Hierarchy of Human Needs: Maslow’s ordering of needs based on presumed strength or potency; some needs are more powerful than others and thus will influence your behavior to a greater degree • Basic Needs: First four levels of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy • Lower needs tend to be more potent than higher needs • Growth Needs: Higher-level needs associated with self-actualization

18. Figure 9.14 FIGURE 9.14 Maslow believed that lower needs in the hierarchy are dominant. Basic needs must be satisfied before growth motives are fully expressed. Desires for selfactualization are reflected in various metaneeds (see text).

19. Types of Motivation • Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation coming from within, not from external rewards; based on personal enjoyment of a task • Extrinsic Motivation: Based on obvious external rewards, obligations, or similar factors (e.g., pay, grades)

20. Emotions • State characterized by physiological arousal and changes in facial expressions, gestures, posture, and subjective feelings • Physiological Changes: Include heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and other involuntary bodily responses • Emotional Expression: Outward signs of what a person is feeling • Emotional Feelings: Private emotional experience

21. Figure 9.15 FIGURE 9.15 Primary and mixed emotions. In Robert Plutchik’s model, there are eight primary emotions, as listed in the inner areas. Adjacent emotions may combine to give the emotions listed around the perimeter. Mixtures involving more widely separated emotions are also possible. For example, fear plus anticipation produces anxiety.

22. Brain and Emotion • Autonomic Nervous System (ANS): Neural system that connects brain with internal organs and glands • Sympathetic Branch: Part of ANS that activates body for emergency action • Parasympathetic Branch: Part of ANS that quiets body and conserves energy

24. Figure 12.4 the ultimate rush PARASYMPATHETIC REBOUND After the stimulus eliciting the sympathetic response is removed, that response is reduced, and the opposing parasympathetic response is enhanced. This is why people sometimes feel faint at the end of an exciting experience.

25. Sudden Death • After strong emotional shock, sympathetic system becomes too active • Results in excessive stress • Parasympathetic Rebound • After shock, parasympathetic system overreacts • lowers blood pressure too much • Slows heart to a stop

26. Lie Detectors • Polygraph: Device that records heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and galvanic skin response (GSR); lie detector • GSR: Measures sweating • Irrelevant Questions: Neutral, unemotional questions in a polygraph test • Relevant Questions: Questions to which only someone guilty should react by becoming anxious or emotional • Control Questions: Questions that almost always provoke anxiety in a polygraph (e.g. “Have you ever taken any office supplies?”)

27. Figure 12.7b The polygraph, a method for detecting nervous arousal, is the basis for the so-called “lie detector” test. The polygraph operator (a) asks a series of nonthreatening questions to establish base-line readings of the subject’s autonomic responses (b), then asks questions relevant to an investigation. The underlying assumption is that an increase in arousal indicates nervousness, which in turn indicates lying. Unfortunately, a large percentage of innocent people become nervous and therefore appear to be lying.

28. Theories of Emotion • James-Lange Theory: Emotional feelings follow bodily arousal and come from awareness of such arousal. • Cannon-Bard Theory: The thalamus (in brain) causes emotional feelings and bodily arousal to occur at the same time. • Schachter’s Cognitive Theory: Emotions occur when a label is applied to general physical arousal. • Attribution: Mental process of assigning causes to events; attributing arousal to a certain source. • Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Sensations from facial expressions and help define what emotion someone feels.

29. FIGURE 12.9 According to the James-Lange theory, physiological arousal determines the nature of an emotion. According to Schachter and Singer’s theory, physiological arousal determines the intensity of an emotion, but not which emotion is experienced.

30. Figure 9.21 FIGURE 9.21 Theories of emotion.

31. A Modern View of Emotion • Each of these theories has some truth, so can we combine them in a way that makes sense?

32. Figure 9.23 FIGURE 9.23 A contemporary model of emotion.