Key Terms for Program 12: Motivation and Emotion

• Addiction: The physical and mental state of dependence on a substance or stimulus, to the point where withdrawal symptoms occur whenever the substance is not present in the body.

• Explanatory Style: How individuals describe their successes and failures to others, indicating an optimistic or pessimistic bent, which researchers believe tells much about the teller's psychological state.

• Genetic Variability: The biological reality that offspring of any given species will differ from its parents, and that some offspring will survive by adapting to changing conditions.

• Motivation: The process of starting, directing, and maintaining physical and psychological activities; includes preferences for one activity over another and persistence of responses.

• Phobia: An intense, irrational aversion to something; an overwhelming fear of an objectively harmless stimulus that interferes with normal functioning.

Motivation and

Emotion

Motivation• The biological, emotional, cognitive, and

social forces that drive our behavior

Behavioral / External Reasons

• “Carrot and Stick”

Social Reasons

Affiliation• The desire to join with others and be part of

something larger than oneself

Biological Reasons

Cognitive Reasons

Affective Reasons

Self-Improvement Reasons

Spiritual Reasons

Characteristics of Motivation

1. Activation – initiation or production of behavior

2. Persistence – Continuing behavior to achieve a goal, even with obstacles

3. Intensity – focused energy and attention to achieve goals

Types of Motivation

• Intrinsic - when people engage in an activity for its own sake, without some obvious external incentive present

• Extrinsic – when people engage in an activity for some external reward or to avoid consequence

Instinct Theories• State that people are motivated by innate, or

unlearned instincts that are shared by all individuals; programmed by evolution

Drive Theories

• Behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet needs

Homeostasis

• Our body’s tendency to maintain a balanced state to survive

Sensory Deprivation

Studies

Incentive Theories

• Argue that behavior is motivated by the “pull” of external goals

Arousal Theory

• People are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal

• Sensation Seekers!

Cognitive Theories

• Argues that mental factors like curiosity are crucial to motivating many behaviors

Need to Explore

• Psychologist Jean Piaget argued that children show an obvious need to explore that is cognitive in origin

Cognitive Consistency

• Seeking to think and behave in a way that fits what you believe and what you think others expect

Balance Theory

• People need to organize their perceptions, opinions, and beliefs in a harmonious manner

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• People are motivated to reduce the unpleasant feeling of having their actions inconsistent with their beliefs

Humanistic Theories

• Emphasizes that people are motivated to reach their highest potential

Emotion

• Complex psychological state that involves a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral response

Emotional Intelligence

• Capacity to understand and manage your own emotional experiences and to respond appropriately to other’s emotional responses

Evolutionary Explanations of Emotion

James-Lange Theory

Sequence of emotion:

1. You experience physiological changes (heart pounds, pupils dilate)

2. Your brain interprets the physiological changes

3. You feel a specific emotion

4. You demonstrate observable behavior

James-Lange Theory

Cannon-Bard Theory

Sequence of Emotion

1. We feel an emotion + we feel physiological changes

Or

1. We feel an emotion and then feel the physiological changes

Cannon-Bard Theory

Two-factor Theory of Emotion

Sequence of Emotion:

1. You experience physiological arousal

AND

2. Cognitive label (identify that we feel fearful)

3. You feel an emotion

4. You demonstrate observable behavior

Cognitive-Mediational Theory of Emotion

Sequence of Emotion1. See the snake2. Conclude the snake is harmless and feel

relievedOR3. Conclude the snake is harmful and you feel

fearful

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Sequence of Emotion

1. The muscles in your face move to form an expression

2. Your brain interprets the muscle movement

3. You feel an emotion

4. You demonstrate observable behavior

Sternberg’s Theory of Love

Components of love:

1. Commitment Involves two people deciding to love each other and

maintain this love over time

2. Passion Drives in a romantic relationship that involves romance,

physical attraction and being intimate with a person

3. IntimacyFeelings in a relationship that make you feel close and

connected to another person

Consummate Love

• Relationship with all 3 components• Most complete form of love that few relationships

achieve and even fewer maintain• **Sternberg also proposed that if you don’t have

all 3 of these components in your relationship, you might have one or two of these components

Liking

• Only have Intimacy component in your relationship; Classifies true friendships

Infatuated Love

• Relationship that only has Passion component

• Love at first sight

Empty Love

• Relationship that only has Commitment component

• Sometimes a different type of love turns into this type after a long time like with people that have been married 50 years

• Also occurs in arranged marriages

Romantic Love

• Relationship with a combination of Intimacy and Passion

• Can be relationships that are fairly new that don’t have commitment yet

Fatuous Love

• Relationship with combination of Passion and Commitment

• May be relationship where two people decided to get married after a few weeks or a month

• Have not had enough time to develop intimacy

Companionate Love

• Relationship with Intimacy and Commitment

• Found in a lot of marriages that no longer have passion