Read Ch 1 and Ch 2 in your textbook. Don't worry so much about your answers being beautifully written (yet!); focus on reading and understanding the material and then communicating that understanding to us when answering these questions.
From your
reading, which topic(s) are most interesting to you?
If you
had to describe to someone not in this class what Motivation is all about,
what would you tell them based on your understanding of this chapter?
What was
the most surprising or memorable thing you learned about in this reading?
Provide a
list of Motivation and Emotion terms that you used in your comment at the
bottom of your post.
Posts
should be approximately 500 words
I will begin this post by explaining that I am 100% a Sigmund Freud nerd. As a testament, I have a T-Shirt from my very first psychology course in high school which has a picture of Freud dyed pink with the caption “Pink Freud.” In any case, when asked about which topic interested me most in the reading, you can assume what I am going to focus on, and any place where he is brought up in the book/referenced in a movie I will likely pinpoint my focus on that. This is your fair warning to (what I consider to be) my healthy obsession.
Anyway, Freud is always an interesting topic, because he was a physiologist that became obsessed with the human subconscious. A man of empirical science who became obsessed with the unobservable and unexplainable. He essentially talked psychologists of the day into believing him. He had no real evidence beyond self-report for his findings, yet he inspired the entire movement of psychoanalysis that still exists today, based on his own personal theories and a smidge of cocaine thrown in for good measure. For those who haven’t read, or for those who are reading this to grade me (Hi by the way!) Freud took part in the Grand Theory of Drive. Drives are the biological movement to explain motivation, and that motivation purely exists to satisfy biological urges, or “drives,” emanating from the body.
Freud’s Drive Theory held that the nervous system received pent up energy when a deficit in the body occurred. The nervous system despised this feeling, and would use anxiety/discomfort as a tool to get the mind to realize something was off. The “drive” served as a warning sign that something needed to be done (IE: Eat food or you will starve to death; Go to the bathroom NOW; Etc.). Once satisfied, the anxiety would cease, and balance would be restored until the next deficit arose. Freud maintained that the drive had four key aspects: Source (the actual deficit causing distress), Impetus (the power/force of the drive), Aim (search for an object), Object (removes the deficit; the goal of the drive).
And while this was all well and good, Freud lived in a pseudo-psychology fantasy world where everything made sense until it came to empirical testing. Freud’s theory would fall in favor when scientists began trying to search for evidence of his theory and found his unconscious drives were impossible to measure. It was certainly fun while it lasted, though.
Barring Freud for a moment, to define motivation would be a difficult task. The book itself admits that the definition they provide is hazy at best. Especially when confronted with Kuhn’s paradigm shifts, where the focuses of studies constantly change over generations. However, for today’s answer, I would personally define motivation as purposeful and intentioned behavior that results from many different sources. For example, hunger.
Hunger does not merely result from an empty stomach informing the brain it needs food, it can also be triggered from environmental sources. The smell of Chinese food usually triggers a hunger response from me, as Chinese food is a particular weakness of mine. As such, my mind becomes focused on acquiring Chinese food. My behavior then becomes tasked with the motivation of getting Chinese food into my stomach. My thoughts turn to what locales I’d like to go to (IE: The Hong Kong restaurant), my physical actions turn to getting to that locale (IE: texting my friends to take me since I lack a car), my stomach growls constantly as an embarrassing reminder that we NEED to get Chinese food as soon as possible. These actions, and some expert pleading to my friends, results in the motivation being satisfied. I get the Chinese food, eat about three bites, and am then full and take the rest home for later.
And as for the most memorable (aside from Freud), Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shift (Page 39, Table 2.2) really did stick in my head. Especially considering I am taking a wealth of psychology courses this year that all enter the history of psychology at similar times. The change becomes obvious when you go from Abnormal to Child Psychopathology to Motivation and Emotion, and each describes how we went from Aristotle and Hippocrates to Skinner, Maslow, and Freud. And Kuhn saw how this shift occurred not just in psychology, but in all sciences. Chemistry isn’t the same today as it was when my mother was in high school. She was genuinely surprised to learn that mercury isn’t as pervasive in the classroom as it used to be. Physics certainly changes constantly, as our understanding of the universe expands ever-onward from what we previously thought. It’s easy to laugh at the mistakes of the past, at the Freud’s and Watson’s that thought they really knew what was going on in people’s heads. However, with Kuhn’s ideas in mind, someone fifty or sixty years from now is going to be laughing at us and our understanding of the mind. The explanations of the future will explain our theoretical shortcomings but raise all new ones that will be solved by the next generation. All in all, Kuhn kind of makes you feel small and insignificant, kind of like the Lovecraft of Science.
Terms used:
Drive – (Pg. 29)
Freud’s Drive Theory – (Pg. 30)
Kuhn’s Paradigm Shift – (Pg. 39)
The first two chapters were quite interesting to me because it really showed me a lot about motivation that I was unaware of and explained certain things that I already knew a little about. These two chapters were able to lay a foundation of understanding that gave me a better look at what we will be going over this semester.
The first thing I found interesting was in chapter one. I like to have an understanding as to why people choose to do the things they did and the concept of motives really helped to explain this better for me. Motives are all about the internal process that pushes a person’s behavior. Those motives can be needs, cognitions, or emotions. Through those motives it directs a person to respond in a way that can either promote or inhibit their motivation. This concept helped me to always better understand why my motivations vary based on the activity.
The second thing I found interesting was how complex motivation really is and how difficult of a concept it can be to understand sometimes. It took several well-known researchers attempting to understand motivation before we came to a current conclusion that included different concepts from each. A theory that I enjoyed and actually could tie some aspects of my life into was Freud’s drive theory. It was interesting to me how who took our feelings of anxiety and tied it to our need to accomplish a task or goal, and by doing so it created motivation within a person.
Motivation means something different to everyone and everyone finds motivation in different ways. In my vision of motivation, I see it as having this type of energy that gets you up and going to complete a task or goal you have set for yourself. In order to obtain this energy, one either experiences something within or there is an external source that pushes them to want to work on the task/goal in front of them. Sometimes completing certain tasks can lead them to continue to have the motivation to keep going and accomplish even more.
The most interesting thing for me was how many different aspects come into a person developing motivation to complete an activity and their reasons for doing so. It can be internal motives such as cognitive situations, needs, or emotions that give a person the motivation to go out and complete a task. It can also be external motives such as an environment a person is in that causes them to take action. There are also so many different ideas as to what else can fuel motivation. It’s as though it is still a new concept that we are working to discover more about. It makes me wonder if there will ever be a set distinction as to what causes a person to become motivated or if it will continue to be a collection of different theories and concepts.
Terms:
Motives
Internal motives
External motives
Freud’s drive theory
Cognitive situations
Needs
Emotions
Chapters one and two of this book were about the introduction to motivation and emotion and the historical context of motivation and emotion. In these first two chapters, we learned about the basis and foundation of what we will be learning over the course of the semester. I learned so many new things and found a lot interesting in these few pages of reading.
The first thing that I found to be interesting was in chapter one when it talked about the different types of motivations that exist. It stated that for most people, motivation is a unitary concept and that the main feature is its amount or intensity level. It really interested me to know that practitioners use “how can I foster more motivation in my students, workers, or athletes?” to move motivation around from nonexistent, low, or moderate, to high or very high. Along with that, another thing that I found interesting is that emotions also vary in intensity, and also in the type. The example the book illustrates is a person who is intensely angry, and a person who is intensely afraid. both are going to be highly motivated and require the question “how much?”, but also “which type?” is important to consider as well. In general, I learned that there is a lot more that goes into motivation than I realized.
To define motivation is difficult. As the book states, between different people, motivation varies. There are many different basic different things that motivate us, but the reasoning behind it differs why they were motivated. These motivations can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Needs are the things that are essential and necessary for an individual to live, and this could be an internal motive. On the contrary of internal motives, like basic needs, are external events. According to the text, external events are environmental, social, and cultural sources of motivation that have the capacity to energize and direct behavior. Some examples of these could be money, odors, or competition. To me, motivation is a reason or reasons why someone behaves or makes the choices that they do. This could either be internal, external, or maybe even a mix of both.
After reading these first two chapters, the most memorable thing that I remembered that stuck out to me is that there have been so many different theories and aspects that come into play when trying to define a person and their motivation(s). It was so interesting to see that there are many theories, and some of them overlap. Something really cool to read was that these theories date back to a long time ago, and they are still being reworked and discovering new things about our motivations and emotions. These two chapters were a cool way to be able to read about and see how these have changed and how some have adapted other theories, and what we currently have today. Overall, I think that understanding emotion and motivation will probably always change a little bit with time changing because of new external motivations.
Terms:
External motivation
Internal motivation
Motivation
Needs
In chapter one, I found the table (figure 1.1) the most helpful and interesting way to explain examples of motivations. Table 1.1 provided many terms, like values, goals, and intrinsic motivations, and gave written examples of each. The illustration of intrinsic motivation says that children run and play for the fun of doing it. Another illustration that helped me understand motivation better was the one on flow; the example used talks about athletes that are “in the zone.” These definitions and illustrations are great ways to understand each term. There were also topics on internal motivations and external influences that made a lot of sense to me. Internal motives are explained as needs, cognitions, and emotions that impact our decision making. External influences are influences outside of your mind that cause you to do something. The example the book gives over and over again is a coach that is pushing you and telling you to do a task.
In chapter two, I read about Freud's Drive Theory and Hull’s Drive Theory. In Freud’s Drive Theory, Freud says that all decisions are made based on the satisfaction of needs. People reacted to their urges (e.g. tiredness or hunger) by satisfying those needs. In Hull’s Drive Theory, the drive is used to rid of bodily disturbances. Hull also said that motivation can be predicted before an action shows that it was needed. After these two theories were learned, the book discusses how drive was believed to decrease and this was a good thing and was considered necessary. It was later found out that drive reduction was not necessary.
If I was describing motivation to someone who was not in the class, I would start by telling them that motivation is what someone uses to gain energy to do a task. I would show them a handout of table 1.1 in the book to give examples of motivational reasons. I would then explain that there are many different kinds of motivations that exist and not every motivation would work well for every person. Just like people have different personalities, people have different types of motivations that work well for them. An example would be a coach that yells at a player to do better versus a coach that supports and teaches their team. Finally, I would explain how there are various theories of drive and even more mini-theories to explain how motivation would work. Nothing in science is 100% certain, so more research will need to be done in these areas.
The most surprising thing I learned was that there is so little that is known about motivation. We have many theories and ideas that make sense, but could they all be right? With further research, scientists could eliminate some of these theories (just like they did in the 50s and 60s). I was also surprised to learn how many different types of motivations there are (like in table 1.1). There could be more that we will find in years to come.
Terms:
Intrinsic Motivations
External Motivations
Flow
Freud's Drive Theory
Hull's Drive Theory
The first two chapters of the textbook focused on the introduction of motivation and what causes it, the ways it is expressed, and a history of the study of motivation in psychology. The first chapter did a good job of introducing this field of study and explaining what types of questions need to be asked when studying emotion. I found the second chapter to be very interesting as it gave a summary over the history of the study of motivation and how the focus has changed over the years.
Before starting chapter one, I had a general idea of motivation as the urge/drive to do a certain action or behavior. After reading the first two chapters of the textbook, I can now see that it is much more complex. There are many factors that play into what causes motivation and how intense the motivation is. The first chapter focuses on these two fundamental questions, and goes into depth more on what exactly causes motivation. This question can be broken down into the study of factors such as initiation of behavior, persistence, change, and goal directness of behaviors. This chapter also discusses internal motives (such as needs, cognition, and emotions), and external events as sources of motivation. This chapter helped me understand how motivation is more complex than just a desire to act.
Chapter two I found to be very interested as it discussed the history on the study of motivation and how this field of psychology has developed through the years. Motivation was first studied by using grand theories. The first of these theories started out as the grand theory of will. This theory claimed that the will of a person made the decision of whether to act, therefore, was the cause of motivation. This theory did not succeed and the grand theory of instinct was then introduced. This theory described the instinct as an automatic and unlearned behavior, and this was the root of motivation. This theory fell through as well, and next the grand theory of drive was introduced. This theory proposed that drive motivated action to serve a need, such as the need for food or water. The chapter continued to explain how these grand theories continuously failed to encompass the cause of motivation, and how for decades there was a pause on motivational research. This field of study got pushed from the front of psychology research for years until it returned with mini theories. These mini-theories assumed that motivation was constant, complex, and universal between organisms. The introduction of these new mini-theories suggested that motivation is a multilevel subject, and no one grand theory would ever succeed in explaining the full concept. The chapter discusses how there are multiple factors that contribute to motivation in organisms.
I found the second chapter to be quite interesting in how the field of study began by attempting to find one single reason/cause of motivation and ended up with multiple mini-theories. One memorable thing I found was the comment in the textbook that states “to be alive is to be active.” I think it is interesting to think about how every action we do or do not do is an active behavior.
Terms:
Intensity (p. 5)
Internal Motives (p. 8)
External Events (p. 11)
Will (p.26)
Instinct (p.27)
Drive (p.29)
Mini-Theories (p.35)
Before reading the chapters, the book asked me to define motivation. I wrote in the margin: “motivation is an internal and/or external call to action or inaction”. After reading the chapters, I understand now what developments have shaped my idea of motivation and learned about ones I have never heard of before. My understanding of motivation and emotion has changed since the first few pages. I understand some of the “whys” to that call of action or inaction that I described before, where the ideas came from, and that there is not one explanation, even though philosophers and psychologist tried to find one early on.
The most interesting topic I read about in the chapters was how historical developments have shaped how we understand motivation, from the grand unified theories, such as the will of Descartes and the biological instincts and drives of Freud, to the multidetermined mini-theories of today, such as flow. These theories fascinate me because they show how we have benefited from the old, for example becoming aware of biological motivators, and how we have since improved, for example realizing how environmental motivators also play a role in forming our behavior.
Another interesting shift was how we study motivation. Rather than studying it philosophically, we have learned how to approach it scientifically, which can be studied as a field itself or be applied to any of the other subfield of psychology, such as neuroscience, therapy, or education. We now know that approaching motivation from a perspective with observable behaviors and variables that can be manipulated leads us away from creating an ever-complexifying philosophical debate on an abstract concept will and into real life cases where problems can be addressed and solved. What is more purposeful than making a lasting, measurable positive impact on people’s lives?
If I were to describe to someone what motivation is all about I would say: motivation is all about why we do, think, feel, and want certain things, why they change over time, and why they are different between people. I would say we can make predictions about the various aspects of motivation (change, variability, intensity) based on a multitude of theories spanning from evolutionary to the individual (biological, cognitive, emotional) to societal and cultural. I would also tell them that hasn’t always been that way. There have been multiple developments in motivation. Some people, like Freud, though there was one main explanation for motivation, specifically drive. However, over time, researchers have found that there are more than one explanation, and the collection of different perspectives is what gives rise to a more accurate and wholesome view of motivation, even though it is more complex.
The most memorable thing I got from reading these chapters is to be careful about thinking about the motivation of people as a one-sided problem. Very smart people have tried that, and even though their brilliance, they have been proven wrong. I know it is easier to be simplistic, but even though it is pleasing to the mind, I want to be careful of falling trap to the snare. I want to come out of this course thinking more critically about motivation by looking at it from different angles so that I have a deeper and broader understanding about what makes people tick and how to make them tick even better.
Terms:
Will (p.26)
Instinct (p.27)
Drive (p.29)
Flow
Mini-Theories (p.35)
Intensity (p. 5)
Freud
Descartes
From both of these chapters I discovered that there are many things I do not know about Motivation and Emotion. In a lot of my other psychology classes they touch on aspects like emotion and motivations, but I definitely had an awakening on my understandings of these topics. These topics of motivation and how behavior can be so motivated by actions we make that it is so interesting. I have always had a broad understanding that when I do something that there is a reason behind it and or a motive behind it. But it is just so much further and more intellectual than that. Motivation is the reason that we do things and the reasons why we act the way we do I hope that makes sense. I also am really interested in all the theories, while some of them like Freud’s drive theory I need to expand a little bit more on to understand, the theories for themselves are really interesting.
If I had to describe to someone not in this class what Motivation is all about, I would tell them that Motivation is the action behind why you do something.Motivation is also associated with your behavior because if your motivation is put in a direction towards something positive, positive emotion can come out of it, vice versa. Motivation is seen in a lot of situations in which what you do can benefit yourself and keep yourself going in a positive direction. To further elaborate on this I will give an example. Let’s say I want to get a good grade in my Women and Gender Studies class. A good grade in a class is a positive sense of motivation because that can bring up my grade point average. What I do to achieve that would be to study harder, follow paper criteria, and follow everything that would lead to a good grade in the course. My motivation to do all these things would be to get the grade. By getting that A at the end of the semester your behaviors of studying will have paid off and you will be happy, at least most people would be.
There was one thing from each of the chapter readings that were very interesting to me that I would further like to talk about. My favorite key concepts that I learned from Chapter 1 was how we need to categorize and break down the concept of behavior with five questions. The five questions are : why does behavior start?, Once begun, why is behavior sustained over time?, Why is behavior directed toward some goals yet away from others?, Why does behavior change its direction?, and lastly Why does behavior stop? These questions about behavior definitely helped my understanding of why behavior happens and the motivation behind it. My favorite key concepts that I learned from Chapter 2 is Grand Theory. I had never heard of this theory until this class. Grand theory in my understanding is a theory that seeks to understand the full range of motivation in actions we make. Also I did not realize that there are two types of motivation; external and internal.
Key Concepts:
Motivation
External Motivation
Internal Motivation
Freud Drive Theory
Grand Theory
Behavior
The first two chapters really helped me to understand what motivation is all about. In high school, I took AP Psychology and I remember talking about Hull during the motivation chapter, however I have not heard of his name since. The most interesting topics to me included the fourteen motivational reasons we do something and Freud’s four drive components. I was surprised to see that Freud was involved in motivation. To summarize motivation, I would say motivation is an intrinsic process that makes a person move toward a goal.
From the reading, the topics most interesting to me are the fourteen motivational reasons we do something and Freud’s drive components. The fourteen motivational reasons we do something are intrinsic motivation, flow, external regulation, extrinsic motivation, goal, value, possible self, achievement strivings, perceived competence, opponent process, positive affect, introjection, personal control, and relatedness. The book used the example of exercising when explaining these concepts. I think the motivational reasons I use when I work out include intrinsic motivation, goal, value, positive affect, and relatedness. As I stated above, I was surprised to see how much of an impact Freud had on motivation. The way the book broke down source, impetus, object, and aim was very easy to understand. Source is simply the bodily function that emerges a need. Impetus is when that need intensifies and the individual becomes consciously aware of that need. The object is the entity that can satisfy the need. Finally, the aim is the need actually being satisfied for a period of time. Although I was surprised Freud was involved in motivation, I was not surprised that Freud’s impact on motivation included anxiety and consciousness or when one of the criticisms on his theory was about the overreliance on data taken from case studies.
If I were to describe what motivation is about to someone who is not in this class, I would begin by making sure they understand that there are many different theories on motivation and that the type of motivation used depends on the behavior, the environment, and the individual. I would also tell them that motivation is essentially an urge, known as a drive, that a person has to do a certain behavior. This would give them a general idea as to what motivation is. I would also give them an example of a coach yelling at the players that we did in class. The yelling of the coach could encourage the individual or make them shut down.
The most surprising/memorable thing that I learned in this reading is that there are so many theories and theorists. As I stated earlier, I only learned motivation according to Hull. This chapter was memorable to me because of the origins of motivational concepts. I liked that the book identified Plato’s explanation of motivation with Freud’s id, ego, and superego because I am very familiar with those topics. Plato’s primitive level connects to Freud’s concept of id as they are known as basic needs and include hunger and sex. The competitive aspect includes social standards, such as the feelings of honor and shame and can identify with Freud’s superego. Finally, the highest level in Plato’s hierarchy is the decision-making capacities, like reasoning and choosing, and this level connects to Freud’s concept of ego.
Terms Used:
intrinsic motivation, flow, external regulation, extrinsic motivation, goal, value, possible self, achievement strivings, perceived competence, opponent process, positive affect, introjection, personal control, relatedness, source, impetus, object, aim, drive, behavior
What I found to be interesting from the readings was, the lack of knowledge I had about what Motivation and Emotion actually is. Like we discussed in class on one of the first days, we like to use very broad terms, but then when you begin to break them down bit by bit you discover there is so much more to it. That’s what I felt these first two chapters showed me about the broad terms of “Motivation” and “Emotion”. Once you begin to break them down you get a deeper look at what they actually are, what drives them, and why it is they exist.
If I had to describe what motivation was to somebody not in this class I would first tell them it is why we do something. It could be an external or internal motive. These are what push you to do something. Such as why you get good grades, is it because your parents will give you money, or maybe its because when you see that you received an A you get this feeling of accomplishment inside of you. It is also important to know that everyone is motivated by different things. One person can be easily influenced when someone is yelling at them telling them to get something done, and for others that could scare them away and in fact have the opposite influence of motivation. It would also be important to let them know that how we define or look at motivation has changed over the years. Freud led us to believe there was only was main reason as to why we are motivated to do something, but overtime we have found that not to be the case, hence the reason we now know motivation works differently for everyone.
What I find to be most memorable is that I came into the reading thinking that I had a pretty good idea of what motivation is. I thought it was just the energy you put into something. I never really thought about the “why” aspect. In this reading learning that we all do things for different reasons, and we all have different drive was really eye opening to me. I liked how the booked talked about every action you decide or decide not to do is still an active behavior, and I would have never thought if you don’t do an action then you’re still showing an active behavior, but that now makes more sense to me. Lastly, I enjoyed learning that there are many theories to motivation, and knowing there will more than likely be more to come in future findings.
Terms:
-Motivation
-Emotion
-Freud
-Drive
-External Motivation
-Internal Motivation
Many topics in these two chapters were very interesting. Motivation as a whole is interesting and much more complex than I ever realized. One topic that I find intriguing is “expressions of motivation.” Typically, I have always thought of motivation as something that is inside a person’s mind, like a feeling, and not something visible. Although the actual motivation may not be visible, the way people behave and engage can indicate motivation.
I also found the “Grand Theories” quite interesting. The history of different subjects are always full of strange and odd ideas, but that is what makes them exciting to learn about. Today we are so much more advanced and intelligent about things than we were centuries ago, which is why these theories are fascinating. Will, instinct, and drive are the Grand Theories that were embraced in the early movement. Each one came along and replaced that last theory, but drive had the biggest impact, at least to me. Hull’s theory stood out the most because of his predictive idea of motivation, so one could predict when someone would be motivated. These were only for physiological needs, but I think he was a step in the right direction.
Because this subject area is still relatively new, researchers are still discovering new information and coming up with new theories. This is really interesting because as students, we could go into this area and really dig into research and help develop this field move along even more. One of us could go on to come up with a new theory that may change the way we look at motivation and emotion, and I think that alone is really cool.
Motivation is what fuels people to satisfy some desire. We use motivation all day, every day without even realizing that we are. We have and use our motivation to do or don’t do anything. Motivation does not have just one type but many types. We are motivated by intrinsic and external forces. Those who are motivated because they are merely interested or intrigued by something are intrinsically motivated. External motivation comes from outside factors like physical rewards. Everyone has different motives for their behaviors, as well, which are internal and based on needs, cognitions, and emotions. Motivation is complex, and everyone is motivated in different ways.
Something surprising in this reading to me was how recent motivation and emotion courses, books, and understanding are—less than a hundred years. In the very beginning of the second chapter, the author talked about how the first textbook for motivation was not written until 1964. The author even talked about how different the topics a college course would have been back in those days. Of course, that would seem really odd for us because researchers have been able to do a lot more research on motivation and emotion have a better understanding of the subject. I thought it was also interesting that back in that decade, students would have been assigned a rat to do lab work on throughout the course.
testing
Before signing up for this class, I was already intrigued by the name and subject of a class being Motivation & Emotion. After reading the material in Chapters 1 and 2, I found interest in many of the basic questions presented relating to why we do what we do, and why we feel what we feel. Every person exemplifies a sense of motivation and emotion and I’m excited to learn from the content this book and class will offer in answering the whys and developing a personal awareness of what drives the way we live.
I understand motivation to be kind of like an art. Every person experiences some sort of driven force that moves them to do something and although that varies and differs greatly between person to person, motivation exists to fulfill our lives from basic survival needs to the philosophical purpose of life. The book similarly describes motivation as an internal process that energizes and directs behavior, whatever that may look like. These internal processes serve three different categories identified as needs, cognitions, and emotions. These processes are also dependent on the external events of the environment, society, and culture. Because motivation is an intangible, internal experience in an individual, it is analyzed by expressions of behaviors, emotions, physiological functioning, and self-report. Motivation is such a broad context that is continuously dynamic and ever-changing, so the book includes many theories and studies attaining a certain application of why and what generates motivation.
I was challenged by the scientific approaches to developing the theories and explanations for what motivates humans and how it affects behaviors and emotions. It’s obvious that physically, our bodies are biologically motivated and that affects how we survive. It’s the emotional expressions, the passions, and the uniqueness of each person’s motivation that I personally find difficult to measure scientifically. The question “why we do what we do” can be answered up to a certain point. The concept of analyzing motivation is greatly philosophical, and we have so much to learn and discuss from the diverse studies and research done on motivation. The first two chapters provided a lot of foundational information that can help determine in our own lives where we see motivation playing out and being expressed. For example, after reading about the different types of needs that motivation serves, I thought about how the increase and decrease in my motivation to do certain things is based on how much I value a specific need to be satisfied over other specific needs. This is why goal-setting and analyzing your own motives and values can help achieve your individual success, which can be organized in successes that are physiological, emotional, expressible, and intellectual. Like most of America, I wrote down some personal goals for the new year, and looking over them now, the list clearly exemplifies how motivated I am by personal enjoyment. I will do things and strive to do things better only if the context is enjoyable. I had difficulty setting goals out of my boundaries of enjoyment because I’m not as driven by being challenged as I am by enjoying what I’m doing with my time.
Terms:
Behavior
Engagement
Theory
Motives
Processes
The book, Understanding Motivation and Emotion, is rich with information and it is difficult to select only a few topics which interest me; however, I have narrowed it down to the following topics: what causes behavior, motivation study reveals what people want, and philosophical origins of motivational concepts. In Chapter One, “What Causes Behavior” is a topic, and the paragraph goes on to ask a series of questions such as “why does behavior start?” as well as “why does behavior stop?”. I find both questions to be equally interesting because I want to know what motivated a person to start acting a certain way as well as what prompted a person to stop acting a certain way. Also in Chapter One, there is a header titled “Motivation Study Reveals What People Want” and in this study, hopes, desires, wants, needs, as well as fears were all studied. These five categories essentially examined whether people were good or evil, which I find to be extremely interesting because no one is fully good or fully evil; there are several shades of grey that lie between good and evil.
In Chapter Two, the topic of “Philosophical Origins of Motivational Concepts” appears. The following paragraphs state several different beliefs for why people do what they do. A few theories include: will, instinct, and drive. These theories all explain why people might do an action or act a certain way; which would be considered their motivation. For example, Freud believed the reasoning behind people’s actions was to satisfy certain needs. He also declared that a person feeling a “drive” was their body telling them to act immediately and continue that particular action until the need was satisfied.
If I had to describe Motivation to someone not in this class I would state, “Motivation is simply not one thing, for it is several things. A person’s needs, thoughts and feelings, as well as their emotions all come together to form the reason behind their actions, or their motivation”.
The most memorable thing from reading Chapters One and Two, was the definition of “emotions” from Chapter One. I have always been an emotional person; however, I know my emotions do not define me; my emotions are not a part of me. In Chapter One it reads “Emotions are short-lived subjective-physiological-functional-expressive phenomena that orchestrate how we react adaptively to the important events in our lives.” The section where it states that emotions are short-lived is memorable to me for now I know even if emotions are overwhelming; they will not last forever.
Motivation and Emotion Terms Used:
Behavior
Drive
Emotion
Feelings
Freud's Drive Theory
Instinct
Needs
Theory
Will
The topics that were most interesting to me were that behavior varies in its intensities. Why are some people motivated some days and not the other days? Unrelated to the book, I believe this is due to the interest of something, among other things. A student might not be motivated to go to their 8 am because it is too early, they don’t like the class or professor, or they simply just don’t want to go. Internal motives are interesting because it directs a person’s behavior. Cognitions are also interesting. A person who wants to start working out and exercising might lose motivation in the winter because it is too cold, but if they feel that the effort they are making to get healthier is worth it, then they will go.
I would tell a person who is not in this class that motivation is mainly about your cognitions and emotions towards the object at hand. The example of a student going to class is a good example. A cognitive motive for skipping class is that if they believe that skipping the class will have no effect on their overall grade, and then they will not go. From an emotional perspective the student might not go to the class because they do not like the course or the professor. Another example would be a person’s career. One employee might love the job they have, they worked hard for their degree and that job position is their dream. So that employee is happy to be there and is always working hard, thus they are extremely motivated to do well. On the other hand, another employee might have gotten fired from their old job and had to take the current job so that they can make ends meet. This employee might have gone to school longer than the other and might think that they are overqualified and that the job is beneath their skill level. So that employee might just do the bare minimum of work they need to do and is usually in a bad mood. Thus due to their circumstances, they are only motivated to do the work that is required of them to keep their job.
The most surprising thing was that motivation courses weren’t taught until recently in the past 40-45 years, and that motivation was understood from philosophical origins. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were the pioneers to understanding motivation though they had different theories about it. I was also surprised that mini theories were more promising than grand theories, will, instinct, and drive. The mini theories try to understand motivational phenomenon, particular circumstances, groups of people, and theoretical questions (35). They explain some but not all the reasons of motivational behavior, which I believe is good because not always one theory is right when it comes to psychology.
Motivation & emotion terms: Internal motives, cognitions, philosophical origins, mini theories, and grand theories
The first topic that interested me was the topic of grand theories. Trying to place motivation on one single thing for everyone in the world. To me, this seemed like an unlikely thing to do. While I was reading I was thinking about the things that I do and do not enjoy doing and what helps motivate me for both. It did not seem a possibility that one single thing whether it be will, instinct, or drive, that motivated me to do things. With grand theories in mind, the next topic that most interested me was when the book talked about mini-theories. I think that when trying to figure out what exactly explains motivation you almost cannot use a grand theory. There are so many different things that people are or are not motivated for, and they are motivated by them in different ways. I think that motivation is too broad to have one grand theory to define it all.
Based on information that I have obtained from this chapter, if I had to describe what motivation is to someone that is not in this class I would say that motivation is a complex idea. Motivation has to deal with why we do things. Why we want what we want. What we actually want. Whether we enjoy doing something or not, motivation answers the question as to why we do them. Chapter 1 wanted us to consider behavior before we looked at motivation. Motivation and behavior go hand in hand. Motivation is what drives your behavior. There is a list of different sources of motivation. Some of which includes intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, external regulation, goal, value, possible self, achievement strategies, perceived competence, opponent process, positive affect, and personal control. These different sources of motivation help us to understand why or what is motivating us for a specific task. However, when it comes to motivation and different sources of motivation, I do not think that there is one single source of motivation that is acting alone at any given task. I think it is a collaborative effort especially during tasks in which you do not want to participate.
The most surprising thing that I learned about in this reading is that motivation is so complex. In all my life I never gave motivation a deep thought. Everything that I did was either because I wanted to do it or because I did not have a choice. There is so much more to motivation than I thought. Motivation is not something that has been studied for all that long and yet there have been some good, as well as some not so good, ideas that have come and gone. It is interesting to read about the history of studying motivation and see the shifts in ideas and reasons. I cannot help but think that in another hundred years, will there be big shifts and jumps from ideas about motivation that we have now to what philosophers may discover or test in the future.
Key Terms:
Grand Theories
Mini-Theories
intrinsic motivation
extrinsic motivation
external regulation
goal
value
possible self
achievement strategies
perceived competence
opponent process
positive affect
personal control
One topic that interested me most from Chapter 1 was the various ways motivation expresses itself. Before I read the text, my understanding of the term “motivation” was very limited. I never realized how complex the term “motivation” was. I had no idea there were so many different ways to express motivation. I learned motivation is expressed in four ways: behavior, engagement, brain activations and physiology, and self-report. Each of these are further broken down and the tables and figures in the text helped me to get a better understanding of the many aspects of how motivation is expressed. Behavior, engagement, brain activations and physiology, and self-report help us to make inferences about the quality and quantity of another person’s motivation.
Another topic from Chapter 2 that I found interesting was under the heading Philosophical Origins of Motivational Concepts. The origin of motivation comes from the ancient Greeks. Plato uses the idea of tripartite, which is appetitive, competitive, and calculating aspects to explain behavior. Aristotle supported Plato but used the terms nutritive, sensitive, and rational to explain motivation. Tripartite was changed to dualism which is defined as “the passions of the body and the reason of the mind,” during the post-Renaissance era. Descartes further distinguished mind-body dualism into passive and active aspects of motivation. He believes that the body works as a machine (passive) and the mind is spiritual (active). Descartes believes that the will is the ultimate motivational force and the mind controls the body’s appetites and passions.
My understanding of what motivation is has expanded after reading the first two chapters in Understanding Motivation and Emotion. If I were to describe the term “motivation” to someone, I would tell them that internal motives (needs, cognitions, and emotions) and external events (environmental, social, and cultural) all give behavior strength/purpose and energy/direction to fulfill some desire a person may have.
The most surprising thing I learned after reading these chapters was that the field of motivation has not been around for very long—less than 100 years to be more specific. After learning this, it was very surprising to me to learn that in the 1970s, the motivation study was almost extinct. I never realized how often the field of motivation changed its focus. It has changed and developed significantly since first being studied during the time of the ancient Greeks. I think this field will keep going through a developmental process and remain at the frontier of psychology for many years to come.
Motivation and Emotion terms used:
-Internal motives (pg. 8)
-External events (pg. 8)
-Behavior (pg. 11)
-Engagement (pg. 11)
-Brain Activations and Physiology (pg. 12)
-Self-Report (pg. 12)
-Will (pg. 26)
Chapter 1 explains that motivation and emotion influence our thoughts, feelings, and aspirations. This was something that I found to be the most memorable to me from the readings. When we hear “motivation” we often think of why people do what they do, or how motivation influences our actions. By stepping back and taking another look, I see how it also affects these three things. The book mentioned that instead of saying ‘what causes behavior’… we could say ‘what causes activity’? I thought this was a great way to get a different outlook on behavior when observing others and their behavior.
Motivation is a private and unobservable experience, so we cannot truly see what motivates another individual. Not to mention, motivation is simply a hard term to truly define because everyone had different things that motivate them. We also all have different things that we want to accomplish and get done. If I had to explain to someone outside of this class what motivation is all about, I would tell them that motivation is basically why individuals do the things that they do. Motivation is the thing that drives us to do great, or not so great things! It is what drives us to reach our goals and accomplish tasks.
Something that I found to be really interesting was the Theory of Achievement Motivation. This theory works to identify the relations that exist among naturally occurring, observable phenomena. This includes what causes the phenomenon and also what the phenomenon itself causes. The chapters also mentioned how we share many of the same basic motivations and emotions, such as hunger, anger, sadness, needing to use the facilities, etc. but that people differ in the things that motivate them. This seems like a “duh” kind of moment, but if we were to look more in depth at individual’s motivations, we would see how different they really are! One’s motivation to exercise might be stronger than another’s, in my case I am the other person in this scenario. Motive is an internal process that energizes, directs, and sustains behavior. For example, my motive to drink a glass of wine (yes I am 21) is MUCH stronger than my motive to go to the WRC and exercise.
I also found Freud’s Drive Theory to be very interesting! Freud says that all of our decisions are made based solely on the satisfaction of our needs. For example, when people react to urges by satisfying those needs, such as hunger or needing to use the restroom. Many people do not look to Freud fondly because he was rather sexist, but I think we was a very good psychologist. He introduced the subconscious to us, along with childhood experiences affecting us later on in life. If we look past his sexist remarks, he is truly one of the greats.
Terms:
Theory of Achievement Motivation
Motive
Motivation
Freud Drive Theory
I found that chapter one layed some good ground work for this course. I found the vast array of ways to define, interpret, and predict someone’s motivation to be quite intriguing. I found chapter 2 to be more of a chapter about the history of Motivational Psychology. By this I mean that chapter 2 describes how the grand-theories of old were formed and then proceeded to branch off into the more modern mini-theories that are being looked at today by the large number of Motivational Psychology subdivisions.
What I found interesting from chapter one was that there are so many potential sources of motivation for any given behavior (Table 1.1). The exercise example referred to in Table 1.1 is very thorough and made me think of how when we take part in a behavior, we typically know why we are doing it, but we don’t always know why someone else may be doing the exact same thing. Another thing that stuck out to me as I skimmed through the first chapter was that behavioral intensities fluctuate depending on that individual’s internal motives and external events. A motive being an internal process that energizes and directs behavior with subtypes that consist of needs, cognitions, and emotions. External events are environmental, social, and cultural sources of motivation. To add to that, not only do an individual’s own behavioral intensities change, but behavioral intensities are different from person to person. No two people are truly the same, even when it comes to motivation.
I found the mini-theories to be rather interesting in chapter 2. A mini-theory investigates specific motivational phenomena. I believe that tackling smaller more specific questions and studying a topic that is not so broad may make it more manageable. My thought on mini-theories is that once a large number of them have quality scientific literature that either supports or disputes their theories then we may be able to put the pieces together and form a thorough meta-analysis that may help answer the overlying question of, why do people do what they do? I think that the field of Motivational Psychology has come a long way by adopting a more diverse structure, which in turn will likely yield some interesting findings.
If I were to describe motivation to someone that is not a class member, I would begin by stating that motivation is a two part term. First, it is why people do what they do, and second, it is to what extent they perform that given behavior. That being said, you can not see another person’s motivation, as motivation is a private, unobservable, and mysterious experience confined to the minds of each individual. I would then describe that motivation has been stated to be a sort of drive, or urge to go about performing a certain behavior. Given that it is an urge, motivation is in a constant state of fluctuation. I may provide an example such as a very verbal coach yelling at an athlete to do some physical task and this may either increase or decrease their urge to perform said task.
What I really found memorable from reading these two chapters was that motivations vary over time. What I currently interpret as being very urgent may not be urgent a week from now. My current levels of motivation for completing my course work ahead of time may gradually decrease as I become more stressed out as the semester drags on. I found the fluctuation of emotions to be something that I will keep in the back of my mind when thinking about how much I either want or don’t want to do something.
Terms Used:
Needs
Cognitions
Emotions
Internal Motives
External Events
Freud’s Drive Theory
Mini-Theories
In chapter 1 I thought the different sources of motivation was the most interesting topic. Table 1.1 did a very good job explaining the different motivational responses and with great examples of each source. I thought it was very interesting how many different sources of motivation there is. I also thought it was very interesting that motivation researchers can figure out why or how people get motivated to do certain things like the group of motivational researchers did when trying to figure out why students exercised and use what they find out to help motivate or improve the people such as to improve student wellness. Another thing I thought the book did a great job doing was that they showed how needs, cognitions, and emotions tie in with motivation.
I thought it was very interesting that there are many voices in the study motivation and each voice disagrees on where motives emerge from. The behavioral perspective believes that motives emerge from environmental incentives and “point to the part of desire that stems from how attractive or reinforcing another person is. The Neurological perspective believes that motives emerge from brain activations and “neuroscientists explain desire as a product of the neurotransmitter being released into the brain’s limbic system. The other perspectives the book lists are physiological, cognitive, social0congitive, cultural, evolutionary, humanistic, and psychoanalytical and they all have different opinions on where and how motives emerge from.
Motivation is an internal process that drives an individual and directs behavior. A good example of my description of what motivation is all about is the story of 5 ft. 9 in. NBA All-Start point guard Isiah Thomas. Growing up Isiah Thomas used to go to a basketball gym with his father where many kids around his age would play pickup games. Because of his height he would always get picked last. He would later go to the University of Washington where he averaged 16 points per game and hit a buzzer beater the Huskies a Pac 10 tournament. Instead of staying at Washington for his senior year he decided to declare for the NBA draft where he was picked last. Since then Thomas has turned himself into one of the best point guards and best clutch players in the league. Thomas has used being constantly overlooked and being picked last growing up and in the NBA draft as motivation to drive himself to prove all the doubters and to become the best player he can be. Thomas even gave back to the community that made him who he was by building a basketball court for the local boys and girls club. Inside the court there are pictures of Thomas all over the walls with the words “PICK ME LAST AGAIN”.
One of the most memorable things that I learned about in this reading is that there is many types of motivations that exist. I always thought of motivation in a unitary way and after reading the chapter and looking at Table 1.1 and reading the heading Types of Motivations Exist on page 16 I was shocked to learn that there are many more types of motivation. I have also recently started to workout and have written down the reasons why I want to work out and the illustration for the reason and plan to use it as a tool for motivating myself to work out!
Motive: Page 8
Drive: Page 30
Unitary: Page 16-17
The information found on chapter 1 and chapter 2 lays a solid foundation regarding motivation and the role it plays on why we choose to do certain things within our lives. Chapter 1 includes a table that displays various sources of motivation that were very interesting. The table displays various sources of motivation regarding reasons to exercise. These reasons vary from the typical goals to more complex sources such as introjection. Two concepts that I also found interesting were internal motives and external events. These two concepts explain why individuals choose to be more motivated to accomplish a certain task or less motivated. The intensity of motivation ultimately relies on these two types of motives. The internal motives vary from: basic human needs, psychological needs, cognitions, and emotions. External events are any environmental sources such as money that motivates an individual to complete certain tasks. I also found it interesting that individuals will gain various physical or emotional skills depending on the type of motivation. An example the book provides is through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
According to the text, children who learn through intrinsic motivation will be able to be more creative and more positive. Children who learn through extrinsic motivation may only be accomplishing a task in order to receive a reward such as a sticker, which may result in them not being able to fully grasp the concept of the assignment that was provided. It is interesting to note that motivation was initially thought to be described by a grand theory that posed to explain that individuals were motivated to complete a task due to an inner desire to either approach a task or stay away from it. Throughout history, various mini-theories such as: achievement motivation, flow, and self-efficacy theories were introduced in order to try to further examine what motivation is and the reasons that motivate individuals to act. The introduction of these mini-theories further proved that motivation is a complex concept that cannot be described using one method.
Describing motivation to someone will vary from person to person. Upon reading these two chapters, it was revealed to me that motivation has various components that make up the concept. I personally would describe motivation as a something that urges an individual to act and accomplish a task. The type of motivation will obviously vary with different individuals; however, everyone has a certain type of motivation that pushes them to accomplish short and long-term tasks. The best manner to introduce the concept of motivation is to utilize examples from chapter 1 such as the motivations to exercise in order to express the various motivations that individuals have to accomplish a similar task. Another example that I would use would be with extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Using the example of children doing their homework in order to either receive a sticker (extrinsic) or through sheer interest (intrinsic) will affect what they will ultimate gain from the experience.
While reading the chapters, I was surprised to learn the complexity of motivation and the difference types of motivation. Throughout the years researchers and scientist have tried to define motivation in a concrete sense, however the complexity of the concept has resulted in years of theories and mini-theories that try to encompass the meaning.
Terms:
Goals
Introjection
Internal motives
External events
Intrinsic motivation
External motivation
motivation
Some of the most interesting things that stuck out to me in the first two chapters was one of the very first topics which was over behavior and what causes it as well as talking about why it ranges in intensity. It was talked about how the question over why people do the behaviors they do it broken into more than one question. When we stop, and think about behavior it is crazy the amount of behaviors we do and when you stop and think why a lot of times it does seem as though we do some behaviors without having a purpose. One of the biggest words mentioned was the word drive. Behavior all seem to stem from a drive for want. Like people that chose to go to the gym or play a certain sport it may be because they enjoy what they do or it could be for the bigger picture such as the want to lose weight. There was also the talk of how emotion plays a role in our behaviors and our feelings. Other topic that I found interesting was the topic of Internal motives. It was stated that an internal motive is a process that energizes and directs behavior. (P.8) It was then talked about how there are three different types of motives like needs, cognitions and emotions. Needs are things in which one want this is one of the reason we may do certain behaviors such as eating, or going to the bathroom they are behaviors based off the needs that we have as a human. The other type of motive is cognition these are more of our beliefs and thoughts and what we want ourselves so this would be the going to the gym because for yourself image you think you need to be smaller or better. The last one is emotions and this reacts for the emotions in our lives that we can’t control the different events that just come up and the way we react to them and the behaviors that come from them are because of our emotions. Freud’s Drive theory was overall what kind of put all the separate pieces together when it came to talking about why we react to thing the way we do. The other look on it was the Hull theory which was more focused on the motivation and that since we need certain things in our life that when those things become needed then that is why we have the behaviors or reactions that we do. If I had to describe to someone what motivation is after reading the first two chapters I would say that motivation is not just caused by one thing but by many different factors. The reason why we have certain behaviors is because of needs and wants as well as internal motives such as emotions and more. We do certain behaviors to get what we are wanting to get or achieve for some things. Other things other factors kick in when it comes to things that we need or things that are just a given. Also, motivation has been a growing thing over time it is still changing when it comes to reasons and factors. I think the most surprising thing that I learned about while reading this chapter was that there are three different parts within the internal motives. I never stopped to think about all the different parts that go into it when your choosing to do a behavior that you want I always just feel as though I just chose to do something but to know that there are the emotions of one as well as the drive to do something and the factors of needing to do something all working together is just crazy.
Terms:
Freud Drive Theory
Drive
Emotions
Internal motive
Cognitions
Needs
Behavior
Motivations
The most interesting topic to me was intrinsic motivation. I think it is interesting to look at the different “rewards” that make people do things. The book used an example of children playing games. Their intrinsic motivation in that situation was fun. They did what they were doing for fun. I think finding out what motivates people is very interesting and can be a very valuable tool. The second chapter about the history of motivation (or the study of) which is less interesting to me but still valuable. Another thing that was cool about the chapters were Freud’s drive theory. I had previously learned this in another course, but I had forgotten about it. He talks about how life and death drive us and that we also have things such as sex affecting our drive. I think that Freud’s Theory does a lot for us in regards to understand motivation, but it is good that there are many more theories that help build upon his.
I would describe motivation as complex. There is internal and external motivation and there is also the idea of some different factors of emotion. Some of these are what causes you to start an activity, your drive, how long you do the activity, and importance of the activity. There is a lot more to motivation than what most people, me included, initially would think. There are internal motives and things on the outside world that can cause you to do things.
The most surprising/interesting part of the reading was just how complex motivation really was. I always had just thought that motivation was just what made us do things. To an extent, this is somewhat the case, but there are all of these things that go into motivation as I had talked about earlier. It isn’t as cut and dry as I had initially thought it was. There can be things inside of me that cause me to do things, but there can be things outside of me, or external that can have a bigger impact on my motivation and what I eventually end up doing. This was different from what I just assumed motivation was going into this course. I am very interested in the numerous different things that can motivate people and how I can learn those things in order to get the most of the people around me. I think there is a lot to be gained when one knows a lot about motivation.
Intrinsic motivation
Internal Motivation
External Motivation
Drive
Freud’s Drive Theory
I found the first two chapters of this textbook to be very interesting, and informative. I was informed with a lot of knew information regarding motivation. I think the main idea of these two chapters are to give background and a basis of what the rest of the book is going to be about. From the very beginning of the book there is a ton of information. Page 4 included a table showing different motivational reasons to exercise. I was actually really interested in these motivational reasons, especially since I can relate to many. I was able to see how different age groups use different motivations when working out, and how your attitude changes as you age. The next topic I found interesting was a box called, “why we do what we do”, and this box included the main reasons for our decisions. Overall these reasons were narrowed down to self-esteem, incentives, rewards, and praise. Another topic I found was on chart 1.2, a chart of motivation. Motivations are all about the internal motives or and external events in our lives. Our internal motives can best be described as needs, cognitions, and emotions. While external events could be social, cultural, or environmental, these external events can direct behavior to the extent that it produces rewarding or punishing consequences. I really enjoyed reading all of the different theories in chapter two. Freud’s Drive Theory was new to me, and I found that it included “drives source”, “drives impetus”, “drive’s object”, and “drives aim”. This all goes into his conclusion that all behavior was motivated and that the purpose of behavior was to serve the satisfaction of a need.
I believe that every single person has some sort of motivation built into them, even when you do not even think about the task your doing as motivation. I do not think that motivation can be simply defined by one definition, because it is bound to change person to person. Motivation will also change as we age. I would describe motivation as what our actions are and how we feel based of off personal wants and desires. It is based off the emotional, cognitive, and emotional state of an individual. Motivation has many components to it, and generally is formed by an individuals’ achievement strategies. Overall a lot more than we think is behind motivation.
The most surprising thing I took away from these beginning chapters was how little I actually knew about what and how motivation works. I did not have an in-depth thought about motivation and thought of it as a simple word, when in reality it is not. I was surprised on how many different theories of motivation the book had. I also was interested about how all people are motivated differently and actually have different strategies. There are SO many strategies and different reasons behind all of the little things we do. Who knew working out could have so many different motivations behind it? I learned a lot from this chapter that I did not know before, and have a good basis for what we will be learning in later chapters!
Terms: Intensity, Internal Motives, External Events, Will, Instinct, Drive, Goal, Object, Intensity, Introjection, Mini-Theories, Personal Controls.
I would like to start off this post by saying how interested I was when I signed up for this class. I personally think that the name “Motivation and Emotion” is very catchy and most people would want to learn more as they just read it just like myself. Even though we may understand what “Motivation” is and what emotion is, but there could be a lot of other interested thing we may be unaware of. I can tell there is so much out there that we may not have the knowledge of, but, if we read it step by step and stay focused, I am sure there would be a lot of interesting things that we will get to discover throughout this whole semester. That’s what I wanted to find out as I signed up for this class.
We all know what the word “Motivation” means. It can be described as having a reason why we do what we do. As being college students, we all have some kind of motives that keeps us going and encourage us to do different tasks on daily basis. These motives can be internal and external. These motives can be the reason why we perform many activities that we do. We all have goals and dreams that we would like to achieve in our lifetimes. When we get encouraged and motivated, there’s always a reason behind it. For example, my dream and goal is to wanting to be a pediatrician or an OB/gyn, and motives are to get good grades and do well in school so I can achieve that goal. When I do get good grades and do well in my classes, it’s like feeling victory and that accomplishment inside of me, which motivates me even more and keep going like I am until I reach my destiny.
If I was to describe motivation to someone who is not in this class, I would say that motivation is a peculiar that encourages a person to keep moving towards his/her goal and destiny. The most interesting part from the reading I found is that there are fourteen motivational reasons why we do something on daily basis. The fourteen motivational reasons that the book talks about are intrinsic motivation, flow, external regulation, extrinsic motivation, goal, value, possible self, achievement strivings, perceived competence, opponent process, positive affect, introjection, personal control, and relatedness. The book mentions that these motivational reasons are also Freud’s drive components.
I also find Freud's Drive Theory very interesting. It describes our urge to do something, such as, needing to go to the bathroom at certain time, feeling hungry and wanting to eat, or go to sleep to satisfy our basic needs. I found this very interesting because I have never honestly focused too much on these usual things that happens every single day. But reading it from the text and realizing that why we do these things makes a very big difference. In conclusion, I just want to say that it was very interesting reading and realizing the true meaning behind the word “Motivation & Emotion” and I never knew that there are two types of motivation, external and internal. Very interesting.
Key Concepts:
Motivation
External Motivation
Internal Motivation
Freud Drive Theory
Personal Control
Relatedness
Opponent Process
I would like to start off this post by saying how interested I was when I signed up for this class. I personally think that the name “Motivation and Emotion” is very catchy and most people would want to learn more as they just read it just like myself. Even though we may understand what “Motivation” is and what emotion is, but there could be a lot of other interested thing we may be unaware of. I can tell there is so much out there that we may not have the knowledge of, but, if we read it step by step and stay focused, I am sure there would be a lot of interesting things that we will get to discover throughout this whole semester. That’s what I wanted to find out as I signed up for this class.
We all know what the word “Motivation” means. It can be described as having a reason why we do what we do. As being college students, we all have some kind of motives that keeps us going and encourage us to do different tasks on daily basis. These motives can be internal and external. These motives can be the reason why we perform many activities that we do. We all have goals and dreams that we would like to achieve in our lifetimes. When we get encouraged and motivated, there’s always a reason behind it. For example, my dream and goal is to wanting to be a pediatrician or an OB/gyn, and motives are to get good grades and do well in school so I can achieve that goal. When I do get good grades and do well in my classes, it’s like feeling victory and that accomplishment inside of me, which motivates me even more and keep going like I am until I reach my destiny.
If I was to describe motivation to someone who is not in this class, I would say that motivation is a peculiar that encourages a person to keep moving towards his/her goal and destiny. The most interesting part from the reading I found is that there are fourteen motivational reasons why we do something on daily basis. The fourteen motivational reasons that the book talks about are intrinsic motivation, flow, external regulation, extrinsic motivation, goal, value, possible self, achievement strivings, perceived competence, opponent process, positive affect, introjection, personal control, and relatedness. The book mentions that these motivational reasons are also Freud’s drive components.
I also find Freud's Drive Theory very interesting. It describes our urge to do something, such as, needing to go to the bathroom at certain time, feeling hungry and wanting to eat, or go to sleep to satisfy our basic needs. I found this very interesting because I have never honestly focused too much on these usual things that happens every single day. But reading it from the text and realizing that why we do these things makes a very big difference. In conclusion, I just want to say that it was very interesting reading and realizing the true meaning behind the word “Motivation & Emotion” and I never knew that there are two types of motivation, external and internal. Very interesting.
Key Concepts:
Motivation
External Motivation
Internal Motivation
Freud Drive Theory
Personal Control
Relatedness
Opponent Process
The first two chapters of our book described concepts and theories that I never completely considered when thinking about what goes into motivation. What I found most interesting about these chapters was the question of what causes motivation to vary day to day for a person within one activity? Why could someone be super motivated one day to go workout, and then the next, have no motivation at all? The most interesting section of these chapters was internal motives and external events. The idea that internal motives stay fairly consistent between most humans but external events vary day to day depending on the environment someone is in. It is amazing to think that hunger, sleep, health, and all internal motives depict how motivated we will be each day or the fact that working with one co-worker one day and being motivated and the next day working with someone different and having no motivation at all. Another section that really interested me was expressions of motivation. This section showed me how to observe behavior amongst friends to understand what motivates them. The eight aspects of behavior being something that I can continuously watch to help determine motivation. And the four categories of engagement involved that humans are always engaging in but rarely ever realizing it. I found it most interesting that we can’t focus on surveys because people are more likely to say they’re motivated by certain things just to seem more motivated on the survey.
If a friend asked me what motivation and emotion is all about, I would tell them that it’s understanding every aspect that goes into the reasons for wanting to do activities. Motivation and emotion provides a basis for better understanding ourselves, in why we desire or do not desire to do things. I would ask them to think about the things they enjoy to do in day and the things they don't. Then follow up with, now how often do you find yourself questioning whether you want to do those things or not. Do you even find yourself not feeling motivated to do the things you love? This is when I would say, "that is what motivation is." It is a continuous, every day thought process that humans go through without even knowing it, and it effects us more than we realize.
The theories developed for motivation and emotion involve a broad array of people: Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, Charles Darwin, the man who studied evolution, William James, the first psychologist to popularize and instinct theory of motivation, and Hull, who studied the idea of determining motivation before it is present. All important people who were involved in beginning the study of motivation and emotion, and people who give reason to studying this topic.
The most memorable part was reading about researchers opening up the human brain while the person was awake to observe what’s going on with their motivational and emotional states. I’ve seen many movies that involve awake brain surgery but never thought it would be beneficial for psychologists studying motivation and emotion. I find Hull’s Drive Theory to very much correlate with the ideas of internal motives. He believes that motivation can be predicted before it occurs. This is because motivation mostly derives from our needs, cognitions, and emotions. In Hull’s research, he argues that “If a response was followed quickly by a reduction in drive, learning occurred and habit was reinforced.”
Terms Used:
Internal motives: pg. 8
External events: pg. 9
Drive theory: pg. 31
Expression of Motivation: pg. 10
Behavior: pg. 11
Engagement: pg. 11
Reinforcement: pg.31
From the very beginning of chapter one, I was intrigued by the prompt to define motivation and emotion myself, as the reader. Before reading the chapter, I defined motivation as the urge or push to complete a task, and I defined emotion as what people feel. One of the most interesting things to me is how different motivation and emotion are objectively defined versus how I defined them.
After having read the chapters, if I would explain motivation to someone outside of our class, I would describe it as the “why” and “how much” behind what we do. Motivation explains behaviors’ strength and purpose. It’s also important to note that motivation varies through time and from person to person. Different people are motivated by different things, at different times, and at different strengths.
On a related topic, another highly interesting part of these chapters to me was the theme that types of motivation exist. This theme argues that not only is motivation “why” and “how much,” but it is also “what kind.” There are two main types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic focuses on internal processes that explain behavior. Three types of internal motives exist: needs, cognitions, and emotions. Needs are vital to maintain life. For example, hunger is a motive to eat. Cognitions are mental events, like goal-setting or beliefs. Emotions are brief, subjective phenomena, including feelings, physiological preparedness, function, and expression. Extrinsic motivation is environmental, social, and cultural events that influence behavior. What interests me the most about these different types of motivation is that they can alter the quality of the outcome. For instance, if a doctor is motivated extrinsically, let’s say by money, their quality of care for their patients will likely be poor compared to a doctor who is motivated intrinsically, let’s say by compassion for others. I think part of the reason I find this topic particularly interesting is because my second major is music education. In the field of education, I have witnessed the difference in type and strength of motivation on student’s performance outcomes.
The most surprising thing about these chapters is how new the study of motivation is. The first motivation textbook was not written until 1964. That really shocks me! Motivation seems like a fundamental concept to understanding the human mind, so I assumed the study of motivation had started being taught at least a hundred years ago. That being said, philosophers began studying motivation hundreds of years ago. The understanding of motivation started with Plato’s theory of the three-part soul, including the appetitive, competitive, and calculating aspects. Over the years it has been developed by philosophers, biologists, physiologists, and psychologists. Now the newest understanding of motivation is based on mini-theories, which focus in on specific situations or questions. Today’s theory of motivation is behavior is influenced by strength and purpose by multiple stimuli at the same time. Simply put, motivation is complex.
Terms: motivation, emotion, intrinsic, extrinsic, needs, cognitions, emotions, Plato
One of the most interesting topics to me in these chapters is the sources that our motivation comes from. I’ve always thought about motivation as a whole and what it is, but never really where that motivation comes from and why. In the Table 1.1 the reasons to exercise were listed and so was the source of motivation for each reason. It is really interesting that there can be so many different reasons to do something and with each reason comes a different source. Personally the main reason for me to exercise would be for the personal challenge and the source of motivation for that would be the “flow,” because I like to “get in the zone” and just do it. I think that it is so interesting how much motivation can be broken down from some basic understanding and yet there are so many smaller components that make up that motivation and why.
If I were to explain to someone what motivation as about, I would say it is a lot more complex and in depth than you will think at first. Motivation can vary from person to person as does the intensity of the behaviors for motivation. Motivation is the reasoning behind why we think, do, and even why we are the way that we are. There are quite few different theories on motivation in the way that it works, meaning that there is not once certain way that defines it. Freud was one of the first psychologists to study our motivations and the two basic ones he came up with was libido and thanatos. These are the basic drives or motivations we have to fulfill our sexual desires and our desires to eventually die, this which also comes from his vast interest in Greek mythology. This being said our motivations have been being studied since the early 1900’s. This proves just how important motivation is to our daily lives and why we do what we do. Without any motivation, we would not be able to get anything done or to really prosper in any way. Motivation requires effort and effort gets us to where we want to be.
One of the most memorable topics I learned throughout these chapters is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. They are different, but they come together and make up our motivations as a whole. Intrinsic motivations are basically when doing something makes us feel good to just do it. If exercising just makes you feel happier and makes to feel better to be working towards something internally like health, then it is an intrinsic motivation. If you exercise to have a better looking body than the average person and gets your more compliments, that would be an extrinsic form of motivation. This is usually the way that others or the environment reacts to what you are doing and increases that motivation. It is possible to have one or another for a particular behavior, but both usually work hand in hand for an overall motivation. If we literally got nothing out of doing a task, didn’t make us happy or didn’t help an external force, then we would not have a reason or motivation to do that task if there is no noticeable difference or change.
Terms:
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Intensity
Motivation
Behavior
The starting chapters for this textbook were very interesting because they made me think about my motivations; something that I rarely give much thought and that is largely subconscious. I found that some of the most interesting points in these chapters were about the underlying causes for motivation and the reality that motivation is unobservable. Although it is logical, the statement that motivation is unobservable surprised me. We can never truly know a person’s motivations but rather must rely on inferences based on observable behaviors.
This is underscored by the variety of factors that effect an individual’s motivation such as biological underpinnings and universal versus enculturated motivations. Although some biological components of motivation will be similar in all people, differences in brain chemistry can greatly affect motivation from one person to the next. For example, a person with clinical depression will lack the necessary serotonin to feel happy which, in turn, effects their motivation to perform tasks. Similarly, universal motivations involve motivations such as instincts that are present in all humans. Although this is the case, motivations also differ based on cultural norms such as bowing in greeting in Japan versus waving in America. Overall, these various truths about motivation, that I had rarely considered before, were enlightening when reading through these chapters.
Before reading these chapters, or even taking this course, I think I would have described motivation as a force behind an individual’s actions that is only truly logical and understandable to that individual. I can think of several occasions where what I do or say makes perfect sense to me because I understand my motivations but to a third party they seem confusing. With the previous points now in mind, I believe I would describe motivation as a multifaceted element of our personalities that is influenced by biology, society, and individual characteristics. Due to these various elements, every person’s motivation will differ but logical inferences can help us to understand one another’s reasoning for their actions. Throughout this course, my understanding of motivation will surely evolve and improve upon this simplistic, generalized statement.
Overall, I found two points from this reading, particularly chapter two, memorable. Firstly, McDougall’s assertion (based on his instinct theory) that without instincts human beings would not initiate action. This statement is unrealistic because it does not account for movement that is not prompted such as fiddling with a pen. Although this is the case, I personally found it interesting because of those times when it is, generally, accurate. For instance, when I have depressive episodes I will lie in bed and do nothing until my body prompts me to eat or use the bathroom. In this sense, without these instincts, I would indeed not initiate any action.
Secondly, I was amused by the issue of circular explanations. The textbook explains that instinct theory was criticized for being circular because it “attempts to explain an observation in terms of itself”. Later on in the chapter, a neuroscientist is quoted as having said, “Motivational concepts are needed to understand the brain, just as brain concepts are needed to understand motivation.” In attempting to explain the importance of motivational concepts and brain concepts, the neuroscientist uses a circular explanation. I think, due to the nature of motivation, is very difficult to not fall into circular explanations because it is simplest to explain motivation in terms of itself.
Terms:
Motivation
Behavior
Biological Underpinnings
Universal Motivations
Enculturated Motivations
McDougall’s Instinct Theory
Circular Explanations
If I had to describe to somebody not in this course what motivation meant, I would tell them that it’s the “WHY” behind the things that we do. Motivation—to me— is the driving force behind why I’m writing this, or why I get up and go to work in the morning. Based on my understanding of these chapters, I would explain to somebody not in this course that there are a number of different motivators, and that motivation means something different to nearly everyone, which is why the book doesn’t seem to give an exact definition of it. Two of the main subpoints behind motivation are intrinsic motivations and extrinsic motivations, meaning something is either internally motivating you [I am doing this because I want to get a good grade], or an outside reward is possible [I am going to work to get a paycheck to pay my bills.]
Reading these two chapters made me realize that I did not know as much about motivation and emotion as I thought I did. I have always been interested in emotions being put behind decisions and why people do it, but I never thought of motivation as that large of a factor in why we do the things that we do. One thing that was very interesting for me to read about was Sigmund Freud and his drive theory. Having taken psychology of personality and sitting through almost six semesters, I have learned a fountain of information on Freud, mainly focusing on his ID, ego, and superego theory. However, I never thought of it in terms of motivation. Freud suggested we all have drives, which are internal motivational factors, that help us to determine what to do. It’s interesting to me that Freud is more often than not [while revered] looked down on for a lot of his theories and applications, but his idea of drive is almost the same today as it was when first proposed.
One piece of information that really surprised me, thought, were actually goals and behavior. As much as I understood both concepts before reading these chapters, it really made me think once motivation was added to the equation. It really surprised me at how much motivations can affect behavior, and how people can carry out the same behavior for a plethora of different motivational factors, and vice versa. It also surprised me that the study of motivation is still relatively new. While many of us use the word all the time, it’s interesting how little we actually know about it. I would assume that people, from the beginning, would want to know the driving force behind our behavior, so why did the studies on motivation begin only in recent years? On the other hand, researchers seem to know A LOT about motivation for the short amount of time they have been studying it, which only surprises me more when you think of just how much more we can learn in the future from studies and research on motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
Freud
Drives/Drive Theory
Motivation
Behavior
Goal
Describing motivation casually and the scientific study of motivation are two completely different things. Most people mozy through their day feeling as though acting by some conscious string of deliberate steps. Those people, if asked to articulate what drives their behavior, will report something inaccurate or at least misguided. People’s failure to self report accurately is hypothetically demonstrated repeatedly by Reeves in the opening chapters. With the scientific method and an empiricist's resolve he dismantles their folly, though it is difficult to hold it against the layman for underestimating the complexity of previously simple everyday terms.
The vocabulary necessary to define (scientifically) is indicative of motivation and emotion research. The usual suspects appear; theory, hypothesis, stimuli, as any undergraduate can tell you after a handful intro course, but motivation and emotion proves to be new beast, asking us to reevaluate a whole slew of words; goals, engagement, motive, behavior, needs, expression. All these terms, once used so liberally, we must fit into a vice, put under the microscope of quantification, if we are ever to wrestle down a useful understanding, and hopefully a cause and effect relationship. With many concepts it is necessary to break them down into smaller fundamental pieces. The text divides “behavior” into eight aspects, “engagement” into four aspects, and even “emotion” elaborates into four fundamental features. Though tedious, diligence is the only way scientists can begin develop the relevant research.
Once they have parsed these everyday terms down into measurable, scientifically useful variables, experts use them to construct theories, before anyone can hope to form working models. Although, truly quantifiable research in motivation is as early as the last century. Pavlov’s drooling dog set a landmark finding, despite depending behaviorism completely. Up until that point philosopher; Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Descartes, logic to approach the topic. Even Freud’s Drive Theory was highly conceptual. Thus we see histories two great failings in psychology. First, conceptual models lack the backbone of data. Second, behaviorists like Pavlov, Darwin’s contributions contributions (instincts), and Hull’s Drive Theory all fatally undervalue the role of cognitive and emotional processes. Alas, as technology advances and conceptual ordering only improves, psychology brings to focus motivation, emotion, and all the behavioral components. It would appear Motivation and Emotion is approaching the “New Paradigm” phase of Kuhn’s developmental view of scientific disciplines, who’s meta-down approach is reflects thorough standard to which Motivation and Emotion holds itself.
As we move forward through the content this semester I will borrow Reeves’s favorite logical technique in chapter 1: partitioning concepts into more digestible points. For my final act I will come to TWO conclusions; never underestimate the quantity of variables associated with any given behavior and, if one is clever enough, there is always a way empirically evaluate them.
Terms:
Motivation
Behavior
Self Report
Scientific Method
Empiricism
Theory
Hypothesis
Stimuli
Quantify
Variable
Pavlov (Classical conditioning)
Freud’s Drive Theory
Instincts (Darwin)
Hull’s Drive Theory
Ch 1 covered the basics of motivation, how it is studied, and what we can learn from these studies. Since many inputs are involved in decisions and behavior, having a good scientific base to study this field is important. Ch 2 covered how the field came to be, and some basic theories about motivation that we should all know. These theories are what will help us understand more in depth concepts, so knowing them is important to succeeding in this class.
One thing I found interesting in Ch 1 was the discussion about avoidance vs. approach. I think most people, myself included, would only think about motivation as what is positive for a person, not what is negative. People have tons of avoidances when you stop and think about it. Some people do not like how certain situations make them feel, e.g. driving in traffic or at night, eating in front of others, or public speaking. Learning how far people will go to avoid these perceived negative situations is very interesting to me, because it would give an indicator about how much the person dislikes the situation based on how far out of the norm they go.
One thing from Ch 2 I found interesting was the mini theories and how each person's personality affects their motivation level. Specifically drive, or how bad they want it. Some people are naturally more motivated than others, that is, they will be more likely to try and achieve a goal once they set their mind to it than others. The more important they feel something is, the higher drive they will have. All our high school sports had shirts with the saying, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." This relates to drive because if the team has effort and never gives up, they will be motivated to succeed much more than a team who has multiple talented players.
If I was describing motivation so someone who is not in this class, I would tell them it is how a person acts based on what they believe the outcome will be. If the person thinks the end result will be positive, the more positive the result is the more motivated they will be to achieve it. An example of this would be professional athletes. They must have tons of motivation to get to the big leagues, because the result is a major stage and a big paycheck. If they perceive something as negative, they will be more motivated to avoid it based on how bad the result may be. If someone has to pass a final, and if they fail they fail the class, they will be motivated to study.
One thing I found surprising/memorable was how much physiological response plays into motivation. Things like stress or fear have significant impacts on motivation. Eye movement, skin responses, and facial expressions can give people an idea of the emotional response a person is having. These responses can be useful in the study of motivation and behavior, to see if there is a relationship between these responses and something we have not discovered yet.
Terms Used:
Motivational systems (positive & negative)
Drive
Active nature of the person
Brain activity
Hormonal activity
Cardiovascular activity
Ocular activity
Electrodermal activity
Skeletal activity
Unlike a lot of classes I have taken in the past, I liked that we started out with the beginning of the book rather than jump around because I was able to get a good foundation of understanding for the ideas behind motivation and emotion. The reason I got interested in psychology in the first place was because I was always interested in why people do what they do. One topic I found particularly interesting was in chapter 1 when it discussed the “expressions of motivation”. I was so unaware of the different aspects that we can observe from someone’s actions, such as engagement, physiology, and even self-reports.
If I had to describe to an outsider what exactly motivation is, in my own terms, I would explain that it’s a mysterious and unobservable experience that drives a person to achieve a certain goal. What we can observe in this process is a persons behavior, their intensity, physiology such as brain patterns, and self-reports. I would also say that motivation doesn’t stay the same in one person’s life. It changes from time to time, and it can be pretty static. If they ask why motivation is even a thing I would say that it gives life value in that it starts the process of goal setting. Before I took this class, I always thought of motivation of being a more generalized idea. For example, I always thought of it as such as the main component in somebody’s life to achieve a long term goal. Sure I was aware of smaller goals but I always felt everybody has had that one big event in their life or cluster of similar happenings that makes somebody who they are in present time. For me, a certain event happened that made me want to help people and give advice to those in need. Not just a formal counselor position, but any form which it takes and any opportunity that comes to me I want to be able to help. After reading these chapters, it opened my eyes to new aspects of motivation and it was very nice to see a different direction on it.
Probably the most surprising thing for me while reading these two chapters was how complex motivation can really be. There’s so many different aspects that can drive a human to complete a certain task or achieve a goal, and this is what makes this topic perhaps difficult to understand, but also engaging and interesting at the same time. Motives can be internal or external, behavioral or emotional, and so on. It was also interesting to learn about early inputs from Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. Since I’m taking a philosophy course right now I’m interested in seeing how the two could further overlap each other and increase my understanding of these ideas. It was also fascinating to see how early psychologists such as Sigmund Freud were inspired by these ancient thinkers and how some of these theories, such as Freud’s id, ego, and superego, came from ancient times.
As I mentioned before, motivation is such a complex yet interesting idea and I’m pretty excited to learn more as the semester goes on.
Terms used:
Motivation
Motive (internal and external)
Drive
Goal
Behavior
Emotion
The first topic that I found to be interesting is the history of studying emotions. Charles Darwin proposed that emotional reactions humans express/ do not express to environmental encounters were innate and served as a primary purpose to adapt to their environment. Margaret Mead argued that emotions are culturally learned. I can agree with both of these theories. Emotional expression does vary across culture, but we express certain emotions catering to our environment around us. For example, if I am listening to a lecture and express apathetic emotions, the professor who is teaching will either call me out or avoid me at all costs.
When speaking to someone about the process of motivation I would say that there is more than one factor that plays a role. Motivation is a trait that varies in intensity from person to person, and differ from day to day. For example, some days people have a lot of motivation to wake up in the morning and go to the gym. Other mornings, one hits the snooze until a half hour before class starts (me)--this is a great example of how behavior varies day to day.
Even though some days we make the conscious decision to sleep off a workout, tasks can be motivated without being consciously aware. I was watching a Ted Talk about a woman who is employed as a CEO who was playing off of unconscious bias when a man and a woman asked for a raise. The CEO did not second guess the man’s request for a raise, but was leery to give the woman a raise based off of her request. The CEO was not hesitant to give the guy a raise because she was raised as someone who thought of the man figure in a household to be the primary provider in the home. The CEO was unaware that she was doing this until she had time to self-reflect.
The most surprising thing that I learned while reading chapter 2 was the transitioning of researchers focusing on questions that humans faced in their everyday lives: at work, school and studying, coping with stress, etc. versus studying nonhuman species motivation in search of food. The shocking thing about these mini-theories is that they did not begin developing socially relevant questions until the 1970’s, almost 1980’s! While reading the chapters it was memorable to read about drive not being the sole source of directing our behavior. Drive is the force that energizes the behavior we are going to execute, but habits are what directs the behavior taking place. I did not realize that there were so many steps to motivation. There are instincts, drive, and behaviors that all contribute to motivation.
Socially Relevant Questions
Emotion Study
Drive
Behavior
Since I was a child, I have always been interested in what people do and why they do things. That is one of the main reasons why I am studying psychology, to understand people’s behaviors, thoughts, feelings and emotions.
While I was doing the reading, I found myself immersed in the first chapter, and completely focusing my attention on the content. I am not entirely familiar with the term flow, but I would define it as if saying, “I was in that flow,” because I was very interested in the reading and the task was kind of challenging, as I am not a native English speaker.
One of my favorite topics was the evolution of the theories of motivation and how different fields interacted with each other. For example, when philosophers found problems by explaining the will as how motivation is generated, a new science of psychology emerged and new motivational principles- as the instinct- were first mentioned.
The most surprising thing that I learned could be the hierarchy of the four sources of motivation. The sources can be split into Internal Motives and External Events. The Internal Motives can be needs, cognitions and emotions and the External Events can be environmental, social and cultural offerings. I did not expect these motivational sources to be that simple and well-summarized.
Another thing that I found interesting is table 1.1 and the motivational reasons to exercise. I found this intriguing because I could transfer some of that knowledge into my daily life and name my source of motivation. I think it is very beneficial to find the source so that I know where to focus in order to not lose that motivation, which is sometimes very hard to find.
It is also interesting to see how motivation is a term that is constantly changing. For example, it started building its meaning in the Ancient Greece with Plato, and now more recently it has found its way into the first textbook ever written about the term in 1964.
The most memorable thing I would highlight is the need of a theory that “serves as a useful guide in how to understand and then solve a problem”
If I had to describe to someone what motivation is about, I would say that motivation is what causes activity in the human being. I would define this activity as feelings, thoughts, behavior and goals that people or societies have.
This activity can create personality, worklife, norms, and culture that shape our daily lives.
By understanding people's motivation, we can better understand the source and destiny of their actions, people’s approach and avoidance tendencies, and how they adapt to new situations.
Motivation can also be very useful in many fields of psychology like social, clinical or sport psychology and it is a very important tool to understand and predict people’s behavior.
Terms used:
Motivation
Flow
Activity
Needs
Cognition
Plato
Theory
If I were to describe motivation to someone, I would say it’s why we want what we want, and it’s what drives us to start, continue, change, direct, and stop our behaviors. It affects everyone, and it’s always fluctuating. Everyone is uniquely motivated. There are some things that generally motivate people similarly (i.e. biological needs), but individual people are motivated by a multitude of factors each day, each hour, each moment. Although motivational patterns can be identified in groups or individuals, levels and duration of motivation fluctuate. For example, I am motivated to complete this assignment right now because it is due in half an hour. Two hours ago, I was practicing avoidance, and I was doing everything I could not to work on this assignment-- doing laundry, changing the furnace filter, mindless eating, catching up on Netflix show, etc. I pushed this assignment to a low priority and bumped the priority of all my menial and mindless tasks (motivated by intrinsic motivation, goals, and perceived competence) until the motive’s urgency attention-getting status of the assignment task became so great that I had to work on it. My next assignment is due on Thursday, but I know I can’t procrastinate that assignment until the last hour because I already have plans for that night. Therefore, I may be motivated to complete my assignment earlier, due to sources of motivation such as achievement strivings, personal control, and a desire for relatedness. Although they are similarly time-consuming assignments, my motivation to complete them at a specific time varies from one day to the next.
When I started reading chapter two, I found myself thinking, “Why do I need to know this? If these theories have changed and aren’t all relevant anymore, why am I learning about them?” By the end of the chapter, I was surprised that my feelings changed, and the purpose behind the learning made more sense. Our understanding of motivation has changed over time, and our knowledge is not complete; it is likely to change as people add to the body of research and create more theories in the future. It is important to understand where the current theories of motivation have come from to understand our evolution of thought and its implications for the future.
In the past few months, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the motivation of people who are close to me; it interests me. In this text, I got a general idea of the factors that affect people’s motivation. I am fascinated by the uniqueness of motivation, and I enjoyed learning the framework of motivation in chapter one. It can be personally frustrating to try to motivate someone who is motivated by completely different things than most other people, but this week’s readings made me take a step back to re-think some of my tactics and frustrations, accepting that it’s okay for people to be motivated differently and preparing myself to learn more about effectively motivating others.
Terms: Motivation, avoidance, biological needs, motive’s urgency attention-getting status, personal control, relatedness, achievement strivings, goal, perceived competence, and intrinsic motivation
Note: there were issues with 1st attempt to get account working, so I submitted these via e-mail by the deadline.
Interesting Topics
As someone focused on helping my clients in a clinical setting, there are several areas of the reading that jumped out at me, as well as several puzzles that remain. First, my experience with clients is that many are struggling because there motivations are cued by formative attempts to respond to needs in their childhood that no longer address the needs of their current situation as adults or older childhood, a response to trauma or abuse, some addiction, and so on. So I was struck by how Hull’s Drive theories addition of habit seemed to skirt what I see commonly with my clients. They are responding to cues using habits that misdirect their motivational energy in ways that do not lead to relief of the drive or satisfaction of wants associated with achieving some sense of satisfaction or well-being. This seems similar to some of the flaws that were identified with Drive Theory, such as rats learning to pursue saccharine rewards that did not reduce the underlying drive, or those suffering from anorexia’s motivation to pursue an outcome in contradiction to the hunger drive. There were two other areas that I did not see addressed by either the Will, Instinct, or Drive theories, and am curious if any of the mini-theories will better address them in relation to motivation and well-being. First is that often we are socialized to believe in the value of certain achievements or ends that we become highly motivated to accomplish even though they do not actually lead to greater personal well-being. In fact the political culture, educational system, and dominant political economic ideologies, often through mass consumption driven media system leads to people coming to believe that happiness comes through chasing things that do not actually enhance well-being. Second, most of my clients are from a subordinated social group and motivation is often blocked through external or internalized obstacles, and that these lead to anxiety, depression, etc. The discussion in these first two chapters often seems to implicitly assume an abstract individual as the focus of study of motivation, when placement within the social and political context in my experience with my clients and my study of politics leads me to want to understand the distortions of these structures in which individuals find themselves with varying levels of advantage and disadvantage. So, I am therefore hopeful that some of the mini-theories better address some of these professional interests.
The first chapter’s discussion of how we infer motivation from aspects of the behavior itself were right on what counselors are trained to look for as we work with clients. I am hopeful that some there will be further exploration the empirical basis of these inferences, and that that this will enhance my capacity to more effectively work with clients. Overall as the class unravels the multiple types of motivation (e.g., to learn vs. perform, approach vs. avoid, curiosity vs. gaining reward, how different emotions vary as motivational energies) and how they motive differently across time or individual, that there will be insights into help facilitate client change that leads to reducing distress levels and enhancing well-being.
Defining Motivation
Clearly motivation has an quality of spurring to action or deterring from acting which seems energetic. There is an element similar to the Platonic notion of [i]thumoeidés[/i] (spirit/spiritedness – the reading mistranslates this as competitiveness). It grows out of a combination internal and external needs, desires, associations, and rewards/punishments. There are basic biological needs to be met to maintain life, grow, affiliate, and reproduce, as well as desire for pleasure and avoidance of pain, . There are also external sources of rewards and punishments, socially mediated norms and objects of desire, and conditions that cause discomfort that we want to relieve. Beyond this, there are learned responses from past experience addressing these internal and external spurs and cues that drive the directionality of our behavior towards goals in the attempt to effectively respond to them. Motivations also vary in intensity over time and between different individuals, and we usually are responding to multiple motivations at any one time. This can lead to often rapidly shifting behavior as we are presented with external cues and internal signals that intensify one motivational energy (e.g., studying to get a passing grade vs. desire to affiliate with friends vs. address hunger).
Terms: drive theory, grand theories, mini-theories, Hull, motivation as energy, cues, habits, multiple types of motivations, emotions, internal vs. external sources of motives, biological needs, avoidance, approach, inference of motivation from behavioral cues
One topic that was of interest was Hull’s Drive theory. It is easy to see where he derived his theory at the time. One part of the theory that stood out was that learning came from reinforcement and that drove habits. It is very easy to understand why he would think habits drive behavior. Just today I made a phone call for work and talked to the other person out of habit and did not even realize what I was saying. Although this seems like a superficial definition of motivation, it is a comprehendible and tangible theory. Along those lines, the instinct theory is also tangible. It would make sense that many behaviors humans and animals perform are solely based in genetic factors that they are born with. To the untrained mind, this theory would be a perfectly reasonable explanation of motivation yet there are many things humans, at the very least, do on a daily basis that broadly expand outside the areas of basic survival instinct.
Motivation is the driving force behind the intensity and volume of human’s behaviors and actions. For example, I am currently writing a blog post for my motivation and emotion class. Under normal circumstances, I would have little to no desire to write something like this, but I have set a goal for myself to excel in my classes this semester. On top of my goal, completion of this assignment results in a reward that is my grade. That grade and my goal are the reason I am writing this blog post. If those external factors did not exist, I would have no reason to write this post. On the other hand, when I wake up in the morning, I usually have to go to the bathroom. That pressure is typically what pushes me out of bed. To my basic understanding, these factors are motivation. We perform tasks as a result of the factors and to what extend is defined by how much we feel the need to do them.
Much of psychology is based on early psychologists’ work. It was very surprising to find that ancient philosophers basically began to probe what motivation is. It was also interesting to see how close Sigmund Freud’s theory on the human consciousness was to Plato’s hierarchy of the soul. It is amazing how theories from hundreds of years prior can become the ground work for psychologists to begin their journey into the definition of motivation.
Terms:
Hull’s Drive theory
Motivation
Reinforcement
Behavior
External
Goal
Instinct