The History of
Motivation and Emotion
Chapter 2
I. Brief History of Motivation
A. Aristotle’s Theory
Causes of behavior: efficient (trigger), final
(purpose), formal (theory), and material (brain)
B. Hedonism
Pursue pleasure and avoid pain
1. Ancient Sources
Socrates, Democritus, and Epicurus: pleasure is
to exceed pain in the long run.
I. Brief History of Motivation
2. Later philosophers
Hobbes on incentive motivation: approach
pleasing, avoid displeasings timuli.
Locke on choice: small immediate versus
large delayed reward.
Bentham on principle of utility:
increase/decrease in pleasure determines
behavior.
I. Brief History of Motivation
3. Sigmund Freud
Pleasure principle: pursue pleasure by
sudden decrease in tension
Reality principle: circumstances determine
when to attain pleasure.
4. Edward Lee Thorndike
Law of effect: satisfying consequences
strengthen behavior; dissatisfying
consequences weaken behavior.
I. Brief History of Motivation
5. Law of Effect Today
Consequences refer to observables rather
than to subjective states.
6. Current Trends
Self control: choose delayed rewards.
Impulsiveness: choose immediate reward.
C. Evolution and Motivation
1. Charles Darwin
Theory of evolution is based on variation and selection.
Principle of variation: values of a particular trait vary in frequency.
Principle of selection: environment selects values that aid survival.
2. Herbert Spencer
Pleasure selects for behaviors that aid survival.
Pain selects against behaviors that are detrimental to survival.
3. Instincts
Inherited impulses that produce specific pattern of behavior.
4. Current Trends
Smiles and laughs from play help child master social environment.
D. Unconscious Motivation
1. Freuds’ Conscious-Unconscious Distinction
Preconscious: small room containing thought, feelings, sensations.
Unconscious: large room containing repressed impulses, instincts.
Repression: censor prevents impulses from entering small room.
Consciousness: impulses attract eye of consciousness in small room.
2. Motivational Instincts and the Unconscious
Instincts originate in the body and exert pressure with the aim of being
satisfied through interaction with an object.
Three main Freudian instincts: sex, death, and ego preservation.
3. Satisfying Unconscious Impulses
Through jokes and through manifest and latent dream content.
D. Unconscious Motivation
4. Current Trends
Automatic processes: behaviors carried out
with little awareness.
E. Internal Sources of Motivation
1. Drive concept
Mechanism: Woodworth's idea of how we do something.
Drive: stimulus that induced behavior and keeps it going.
2. Psychological Needs
Inherent characteristic that indicates a psychological deficit.
Primary or viscerogenic: Murray's physiological needs.
Secondary or psychogenic: Murray's 22 psychological needs.
3. Current Trends
More needs postulated, which may be hierarchically arranged.
F. Commonality among Instincts, Drives,
and Needs
All refer to internal sources of motivation
that demand satisfaction.
G. Environmental Sources of Motivation
Incentives: stimuli that attract or repel an
individual.
Tolman &Honzik experiment: reward
decreases, nonreward increases maze
errors.
H. Environmental and Internal Sources
Induce Behavior
Motivation depends on internal and external sources
1. Warden’s Incentive-Drive Link
Incentive (water) links with drive (thirst) to
motivate behavior.
Increased drive increases electrified grid crossings.
Delayed incentive decreases electrified grid
crossings.
2. Lewin’s Field Theory
Psychological force: motivation depends on valence
of objects in life space, psychological tension, and
psychological distance.
II. Brief History of Emotion
Historically, description of emotion shifted from outward to inward movement.
A. Emotion as Subjective Feeling
Personal feelings of affect that arise in consciousness
B. Basic Emotions
Early Greeks to Descartes to James considered basic emotions.
Cognitive interpretations of stimulus changes determine emotions.
C. Emotion as Impulses for Action and Thought
Action readiness: impulse to action of emotion-relevant behavior.
Motor explosion: nonadaptive response, e.g., jump for joy.
D. Physiological Arousal
It serves as the basis for feelings and action readiness for emotions.
E. Facial Expression
As indicator of emotional feelings.
As signals used to satisfy social motives.
Facial feedback hypothesis: pattern of facial muscles is informational
basis for emotional feelings.