Chapter 12: MOTIVATION AND EMOTION
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other
vocabulary
How familiar are you with American idioms? Match each item in column A with the
appropriate meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context
given below. Answers are given on the last page of this document.
COLUMN A
COLUMN B
a. to luck out
1. to perform a function; to be an integral part
of
2. to give attention to, rely upon
3. to be very fortunate
4. thin; gaunt; withered
5. a person who acts as an accomplice
6. to nurture or encourage
7. to unite for a special purpose
b. to band together
c. emaciated
e. to play a role
f. to look to
g. stooge
h. to foster
Sentence context
a. If you receive a high grade in your psychology course, you can interpret that grade in
several ways: You earned it because you really studied. You “lucked out.” Or the
textbook was exceptionally interesting and helpful (my preferred interpretation!).
(p. 426)
b. In addition, during the famine and war in Somalia, many parents sacrificed their own
lives to carry starving children hundreds of miles to food distribution centers. And
parents at the centers often banded together to share the limited supplies. (p. 427)
c. Emotions play an important role in our lives. (p. 435)
d. The results showed that participants who lacked an appropriate cognitive label for their
emotional arousal (the misinformed and uninformed groups) tended to look to the
situation for an explanation. (p. 441)
e. Following the injection, each participant was placed in a room with a confederate (a
"stooge" who was part of the experiment but who pretended to be a fellow volunteer).
(p. 441)
f. Therefore, EI should be fostered in everyone. (p. 446)
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
In the previous chapter, we began to discuss the use of relative clauses for the addition of
information and definitions. Relative clauses can also be used to identify a specific
segment of individuals within a larger group. In other words, the relative clause is used to
limit the discussion to only those group members that meet the criteria expressed by the
relative clause. For example:
Human patients who have had their stomachs removed in cancer operations
report normal feelings of hunger.
The group being discussed in this case, human patients, does not refer to all human
patients, but rather is restricted to only those with their stomachs removed due to cancer
operations:
all human
patients
human patients
with no stomachs
due to illness
This type of relative clause, called a restrictive relative clause, is similar in formation to
the nonrestrictive relative clauses. They can be viewed as a sentence within a sentence,
and usually require a relative pronoun to serve as the connection between the shared
nouns. It is interesting to note that in restrictive relative clauses, the relative pronoun who
is used with people, whereas that or which is used with things and ideas. Note the
difference in punctuation as well: there are no commas used with restrictive relative
clauses. Study the following examples: can you see how the relative clause restricts the
group from the larger whole?
I sometimes like to do things that are a little frightening.
People who diet too much may have a self-defeating attitude about weight loss.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
For each category, we will discuss only the representative motive which has been
the most widely researched.
Further evidence of this lack of connection was provided in experiments in which
rats had their stomachs removed.
See how well you can construct restrictive relative clauses using the sentences below. Be
sure to locate the common noun in the two sentences in order to combine them effectively
and pay close attention to the punctuation of your sentences. When you are finished, you
may check your answers in the answer key section.
sentence 1
Fear is the emotion.
Emotion refers to affective responses.
Many people fail to realize their selfdefeating thoughts can hurt them.
Mindless eating can undermine your
desire for weight control.
People must have an unconscious need
to hurt themselves.
1.
sentence 2
Fear originates in the limbic system and
helps an organism to avoid danger.
These affective responses result from
physiological arousal, thoughts, and bodily
expression.
They have these thoughts about eating.
This eating is associated with food-related
stimuli.
These people ride motorcycles.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
5.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
Finding key information
In this chapter, the authors present many theories and provide extended definitions to
explain them. Some of these definitions use both hypothetical and actual examples as
support for elements of the theory. It is useful for a good reader to be able to pull relevant
information from these extended examples in order to understand the theory the author
wishes to explain. Read the section on "Hunger and Eating" on pages 429. Then study the
chart below. Do you see how the entries in the chart relate to the key sentence? Note how
the key ideas are drawn from both types of examples used by the authors in this section.
KEY SENTENCE: Although hunger is obviously an internal, biological need,
it is also heavily influenced by external, environmental forces.
internal factors
external factors
LH:
CULTURAL CONDITIONING:
 stimulates eating
 North Americans eat at 6 pm
 'hunger center'
 South Americans eat at 10 pm
 if damaged, motivation to eat is
lost
 food eaten is culture specific
VMH:
VISUAL STIMULI:
creates feelings of satisfaction
sight, smell and taste stimulate
'fullness center'
eating
if damaged, overeating occurs
increase in insulin levels
Read the section on "Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivation: What’s Best?" on pages 422.
Then, identify the key sentence. Use this chart to help you sort through the examples used
by the authors as support. Check your answers in the answer key when you are finished.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
KEY SENTENCE
intrinsic
extrinsic
DEFINITION:
DEFINITION:
SOURCE OF MOTIVATION:
SOURCE OF MOTIVATION:
RESEARCH FINDING:
RESEARCH FINDING #1:
RESEARCH FINDING #2:
Examining structural clues
Frequently, writers want to emphasize the importance of a thought or idea while at the
same time acknowledging another thought that may be of lesser interest or even incorrect.
There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, one of the easiest of which is to create a
sentence or phrase of concession. Concessions are generally signaled by logical
connectors that link the two ideas being presented. Study the examples below:
Although the motives and possible emotions of animals are of great interest to
both scientists and the general public, in this chapter we will focus on the motives
and emotions of human beings.
Even though hunger is obviously an internal, biological need, it is heavily
influenced by external, environmental forces.
Popular magazines and television commercials readily document the excessive
amount of time and money we spend on weight management in this culture. Yet,
most research finds that most weight loss programs lead to only temporary weight
reduction.
While some people do need to lose weight for physical health reasons, a large
number of people in our society needlessly operate in a destructive cycle of diets
and relapses.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
The anorexic's overwhelming fear of becoming obese does not diminish, in spite
of often radical and obvious weight loss.
Proponents often claim polygraph accuracy of 90 percent or higher; nevertheless,
actual tests show about 20 percent of the guilty people are misclassified and up to
90 percent of the innocent are judged to be guilty.
Locate 5 sentences in this chapter which demonstrate concessions and write them in the
spaces provided below. Study your sentences. Which logical connectors are used to signal
the concession? Identify the main argument and the idea that is conceded. Highlight the
signal words and think about the relationships expressed in each sentence.
1.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
5.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
a. 3;
b. 7;
c. 4;
d. 1;
e. 2;
f. 5;
g. 6;
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
1. Fear is the emotion that originates in the limbic system and helps an organism to
avoid danger.
2. Emotion refers to affective responses that/which result from physiological arousal,
thoughts, and bodily expression.
3. Many people fail to realize that the self-defeating thoughts they have about eating can
hurt them.
4. Mindless eating which is associated with food-related stimuli can undermine your
desire for weight control.
5. People who ride motorcycles must have an unconscious need to hurt themselves.
Finding key information
KEY SENTENCE: Psychologists have learned a great deal about the importance
of attributions and expectancies on motivation from related work on intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation.
intrinsic
DEFINITION: performing an
activity for its own sake
SOURCE OF MOTIVATION:
internal, personal reasons
RESEARCH FINDING: children
given no rewards continued to
draw at a later date
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
extrinsic
DEFINITION: performing an activity
because of rewards or fear of punishment
SOURCE OF MOTIVATION: external,
impersonal reasons
RESEARCH FINDING #1: children given
rewards drew fewer pictures at a later
date
RESEARCH FINDING #2: money offered
to college students for problem solving
lowered their performance