Motivation
Motivation
Motivation: What does it do for us?
 Connects our observable behavior to internal states
 Accounts for variations in behavior
 Creates perseverance in the face of adversity
Motivation
Three “Types” of Motives:
Primary Drives (Biological): Necessary for Survival
 Hunger – Influenced by:
• Brain (“Hunger/Satiety Center”), hormones
• External controls
• Social influences
• Culture
Thirst – Influenced by:
• Cells & Salt loss/Hypothalamus
• External/environmental factors
 Sex – Influenced by:
• Hormones
• Pheromones?
• Experiences & learning
• Culture
Motivation
Three “Types” of Motives:
Stimulus Motives (Innate): Unlearned, Encourage “Exploration”
Exploration/curiosity: do organisms “need”
stimulation?
 Manipulation: may explain our need to touch
everything!
 Contact: Harlow’s monkey studies
Motivation
Three “Types” of Motives:
Learned (Social) Motives
 Aggression: may be motivated by pain or
frustration – cultural?
 Achievement (need to excel): 3 types
• Work orientation: do a good job
• Mastery: improve abilities
• Competitiveness: match skills w/ opponent
 Affiliation: work for common cause
(“belongingness”)
• “Joiners” vs. “Loners”
Drive-Reduction Theory (1940’s-1950’s)


Behavior is motivated by biological needs
IOW: Our drive is to reduce our needs.
Need = requirement for survival
Drive = impulse to act in way that satisfies
need
 Primary
Drives: biological needs (thirst, hunger)
 Secondary Drives: learned drives (money)
Body seeks Homeostasis: Balanced
internal state
 Push-Pull factors

Nature (biological push) / nurture
(psychological pull)
Create an example of Drive-Reduction
theory.
 Limitations of theory?

Motivation
Motive: Needs, wants, desires
 They can be biological, social, etc.
STIMULUS  MOTIVE  BEHAVIOR
So what motivates us?
…. Instincts? (old idea)
…. Drives? (newer idea)
…. Incentives? (rewards)
Motivation
The Theories (what is the stimulus?):
 Evolutionary/Instinct Theories: Inborn behavioral
patterns; unlearned,uniform, & universal fixed action
patterns
• Do humans have instincts?
• The modern view?
Motivation
The Theories (cont.):
Arousal Theories: “motivation” is to achieve/maintain
some level of physiological arousal
 Drive-Reduction Theory (“Push” theory): internal
state of tension/arousal (the “drive” -- based on
physiological need) that motivates (or “pushes”) the
organism to reduce the tension, return to homeostasis
(or physiological “balance”)
Need
(food, water)
Drive
(hunger, thirst)
Drive-reducing
Behavior
(eating, drinking)
Motivation
The Theories (cont.):
 Optimal Arousal Theory: some “ideal” level – if
below optimal, motivation to increase, if above,
motivation to decrease
• Zuckerman’s “Sensation-Seeking” Scale…
Arousal Theory

Arousal Theory
We seek optimum level of excitement / arousal
High optimum level of arousal = high
excitement behaviors
Perform better at high level of arousal


Yerkes-Dodson law (1908):
performance increases with physiological
or mental arousal, but only up to a point.
Different tasks require different levels of
arousal for optimal performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law: theory that says a degree of
psychological arousal (stress, anxiety, etc.) can
actually improve performance, but only to a point;
too much or too little arousal will decrease
performance.
Motivation
Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation
 Extrinsic: Desire to perform
behavior because of promise of
reward or threat of punishment
 Intrinsic: Desire to perform
behavior for its own sake, for
“internal” reward
 Examples?
Motivation
Extrinsic /Intrinsic: Which is better?
 Intrinsic generally has the edge
 Extrinsic still valuable, & the two often work together
• Problems with extrinsic motivation:
• Behaviors maintained by extrinsic alone may not last once
motivation is gone
• Will a student’s grades go down if parents stop giving them
money for earning As & Bs?
• Evidence suggests removal of extrinsic motivator results in
lowered behavior levels
• Overjustification Effect: if we give extrinsic rewards for things
someone already loves to do, the intrinsic motivation may be
replaced by the extrinsic motivation (athletes, musicians)
Motivation
The Theories (cont.):
 Incentive Theory (“Pull” theory): External goals motivate
behavior
 Modifed by the Expectancy-Value Model: motivation to
pursue a given goal depends on your perceived
likelihood of reaching the goal and the value of that
goal
Competency Theory: We have the need to prove
ourselves.
 Incorporates the idea of Locus of Control: our belief
that we control the outcome of our own lives (also
comes into play in depression theories)
The Theories (cont.):
Motivation
Humanistic Theory: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow (Humanist)
• Needs motivate behavior
• Natural hierarchy of human needs
• “Lower” needs must be met before
higher can be met
• Criticisms?
Maslow’s Hierarchy
 Maslow said that there is a natural hierarchy or rank to
the needs humans have.
 Before one of the higher needs can be fulfilled, the
needs on the levels below must be met, at least to
some degree.

Most needs are met at a rate of about 85% before a person can
move onto a higher need.
Criticism of Maslow
 Although critics will admit Maslow’s Hierarchy was the
first real step toward a comprehensive theory of
motivation, they say it isn’t complete.



People often neglect their basic biological needs for more
social needs
Cross-cultural needs: individualistic vs. collectivist cultures
see needs differently
Sensation seeking: Why would someone jump out of a plane
for “fun?”
 Other areas it doesn’t explain?
What is Emotion?
 Emotion is a 4 part process
consisting of physiological
arousal, cognitive
interpretation, subjective
feelings, and behavioral
expression.
 While our emotions are very
different, they all involve a state
of mental and physical arousal
focused on some event of
importance.
Emotion Basics
 Emotion and motivation are complimentary process.
The concept of emotion emphasizes arousal, both
physical and mental, while motivation emphasizes
how this arousal becomes action.
 Emotions help us respond to important situations and
to convey our intentions to others.
Origins of Emotions
 The biggest breakthrough in the study of emotions was the
discovery of two distinct emotional pathways in the brain.
 One of the pathways is fast, and operates mainly at an unconscious
level where it screens incoming stimuli and helps us respond
quickly to stimuli even before they reach consciousness.
 These cues seem to have a built-in, innate sensitivity to certain
cues-explains why we have more fears of spiders, heights and
lightening than cars or electricity.
Origins of Emotion
 The other pathway is much slower and linked to explicit
memory. While it generates emotions more slowly, it
delivers more complex information to our consciousness.
 This system relies heavily on the cerebral cortex, which is
why we can feel fear, despite knowing there is no real basis
for that feeling.
Experienced Emotion
 The
ingredients
of emotion
The Limbic System
 While the two pathways differ, they do have some things in
common. Both rely heavily on the limbic system.
 The amygdala plays an especially important role in both
emotion pathways. In the past it was thought that the
amygdala was simply involved in negative emotions. Recently
it has been discovered that it plays a role in positive emotions
as well.
Expressed Emotion
 People more speedily detect an angry face
than a happy one (Ohman, 2001a)
Why We Have Emotions
 Emotions are the result of genetics
and learning, especially early in
life.
 Emotions serve as arousal states that
help organisms cope with important
recurring situations.
 Learned emotional responses, along
and genetics are both important
components of many psychological
disorders, including depression,
anxiety disorders and phobias.
Universality of Emotions
 Despite different
languages, cultures and
social norms, studies
suggest that people
“speak and understand
substantially the same
‘facial language’ the world
around.”
 Essentially, people share
a set of universal
emotion expressions that
give support to the idea
of a biological heritage of
the human species.
Seven Basic Emotions
 Paul Ekman, a leading psychologist in emotions,
suggests humans everywhere can recognize seven
basic emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt,
happiness and surprise.
•Anger
•Happiness
•Disgust
•Surprise
•Sadness
•Fear
Expressed Emotion
 Culturally universal expressions
Experienced Emotion
 Infants’ naturally occurring emotions
Display Rules
 According to Ekman, the seven emotions are universal,
but the display rules vary greatly, depending on the
culture.
 He defines display rules as the permissible ways of
displaying emotions in a given society.
Anger
Contempt
Disgust
Fear
Happiness
Sadness
Surprise
Reading Emotion
 In addition to being universal, the ability to read facial
expressions is nearly ageless. Psychologists think that
children as young as 5 years old have the same ability to
recognize emotion on a person’s face as an adult does.
More Emotions
 While we can recognize Ekman’s seven emotions, most of us can
think of others like greed, envy, regret, optimism, etc.
 Robert Plutchik suggests that rather than seven, we have eight
primary emotions and eight secondary emotions. He depicts
this in his “Emotion Wheel.”
•More complex emotions occur
when pairs of adjacent
emotions combine.
Ex: love is a combination of
joy and acceptance.
Emotion in Men and Women
 In our culture, on average, women are viewed as far
more emotional than men. This may be the result of
two factors.
1. Biology, and the genetic make-up of men and women
do lead to women “having more emotion.”

Higher levels of certain hormones
2. Culture, may be the bigger of the two causes. Boys and
girls learn different lessons about emotion and
emotional control. Boys are largely taught to hide
emotions that may be seen as weaknesses and are
praised for emotions that show strength and
dominance. Girls are taught the exact opposite.

Display rules of emotion
Expressed Emotion
 Gender and expressiveness
16
Number
of
expressions
14
Women
Men
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Sad
Happy
Film Type
Scary
Experienced Emotion
 Catharsis
 emotional release
 catharsis hypothesis

“releasing” aggressive energy (through action
or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
 Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
 people’s tendency to be helpful when
already in a good mood
Experienced Emotion
 Subjective Well-Being
 self-perceived happiness or
satisfaction with life
 used along with measures of
objective well-being

physical and economic indicators to
evaluate people’s quality of life
Experienced Emotion
 Moods across the day
Experienced Emotion
 Does money buy happiness?
Average
per-person
after-tax income
in 1995 dollars
$20,000
$19,000
$18,000
100%
$17,000
90%
$16,000
$15,000
80%
$14,000
70%
$13,000
Personal income
$12,000
60%
$11,000
50%
$10,000
Percentage very happy 40%
$9,000
30%
$8,000
$7,000
20%
$6,000
10%
$5,000
0%
$4,000
1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Percentage
describing
themselves as
very happy
Lateralization of Emotion
 Different parts of our brain deal with different
emotions. In the cerebral cortex, the right hemisphere
generally specializes in negative emotions and the left
hemisphere generally processes more positive and
joyful emotions.
 The idea that each hemisphere specializes in different
classes of emotion has been called lateralization of
emotion.
Psychological Theories of Emotion
 There are multiple theories on how our emotions
affect out behavior and mental processes.

James-Lang Theory: An emotion provoking stimulus a
physical response, that then leads to emotion.
 Emotion follows behavior
 “We feel sorry because we cry; angry because we strike; afraid
because we tremble.”-William James

Cannon-Bard Theory: A theory that an emotional feeling
and an internal physiological response occur at the same time.
 Emotion and behavior happen simultaneously
James-Lange
Theory of Emotion
 Experience of emotion is awareness of
physiological responses to emotionarousing stimuli
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
Cannon-Bard
Theory of Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
 Emotion-arousing
stimuli simultaneously
trigger:
 physiological
responses
 subjective experience
of emotion
Psychological Theories of Emotion
 Two-Factor Theory: This theory suggests that the
emotions we feel depend on two things:


1) our internal physical state
2) the external situation we find ourselves in.
 Attractive female researcher study (pg 308)
Schachter’s Two-Factor
Theory of Emotion
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
 To experience
emotion one
Fear
(emotion)
must:
 be physically
aroused
 cognitively
label the
arousal
JamesLange
theory
Cannonbard
theory
Twofactor
theory
Stimulus:
snake
Stimulus:
snake
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Emotion
fear
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Emotion
fear
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Stimulus
Cognitive interpretation
“I feel afraid!”
Emotion
fear
Psychological Theories of Emotion
 Cognitive Appraisal Theory: The thought that we
look back on a situation and consciously decide how
we should feel about the situation.

Ex. Grades, Papers, Projects, Tests
 Opponent-Process Theory: Theory that we trigger
one emotion by suppressing its opposite emotion.

Ex. Drugs-the highs experienced by some drugs are replaced
with lows (withdrawals). Eventually people take drugs not for
the highs, but to avoid the lows.
Yerkes-Dodson Law
 Yerkes-Dodson law: A theory that a degree of psychological
arousal helps performance, but only to a certain point. Too
much or too little arousal can decrease performance. Also
known as the Inverted U.