Motivation, Emotion, and Stress
Saad Almoshawah Ph.D
Motivation
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psychologists have always had A strong interest in trying
to determine why people do the things they do. What
made the life-styles of Donald Trump and Sam Walton so
different? What motivated them? More importantly, what
motivates us?
Motives can arise from an internal need, such as when we
are hungry and are motivated to find something to eat.
Other motives originate from outside ourselves, as
when some external stimulus or incentive pulls or entices
us to act. After finishing a huge meal, some people yield
to the temptation of a delicious dessert
Motivation Definition
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Motivation is defined as arousal associated with a
specific goal. In the learning process, the motive
determines the goal to be activated and the direction
behavior associated with that goal will take.
Since motivation and reinforcement are closely related,
theories of reinforcement help to explain motivation.
Do we do the things we do because of our inherent nature
the inborn, biological urges that push us from within?
Do we act because of the incentives that pull us from
without?
Motivation Theories
 Obviously both forces influence us, but theories of
motivation differ in the relative power they attribute to
each. The most thoroughly biological theories of
motivation are the instinct theories.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
 Intrinsic motivation: An activity is pursued as an end in
itself because it is enjoyable and rewarding. For example,
A person anonymously donates a large sum of money to a
university to fund scholarships for hundreds of deserving
students.
 Extrinsic motivation: An activity is pursued to gain an
external reward or to avoid an undesirable consequence, A
child reads two books each week to avoid losing television
privileges.
Drive-Reduction Theory: Striving to Keep a Balanced
Internal State
 According to Hull (1943) all living organisms have certain
biological needs that must be met if they are to survive. A
need gives rise to an internal state of tension or arousal
called a drive, and we are motivated to reduce it. For
example, when we are deprived of food or go too long
without water, our biological need causes a state of
tension, in this case the hunger or thirst drive. We become
motivated to seek food or water to reduce the drive and
satisfy our biological need.
 Drive-reduction theory is derived largely from the
biological concept of homeostasis—the tendency of the
body to maintain a balanced, internal state in order to
insure physical survival. Body temperature, blood sugar,
water balance, oxygen in short, everything required for
physical existence must be maintained in a state of
equilibrium, or balance. When this state is disturbed, a
drive created to restore the balance. But drive theory
cannot fully account for the broad range of human
motivation.
 Why do people seek activities that actually create a state of
tension, horror movies, or bungee-jumping sky diving?
Arousal Theory: Striving for an Optimal Level
of Arousal
 How does arousal theory explain motivation?
 Arousal theory can answer some of the puzzling questions
that drive-reduction theory cannot answer. Arousal refers
to a person's state of alertness and mental and physical
activation. It ranges from no arousal (as in the comatose),
to moderate arousal (when we are pursing normal day-today activities), to high arousal (when we are excited and
highly stimulated).
 Unlike drive reduction theories, arousal theory does not
suggest that we are always motivated to reduce arousal or
tension. Arousal theory states that we are motivated to
maintain an optimal level of arousal. If arousal is less than
the optimal level, we do something to stimulate it; if
arousal exceeds the optimal level, we seek to reduce the
stimulation.
 Biological needs, such as the needs for food and water,
increase our arousal. But we also become aroused when we
encounter new stimuli or when the intensity of stimuli is
increased, as with loud noises, bright lights, or foul odors.
And of course, certain kinds of drugs—stimulants like
caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine—also
increase arousal.
The Opponent-Process Theory: Emotions on a
See-Saw
 Another attempt to explain why people seek high-arousal
activities is the opponent-process theory, Solomon and
Corbit apply the opponent-process theory to motivation.
They claim that in the opponent process, the emotional
state we feel in response to certain activities or stimuli
usually gives way to the opposite emotional state.
 Consider a frightening activity, such as parachute jumping.
Solomon claims that the tremendous relief and elation
following a sky-diving experience leads a person to repeat
the activity in order to re-experience the feeling of elation.
 According to the opponent-process theory, the initial
emotion gradually weakens with repetition of the activity.
The opposing emotion becomes stronger and eventually
provides the motivation for the activity. The terror of the
free-fall gradually subsides, leaving the person to
experience more of a thrill. The opposite emotion, that is,
the elation and the exhilaration, intensifies and is prolonged, thus motivating the person to repeat the activity.
 Solomon (1980) further suggests that the opponent-process
theory helps explain why "repeated pleasures lose a lot of
their pleasantness" and "repeated aversive events lose a lot
of their unpleasantness
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Putting Our Needs
in Order
 Humans have a variety of needs or motives. Clearly some
needs are more critical to sustaining life than others. We
could live without self-esteem, but obviously we could not
live long without air to breathe, water to drink, or food to
eat.
 Abraham Maslow (1970) proposed a hierarchy of needs
to account for the range of human motivation. He placed
physiological needs at the bottom of the hierarchy, stating
that these needs must be adequately satisfied before higher
ones can be considered.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Putting Our Needs
in Order
 If our physiological needs (for water, food, sleep, and
shelter) are adequately met, then the motives at the next
higher level (the safety and the security needs will come
into play. When these needs are satisfied, we climb another
level to satisfy our needs to belong and to love and be
loved. Still higher are the needs for self-esteem and the
esteem of others. At the top of Maslow's hierarchy's the
need for self actualization, the need to actualize or realize
our full potential.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Putting Our Needs
in Order
 Although Maslow's hierarchy of needs has been a popular
notion, appealing to many, it has not been verified by
empirical research. The steps on the hierarchy cannot be
said to be invariant, or the same for all people . We know
from our own experience that for some people, the desire
for success and recognition is so strong that they are
prepared to sacrifice safety, security, and all other
relationships to achieve it. A few people are willing to
sacrifice their very lives for others or for a cause to which
they are committed. Perhaps they too, have a hierarchy, but
one in which the order of needs is somewhat different.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Putting Our Needs
in Order
SelfActualization
Need to realize
one's fullest potential
Esteem Needs
Need to achieve, gain
competence, gain respect and
recognition from others
Belonging and Love Needs
Need to love and be loved; need to affiliate
with others and be accepted
Safety Needs
Need for safety and security
Physiological Needs
Need to satisfy the basic biological needs for food,
water, oxygen, sleep, and elimination of bodily wastes
Emotions
 Until relatively recently, almost all psychological research
into emotion concentrated on negative emotions, and in
particular on fear and anger. This is partly because these
emotions appear to link much more closely with
physiological arousal, but psychological research also
reflects the values of the society in which it is located, and
modern society also neglects or undervalues the positive
emotions.
Emotions
 Although emotions are difficult to define precisely, we can
say that they contain the following two elements:
 (a) they always involve either physiological arousal or
depression; and
 |b] unlike motives, they are always evaluative.
 Theories that attempt to explain what causes emotions and
what determines which emotions we feel include the
James-Lange theory activation theory, the physiological
cognitive interpretation, and cognitive appraisal.
The James-Lange theory of emotion
 The introspections psychologist William James proposed
that emotion occurs as a result of our perceptions of physiological
changes taking place in the body:' We do not weep because we feel
sorrow: we feel sorrow because we weep‘.
 Essentially, James was arguing that we produce a physiological
reaction to some emotion- producing stimulus, and we then notice this
reaction and try to make sense out of it. He gave an example of
tripping on the stairs and catching the banister: at the time of
tripping and grabbing the banister, no fear is felt; but afterwards, the
heart starts beating faster, we sweat more and breathe more deeply.
And it is then, according to James, that we begin to feel afraid. Our
cognitions of the event at the time are not enough to frighten us; but
when the emergency response of the body begins, we feel fear.
The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
 In contrast to the James-Lange model, Walter Cannon, saw
the experience of emotion as entirely separate from its
physiological correlates. Rather than emotions being
caused by physiological changes, he argued, they both take
place independently, albeit sometimes in response to the
same stimulus. This became known as the Cannon-Bard
theory of emotion.
 In 1929, Cannon argued that the arousal response was
general, not specific to different emotions. The same
physiological changes, he said, occur in very different
emotional states, and also occur in non-emotional states as
well. According to Cannon's model, an emotion-producing
stimulus produces a generalised fight or flight response.
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This occurs through a direct associative process which does
not have anything to do with the feeling of emotion. At the
same time (usually), we respond to the situation as we
understand it, and it is this cognitive response which
produces feelings of emotion. The two reactions - the
experience of emotion and the physiological changes-have
nothing to do with one another.
Schachter's theory of emotion
 Schachter (1964) argued that the experience of emotion is
all to do with the attributions which people make about
what is going on.
 These attributions include both the physiological reactions
which are taking place and the social situation that the
individual is in at the time.
 the social setting determines the type of emotion which
will be experienced (fear, anger, happiness, etc.) whereas
the physiological response determines the strength of that
reaction (how extremely the person feels it).
The facial feed back theory
 Ekman, Sorenson and Friesen (1969) proposed that the
facial! expressions which people use to signify emotions
may in themselves be involved in promoting those
emotions, by providing feedback to the brain. The facial
feedback hypothesis, in this sense, is similar to the JamesLange approach, but where James was concerned with
central physiological states as the cause of emotion.
 Ekman suggests that peripheral social signals, like
smiling, are its cause.
Averill's social construction theory
 Averill (1980) proposed that the experience of emotion is
socially constructed.
 The combinations of genetic and physiological reactions which
take place are organised and interpreted by the individual in
terms of the social norms and social roles which are involved in
the situation. Averill sees emotions as transitory social roles,
which are all to do with how the person appraises the situation.
 It is not just negative emotions which Averill interpreted
in this way. According to this theory, the same social processes
apply to the positive emotions. In discussing love, Averill argued
that this represents a social role which allows individuals to
idealise, and be idealised by, another person.
Positive emotions
 It is worth noting, however, that relatively few theories of
emotion have concerned themselves with positive
emotions, such as happiness, love.
 It is only recently that researchers have become seriously
interested in investigating some of the more positive
aspects of human emotions. In part, interest in positive
emotions has come about as a result of some of the ethical
problems raised by experimentation into emotion.
Stress
 Immediate responses to stressful or anxiety-provoking
events, as we have seen, generate a rapid high level of
physiological arousal.
 But what happens when the threat simply does not go
away? The 'fight or flight' response is very costly in terms
of energy, and not the sort of thing that the body can keep
up for very long.
 they are often continuous and non-specific – a constant
anxiety that financial problems will result in homelessness,
for instance, represents an acute but ongoing perceived
threat, which does not take a direct physical form.
Locus of control
 The implication of Weiss's study is that there are two
aspects to developing effective coping when faced with
sources of stress.
 The first is that there should be some opportunity to exert
control over the stressor to reduce it in some way.
 The second is, that there should be some feedback about
the effectiveness of the action.
 It is not enough just to do something- you have to know
that your actions have worked. This principle has formed
the basis for much of the research into locus of control.
Locus of control
 People with an internal locus of control, who
believe that control of their lives largely comes
from their own efforts, experience less stress than
those with an external locus of control, who
believe that they are largely the victims of
circumstance.
Locus of control
 of course, these beliefs can easily become self-
fulfilling prophecies, since people with an internal
locus of control are more likely to make more
efforts to influence their lives, whereas those with
an external locus of control are more likely to take
a passive stance towards things.
Biofeedback
 Some of the relaxation techniques which are used in
programmes of stress reduction involve biofeedback. This
is a method for teaching people to have some control over
their autonomic responses.
 Typically, someone who is using biofeedback to learn to
control stress responses will use some kind of equipment
which gives them information about their physiological
state.