Motivation and Emotions

Motivation … … is a need, want, interest, or desire that propels someone in a certain direction.

Theoretical Perspectives Instinct Theories Sociobiology Drive Theories Incentive Theory Malsow's Need Hierarchy

Instinct Theories … … states that motivation is the result of biological, genetic programming. Thus, all beings within a species are programmed for the same motivations.

Sociobiology … … is the study of genetic and evolutionary bases of behavior in all organisms, including humans.

Drive Theories A Drive is an internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension.

Incentive Theory An incentive may be defined as an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behavior.

Malsow's Need Hierarchy

Emotion … A simple definition of emotion is that it is a response by a whole organism, involving (1) physical arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.

Cognitive Level One key aspect of emotions is that we have perceptions of them that usually ranges from : pleasant-unpleasant weak-strong

Physiological Level Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) - measures fluctuations in electrical conductivity of the skin that occur when sweat glands increase activity. Polygraph - "lie detector" - used to measure the subtle variations in muscle tension, heart rate, etc., associated with emotion that occur very subtly.

Lie Detector

Behavioral Level: Nonverbal Expression One of the most influential and important researchers in the field of emotion, is Ekman. He showed photos to people and asked them to identify what emotion was being expressed in those photos. He found that people from different cultures could recognize common facial features.

Nonverbal Expression Ekman found 7 basic emotions most often identified from photos of facial expressions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, and contempt.

Production of Emotion Emotion is organized in the brain. The brain sends signals to the face, which assumes an expression. Recent research suggests that providing “feedback” to the brain, facial movements themselves may be tied to the production of emotions.

Facial Expressions The 80 muscles in the face can create more than 7,000 expressions.

THEORIES OF EMOTIONS James-Lange theory Cannon-Bard Theory Schachter and Singer Two Factor Theory

The James-Lange Theory

Cannon-Bard Theory Emotion occurs when the thalamus sends signals to BOTH the cortex (which produces conscious experience of emotion) and autonomic nervous system (arousal) at the same time.

Schachter and Singer Two Factor Theory We don't automatically know when we are happy, angry, or jealous. Instead, we label our emotions by considering situational cues.

The Nature of Emotions

Robert Plutchik’s Model

The Power of Colours Red is exciting Orange can stimulate appetite Yellow helps concentration and learning Green helps feel relaxed and quiet Blue is calming Pink can make us tired Turquoise is the colour of communication

The Power of Colours Japanese psychologists asked a group of strangers to walk round two rooms, one painted red and the other blue. They found that in the red room, the people felt comfortable the moment they entered it. But when they walked into the blue room, they felt silent.