Chapter 10: Motivation and Emotion

Defining Motivation, and a Model Dynamics of behavior; the ways in which actions are initiated, sustained, directed, and terminated

A Model of Motivation Model of how motivated activities work Need: Internal deficiency; causes drive Drive: Energized motivational state (e.g., hunger, thirst; activates a response) Response: Action or series of actions designed to attain a goal Goal: Target of motivated behavior

Types of Motives Incentive Value: Goal’s appeal beyond its ability to fill a need Primary Motive: Innate (inborn) motives based on biological needs that must be met to survive Stimulus Motive: Needs for stimulation and information; appear to be innate, but not necessary for survival Secondary Motive: Based on learned needs, drives, and goals

Figure 10.1 Needs and incentives interact to determine drive strength (left). (a) Moderate need combined with a high-incentive goal produces a strong drive. (b) Even when a strong need exists, drive strength may be moderate if a goal’s incentive value is low. It is important to remember, however, that incentive value lies “in the eye of the beholder” (photo). No matter how hungry, few people would be able to eat the pictured grubworms. Figure 10.1

Hunger: Big Mac Attack? Homeostasis: Body equilibrium; balance Hypothalamus: Brain structure; regulates many aspects of motivation and emotion, including hunger, thirst, and sexual behavior Feeding System: Area in the hypothalamus that, when stimulated, initiates eating Satiety System: Area in the hypothalamus that terminates eating

Figure 10.3 Location of the hypothalamus in the human brain.

Figure 10.4 This is a cross section through the middle of the brain (viewed from the front of the brain). Indicated areas of the hypothalamus are associated with hunger and the regulation of body weight. Figure 10.4

More on Eating Behavior (Hungry Yet?) Neuropeptide Y (NPY): Substance in the brain that initiates eating Glucagon-like Peptide 1 (GLP-1): Substance in brain that terminates eating Set Point: Proportion of body fat that is maintained by changes in hunger and eating; point where weight stays the same when you make no effort to gain or lose weight

The Final Word on Eating Behavior Leptin: Substance released by fat cells that inhibits eating External Eating Cues: External stimuli that tend to encourage hunger or elicit eating; these cues may cause you to eat even if you are stuffed (like Homer Simpson, who eats whatever he sees!) Signs and signals linked with food

Figure 10.6 A near epidemic of obesity has occurred in the United States during the last 20 years, with 65 percent of all Americans now classified as overweight (CDC, 2003). Figure 10.6

Figure 10.7 Women with abnormal eating habits were asked to rate their body shape on a scale similar to the one you see here. As a group, they chose ideal figures much thinner than what they thought their current weights were. (Most women say they want to be thinner than they currently are, but to a lesser degree than women with eating problems.) Notice that the women with eating problems chose an ideal weight that was even thinner than what they thought men prefer. This is not typical of most women. In this study, only women with eating problems wanted to be thinner than what they thought men find attractive (Zellner, Harner, & Adler, 1989). Figure 10.7

Behavioral Dieting Weight reduction based on changing exercise and eating habits and not on temporary self-starvation Some keys Start with a complete physical Exercise Be committed to weight loss

Behavioral Dieting (cont.) Observe yourself, keep an eating diary, and keep a chart of daily progress Eat based on hunger, not on taste or learned habits that tell you to always clean your plate Avoid snacks Learn to weaken personal eating cues

Taste Taste Aversion: Active dislike for a particular food VERY difficult to overcome

Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa Active self-starvation or sustained loss of appetite that seems to have psychological origins Control issues seem to be involved Very difficult to effectively treat Overwhelmingly affects adolescent females

Anorexia Nervosa

Eating Disorders: Bulimia Nervosa Excessive eating (binging) usually followed by self-induced vomiting and/or taking laxatives Difficult to treat Prozac approved by FDA to treat bulimia nervosa Overwhelmingly affects females

Causes of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Anorectics and bulimics have exaggerated fears of becoming fat; they think they are fat when the opposite is true! Bulimics are obsessed with food and weight; anorectics with perfect control Anorectics will often be put on a “weight-gain” diet to restore weight

Thirst Extracellular Thirst: When water is lost from fluids surrounding the cells of your body Best satisfied by drinking slightly salty liquid Intracellular Thirst: When fluid is drawn out of cells because of increased concentration of salts and minerals outside the cell Best satisfied by drinking water

Pain Avoidance An episodic drive: Distinct episodes when bodily damage takes place or is about to occur

Sex Drive Estrus: Changes in animals that create a desire for sex; females in heat Estrogen: A female sex hormone Androgens: Male sex hormones

Stimulus Drives Reflect needs for information, exploration, manipulation, and sensory input Assumes that people prefer to maintain ideal, or comfortable, level of arousal Arousal: Activation of the body and nervous system Sensation Seeking: Trait of people who prefer high levels of stimulation (e.g., the contestants on “Fear Factor”)

Yerkes-Dodson Law If a task is simple, it is best for arousal to be high; if it is complex, lower levels of arousal provide for the best performance

Figure 10.9 (a) The general relationship between arousal and efficiency can be described by an inverted U curve. The optimal level of arousal or motivation is higher for a simple task (b) than for a complex task (c). Figure 10.9

How to Cope with Test Anxiety Preparation Relaxation Rehearsal Restructuring thoughts

Learned Motives Social Motives: Acquired by growing up in a particular society or culture Need for Achievement (nAch): Desire to meet or exceed some internal standard of excellence Need for Power: Desire to have impact or control over others

Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of Human Needs: Maslow’s ordering of needs based on presumed strength or potency; some needs are more powerful than others and thus will influence your behavior to a greater degree

Maslow’s Human Needs Basic Needs: First four levels of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy Lower needs tend to be more potent (“prepotent”) than higher needs Growth Needs: Higher-level needs associated with self-actualization Meta-Needs: Needs associated with impulses for self-actualization

Figure 10.10 Maslow believed that lower needs in the hierarchy are dominant. Basic needs must be satisfied before growth motives are fully expressed. Desires for self-actualization are reflected in various meta-needs (see text). Figure 10.10

Types of Motivation Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation coming from within, not from external rewards; based on personal enjoyment of a task or activity Extrinsic Motivation: Based on obvious external rewards, obligations, or similar factors

Emotions State characterized by physiological arousal and changes in facial expressions, gestures, posture, and subjective feelings Adaptive Behaviors: Actions that aid our attempts to survive and adjust to changing conditions Physiological Changes (In emotions): Include heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and other involuntary responses

More Terms to Know Adrenaline: Hormone produced by adrenal glands that arouses the body Emotional Expressions: Outward signs of what a person is feeling Emotional Feelings: A person’s private emotional experience

Primary Emotions and Mood Eight primary emotions (Plutchik, 2001) Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust

Primary Emotions and Mood Concluded Anger Anticipation Joy Trust Mood: Low-intensity, long-lasting emotional state

Figure 10. 11 Primary and mixed emotions Figure 10.11 Primary and mixed emotions. In Robert Plutchik’s model there are eight primary emotions, as listed in the inner areas. Adjacent emotions may combine to give the emotions listed around the perimeter. Mixtures involving more widely separated emotions are also possible. For example, fear plus anticipation produces anxiety. (Adapted from Plutchik, 2003.) Figure 10.11

Figure 10.12 Folklore holds that people who work or attend school on a weekly schedule experience their lowest moods on “Blue Monday.” Actually, moods tend to be generally lower for most weekdays than they are on weekends. The graph shown here plots the average daily mood ratings made by a group of college students over a 5-week period. As you can see, many people find that their moods rise and fall on a 7-day cycle. For most students, a low point tends to occur around Monday or Tuesday and a peak on Friday or Saturday. (Adapted from Larsen & Kasimatis, 1990.) In other words, moods are often entrained (pulled along) by weekly schedules. Figure 10.12

Brain and Emotion Autonomic Nervous System (ANS): Neural system that connects brain with internal organs and glands Sympathetic Branch: Part of ANS that activates body for emergency action Parasympathetic Branch: Part of ANS that quiets body and conserves energy Parasympathetic Rebound: Overreaction to intense emotion

Figure 10.13 The parasympathetic branch of the ANS calms and quiets the body. The sympathetic branch arouses the body and prepares it for emergency action. Figure 10.13

Lie Detectors Polygraph: Device that records changes in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and galvanic skin response (GSR); lie detector GSR: Measures sweating

Types of Polygraph Questions Irrelevant Questions: Neutral, emotional questions in a polygraph test Relevant Questions: Questions to which only someone guilty should react Control Questions: Questions that almost always provoke anxiety in a polygraph (e.g., “Have you ever taken any office supplies?”)

Body Language (Kinesics) Study of communication through body movement, posture, gestures, and facial expressions Emotional Tone: Underlying emotional state Facial Blends: Mix of two or more basic expressions

Three Types of Facial Expressions Pleasantness-Unpleasantness: Degree to which a person is experiencing pleasure or displeasure Attention-Rejection: Degree of attention given to a person or object Activation: Degree of arousal a person is experiencing

Figure 10.15 When shown groups of simplified faces (without labels), the angry and scheming faces “jumped out” at people faster than sad, happy, or neutral faces. An ability to rapidly detect threatening expressions probably helped our ancestors survive. (Adapted from Tipples, Atkinson, & Young, 2002.) Figure 10.15

Theories of Emotion James-Lange Theory: Emotional feelings follow bodily arousal and come from awareness of such arousal Cannon-Bard Theory: The thalamus (in brain) causes emotional feelings and bodily arousal to occur simultaneously

Schachter’s Cognitive Theory Emotions occur when physical arousal is labeled or interpreted on the basis of experience and situational cues

Attribution Attribution: Mental process of assigning causes to events; attributing arousal to a certain source Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Sensations from facial expressions and becoming aware of them is what leads to the emotion someone feels

Figure 10.17 Theories of emotion.

A Modern View of Emotion Emotional Appraisal: Evaluating personal meaning of a stimulus or situation Emotional Intelligence: Emotional competence, including empathy, self-control, self-awareness, and other skills

Critical Emotional Intelligence Skills Self-awareness Empathy Managing emotions Understanding emotions

More Critical Emotional Skills Using emotions Emotional flexibility

Figure 10.19 A contemporary model of emotion.