CLASS 19

MOTIVATION AND EMOTION

What’s the difference?  Confusing because they usually occur together  Emotion  the subjective experience of a physiological reaction to a stimulus  e.g. anxiety, excitement, disgust, love  Motivation:  activates a goal-directed behavior  hunger, thirst, sex, escape, money, power  not necessarily conscious

Q: Function of motivation ?  A: For survival:  Organisms need to initiate adaptive behaviors  Forces to push them in right direction  cars & computers can’t do it

VARIETIES OF MOTIVATION  How many and what is their origin?  Freud – just two  Learning theory – reward & punishment  Humanistic theory not clear – except Maslow  Instincts – too many with no organization

DARWIN’S EVOLUTIONARY THEORY Organizes and explains motivation Motivations maximize reproduction of the species

Mechanism of evolution  Sexual reproduction  variation  Environmental pressures and mate-competition  Some survive  Namely, those who suit new circumstances  Floods  Famine  War

Creates Diverse Species  Many niches in ecosystem  Each niche selects for different traits  Yields great diversity between species  It all happens automatically

Evolutionary Psychology  Not just physical differences are selected  Also behavior and thinking  Our species shows specific psychological tendencies  E.g., specific fears and desires

Who survived?  The fittest ? –not strength or speed but intelligence  The best reproducers ?  Must show cross-sex attraction  Effective reproducers  Must also enjoy nurturance  Adaptive qualities depend on gender

Individual Differences  Not emphasized in evolutionary theory  3 possibilities 1. Natural variation around ideal mean ? 2. Mutations ? 3. Polymorphisms ?

Gender differences  Predictable from evolutionary theory because males and females have different reproductive agendas

Most sex differences are small  Except with regard to:  physical aggression  reproductive preferences  Those show large differences  Different species? Different planets?

Clark & Hatfield (1989)  Students approached by opposite-sex stranger  1. Date ? yes = 50% of males 50% of females  2. Have sex ? yes = 75% of males 0% of females

Let me count the ways  Casual sex vs. commitment  Sex vs. relationship focus  Entertainment choice  Interest in nurturance

Which theory ?  EP predicts all these differences should occur in every human society  Other theories do not