Growth motivation and positive psychology
Self-actualisation is a concept proposed by Maslow, as the highest on his pyramid of human needs. Maslow claimed that not all humans shall reach this level, and that not all humans shall strive towards it.
It has been claimed that all organisms have an actualising tendency, where they shall be guided unconsciously towards genetically determined potentials. This also motivates the individual towards new experiences. All organisms also have an organismic valuation process, which is an innate ability for judging whether an experience will promote or reverse growth, so that we can decide whether the process is worth undertaking again.
There are two different types of causality orientation, those of autonomy and control. Individuals who have an autonomic orietation look inwards for motivation, pay close attention to their own needs and emotions. Autonomic causality orientation is related to positive functioning in many areas, including self-actualisation. Control causality orientation relates to relying on external guides, such as social cues, with an individual making actions more related to rewards and social expectations.
The topic of evil interests me, as it seems to come up too often in recent times. It has been suggested that evil only arises when a person has had negative experiences previously in life. This would help to explain the current evil of dictators and terrrorists, who have themselves had their countries wronged, so fight back in any way possible.
It has been a struggle for me keeping up with these blogs, but I feel that I have learnt many things on the topic that I would have otherwise glossed over.
Thank you for reading,
Aaron
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Weeks 11 & 12
Personality
Personality traits are important in the study of personality and individual differences. There are five widely accepted main personality traits, those of neuroticism, extraversion, openess to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. It has been found that those who score highly on extraversion are actually more likely to be happy. This has been attributed to their greater capacity to experience positive emotions, which leads to better sociability, social dominance and being more adventurous. Neurotics on the other hand are more likely to be unhappy, as they are more likely to avoid potentially punishing situations, which leads to a higher level of avoidance behaviour and emotional distress.
Arousal is an important part of human functioning. Arousal effects the level of motivation humans feel towards a task. A prime level of arousal is a midway point between too stimulated and not stimulated enough. Under stimulation can lead to boredom and apathy. Over stimulation can lead to stress and anxiety, which will in turn effect performance.
Sensation seeking is an important part of human behaviour; some people feel that must always be stimulated or trying new things. These stimulation seekers shall actually have a drop in mood if stimulation lowers, and will push for intensely stimulating situations. Those who have a high level of sensation seeking are actually more likely to form addictions, as they often try to escape daily life and look for situations outside the daily norm.
Unconsicous motivation
Three contemporary views of the unconscious are those of the Freudian unconscious, which automatically appraises the environment, the adaptive unconscious, which sets goals and initiates action, and implicit motivation, which automatically reacts to environmental events which have an emotional link for the individual.
Subliminal are below the threshold of normal detection, and do have an emotional effect. This does not mean that people act on this info however. The theories of psychodynamics is based on the clashing of subliminal forces, in particular those of conscious thoughts and actions against unconscious.
Personality traits are important in the study of personality and individual differences. There are five widely accepted main personality traits, those of neuroticism, extraversion, openess to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. It has been found that those who score highly on extraversion are actually more likely to be happy. This has been attributed to their greater capacity to experience positive emotions, which leads to better sociability, social dominance and being more adventurous. Neurotics on the other hand are more likely to be unhappy, as they are more likely to avoid potentially punishing situations, which leads to a higher level of avoidance behaviour and emotional distress.
Arousal is an important part of human functioning. Arousal effects the level of motivation humans feel towards a task. A prime level of arousal is a midway point between too stimulated and not stimulated enough. Under stimulation can lead to boredom and apathy. Over stimulation can lead to stress and anxiety, which will in turn effect performance.
Sensation seeking is an important part of human behaviour; some people feel that must always be stimulated or trying new things. These stimulation seekers shall actually have a drop in mood if stimulation lowers, and will push for intensely stimulating situations. Those who have a high level of sensation seeking are actually more likely to form addictions, as they often try to escape daily life and look for situations outside the daily norm.
Unconsicous motivation
Three contemporary views of the unconscious are those of the Freudian unconscious, which automatically appraises the environment, the adaptive unconscious, which sets goals and initiates action, and implicit motivation, which automatically reacts to environmental events which have an emotional link for the individual.
Subliminal are below the threshold of normal detection, and do have an emotional effect. This does not mean that people act on this info however. The theories of psychodynamics is based on the clashing of subliminal forces, in particular those of conscious thoughts and actions against unconscious.
Weeks 9 & 10
Emotions
When I entered this unit, I believed that I would find the emotion section of the topic much mroe interesting than that of motivation. So far I've found some intriguing things throughout the motivation topic, and I hope that I'll be even more interested in the emotion portion of the unit.
Emotions and motivation are closely related; emotions can be a form of motivation, leading us to action, or they can be seen as a way to measure how well we are doing at achieving our goals. When we experience something that is significant to us, we go through biological and cognitive processes; these are bodily arousal, feelings, social-expressive and a sense of purpose. There are differing opinions on where emotion actually originates from, the cognitive or the biological.
In the case of biological, there is a heavy emphasis on the more basic primary emotions, as these are much easier to link to a biological theory of psychology. The four basic negative emotions are fear, anger, disgust and sadness; an individual is motivated to reduce these emotions so they shall not cause harm. The positive basic emotions are joy and interest, and people are motivated towards these emotions as they shall make them feel satisfied. Though a cognitive approach does acknowledge these basic emotions, the wider spectrum of complex secondary emotions.
Most of our emotions can be attributed to a specific coping function, such as fear preparing us to flee, or anger preparing us to fight; however they also work in as a social function, allowing us to build relationships, let others know how we feel and change how others interact with us. Through these two functions, our emotions serve as a feedback system which allows us to keep behaviour regulated.
Moods are different to emotions in many ways; they last longer than emotions do, and usually do not originate from a specific stimulus. This means that moods influence what the person thinks about, but does not lead to immediate action. Moods can either be positive or negative in affect. Positive mood leads to more enjoyable engagement in activities, a high approach level of motivation and being easier to get on with. Negative affect leads to unpleasant engagement, avoidance motivation and moving away from social situations.
Aspects of emotion
There are three main aspects of emotion: biological, cognitive and social and cultural aspects. These larger categories are made up of smaller effects, for example the biological aspects of emotion are effected by the autonomic nervous system, brain activity, facial feedback and more.
James and Lange, both working separately, came to the conclusion that emotions are actually a reaction to physical experience. They also theorised that the body reacts differently to unique emotional events, and that non-emotional yet stimulating events shall not gain a response. This theory has been criticised since, for a few reasons, including that emotions are actually experienced faster than physiological reactions.
Another theory is that of differential emotions. This theory states that the principal motivation system of humans is actually made up of ten emotions, and that each of these emotions has a unique feeling, facial expression, firing of neurons and reason for occurring.
Paul Ekman provided seven reasons as to why biological theorists focus on a smaller number of basic emotions; non-basic emotions are actually experience based, many terms used better describe moods, attitudes, personality, disorders, specific aspects of emotions or a combination of emotions.
Facial feedback hypothesis is based on a few assumptions, that emotions rise from movements in facial muscles, the temperature of the face and glandular reactions in the faces skin. It has been found that there is a two-way relationship between feeling and expressing emotions, though the level of facial feedback is small.
The appraisal theory of emotion is a cognitive one, based on the idea that a cognitive appraisal of an event is actually what causes an emotion. Complex appraisal theories are only accurate about three quarters of the time, due to other contributing factors including developmental differences and biology.
As humans grow, we learn to identify a larger range of emotions. The number of emotions we can distinguish is known as our emotional knowledge.
When I entered this unit, I believed that I would find the emotion section of the topic much mroe interesting than that of motivation. So far I've found some intriguing things throughout the motivation topic, and I hope that I'll be even more interested in the emotion portion of the unit.
Emotions and motivation are closely related; emotions can be a form of motivation, leading us to action, or they can be seen as a way to measure how well we are doing at achieving our goals. When we experience something that is significant to us, we go through biological and cognitive processes; these are bodily arousal, feelings, social-expressive and a sense of purpose. There are differing opinions on where emotion actually originates from, the cognitive or the biological.
In the case of biological, there is a heavy emphasis on the more basic primary emotions, as these are much easier to link to a biological theory of psychology. The four basic negative emotions are fear, anger, disgust and sadness; an individual is motivated to reduce these emotions so they shall not cause harm. The positive basic emotions are joy and interest, and people are motivated towards these emotions as they shall make them feel satisfied. Though a cognitive approach does acknowledge these basic emotions, the wider spectrum of complex secondary emotions.
Most of our emotions can be attributed to a specific coping function, such as fear preparing us to flee, or anger preparing us to fight; however they also work in as a social function, allowing us to build relationships, let others know how we feel and change how others interact with us. Through these two functions, our emotions serve as a feedback system which allows us to keep behaviour regulated.
Moods are different to emotions in many ways; they last longer than emotions do, and usually do not originate from a specific stimulus. This means that moods influence what the person thinks about, but does not lead to immediate action. Moods can either be positive or negative in affect. Positive mood leads to more enjoyable engagement in activities, a high approach level of motivation and being easier to get on with. Negative affect leads to unpleasant engagement, avoidance motivation and moving away from social situations.
Aspects of emotion
There are three main aspects of emotion: biological, cognitive and social and cultural aspects. These larger categories are made up of smaller effects, for example the biological aspects of emotion are effected by the autonomic nervous system, brain activity, facial feedback and more.
James and Lange, both working separately, came to the conclusion that emotions are actually a reaction to physical experience. They also theorised that the body reacts differently to unique emotional events, and that non-emotional yet stimulating events shall not gain a response. This theory has been criticised since, for a few reasons, including that emotions are actually experienced faster than physiological reactions.
Another theory is that of differential emotions. This theory states that the principal motivation system of humans is actually made up of ten emotions, and that each of these emotions has a unique feeling, facial expression, firing of neurons and reason for occurring.
Paul Ekman provided seven reasons as to why biological theorists focus on a smaller number of basic emotions; non-basic emotions are actually experience based, many terms used better describe moods, attitudes, personality, disorders, specific aspects of emotions or a combination of emotions.
Facial feedback hypothesis is based on a few assumptions, that emotions rise from movements in facial muscles, the temperature of the face and glandular reactions in the faces skin. It has been found that there is a two-way relationship between feeling and expressing emotions, though the level of facial feedback is small.
The appraisal theory of emotion is a cognitive one, based on the idea that a cognitive appraisal of an event is actually what causes an emotion. Complex appraisal theories are only accurate about three quarters of the time, due to other contributing factors including developmental differences and biology.
As humans grow, we learn to identify a larger range of emotions. The number of emotions we can distinguish is known as our emotional knowledge.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Weeks 5 & 6
Week 5
Intrinsic-extrinsic motivation
I had never really contemplated where intrinsic motivations come from. Looking into these questions is part of the more interesting side of psychology for me. This information is obviously important in a practical sense, as there are many ways it can be used in daily life. Of particular interest is the notion that intrinsic motivation shall lead to higher levels of creativity and persistence, amongst other things. As a university student who struggles with procrastination, understanding intrinsic motivation is highly relevant to me, and I can understand the implications of such things in the workplace. Basically intrinsic motives are the things that lead us to engage in activitites of interest to us, and to develop our abilities in different areas. Our intrinsic motivations come from our psychological need for satisfaction. This need is seperated further into three subcategories; autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Extrinsic motivations are a much simpler topic, and are contemplated by every individual daily. Our entire society is built on the extrinsic motivator of money. Without extrinsic motivators, it is unlikely that any person would engage in the manual labours of employment. Extrinsic motivators are created by the environment around an individual. These can come in differing forms, incentives, consequences and rewards. There can be problems with extrinsic awards; if individuals know that an extrinsic award is present it will interfere with the inherent drive to fulfill the learning portions of intrinsic motivation. Punishment, another external motivator, has been found to be unsuccessful as a motivational tactic; punishment shall lead to negative emotions, a strained relationship between the parties involved and bad modeling for dealing with unwanted behaviour. It seems bizarre that there are so many problems with punishment as a way to reduce unwanted behaviour, yet it is still the most widely used method in this area. I suppose it is not really possible to suggest to a misbehaving child that they should review their behaviour in relation to their intrinsic motives; part of the study of motivation is looking for ways to change what does not work in our society, and I am hopeful that something is being done in this area. There are benefits to extrinsic rewards though; if the task is something that is uninteresting to begin with, and there is no intrinsic motivation, then these tasks are more likely to be fulfilled. The problems still arisel, even in this case. The learning capabilities and autonomy of an individual are blocked, and there is still the realisation that someone is being led into performing an untiresting task. This come back to my example of money. If there was no monetary gain to be had from the task, is it likely that there would be as many labourers, or cleaners, or hospitality staff in the world? As humans we are no forced to accept the extrinsic reward of money as a given.
Goal setting and Striving
It was interesting for me to look at the way goal setting regulates behaviour. It would seem that almost all of my own goals are incentive-based. The fact that feedback is the best predictor of whether an individual shall achieve or not is intriguing, though there is still a high need for quality instruction. This information is very useful for those that are in any kind of management or teaching position. Even in small groups striving together for a goal, knowing that feedback will help others is important to keep in mind. It is also important to be careful with the feedback given, as feedback can be damaging to an individual. Of course it is always important to keep in mind the other areas that can effect the acceptance of a goal, such as those assigning the goal and any extrinsic rewards or punishments that may be present. The idea of turning long-term goals into a series of short-term goals should be observed by everyone. This can lead to a much better process of achievement for people as they strive to reach their goals.
Week 6
Personal Control Beliefs
On the whole, self control beliefs can begin with two differing types of expectancies. Efficacy expectations revolve around ones belief that they shall be able to perform in a situation that shall lead to them successfully dealing with a given situation; outcome expectations are the belief that these behaviours shall lead to an outcome which is positive for the individual. When these two combine together they lead to an individual being motivated to exercise self-control.
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the judgement that an individual makes on how they shall perform on a current task, after taking into account the skills the individual has. This will then lead to the individual either making a decision to pursue a goal, or to be too anxious and avoid participating for risk of failure. Self-efficacy, when put together with knowledge and skill, can lead to empowerment, where an individual can choose to take control of their own life.
There are two different forms of motivational orientation, these of mastery and helplessness. A mastery orientation leads to resistance during and after failure, and an ability to take on board negative feedback to help with later tasks. A helpless orientation will lead to a more fragile opinion of oneself, and taking negative feedback as a personal failure, instead of failure at a particular task.
If an individual believes that their own life is out of their control, it can lead to learned helplessness. When an individual suffers from learned helplessness their motivation is lowered (because they see no point in trying to achieve when it is out of their control), and also emotional and learning problems; depression and apathy shall set in, and the individual will not attempt to learn in new ways.
The Self
Self-schemas are an important part of self concept. Self-schemas are basically the way people think of themselves. As most people know, different situations lead us to act in different ways, and these combined self-schemas from different areas is what leads to self-concept. Having a good understanding of your own self-schemas is a useful thing, as it leads to an ability to guess ones behaviour in specific situations, amongst other things. Self-schemas will motivate us to engage in behaviour that relates to that schema, so that we can avoid dissonance between our beliefs about ourselves and how we actually act; also self-schemas motivate us to move towards the self that we would like to be in the future.
Cognitive dissonance is what happens when we act in a way that is counter to our own self-schemas. This means that when we have an idea about ourselves, such as that we are good football players, yet we are then beaten in a game of football, there will be a certain feeling of anxiety as we have failed to achieve one of our self-schemas. Humans cope with this dissonance in a few different ways, either by removing the old belief, reduce the importance of the belief, creating a new belief that is relevant to the situation, or increasing the importance of a consonant belief. So in the example of a football match, the person can decide they aren't good at football, they can decide football is not that important to them, make the belief that they were injured or handicapped in some way, or that it was more important that they can study not play football well.
Intrinsic-extrinsic motivation
I had never really contemplated where intrinsic motivations come from. Looking into these questions is part of the more interesting side of psychology for me. This information is obviously important in a practical sense, as there are many ways it can be used in daily life. Of particular interest is the notion that intrinsic motivation shall lead to higher levels of creativity and persistence, amongst other things. As a university student who struggles with procrastination, understanding intrinsic motivation is highly relevant to me, and I can understand the implications of such things in the workplace. Basically intrinsic motives are the things that lead us to engage in activitites of interest to us, and to develop our abilities in different areas. Our intrinsic motivations come from our psychological need for satisfaction. This need is seperated further into three subcategories; autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Extrinsic motivations are a much simpler topic, and are contemplated by every individual daily. Our entire society is built on the extrinsic motivator of money. Without extrinsic motivators, it is unlikely that any person would engage in the manual labours of employment. Extrinsic motivators are created by the environment around an individual. These can come in differing forms, incentives, consequences and rewards. There can be problems with extrinsic awards; if individuals know that an extrinsic award is present it will interfere with the inherent drive to fulfill the learning portions of intrinsic motivation. Punishment, another external motivator, has been found to be unsuccessful as a motivational tactic; punishment shall lead to negative emotions, a strained relationship between the parties involved and bad modeling for dealing with unwanted behaviour. It seems bizarre that there are so many problems with punishment as a way to reduce unwanted behaviour, yet it is still the most widely used method in this area. I suppose it is not really possible to suggest to a misbehaving child that they should review their behaviour in relation to their intrinsic motives; part of the study of motivation is looking for ways to change what does not work in our society, and I am hopeful that something is being done in this area. There are benefits to extrinsic rewards though; if the task is something that is uninteresting to begin with, and there is no intrinsic motivation, then these tasks are more likely to be fulfilled. The problems still arisel, even in this case. The learning capabilities and autonomy of an individual are blocked, and there is still the realisation that someone is being led into performing an untiresting task. This come back to my example of money. If there was no monetary gain to be had from the task, is it likely that there would be as many labourers, or cleaners, or hospitality staff in the world? As humans we are no forced to accept the extrinsic reward of money as a given.
Goal setting and Striving
It was interesting for me to look at the way goal setting regulates behaviour. It would seem that almost all of my own goals are incentive-based. The fact that feedback is the best predictor of whether an individual shall achieve or not is intriguing, though there is still a high need for quality instruction. This information is very useful for those that are in any kind of management or teaching position. Even in small groups striving together for a goal, knowing that feedback will help others is important to keep in mind. It is also important to be careful with the feedback given, as feedback can be damaging to an individual. Of course it is always important to keep in mind the other areas that can effect the acceptance of a goal, such as those assigning the goal and any extrinsic rewards or punishments that may be present. The idea of turning long-term goals into a series of short-term goals should be observed by everyone. This can lead to a much better process of achievement for people as they strive to reach their goals.
Week 6
Personal Control Beliefs
On the whole, self control beliefs can begin with two differing types of expectancies. Efficacy expectations revolve around ones belief that they shall be able to perform in a situation that shall lead to them successfully dealing with a given situation; outcome expectations are the belief that these behaviours shall lead to an outcome which is positive for the individual. When these two combine together they lead to an individual being motivated to exercise self-control.
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the judgement that an individual makes on how they shall perform on a current task, after taking into account the skills the individual has. This will then lead to the individual either making a decision to pursue a goal, or to be too anxious and avoid participating for risk of failure. Self-efficacy, when put together with knowledge and skill, can lead to empowerment, where an individual can choose to take control of their own life.
There are two different forms of motivational orientation, these of mastery and helplessness. A mastery orientation leads to resistance during and after failure, and an ability to take on board negative feedback to help with later tasks. A helpless orientation will lead to a more fragile opinion of oneself, and taking negative feedback as a personal failure, instead of failure at a particular task.
If an individual believes that their own life is out of their control, it can lead to learned helplessness. When an individual suffers from learned helplessness their motivation is lowered (because they see no point in trying to achieve when it is out of their control), and also emotional and learning problems; depression and apathy shall set in, and the individual will not attempt to learn in new ways.
The Self
Self-schemas are an important part of self concept. Self-schemas are basically the way people think of themselves. As most people know, different situations lead us to act in different ways, and these combined self-schemas from different areas is what leads to self-concept. Having a good understanding of your own self-schemas is a useful thing, as it leads to an ability to guess ones behaviour in specific situations, amongst other things. Self-schemas will motivate us to engage in behaviour that relates to that schema, so that we can avoid dissonance between our beliefs about ourselves and how we actually act; also self-schemas motivate us to move towards the self that we would like to be in the future.
Cognitive dissonance is what happens when we act in a way that is counter to our own self-schemas. This means that when we have an idea about ourselves, such as that we are good football players, yet we are then beaten in a game of football, there will be a certain feeling of anxiety as we have failed to achieve one of our self-schemas. Humans cope with this dissonance in a few different ways, either by removing the old belief, reduce the importance of the belief, creating a new belief that is relevant to the situation, or increasing the importance of a consonant belief. So in the example of a football match, the person can decide they aren't good at football, they can decide football is not that important to them, make the belief that they were injured or handicapped in some way, or that it was more important that they can study not play football well.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Weeks 3 & 4
Physiology and sociality
Though I did not find physiological psychology the most interesting topic of psychology, I found the chapter on this area from our text intriguing. The fact that the text is well-written, with real examples helps to make it easier to comprehend. The information on dopamine in particular was incredibly interesting to me. The amount of change that one neurotransmitter can cause in human behaviour is astounding. Whether we choose to engage in any given behaviour has much to do with the levels of dopamine release involved. The fact that it is not actually the release of the dopamine itself that causes the most pleasure also surprised me. After watching a talk on how we make decisions, which i will link later, I also learnt that stimulus that produce a surprise hit of dopamine are also the strongest. This has to do with a system where the brain learns to expect the release of dopamine when an individual engages in behaviours that lead to a reward. This includes things like eating dinner leading to dessert afterwards. So if someone were to skip their dinner and have ice-cream at lunch time, this would feel much more rewarding than the usual dessert.
The hormones listed in the textbook were also of interest to me. Cortisol being a socially related threat hormone caught my eye, as I am also studying social psychology. Though it is mentioned that there are other reasons for cortisol to be released, the main reason cited is when an individual is exposed to socially evaluative threats. It is also mentioned that the hormone itself causes poor intellectual functioning, which seems to be counteractive to the reason it is released. The idea that cortisol is released when someones social standing is challenged, yet makes them less able to defend themselves intellectual is quite amusing.
Another socially related note is that motivation is impossible to seperate from the social context involved. There are so many factors involved in human motivation. There social influences on how we eat, drink feel and many other things. It has been found that having close friends or family that are obese, you are more likely to become obese. This can be considered a social influence on eating habits. An individual's peer group can also effect how they feel. If there is a trend towards negative feelings in the group, then it is common for the individual to feel similarly, simply to fit in socially.
This week I watched a talk on the process of decision making. I believe the topics covered are highly important in the areas of motivation and emotion, so I've provided a link. This should be viewed by anyone with an interest in how humans function.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2010/08/31/2997480.htm
Needs are defined as any condition within an individual that is essential and neccesary for life. There are three differing types of needs, physiological needs, psychological needs and social needs.
Physiological needs involve the biological systems of the body, such as the neural brain circuits and hormones. When physiological needs remain unmet for too long a time they shall generate motivational states that govern consciousness. For example, when the need for food goes without being satisfied for too long, the individual will constantly have food on their mind.
Psychological and social needs involve the processes of the central nervous system. These needs are always present in the consciousness of an individual at some level. They gain salience mostly where individuals believe that these needs can be fulfilled. For example an individual is often thinking of spending time with their friends, but this need becomes more obvious to them when they are in a social place, such as a university campus.
Motivation itself is categorised in two different groups. The first is deficiency motivation. When the body realises that it is lacking in some way. This activates in the individual a need to interact with the world to reduce the deficit. Growth motivation refers to motivational states which energize and direct an individuals behaviour to advance development.
In drive theory, a psychological drive occurs due to a physiological need. A psychological drive is the conscious manifestation of the underlying need, for example cognitively thinking that you are hungry. Homeostasis is the name given to the optimal level of functioning for an individual. This level is what the body is constantly trying to maintain, and what psychological drives strive to keep constant. So when a drive for food occurs, it is due to there being a lack of nutrients, or some other factor within the body. Negative feedback is what acts to stop a behaviour when the psychological need is fulfilled. The signal to stop actually occurs long before the physiological need is fully replenished. This is to allow the body to not over stimulate, such as eating too much.
Though I did not find physiological psychology the most interesting topic of psychology, I found the chapter on this area from our text intriguing. The fact that the text is well-written, with real examples helps to make it easier to comprehend. The information on dopamine in particular was incredibly interesting to me. The amount of change that one neurotransmitter can cause in human behaviour is astounding. Whether we choose to engage in any given behaviour has much to do with the levels of dopamine release involved. The fact that it is not actually the release of the dopamine itself that causes the most pleasure also surprised me. After watching a talk on how we make decisions, which i will link later, I also learnt that stimulus that produce a surprise hit of dopamine are also the strongest. This has to do with a system where the brain learns to expect the release of dopamine when an individual engages in behaviours that lead to a reward. This includes things like eating dinner leading to dessert afterwards. So if someone were to skip their dinner and have ice-cream at lunch time, this would feel much more rewarding than the usual dessert.
The hormones listed in the textbook were also of interest to me. Cortisol being a socially related threat hormone caught my eye, as I am also studying social psychology. Though it is mentioned that there are other reasons for cortisol to be released, the main reason cited is when an individual is exposed to socially evaluative threats. It is also mentioned that the hormone itself causes poor intellectual functioning, which seems to be counteractive to the reason it is released. The idea that cortisol is released when someones social standing is challenged, yet makes them less able to defend themselves intellectual is quite amusing.
Another socially related note is that motivation is impossible to seperate from the social context involved. There are so many factors involved in human motivation. There social influences on how we eat, drink feel and many other things. It has been found that having close friends or family that are obese, you are more likely to become obese. This can be considered a social influence on eating habits. An individual's peer group can also effect how they feel. If there is a trend towards negative feelings in the group, then it is common for the individual to feel similarly, simply to fit in socially.
This week I watched a talk on the process of decision making. I believe the topics covered are highly important in the areas of motivation and emotion, so I've provided a link. This should be viewed by anyone with an interest in how humans function.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2010/08/31/2997480.htm
Needs are defined as any condition within an individual that is essential and neccesary for life. There are three differing types of needs, physiological needs, psychological needs and social needs.
Physiological needs involve the biological systems of the body, such as the neural brain circuits and hormones. When physiological needs remain unmet for too long a time they shall generate motivational states that govern consciousness. For example, when the need for food goes without being satisfied for too long, the individual will constantly have food on their mind.
Psychological and social needs involve the processes of the central nervous system. These needs are always present in the consciousness of an individual at some level. They gain salience mostly where individuals believe that these needs can be fulfilled. For example an individual is often thinking of spending time with their friends, but this need becomes more obvious to them when they are in a social place, such as a university campus.
Motivation itself is categorised in two different groups. The first is deficiency motivation. When the body realises that it is lacking in some way. This activates in the individual a need to interact with the world to reduce the deficit. Growth motivation refers to motivational states which energize and direct an individuals behaviour to advance development.
In drive theory, a psychological drive occurs due to a physiological need. A psychological drive is the conscious manifestation of the underlying need, for example cognitively thinking that you are hungry. Homeostasis is the name given to the optimal level of functioning for an individual. This level is what the body is constantly trying to maintain, and what psychological drives strive to keep constant. So when a drive for food occurs, it is due to there being a lack of nutrients, or some other factor within the body. Negative feedback is what acts to stop a behaviour when the psychological need is fulfilled. The signal to stop actually occurs long before the physiological need is fully replenished. This is to allow the body to not over stimulate, such as eating too much.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Weeks 1 & 2: The Beginning
Motivation & Emotion: An introduction
In the first lecture I found it quite interesting looking at the definition of motivation. I had never considered how much affect motivation has on our behaviour; in particular the idea that motivation is what leads to a certain behaviour changing or stopping. This was brought up in both the week's chapter and lecture. Through the reading I found that this is considered to be caused by the complex interaction of different motivating forces. It is has always intrigued me that our brain is continuously battling to keep us alive, and the fact that it is motivation that allows for this constant makes this topic all the more interesting for me.
The history of motivation, though it can seem somewhat dry, also appealed to me. The fact that many different theories of motivation were put forth and rejected shows that this is a growing and changing study, and it has not become staid. Philosophy interests me, and thus the idea that theories of motivation began with philosophers does not surprise me. The growth and change of the ideas in this field from the past 100 years shows that there is still much for us to learn of the mind and how it operates. This fact helps to remind us that the human brain is remarkable in its workings.
I must also point out that whilst we were examining the differing sources of motivation, I found that the internal motives are much more interesting to me than the external factors. I'm ecstatic at the chance to delve deeper into the world of emotions, as I find this area one of the most interesting in psychological study. I am interested not only in how emotions effect us, but also how we can affect our emotions.
As mentioned in the text there was a change in the study of motivation which led to studies in areas that were more socially relevant. For me this is an important step, as I find research that better equip us to deal with and understand daily life most important. I understand the practicality of having many smaller theories on motivation, but still would like to see some kind of overarching schema; perhaps the definition of motivation can be used in this way.
In the first lecture I found it quite interesting looking at the definition of motivation. I had never considered how much affect motivation has on our behaviour; in particular the idea that motivation is what leads to a certain behaviour changing or stopping. This was brought up in both the week's chapter and lecture. Through the reading I found that this is considered to be caused by the complex interaction of different motivating forces. It is has always intrigued me that our brain is continuously battling to keep us alive, and the fact that it is motivation that allows for this constant makes this topic all the more interesting for me.
The history of motivation, though it can seem somewhat dry, also appealed to me. The fact that many different theories of motivation were put forth and rejected shows that this is a growing and changing study, and it has not become staid. Philosophy interests me, and thus the idea that theories of motivation began with philosophers does not surprise me. The growth and change of the ideas in this field from the past 100 years shows that there is still much for us to learn of the mind and how it operates. This fact helps to remind us that the human brain is remarkable in its workings.
I must also point out that whilst we were examining the differing sources of motivation, I found that the internal motives are much more interesting to me than the external factors. I'm ecstatic at the chance to delve deeper into the world of emotions, as I find this area one of the most interesting in psychological study. I am interested not only in how emotions effect us, but also how we can affect our emotions.
As mentioned in the text there was a change in the study of motivation which led to studies in areas that were more socially relevant. For me this is an important step, as I find research that better equip us to deal with and understand daily life most important. I understand the practicality of having many smaller theories on motivation, but still would like to see some kind of overarching schema; perhaps the definition of motivation can be used in this way.
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