His General Psychology W6

General Psychology

Motivation, Emotion & Personality

Read Chapters 11 & 12

Complete Blog Topic

Blog Topic - Week 6

Everyday Motivation

What makes you "do the things you do"? Make a list of (a) your five favorite things to do and (b) the major things you did today. Along with each of the activities you list under (a) and (b), give possible reasons for engaging in the behavior--in other words, what motivates you to participate in these behaviors?

Look at the lists of "motivators" you've generated. What are some of the more prominent ones? Do you see any differences between the motivators in your (a) and (b) lists? If so, what do you think explains the difference? What approach to motivation best explains your results?

Week 6 Assignment

As you're reading in the text, there are many possible explanations for why people do the things they do. In other words, there are many sources of motivation. Look at the behaviors listed below. These behaviors cover a wide array of human activity, and no doubt represent a wide array of motivational forces. For each of the behaviors listed, generate all of the reasons you can think of for participating in that activity. After you have done this, look over the set of reasons you've generated for all of the activities. Are there some reasons that seem to stand out from the others? How do the reasons you give relate to the theories of motivation discussed in your text?

Behaviors

1. working 2. watching television 3. drinking alcohol 4. playing sports 5. engaging in high-risk activities (e.g., sky diving) 6. attending college