Topic: Autobiographical Psychosocial History

Ever wonder why some people seem to be very successful, highly motivated individuals? Where does the energy, the drive, or the direction come from? Motivation is an area of psychology that has gotten a great deal of attention, especially in the recent years. The reason is because we all want to be successful, we all want direction and drive, and we all want to be seen as motivated.

*

Biological requirements for maintaining your body would likely

come first, such as thirst, urination, keeping warm or cool, and eating.

The human body can live for only 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without

food.

But a human can live a lifetime without sex, even though it is required to propagate

our species. Once beyond biological needs, you may soon want to talk to someone you

care about or eventually feel the need to accomplish something during your day. How

can we capture the many reasons for our decisions to act?

*

Importantly, motivation is considered to arise internally, as an act of will, rather than an external force compelling you to take action (like pulling your hand back from a hot stove).

*

At the base level, a motive is the pursuit of pleasure in some form and the avoidance of pain or displeasure.

*

Theories of motivation try to explain how and why we are energized to move toward specific goals.

*

There are several distinct theories of motivation we will discuss in this class. Some include basic biological forces, while others seem to transcend concrete explanation. Let's talk about seven major theories of motivation.

*

So, Darwin believed that many behaviors were characteristics that could be passed on.

*

Instinct theory is derived from our biological make-up. We've all seen spider's webs and perhaps even witnessed a spider in the tedious job of creating its home and trap. We've all seen birds in their nests, feeding their young or painstakingly placing the twigs in place to form their new home. How do spiders know how to spin webs? How do birds now how to build nests?

The answer is biology. All creatures are born with specific innate knowledge about how to survive. Animals are born with the capacity and often times knowledge of how to survive by spinning webs, building nests, avoiding danger, and reproducing. These innate tendencies are preprogrammed at birth, they are in our genes, and even if the spider never saw a web before, never witnessed its creation, it would still know how to create one.

Humans have the same types of innate tendencies. Babies are born with a unique ability that allows them to survive; they are born with the ability to cry. Without this, how would others know when to feed the baby, know when he needed changing, or when she wanted attention and affection? Crying allows a human infant to survive. We are also born with particular reflexes which promote survival. The most important of these include sucking, swallowing, coughing, blinking. Newborns can perform physical movements to avoid pain; they will turn their head if touched on their cheek and search for a nipple (rooting reflex); and they will grasp an object that touches the palm of their hands.

http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/a/instincts.htm

*

Examples of instinct theory include a dog shaking after it gets wet, a sea turtle seeking out the ocean after hatching, or a bird migrating prior to the winter season., these are also called fixed-action patterns.

Another example of an instinct was investigated by animal behaviorist, Konrad Lorenz, who worked with baby geese. These and other birds form an attachment to the first moving object they see or hear soon after birth by following that object, which is usually their mother. This behavior is known as imprinting. When Lorenz was the first moving object they saw, the baby birds followed him.

*

According to Clark Hull (1943, 1952), humans have internal internal biological needs which motivate us to perform a certain way. These needs, or drives, are defined by Hull as internal states of arousal or tension which must be reduced.

Generally, the greater the need, the stronger the drive. For example: Eating food or drinking water reduces the need by satisfying our hunger or quenching our thirst, and our body returns to its state of homeostasis.

Homeostasis is the body's tendency to maintain an internal steady state of metabolism, to stay in balance.

*

However, this biologically based theory does not account as well for secondary motives such as achievement, affiliation, autonomy, curiosity, power, and play that are social in nature.

*

Similar to Hull's Drive Reduction Theory, Arousal theory states that we are driven to maintain a certain level of arousal in order to feel comfortable. Arousal refers to a state of emotional, intellectual, and physical activity. It is different from the above theory, however, because it doesn't rely on only a reduction of tension, but a balanced amount. It also does better to explain why people climb mountains, go to school, or watch sad movies.

*

Secondary motives, motives we learn to desire, are learned through society's pull. Getting an A on your Psychology examination is an incentive that motivates you to study hard.

*

Humanistic theory is perhaps the most well know theory of motivation. According to this theory, humans are driven to achieve their maximum potential and will always do so unless obstacles are placed in their way. These obstacles include hunger, thirst, financial problems, safety issues, or anything else that takes our focus away from maximum psychological growth.

*

The best way to describe this theory is to utilize the famous pyramid developed by Abraham Maslow (1970) called the Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow believed that humans have specific needs that must be met and that if lower level needs go unmet, we can not possible strive for higher level needs. The Hierarchy of Needs shows that at the lower level, we must focus on basic issues such as food, sleep, and safety. Without food, without sleep, how could we possible focus on the higher level needs such as respect, education, and recognition?

Throughout our lives, we work toward achieving the top of the pyramid, self actualization, or the realization of all of our potential. As we move up the pyramid, however, things get in the way which slow us down and often knock us backward. Imagine working toward the respect and recognition of your colleagues and suddenly finding yourself out of work and homeless. Suddenly, you are forced backward and can no longer focus your attention on your work due to the need for finding food and shelter for you and your family.

According to Maslow, nobody has ever reached the peak of his pyramid. We all may strive for it and some may even get close, but no one has achieved full self-actualization. Self-actualization means a complete understanding of who you are, a sense of completeness, of being the best person you could possibly be. To have achieved this goal is to stop living, for what is there to strive for if you have learned everything about yourself, if you have experienced all that you can, and if there is no way left for you to grow emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually.

http://allpsych.com/psychology101/motivation.html

*

Psychologists have proposed a number of different ways of thinking about motivation that we have looked at. However, psychologist also

including one method that involves looking at whether motivation arises from outside (extrinsic) or inside (intrinsic) the individual.

*

Examples of behaviors that are the result of intrinsic motivation include:

Participating in a sport because you find the activity enjoyable

Solving a word puzzle because you find the challenge fun and interesting

Playing a game because you find it exciting

http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/difference-between-extrinsic-and-intrinsic-motivation.htm

*

Examples of behaviors that are the result of intrinsic motivation include:

Participating in a sport because you find the activity enjoyable

Solving a word puzzle because you find the challenge fun and interesting

Playing a game because you find it exciting

http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/difference-between-extrinsic-and-intrinsic-motivation.htm

*

http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/difference-between-extrinsic-and-intrinsic-motivation.htm

*

“For example, grocery shopping involves a series of steps to meet that goal,” she says. “You clip coupons, you choose a store and then you actually shop. We do all of that automatically, but the same process is used for more complex, less routine goal setting, too.”

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/student-life/2014/03/why-set-goals.html?channel=socm&provider=linkedin&pvp_campaign=16397_8267_9_95&creative_desc=paid&keyword=li_p_link_inspirationwhysetgoals&mktg_prog=social

*

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/student-life/2014/03/why-set-goals.html?channel=socm&provider=linkedin&pvp_campaign=16397_8267_9_95&creative_desc=paid&keyword=li_p_link_inspirationwhysetgoals&mktg_prog=social

*

Just deciding to go back to college requires a leap of faith, and I always tell my students that they’ve already accomplished a huge goal just by being there,” she notes.

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/student-life/2014/03/why-set-goals.html?channel=socm&provider=linkedin&pvp_campaign=16397_8267_9_95&creative_desc=paid&keyword=li_p_link_inspirationwhysetgoals&mktg_prog=social

*

For example, realizing the goal of moving to another city after graduation can lead to more employment opportunities. “With each success we realize in accomplishing life’s minor, less routine goals,” she notes, “the more likely we are to approach future, complex goals with confidence and enthusiasm.”

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/student-life/2014/03/why-set-goals.html?channel=socm&provider=linkedin&pvp_campaign=16397_8267_9_95&creative_desc=paid&keyword=li_p_link_inspirationwhysetgoals&mktg_prog=social

*

Emotions seem to rule our daily lives. We make decisions based on whether we are happy, angry, sad, bored, or frustrated. We choose activities and hobbies based on the emotions they incite.

*

What is emotion? A feeling? Then what is a feeling? These terms are difficult to define and even more difficult to understand completely. People have been attempting to understand this phenomenon for thousands of years, and will most likely debate for a thousand more. Today we will look at the various theories related to the acquisition of emotion.

The mainstream definition of emotion refers to a feeling state involving thoughts, physiological changes, and an outward expression or behavior. But what comes first? The thought? The physiological arousal? The behavior? Or does emotion exist in a vacuum, whether or not these other components are present? There are five theories which attempt to understand why we experience emotion.

*

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. You notice these physiological changes and interpret them as your body's preparation for a fearful situation. You then experience fear.

*

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. At the same time as these physiological changes occur you also experience the emotion of fear.

*

You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Upon noticing this arousal you realize that is comes from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by yourself. This behavior is dangerous and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.

*

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you think it may be a mugger so you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens and at the same time experience fear.

*

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and your eyes widen, your teeth clench and your brain interprets these facial changes as the expression of fear. Therefore you experience the emotion of fear.

*

In addition to understanding exactly what emotions are, researchers have also tried to identify and classify the different types of emotions. In 1972, psychologist Paul Eckman suggested that there are six basic emotions that are universal throughout human cultures: fear, disgust, anger, surprise, happiness, and sadness. In 1999, he expanded this list to include a number of other basic emotions including embarrassment, excitement, contempt, shame, pride, satisfaction, and amusement.

During the 1980s, Robert Plutchik introduced another emotion classification system known as the "wheel of emotions." This model demonstrated how different emotions can be combined or mixed together, much the way an artist mixes primary colors to create other colors. Plutchik suggested that there are 8 primary emotional dimensions: happiness vs. sadness, anger vs. fear, trust vs. disgust, and surprise vs. anticipation. These emotions can then be combined in a variety of ways. For example, happiness and anticipation might combine to create excitement.

In order to better understand what emotions are, let's focus on their three key elements.

*

While we might have broad labels for certain emotions such as 'angry,' 'sad,' or 'happy,' your own unique experience of these emotions is probably much more multi-dimensional. Consider anger. Is all anger the same? Your own experience might range from mild annoyance to blinding rage.

*

When faced with starting a new job, you might feel both excited and nervous. Getting married or having a child might be marked by a wide variety of emotions ranging from joy to anxiety. These emotions might occur simultaneously, or you might feel them one after another.

*

The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary body responses such as blood flow and digestion.

The sympathetic nervous system is charged with controlling the body's fight-or-flight reactions. When facing a threat, these responses automatically prepare your body to flee from danger or face the threat head-on.

*

The amygdala itself is a tiny, almond-shaped structure that has been linked to motivational states such as hunger and thirst as well as memory and emotion. Researchers have used brain imaging to show that when people are shown threatening images, the amygdala becomes activated. Damage to the amygdala has also been shown to impair the fear response.

*

Researchers believe that many expressions are universal, such as a smile indicating happiness or pleasure or a frown indicating sadness or displeasure. Cultural rules also play an important role in how we express and interpret emotions. In Japan, for example, people tend to mask displays of fear or disgust when in the presence of authority figure.

*

For example, after disagreeing with a friend over politics, you might feel angry for a short period of time. A mood on the other hand is usually much milder than an emotion, but longer-lasting. In many cases, it can be difficult to identify the specific cause of a mood. For example, you might find yourself feeling gloomy for several days without any clearly identifiable reason.

*