Psychology Motivation & Emotion

Motivation & Emotion

• Motivation is the internal and external factors driving behavior in a specific way. These factors can include needs, wants, and desires that shape purposeful actions.
• Motives are the needs, desires, and wants that lead to goal-directed behavior.
• Drive theories focus on homeostasis, the body's attempts to maintain a stable internal state. A physiological need creates a tension state (drive) motivating the organism to satisfy the need (e.g., hunger, thirst).
• Incentive theories propose that behavior is regulated by expected rewards or punishments. Extrinsic motivation is driven by external rewards, while intrinsic motivation is driven by internal satisfaction.
• Evolutionary theories explore how motivations maximize reproductive success. Genes promoting species survival are preserved in the gene pool.
• Hunger & eating is motivated by biological factors like brain regulation (hypothalamus), glucose levels, and digestive regulation. Hormonal factors also influence hunger and satiety. Learned preferences and environmental factors (e.g., anticipated pleasure, food-related cues, stress, social factors) also play a vital role.
• Obesity is linked to evolutionary explanations, genetics, set point homeostasis, dietary restraint, and eating disorders.
• Sexual response follows stages (excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution) – as outlined by Masters and Johnson (1966). Sexual motivation and behavior are influenced by hormones like estrogen, androgens, and testosterone. Evolutionary factors, like parental investment theory, and gender differences in sexual activity and mate preferences impact sexual choices. Sexual orientation, with the Kinsey scale offering a framework, also plays a significant role.
• The need to belong (affiliation motive) involves connecting with others, seeking affiliation, avoiding ostracism and the fear of rejection, and managing fear of missing out (FOMO).
• The need to excel (achievement motive) encourages mastering challenges, meeting high standards, greater persistence (hard work), and delaying instant gratification to pursue academic and career goals.
• The need for power (control/power motive) is associated with controlling or influencing others, winning arguments, enjoying competition (if successful), status and recognition, and a need to lead.
• Situational factors determine motivation as well; those include the perceived probability of success or failure on tasks, and incentive values.
• Emotions are a set of interconnected actions: Cognitive thoughts, physiological feelings, behavioral actions and consequences. The subjective feelings (positive, negative, mixed) influence our state of being, and positive psychology explores these feelings further.
• Affective forecasting is not consistently accurate when predicting future emotional experiences. Impact bias occurs when individuals overestimate how strongly and for how long a future event will affect them.
• Emotions have a physiological component (bodily, autonomic arousal, and affective neuroscience).
• The origin of emotions involves two distinct pathways in the brain – one fast and automatic (e.g., an immediate emotional reaction to a threat) and the other slower and more deliberate (linked to memory and conscious thought). Both rely on the limbic system, primarily the amygdala.
• Core emotions are innate (primitive, hardwired, universal, automatic and fast), connected with neurological pathways triggering behaviors that help with survival.
• Core emotions form building blocks for more complex emotions.
• Emotions are universal but expressions vary across cultures (display rules).
• Ability to read emotions starts around the 5-year-old age mark, and children develop the skill quickly.

This quiz explores key concepts in motivation and emotion, examining internal and external factors that drive behavior. Topics include drive theories, incentive theories, and evolutionary influences on motivation, specifically concerning biological factors like hunger. Test your understanding of these psychological principles and their implications!