I. DEFINITIONS

1. Motivation - Internal processes that serve to activate, guide, and maintain our behavior. In laymen terms you could say it is how much you want to do something.

2. Emotion - These are complex reactions we have and consist of (1) physiological component (BP, HR, etc.), (2) subjective cognitive state (joy, anger, etc.), and (3) expressive reactions (facial expressions, posture, etc.).

3. Related Concepts - Emotions and MOTIVATION are closely related. For example, if your girlfriend or boyfriend just broke up with you, you may feel depressed. Your motivation to do your homework may therefore be decreased.


II. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION


1. Instinct Theory - This is the most basic theory that proposes that we are motivated to act in certain ways because we are born with an innate predisposition to act that way. We are aggressive because we are born with an aggressive instinct. An instinct is believed universal in a species. Not everyone is aggressive however. That is a flaw in this theory.

2. Drive Theory - Drive theory is somewhat similar to instinct theory in that it believes there are innate drives to satisfy basic biological needs. When a need is not met it creates an unpleasant state of arousal which we are motivated to decrease. To decrease this state you act in a way to fulfill the need. This too has flaws. For example, how do you explain dieting or eating disorders which leads only to an increase in a basic drive (hunger)?

3. Arousal Theory - This theory proposes that we seek to obtain a level of arousal that is optimal for us in any given situation. Usually this is some moderate level of arousal, you don't want to be too relaxed or too excited.


4. Expectancy Theory - This is based on your cognitive concept of expectancy, your belief that your behavior will yield a certain outcome. When your expectation is for success or something pleasurable, your motivation is high. When the expectation is for failure or something unpleasurable, motivation decreases. For example, say you were considering asking someone for a date. If you expect them to say yes, your motivation to ask them would be high. If you expect them to say no, your motivation would be low.

5. Maslow's Need Hierarchy - This theory is popular, especially in business. He proposes that individuals have needs that exist in a hierarchy and you are not motivated to satisfy higher level needs unless your lower level needs have been satisfied. At the base of the hierarchy are physiological needs (food, water, oxygen, sleep). Next comes safety needs, our need for feeling safe and secure. Then comes social needs which is our need to be loved and accepted. These three needs are referred to as deficiency needs because these are basic to everyone and you can't think about personal growth unless these needs are met. the higher level growth needs are esteem needs, the need to develop self-respect and success; and self-actualization needs, which involves self-fulfillment and being all you can be. He believed that only exceptional people like Gandhi and martin Luther King ever reach this top level.


III. HUNGER

1. Hunger Motivation - For most people, hunger is a potent motivator. If you are hungry, you will be highly motivated to get food. While not always the case in our modern society, it has been studied heavily.

2. How Do We Know We Are Hungry? - Our body needs nourishment in order to survive. We have certain receptor in our body that signal to us if we need nourishment or are full. Unfortunately it is much more complex than simple biology. There are many behavioral and cultural cues that may make us eat even when our body tells us we are not hungry.

3. Regulation of Body Weight - Some people seem to be able to eat anything and never gain an ounce and others look at food and gain weight. Why? One explanation is basal metabolic rate. Some people require more calories to maintain than weight than others. It is not that simple, however. Our culture rewards thinness so there are strong external cues not to eat too much. Stress also can influence eating, it reduces stress in some people. People may also be conditioned to other external cues such as time. Some research has shown that obese people are more controlled by external cues such as time of day or the presence of eating cues than others. I never met a donut I didn't like.

4. Eating Disorders - Anorexia and bulimia have become major problems, especially among females, in our society. Anorexia is an extreme fear of being overweight characterized by a refusal to eat even enough to stay healthy and a distortion of body image. 95% of anorexics are female and 1 in 250 girls 12 to 18 have this disorder. Bulimia is repetitive binging and purging. It is more common with 5% of women having some history of it.


IV. SEXUAL MOTIVATION

1. Potent Motivator - There is no question that sex is a very potent motivator. Everywhere you look you see sex being advertised from clothes, to food, to liquor, to cigarettes.

2. Hormones - Especially in lower animals, hormones play a large role in sexual behavior. Without hormones, many animals show no interest in sex. They play a role in human sexual arousal also but cognitive factors also play a very important role.


3. Human Sexual Response - Sexual response can be divided into four phases. The Excitement Phase consists of physiological changes. The heart beats faster, respiration increases, and blood flows to the genitals which results in the penis becoming erect or swelling in the clitoris and vaginal lubrication. If sexual stimulation continues you enter the Plateau Phase. The penis becomes even more erect, the entrance to the vagina contracts and BP and HR continue to rise. After continues stimulation the Orgasm (Organismic Phase) occurs. This consists of contraction of muscles around the genitals and a feeling of pleasure. This is when the male ejaculates. Up to this point males and females react fairly similarly. Genders differ in the Resolution Phase however. Males show a reduction in sexual and physiological arousal and they enter a refractory period when then are unable to have another orgasm. Females, however, can experience continued orgasms if stimulation continues.

4. Cultural Factors - While this is the general pattern of physiological response there is a great deal of variability in responding and in the pleasure of the response due to cultural factors. for example, if you are brought up to believe sex is bad you probably will not be as easily stimulated and the sex act may not be as pleasurable.

5. Sexual Orientation - Sexual orientation is your preference for sexual relations with the opposite sex, your own sex, or both. About 4% of males and 2-3 % of females are exclusively homosexual. Another 2-3% of each sex consider themselves bisexual. Homosexuality and Bisexuality have been present in all cultures throughout history, however, the origin of homosexuality is still not clear. There is no clear evidence that homosexuality is a choice however. It has nothing to do with a dominant mother and a weak father and there is no evidence to support environmental factors. There is incomplete support for a biological basis but this is still inconclusive.


V. THEORIES OF EMOTION

1. Cannon-Bard and James-Lange Theories - These are similar theories. The Cannon-Bard Theory proposes that emotion provoking events simultaneously produce subjective reactions (emotions) and physiological arousal. The James-Lange Theory proposes that first you have the emotion producing event, then you experience a physiological reaction, and then you label this reaction with your subjective feeling of emotion.

2. Schachter & Singer's Two-Factor Theory - Emotion producing events cause internal arousal, we then attend to the external environment to help us label our arousal, based on our interpretation of the stimuli in our environment we label our arousal which determines the emotion we perceive. it is called two-factor because it includes a physiological and cognitive factor. Example, did you ever see a child fall and then look around to see if they should cry. If the mother shows concern they cry, if the mother doesn't appear concerned they get up and start running again.


VI. OUTWARD SIGNS OF EMOTION

1. Nonverbal Cues - In order to have greater control over our world we read into the behavior of others what emotions they are experiencing. It helps us decide how we should respond to them. We do this by reading various nonverbal cues that they give us.

2. Facial Expressions - Emotions are often expressed by facial expression and how another person looks facially gives us an understanding of how they are feeling. There are six basic emotions registered by the face: happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, and disgust. Facial expressions appear to be fairly universal, being similar in all cultures.

3. Eye Contact - We place a great deal of importance to eye contact. If someone doesn't make eye contact with you when talking with you it could be a sign of shyness, that they are not interested, or even deception. In any case, we generally have a negative reaction to people who fail to make eye contact.

4. Body Language - Body posture and movement of body parts can frequently give us cues to the emotion the other person is experiencing. Fidgeting a lot is usually a sign of anxiety. Closing your arms across your chest could be a sign of defensiveness. Leaning forward with open arms could be a sign of openness.