Psychology

Dr. Inleusa Basengkham

Freelance Educational Consultant
Translator and interpreter
Transgender Advocate
 Emotion
& Motivation
 Discussion
What drives you to want to learn about
psychology?
Why did you choose your career?
Your partner? Where you would live?
Are your drives different from other people or do
we all share the same goals in life?
Emotion
"An emotion is a complex psychological state that
involves three distinct components: a subjective
experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or
expressive response.“ (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2007)
Emotion (Cont)
• 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.
The Subjective Experience:
• While experts believe that there are a number of basic universal emotions that are experienced by
people all over the world regardless of background or culture, researchers also believe that
experiencing emotion can be highly subjective.
• 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.
• Plus, we don't always experience 'pure' forms of each emotion. Mixed emotions over different events
or situations in our lives are common. 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 Physiological Response:
• If you've ever felt your stomach lurch from anxiety or your heart palpate with fear, then you
realize that emotions also cause strong physiological reactions. Many of the physical reactions you
experience during an emotion such as sweating palms, racing heartbeat, or rapid breathing are
controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous system.
• 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.
• While early studies of the physiology of emotion tended to focus on these autonomic responses,
more recent research has targeted the brain's role in emotions. Brain scans have shown that the
amygdala, part of the limbic system, plays an important role in emotion and fear in particular. 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.
The Behavioural Response:
• The final component is perhaps one that you are most familiar with – the actual expression of emotion.
We spend a significant amount of time interpreting the emotional expressions of the people around us.
Our ability to accurately understand these expressions is tied to what psychologists call emotional
intelligence and these expressions play a major part in our overall body language. 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 the
authority figure is present.
Motivation
Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides,
and maintains goal-oriented behaviours. Motivation is
what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of
water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain
knowledge.
A Closer Look at Motivation
Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behaviour. In
everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something.
For example, you might say that a student is so motivated to get into a clinical psychology program that
she spends every night studying.
"The term motivation refers to factors that activate, direct, and sustain goal-directed behaviour...
Motives are the "whys" of behaviour - the needs or wants that drive behaviour and explain what we do.
We don't actually observe a motive; rather, we infer that one exists based on the behaviour we observe.
(Nevid, 2013).
So what exactly lies behind the motivations for why we act? Psychologists have proposed different
theories of motivation, including drive theory, instinct theory, and humanistic theory. The reality is that
there are many different forces that guide and direct our motivations.
Components of Motivation
Anyone who has ever had a goal (like wanting to lose ten pounds or wanting to run a
marathon) probably immediately realizes that simply having the desire to accomplish
something is not enough.
Achieving such a goal requires the ability to persist through obstacles and endurance
to keep going in spite of difficulties.
There are three major components to motivation: activation, persistence, and intensity.
The components to motivation

There are three major components to

motivation:
Activation / Persistence and Intensity.
Activation, Persistence and Intensity
Activation involves the decision to initiate a behaviour, such as enrolling in a psychology
class.
Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may exist. An
example of persistence would be taking more psychology courses in order to earn a degree
although it requires a significant investment of time, energy, and resources.
Intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigour that goes into pursuing a goal. For
example, one student might coast by without much effort, while another student will study
regularly, participate in discussions and take advantage of research opportunities outside of
class. The first student lacks intensity, while the second pursues his educational goals with
greater intensity.
Theories of Motivation
• So what are the things that actually motivate us to act? Psychologists
have proposed different theories to explain motivation: Instinct;
Drives and Needs; and Arousal.
Instincts:
The instinct theory of motivation suggests that behaviours are motivated
by instincts. An instinct is a fixed and inborn pattern of behaviour.
Psychologists including William James, Sigmund Freud, and William
McDougal have proposed a number of basic human drives that motivate
behaviour. Such instincts might include biological instincts that are
important for an organisms survival such as fear, cleanliness and love.
Drives and Needs:
Many of our behaviours such as eating, drinking and sleeping are
motivated by biology. We have a biological need for food, water, and
sleep, therefore, we are motivated to eat, drink and sleep. Drive theory
suggests that people have basic biological drives and that our behaviours
are motivated by the need to fulfil these drives.
Arousal Levels:
• The arousal theory of motivation suggests that people are motivated to
engage in behaviours that help them maintain their optimal level of
arousal. A person with low arousal needs might pursue relaxing activities
while those with high arousal needs might be motivated to engage in
exciting, thrill-seeking behaviours.