Motivation and Emotion 1

Tiffany Manning University of New England

Subject: Assignment: Student Number: Submitted: Word Count:

Motivation and Emotion Emotion Diary and Analysis 220048853 Sunday 12th June, 2011 ( extension granted) 1500 + references

Motivation and Emotion 2

Anticipation Rushing to a pin board in the psychology building to see my exam results, I was filled with anticipation. My heart was beating faster, I caught myself smiling nervously and I was giggling a little. Not certain if I would be pleased or disappointed, there was a mix of dread, hope and urgency. My self talk voice rationalised my potential results either way, attempting to calm these sudden childish responses. Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions in 1980 which consisted of 8 basic emotions, which he theorized was an adaption to biological processes, and a behavior common to all living organisms. Whilst he took a biological approach to the study of emotions, believing that each emotion developed to serve a separate evolutionary function (Reeve 2006; Plutchik, 1980). Ekman holds that emotions have evolved for a particular function, such as to keep the subject safe (Ekman & Rosenberg, 2005). The biological account of emotional response does not, however, incorporate the complexity of a body/mind connection (Dytchwald, 1986). Reece (2006, p.332) describes the James Lange theory, which posits that emotional experience is largely due to the experience of bodily changes. This raises a fundamental issue, as to whether physiological arousal causes, or just follows, emotional activation . It is argued that a physical theory can be considered as biologically plausible only if it incorporates the ability to describe systems which exhibit anticipatory behaviours. In this case, a university notice board is hardly a biological threat, and it is purely the weight and meaning I have placed on a simple set of numbers that is causing my heart to race. Reeves (2006, p.344) explains that appraisal theory is an interrelated construct. One, without an antecedent cognitive appraisal of the event, emotion does not occur and, two, the appraisal, not the event itself causes the emotion. In this case, it would appear, appraisal theory can best explain the cascade of emotions in my experience of anticipation. the

Motivation and Emotion 3 Empathy This emotion was experienced after receiving a phone call from my mother, telling me her treasured pet had passed away. Her distressed voice affected me, and hearing her begin to cry motivated me to cry as well. Empathy relates to listening to, and hearing the messages another is sending. Truly understanding and being willing to adopt another s experienced perspective. Empathy occurs as one person enters the private perceptual world of the other person. Carl Rodgers described Interpersonal acceptance and trust from the other as unconditional positive regard (Reeve , p.436). In cleaving apart the emotion of empathy from general care, there is a motivation or desire to feel and understand what another person is experiencing. Reeve (2006, p.359) describes this desire to care and share stems from the motivation to build and maintain the relationships that are central to our lives. Looking at various studies, Reeve (2006) describes another possibility, which is Emotional contagion. Here, there are observable mechanisms that listeners employ to engage with the teller, enabling them to fully share a recalling of events. Empathetic sharing strengthens intimate bonds between people, providing richer connection from which to reference one another. Bolton (1986) suggests by matching tone, gestures and posture it is possible to deliberately create empathy in a discussion. The explanation of emotional contagion potentially pre-empts the neuropsychological account of empathy; mirror neurons, a new class of motor neuron which has recently been discovered in monkeys premotor cortex. These neurons respond both when a particular action is performed by a recorded monkey and when the same action, performed by another individual, is observed. Experimental evidence suggests that a similar matching system also exists in humans. A possible function is to enable an organism to detect certain mental states and enable empathy to occur. Regardless of it being a hardwired affect, or an innate desire to effect another, I was instinctually motivated to empathise when a loved one was in distress.

Motivation and Emotion 4 Grateful Having to move from one residential campus to another was a daunting task, with books, clothes and provisions for 10 days. A classmate assisted me to move across the university in their car. I felt deeply grateful. Kropotkin (2009) proposed that our motivation to assist another is an evolutionary motivation and we are innately cooperative creatures; with both cooperation and mutual aid being important factors in the evolution of the species, and our ability to survive. Attribution theory of emotions posits that an individual processes information after an outcome has happened; believing that when we are the responsible for an emotion it causes us to feel pride, if we believe a friend produced that emotion, it causes gratitude, Weiner (1986). The UC Davis Emmons Lab discovered gratitude was a relatively stable affective trait, by developing a scaled questionnaire (Emmons, McCulloch & Tsang 2003). In creating a distinction between mood and emotion, the team found positive affect is a mood which can last hours if not days (Reeve, p.323). That being the case, I may have felt pleased with an overall mood of gratutude. This concurs with Weiner s attribution theory , as a primary appraisal of the emotions would be happiness followed by an appraisal [gratitude] , with the positive outcome attributed to an external cause. In contrast Reciprocity theory refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action. According to Cialdini (1999), we are massively socialized to feel uncomfortable if someone has given us a gift, or has done us a favours that we have not returned. This feeling of indebtedness generally originates from one of three sources: favors, gifts, or concessions. My sense of reciprocity was motivated sufficiently to buy a bottle of wine and some chocolate to even out the favor. Interestingly, this flies in the face of Reeve (2006, p.164), who discusses communal exchange relationships, where people monitor and help one another, regardless of material gains. Drawing on Clarke and Mills, he suggests that close friends may find the offer of tangible goods as a thank-you uncomfortable and even offensive.

Motivation and Emotion 5 Tearfull Insomnia had caused several sleepless nights and the effects of sleep deprivation were beginning to show, in addition to the physiological symptoms of lack of energy, loss of appetite, shaking, lowered temperature, there were distinct psychological feelings. These were withdraw, and not wanting to participate in conversations or social gatherings, not wishing to engage in any eye contact and feeling generally disconnected.

Maslow s hierarchy of need s theory (Maslow , 1943), suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire, or be motivated to attain, secondary or higher level needs. Sleep loss leads to emotionally irrational behaviour and the tendency to dramatically overreact to negative experiences. Hyperactive emotional responses stems from a shutdown of the prefrontal lobe; a region that normally keeps emotions under control. Studies demonstrate that emotional centres of the brain are over 60% more reactive after sleep deprivation than in subjects who had obtained a normal night of sleep (Yoo et al., 2007). Sleep appears to restore our emotional brain circuits, and in doing so prepares us for the next day s challenges and social interactions (Yoo et al., 2007). Sleep deprivation fractures the brains mechanism which regulates key aspects of our mental health. Being unable to contextualise emotional experiences and produce appropriate, controlled responses demonstrates that sleep is not a luxury, it is a biological necessity.

According to drive theory, Hull (1943) proposed physiological deprivation and deficits such as sleep, create needs. If these remain unsatisfied the body demands attention by way of a psychological discomfort, such as restlessness or tension. Drive is the theoretical term that is used to describe the energy directed towards servicing the need. Sleep deprivation is a drive that incrementally demands more and more attention until it overshadows other strong motivators such as hunger, and the desire to relate to friends and spend time studying to achieve better grades.

Motivation and Emotion 6 Frustrated I was deeply frustrated at the end of some statistics lectures. I felt irritable, pressured and my thinking was getting dull. My internal self- talk moved from constructive statements such as do it to this is hopeless and I can

this unit is unfair . This suggests Discrepancy, where the present

state of affairs is a mismatch to the ideal state. The present state represents how the person wishes life was, with the ideal state representing how the person wishes life was. Reeve (2006) proposes it is the actual discrepancy, rather than the ideal state per- se, that contains the emotive properties. Discrepancies have the capacity to move in two directions; Maslow (1976) describes a distinction between deficiency needs which typically generate tension such as frustration and stress; and growth needs, which typically generate positive emotions, such as interest, enjoyment and vitality. Based on this framework, deficiency needs could be seen as motivation to avoid, and growth needs seen as motivation to approach. In this case, my motivation was low and I had become disheartened by repeated failures. It was becoming increasingly difficult to engage with the material being presented. This is supported by Atkinson s model; just as people have the need for achievement, they also have a motive to avoid failure. In his reasoning, he looks at the combined approach and avoidance tendencies which may have been at play here (Reeve 2009). This dilemma is a balance between the motivational force to seek out achievement situations [enrol at university, turn up to a residential school], and escape, be anxious or hesitant about failing in that forum. With no experiences of success in this area previously, my sense of self -efficacy (Bandura & Cervone,1983) deteriorated into helplessness. In Seligman s theory of learned helplessness (Maier & Seligman, 1976), he looks at the motivational, cognitive, and emotional effects of uncontrollability. He pioneered the concept that humans and animals begin to become helpless when their behaviour has no effect on the environment. In my case, I was simply not comprehending the information and giving up , as it seemed pointless .

Motivation and Emotion 7 References

Bandura, A. C. (1986). Differential engagement of self- reactive influences in cogitive motivation. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes 38 , 92-113. Bolton, R. (1986). People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts . Touchstone . Cialdini, R. W.D.D., (1999). Cialdini, R.B., Wosinska, W., Barrett, D.W., Butner, J. & Gornik -Durose, M. Compliance with a request in two cultures: The differential influence of social proof and commitment/consistency on collectivists and individualists. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25 , 1242-1253. Dawkins, R. ((2006).). The Selfish Gene (30th Anniversary edition).New York City: Oxford University Press. Dytchwald, K. (1986). BodyMind. Tarcher Putman. Ekman, P. R. (2005). What the face reveals. Oxford University Press. Emmons, R. A. (2003). The assessment of gratitude. Handbook of positive psychology assessment, pp. 327-341. Gallese, V. G. (1 December 1998,, December 1). Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mindreading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Volume 2, Issue 12, , pp. Pages 493-501. Hull, C. (1943). Principles of Behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Klein, M. (1946-1963). Envy And Gratiude: And other works. London, Vintage Press. Kropotkin, P. (2009). Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. London: Freedom Press. Maier, S. F. (1976, March). Learned helplessness: Theory and evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol 105 (1) , 3-46. Maslow, A. H. (1976). The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. London: Penguin. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review 50(4 , 370-96. . Plutchik, R. (1980). A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion , pp. 3-33. Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding Motivation and Emotion, 5th edition. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Rogers, C. (1961). On Becoming a Person . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Motivation and Emotion 8 Schmidt, L. C.M. (2009, July 29). Get Aroused and Be Stronger: Emotional Facilitation of Physical Effort in the Human Brain. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(30): 9450-9457 . Thayer, R. (1996). The Origin of Everyday Moods. Oxford: Oxfor University Press. Winer, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and wmotion. New York : Springer - Verlag. Yoo, S. J., & Ninad Gujar, P. H. (2007, Oct 23). The human emotional brain without sleep - a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Current Biology, Vol. 17, No. 20, , pp. R877-R878.