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Motivation and Emotion

Chapter 9

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Motivation and Emotion

Motivational Concepts Drive-Reduction Theory

Arousal Theory

A Hierarchy of Needs

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Motivation and Emotion

Hunger The Physiology of Hunger

The Psychology of Hunger

Obesity and Weight Control

The Need to Belong The Benefits of Belonging

The Pain of Being Shut Out

Social Networking

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Motivation and Emotion

Theories of Emotion

Embodied Emotion Emotions and The Autonomic

Nervous System

The Physiology of Emotions

Cognition and Emotion

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Motivation• Motivation describes a

need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

• Aron Ralston was motivated by survival needs when he cut his arm off to free himself– Basis of the film 127 Hours

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Key Perspectives on Motivation

• Drive-reduction theory

• Arousal theory

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

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Pushed by Drives, Pulled by Incentives

• Drive-reduction theory: We have an inner drive to meet physiological needs such as hunger or thirst; unsatisfied needs lead to an aroused state, which becomes feeling of motivation to reduce the craving/drive

• We are also pulled by incentives, positive or negative stimuli that motivate behavior– What works as incentive depends on our individual

learning history

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Arousal Theory

• Some motivated behaviors increase arousal– Well-fed animals will leave shelter to explore– Related to curiosity– Motivates explorers and adventurers– Those who enjoy high arousal most likely to enjoy

intense music, novel foods, and risky behaviors

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Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Some needs are more important than others. Basic needs must be satisfied first

• Exceptions: Some people deny basic needs for self-transcendent reasons (hunger strike)

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Specific Motivations

• Basic level: Hunger

• Higher level: The need to belong

• In the case of both drives/motives watch for ways that psychological incentives (“pull”) interact with physiological needs (“push”)

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Hunger: A Basic Need

• Men started conserving energy, weight stabilized at 75% of initial weight

• They became food-obsessed: talked food, daydreamed food

• With this basic need unmet, they lost interest in sex and social activities: “Nobody wants to kiss when they are hungry.”

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Physiology of Hunger• The ‘pang’ of hunger is a stomach contraction,

sending a message heard by the brain as “time to eat!”

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Hunger without Pangs

• Researchers removed the stomachs from rats (new path directly to small intestines)

• Rats continued to eat

Stomach contraction pangs are not the only source of hunger

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Body Chemistry and the Brain

• If levels of blood glucose drops, a message is sent to the brain from the stomach, intestines, and liver to trigger hunger

• The hypothalamus: – Activity in the lateral hypothalamus brings on

hunger and eating behavior– Activity in the ventromedial hypothalaus

depresses hunger – stops eating behavior

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Hunger and the Hypothalamus

• Destruction of the ventromedial hypothalamus disables an animal’s ability to stop feeling hungry

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Appetite Hormones

• Ghrelin: secreted by empty stomach; signals “I’m hungry”

• Insulin: secreted by pancreas; controls blood glucose

• Leptin: protein secreted by fat cells; increases metabolism and decreases hunger

• Orexin: secreted by hypothalamus; triggers hunger

• PYY: used in digestive tract; signals “I’m not hungry”

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Weight, Intake, and Metaboliam

• Body has a “weight thermostat”• Animals tend to hover around set point – a

stable weight influenced in part by heredity– May not be totally fixed, depends on caloric intake

and other lifestyle factors

• We vary in our basal metabolic rate, the resting rate of energy output– Metabolic rate drops from decreased food intake

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The Psychology of Hunger

• Psychology influences eating behavior

• Memory of the last meal eaten– Patients without ability to form new memories

ate three lunches 20 minutes apart, unaware they had already eaten

• Environmental stimuli matter– We eat more when given larger containers,

bigger servings, and more variety

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Taste Preference:Biology or Culture

• Preferences for sweet and salty tastes are universal and genetic

• Other taste preferences are influenced by culture and experience

• Survival/adaptive strategy: we avoid certain foods if they are unfamiliar or if we got sick after eating them

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More Adaptive Taste Preferences• It may be adaptive to learn to prefer some

tastes • In hot climates, recipes often use spices that

inhibit the growth of bacteria• Food dislikes (and nausea) peak at 10th

week of pregnancy, when developing embryo is most vulnerable to toxins

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Obesity and Weight Control• We evolved to deal with periods of scarce food:

we eat fats and sugar, and store this as fat, and slow down metabolism (harder to lose weight).

• In the USA, 34% of all adults are obese

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Obesity• U.S. guidelines

encouage BMI < 25• WHO defines obesity

as BMI > 30

*703meters)in (Height

poundsin Weight BMI

2

2meters)in (Height

kgin Weight BMI

*(conversion factor, for inches, kg, meter, etc)

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Social Stigma of Obesity

• Obese people may be stereotyped as slow, lazy, and sloppy

• Wider people are rated as looking less sincere, less friendly, meaner, and more obnoxious

• Women who are obese make an average of $7000 less per year than equally qualified non-obese women

• Weight discrimination is found at every stage of the employment cycle

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The Losing Battle: Why Starvation Diets Backfire

Study: Severely restricting calories starting on day 8 causes some weight loss but metabolism slows down starting day 9, which limits the weight loss

• Sluggish metabolism – our bodies are designed to survive periods of famine

• Explosion of fat cells – fat takes fewer calories to maintain than other tissue, and can shrink and swell, but rarely disappear

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The Losing Battle

The effects of a severe diet on obese patients

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The Losing Battle

• A genetic handicap: obesity is partially heritable. Identical twins are more similar in weight than fraternal twins, even if reared apart

• Environmental influences: the developing world promotes sedentary lifestyles with wide availability of high-fat foods

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Environmental Influences• Too little activity: Watching TV, traveling

by car.

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More Environmental Influences

• Too much unhealthy food

• Sleep loss – people who skimp on sleep are more vulnerable to obesity

• Social influence – people are more likely to become obese when a friend becomes obese

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Next Area of Basic Drives: The Need to Belong

• Aristotle called humans the social animal

• The need to belong seems to be a basic human motivation

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The Benefits of Belonging

• Social bonds boosted our ancestors’ chances of survival– Kept children close to caregivers– Cooperation helped in finding food, defending

territory

• Those who felt a need to belong survived and reproduced most successfully, and their genes are present in us

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Belonging and self-esteem

A feeling of belonging increases our self-esteem – how value and accepted we feel

When balanced by a sense of personal control (autonomy) and competence, self esteem supports a feeling of well-being.

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When Belonging is Missing…

• People suffer when relationships end, even bad relationships

• Children who grow up in institutions without a sense of belonging may become withdrawn, frightened, and even speechless

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The Pain of Being Shut Out

• Social exclusion threatens one’s need to belong• Can be used as punishment• Some may react violently

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The Pain of Being Shut Out

• In some experiments participants were told that they weren’t wanted, or were likely to “end up alone”– More likely to engage in self-defeating behaviors– Underperformed on aptitude tests– More likely to act mean or aggressively

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Social Networking

Conclusion of a lifelong study of college graduates: “The only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.”

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Mobile Networks and Social Media

• There have been many changes to how we connect with each other

• Texting and email – displacing phone talking– In 2009, 90% of teen cell-phone users text, with

females sending more texts

• Social networking sites– As of 2009, 75% of online teens and under-30 adults

use sites like Facebook, and the numbers are growing in all age groups.

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Social Effects of Social Networking

• Social networkers are less likely to know their real-world neighbors

• But, social networking is mostly strengthening our connections with people we already know

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Social Effects of Social Networking

• Self-Disclosure– Confiding in others can be healthy.

• Online, we are less inhibited. – Which usually serves to deepen friendships

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Issues with Social Networking

• Narcissism: as seen online– People who like to be the center of attention

collect more superficial “friends” and post more glamorous pictures.

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Maintaining Balance and Focus

• Monitor your time – Does my time use reflect my priorities?

• Monitor your feelings – When I get up from my computer, how do I feel?

• Try using social networking time as a reward for getting something done

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Motivation and Emotion

Theories of Emotion

Embodied Emotion Emotions and The Autonomic

Nervous System

The Physiology of Emotions

Cognition and Emotion

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Expressed Emotion Detecting Emotion in Others

Culture and Emotional Expression

The Effects of Facial Expressions

Experienced Emotion Anger

Happiness

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EmotionMotivated behavior is often connected to powerful emotions, which are mix of– Bodily arousal– Expressive behaviors– Conscious experience

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Two Major Questions

1. Does bodily arousal come before or after emotional feelings?

2. How do thinking and feeling interact? Does cognition always come before emotion?

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Arousal Comes Before Emotion• James-Lange theory

– suggests that emotional experience is our awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Even facial expressions and body positions come first: we smile, then feel happy. “We feel sorry because we cry… afraid because we tremble” (James, 1890).

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Arousal and Emotion Happen at the Same Time

• Cannon-Bard theory – emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger

• (1) physiological responses and • (2) the subjective experience of emotion

• In this view: During a frightening event, your heart pounds – while your mind experiences the emotion of fear

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Two-Factor Theory

• We do more than read our body’s responses – we interpret them

• Schacter and Singer proposed two-factor theory – to experience emotion we must be both (1) physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

• Anger, agitation, fear, and love all involve a state of arousal, but we label them differently depending on what’s going on

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Theories of Emotion

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Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

• In a crisis, the ANS mobilizes your body for action• When the crisis passes, the ANS gradually calms the

body

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Sensitivity to Threats

• The “low road” amygdala response may be too fast to consciously perceive

• When the eyes at right were presented too briefly to be noticed, the amygdala was still activated by the stimulus, but only for the fearful-looking eyes

fearful happy

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Amygdala and Emotion

• Amygdala sends more neural projections to the cortex than it receives

• This means the amygdala, after responding quickly to threat, may still prompt the cortex for feedback

• Lazarus (1998): Emotions arise when our minds unconsciously appraise a situation as harmless or dangerous

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Detecting Emotion in Others• We all communicate without words:

glances, stares, loving gazes; most of us can also read feelings in the eyes

• Women are more skilled than men at detecting emotional cues,– One study: women were better

detecting whether two people are a romantic couple

– Another: Women were better and guessing what an upset person was talking about

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Detecting Emotion in Others• Women are generally seen as more expressive of most

emotions than men

• Anger, however, is perceived as a more masculine emotion

What gender is this person?

Angry face was more often perceived as male than smiling face

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Empathy and Expression: A Gender Gap?

• Study: Women showed more outward expressions of empathetic responses (crying, shock, concern, happy) than men when watching videos of others.

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Culture and Emotional Expression

• The meaning of gestures varies with culture

• What about facial expressions?

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Culture and Emotional Expression

• Different cultures tend to categorize emotions, and facial expressions thereof, in similar ways

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The Evolution of Facial Expressions

• Darwin wrote The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals in 1872

• He suggested that in prehistoric times, preverbal man communicated threats, greetings, and submission with facial expressions

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The Effects of Facial Expressions

• Facial feedback effect – facial muscle states tend to trigger corresponding feelings (e.g., fear, anger, happiness)

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The Effects of Facial Expressions

• There is also a behavior feedback effect – Walk with short, shuffling steps, eyes

downcast bad mood– Walk with long strides, arms swinging,

eyes straight ahead good mood

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Ten Basic Emotions(Izard, 1977)

1. Joy

2. Interest-excitement

3. Surprise

4. Sadness

5. Anger

6. Disgust

7. Contempt

8. Fear

9. Shame

10.Guilt

Most are present in infancy

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Anger

• Most people become at least mildly angry several times a week or more

• Teen responses to dealing with anger– Boys tend to walk away– Girls tend to talk to a friend

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Anger Can Be Harmful

• Can fuel regrettable physical or verbal abuse

• Can prime prejudice– More intolerance for immigrants and Muslims

post-9/11

• Chronic anger linked to heart disease

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What to Do About Anger

• Some believe by “venting” our angry feelings, we can calm down through catharsis

• More often, expressing anger can magnify the anger (behavior feedback)– People who had been provoked could hit a

punching back while thinking of their provoker– Later, they were more aggressive when given

the chance for revenge

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Feeling and Expressing Anger

• expressing anger can sometimes be constructive– Can communicate strength and confidence

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Anger and Forgiveness• What do you do if someone has hurt you

and your anger gives you no help in making things right?

• Your only option for peace of mind might be to let it go– Forgiveness: NOT saying that “it’s okay”;

instead, saying that it’s over with.– Study: rehearsing forgiveness led to a calmer

body than rehearsing grudges

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Happiness

• College students’ happiness is a predictor– Women who smiled in 1950s yearbook photos were

more likely to be happily married in middle age– Students who were happier in 1976 made more

money than their unhappy peers 20 years later

• Feel-good, do-good phenomenon – we tend to more helpful toward others when we are in a good mood

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Happiness

• Part of happiness research involves the study of well-being – our self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life.

• This is used along with measures of objective well-being (e.g., physical and economic indicators) to evaluate quality of life

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Emotional Ups and Downs

• Emotional ups and downs tend to even out, both in the long run and even over the course of a day

• Humans are resilient – even those who experience tragedy are usually not permanently depressed

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Wealth and Well-Being

• In most countries, especially poor ones, those with lots of money tend to be happier than those struggling to afford basic needs

• People in rich countries are more satisfied and somewhat happier than those in poor countries

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Wealth and Well-Being• First Year College Students, since the 60’s, have

increasingly viewed wealth as more important than a meaningful life philosophy

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Wealth and Well-Being

• Once one has enough money for comfort and security, piling up more and more does not increase happiness

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Why Can’t Money Buy Happiness?

• My happiness is relative to my own experience. – The adaptation-level phenomenon is our tendency

to form judgments relative to past experiences

• My happiness is relative to your success– We may experience relative deprivation – the

perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

• To counteract this: thinking about those worse off can reduce our discontent

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Predictors of Happiness

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Predictors of Happiness

• Genes matter – identical twins raised apart are often similarly

happy