Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Motivation and Emotion

"What is my motivation?"

More like

"What caused my behavior?"

Or

"Why did I act that way?"


Motivation

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior


Instinct Theory

Theorizes that we are motivated by our inborn automated behaviors


Drive Reduction Theory

The idea that a psychological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy a need and maintain homeostasis

We are
                                                              Pushed by our needs 
                                                               Pulled by incentives

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow said that we are motivated by needs and all needs are not created Equal. We are driven to satisfy the lower needs 


Or I guess in this day and age, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 2.0


JUST KIDDING.



Hunger

The psychological and physiological need to consume in order to prevent discomfort derived from the Hypothalamus

Hypothalamus

Lateral Hypothalamus

When stimulated, causes hunger


Ventromedial Hypothalamus

When stimulated, signals fullness


Leptin

  • is a protien produced by bloated fat cells
  • Hypothalamus senses rises in leptin and  will curb eating and increase activity

Set point

  • The hypothalamus acts like a thermostat
  • We are meant to be in a certain weight range
  • When we fall below weight, our body increases hunger and decreases energy expenditure 

Body Chemistry

Glucose

  • The hormone insulin converts glucose into fat if not used as energy
  • When Glucose levels drop, hunger rises

Psychology of Hunger

External 

People whose eating is triggered more by the presence of food than internal factors

  • Food tastes better, we chew less when hungry
  • Food tastes worse, we chew more (at the end of the meal)

Bulimia Nervosa

  • Characterized by Binging large amounts of food and purging

Anorexia Nervosa

  • Starve themselves to below 85% of their normal body weight
  • See themselves as fat
  • Mostly women

Achievement Motivation


Intrinsic motivation

Rewards we get internally, such as enjoyment or satisfaction

Extrinsic Motivation

Rewards that we get for accomplishments from outside ourselves 


Management Theory


Theory X

  • Manager believes that employees will work only when rewarded with benefits or threatened with punishment
  • Think employees are extrinsically motivated
  • Only interested in Maslow's lower needs

Theory Y

  • Managers believe that employees are internally motivated to do good work and policies should encourage through internal motive
  • Interested in Maslow's higher needs


Emotion

  • We feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress 
  • The body changes and recognizes the feeling

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

  • Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion arousing stimuli 
                        


Cannon Bard Theory of Emotion

  • Emotion-arousing stimuli  simultaneously trigger:
  • physiological responses
  • subjective experience of emotion  



Schachter's 2-factor Theory

  • To experience emotion, one must:
Be physically aroused
Cognitively label the arousal



Lie Detectors

Polygraphs are commonly used in attempts to detect lies
  • Measures several of the Physiological responses accompanying emotion
Perspiration
Cardiovascular responses
Breathing changes


Catharsis

Releasing aggressive energy through action or fantasy that relieves aggressive urges


Feel good - Do good phenomenon

  • People's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

Adaptation-level Phenomenon

  • Tendency to form judgments relative to a neutral level

Relative Deprivation

  • Perception that one is worse off than these whom one compares oneself




Social Relations

How do we relate to one another? Social relations focuses on six main contributors to how we interact and connect with one another.



PREJUDICE

  • An unjustifiable attitude towards a group of people
  • Usually involves stereotypical believes

Social inequalities

  • Ingroup- People with whom one shares a common identity
  • Outgroup-  People perceived as different from one's ingroup
  • Ingroup Bias-  Tendency to favor one's own group


Scapegoat Theory

Prejudice that provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame




AGGRESSION

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy


Frustration Aggression principle

  • Blocking of an attempt to achieve a goal, which creates anger which generates aggression
  • Goals can be sports/work/relationship oriented

CONFLICT

Perceived incompatibility of  actions, goals, and ideas

Social Traps

Parties of a situation may become caught in a mutually harmful decision as they pursue their own desires


Just-world Phenomenon

The belief that those who suffer deserve what they get



Reciprocity Norm

The expectation that people will help those that have helped them

\

Social  Responsibility

The expectation that people will help those that rely on them



ATTRACTION

Are contributed to by 5 factors

  1. proximity
  • Geographic Nearness
  • Mere exposure effectRepeated exposure breeds liking
  • Mirror Image Concept
"You too totally belong together"


2. Reciprocal Liking

You are more likely  to like someone who likes you back

3. Similarity

Birds of a feather flock together

4. Physical attractiveness

Physically attractiveness predicts dating frequencies.



5. Love

Passionate Love:

Arousal state; Physical need

Compassionate Love:

Deep affectionate love composed of:

Equity (Fairness) & Self- Disclosure (No Secrets)





ALTRUISM

Unselfish regard for others welfare

Bystander Effect

The effect that people are less willing to help others if there are more people present


Social Exchange Theory

The idea that our social behavior is an exchange process, in which me maximize our benefits and minimize the costs




PEACEMAKING

  • Compromise at its finest
  • Works towards Win/Win situations
  • Give people shared goals that can be achieved through cooperation

G.R.I.T

Graduated &
Reciprocated
Initiatives in
Tension Reduction















Social Influence

Social influence focuses on how an individual is affected by other people
According to research, Behavior is contagious. We unknowingly mimics others postures, expressions, and random nuances that we observe on a daily basis.

                                

Conformity

Is the act of adjusting ones behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.



Conformity increases in conditions of: 

  • feelings of incompetence and insecurity
  • Unanimous groups made up of  > 3 People 
  • Admiration for the group's status and attractiveness
  • No prior engagements or commitments made
  • Observers present
  • Respect for social standards/norms

Reasons for conforming:

Normative Social Influence

Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disappointment

Informational Social Influence

Influence resulting from one's willingness to accept other's opinions about reality


Obedience

Social facilitation

Improved performance of tasks in the presence of others

Social Loafing

Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling efforts toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable


Deindividualization


Loss of self awareness and self restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity


Group Polarization

The concept that a group's attitude is one of extremes and rarely moderate


Group Think

Mode of thinking that occurs when the desire of harmony in making of a decision in a group overrides common sense

Self Fulfilling Prophecy





Social Psychology

The study of how we think about, influence, and relate to another


How do we think about one another?

         
We are social beings 
who thrive on social interaction, and our will to love, or hate drastically; which is why, despite others objections, we really truly care what others think of us.

Attribution theory

The idea that we give a casual explanation for someone's behavior

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Attitudes

A  belief or feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to something



Foot in Door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request, to comply later to a larger request


Door in Face Phenomenon

The tendency for people who say no to a huge request to comply with a smaller one first.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The theory that we do not like when we have either conflicting attitudes, or when our attitudes do not match our actions


Research Methods

There is a wide range of Psychological research methods used in our every day life. These methods are varied by the way that the information is processed, viewed, extracted, and presented. Psychological research effects our lives in many different ways; from how parents discipline their children, to how our government is run; information accumulated from this research is very important in the development of our society.


Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that you knew it all along


Overconfidence

We tend to think we know more than we do

The Barnum Effect

The tendency for people to accept general or vague characterizations of themselves and take them to be accurate

TYPES OF RESEARCH:

Applied research

  • Clear practical applications
  • you can use it

Basic Research

  • Explores questions that you may be curious about, but not intended to be used immediately

Experimental research

  • Explores cause and effect
  • Operational Definitions: 
  • How will the variables  be measured in " Real Life " terms?
    Explaining what we mean in our hypothesis


in an experimental study, you may have components such as


  • Experimental Groups - Group in which the treatment of an experiment is exposed to its participants


  • Control Groups- Group used as comparison for evaluation the effect of the treatment

  • Dependent Variables-  Aspect that is being measured in an experiment

  • Independent Variable- Whatever is being studied can be manipulated
  • Hypothesis- Expresses a relationship between two variable



Single Blind Study

  • Subjects are unaware if assigned to experimental or control group

Double Blind Study

  • Neither subjects, nor experimenters know which group is controlled or experimental

Survey

  • An experimental method of research in which questions are asked to a group of subjects and in which the researcher has to take careful measures to make sure that the information is not skewed or biased.

Naturalistic observation

  • Researchers observe subject in their natural habitat



Cross sectional Study

  • A cross section of a population is tested

Longitudinal study

  • A group of subjects is studied over a long period of time

Case study

  • An in-depth analysis of a single person



Statistically speaking....

Descriptive Statistics

  • Describes results of research

Inferential statistics

  • Used to make an inference or draw conclusion beyond the raw data

Central Tendency

Where does the center of the data tend to be?

Mode

The most frequently occurring score in a distribution

Mean

The average of scores

Median

Middle score

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest scores

Standard Deviation

How much the scores vary around the mean
  • High Deviation: Data is spread out
  • Low Deviation: Data is clustered