Basic Psychology Motivation and Emotion by the End of This Lesson

Motivation and Emotion

By the end of this lesson students will be able to:

• Define emotion in terms of internal and external factors. • Delineate the parts of the brain responsible for emotion regulation. • Summarize the James-Lange theory of emotion and contrast it with the Cannon-Bard theory. • Explain the two-factor theory of emotion and the influence of cognitive appraisal in the processing of emotional information. • Summarize emotion from an evolutionary perspective. • Define motivation and the various sources of motivation, including biological, psychological, and social motivations. • Summarize Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory. • Compare and contrast the four theories of motivation outlined in this lesson.

Emotions and motivation play a pivotal role in human behavior, and both have value and interest for the field of psychology. The purpose of this lesson is to define the term emotion and outline the various theories of emotion, all of which show how biology, cognition, and behavior interact to influence human feelings. This lesson also will define the term motivation and outline the many personal and social sources of motivation. Traditional theories of motivation will be highlighted with special attention given to a discussion of Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory, a hallmark topic in the area of motivation.

Emotion While psychologists study cognition, behaviors, and emotions, it is emotions that typically are associated with a psychologist’s job; therefore, an understanding of what emotions are and how they affect behavior are critical. So what are emotions? Emotions are feelings that arise from complex environmental, physiological, behavioral, and cognitive factors. Examples include sadness, happiness, anger, and contentment. Processes within each person as well as outside factors produce emotions. Psychologists therefore study internal and external manifestations of emotion.

The internal expression of emotions refers to processes within people that either cause emotional situations or are the result of emotional situations. When an emotion is felt, unseen cognitive and physiological factors are at work.

In terms of cognition, emotions often are associated with thoughts; Internal expression whether those thoughts occur before or after a motion is felt is a matter of of emotion theoretical perspective. Examples of cognitive thoughts include: “I’m having a great time!”; “Nothing good will ever happen to me!”; and “I’m so mad at her right now!” Distressing thoughts may trigger the body to release hormones and neurotransmitters to initiate a fight-or-flight response.

In terms of physiology, the central nervous system (i.e., the brain) and the autonomic nervous system (i.e., the sympathetic nervous system) play key roles in the interpretation of emotion- producing stimuli and the expression of the emotion itself. For example, the thalamus is responsible for receiving sensory information and transferring it to the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with emotion regulation. The amygdala communicates with the autonomic nervous system and triggers the release of emotion-related chemicals that prepare one to act on one’s emotions.

The external expression of emotion refers to behavioral manifestations of emotion. Examples include changes in vocal tone and inflection, acts of aggression, crying, laughing, and acts of love. Facial expressions are perhaps the most obvious external representations of emotion. Facial expressions are ubiquitous and cross-cultural; what appears as sadness to an American also appears as sadness to someone from Russia or Madagascar or the Philippines. Neurologists have identified neurological systems in the right hemisphere of the brain that control emotion-related, facial-expression variations in voice projection that allow people to

Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Motivation and Emotion Page 2 of 14 scream, laugh, shout, and present a whole host of other emotions (Adolphs, Damasio, Tranel, & Damasio, 1996) Psychologists often refer to the external demonstration of emotion (particularly facial expressions) as affect. That is why mood disorders are sometimes called affective disorders. Lack of affect is so uncommon that it is a key indicator of mental illness, particularly schizophrenia.

Theories of Emotion

Several theories of emotion have been developed to explain how the environment, human physiology, cognition, and behavior interact to produce a particular feeling. These theories help to explain the complexities of emotion.

James-Lange Theory Emotion researchers William James and Carl Lange simultaneously challenged the long-held belief that dangerous or scary situations caused fear (one of the more intense emotions) and that fear caused arousal of the autonomic nervous system, which prepares the body for the fight-or-flight response. Conversely, James and Lange argue that arousal causes the fear. In other words, rather than emotions causing the chemical and physiological changes during an emotional situation, the changes themselves cause the emotion. For instance, James and Lange would argue that one is not crying because one is sad; rather, one is sad because one is crying. People interpret their bodies’ reaction, and this interpretation is the emotion. Some examples: “I am crying, so I must be sad.” or “My heart is beating fast, and I’m sweaty and nauseated, I must be afraid” (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2003).

The James-Lange Theory

The James-Lange theory has been criticized because of its failure to explain the following (Cannon, 1927):

• Sometimes people feel emotion before they experience any physiological changes. Some emotions (e.g., happiness, contentment) are not associated with noticeable arousal. The James-Lange theory may explain fear, but it falls short of explaining all emotions.

Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Motivation and Emotion Page 3 of 14 • In controlled studies, participants who were injected with hormones and neurotransmitters associated with autonomic arousal (i.e., epinephrine or adrenaline) did not notice changes in their emotional state.

• Physiological arousal does not always lead to emotion. For example, exercise can cause autonomic arousal but no emotional response.

• All emotions are associated with the same arousal experience (e.g., fast heart beat, release of endorphins), yet people experience a wide range of emotions.

• As in the case of chronic clinical depression, people often experience emotion before the onset of physiological symptoms.

Cannon-Bard Theory A contemporary of James and Lange, Walter Cannon, expressed these same criticisms of the James-Lange theory and proposed his own theory of emotion. Cannon believed that emotions triggered physiological responses. In other words people feel and then act. These acts can be voluntary and conscious (e.g., running) or involuntary (e.g., increased heart rate, perspiration, and slowed digestion). Cannon also believed that emotions and physiological responses can occur simultaneously but emphasized that arousal did not cause emotion (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2003).

The Cannon-Bard Theory

Researcher Philip Bard concurred with Cannon and proposed a biological explanation for emotion. Bard suggested that upon receiving sensory information (e.g., visual indicators of a dangerous situation, such as a house fire or a mugger), the thalamus sends this information to the amygdala. The amygdala then triggers the autonomic nervous system, which elicits the fight-or-flight response. The two researchers’ collective theory is known as the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion.

Comparing the James-Lange Theory with the Cannon-Bard Theory

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion While most of their contemporaries agreed with the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, cognitive psychologists were not satisfied with the idea that emotions simply occurred. They wanted to know the mechanism responsible for triggering emotions. Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer therefore suggested a two-factor theory of emotion. They sought to answer the following question: If emotions cause reactions, then what causes emotions? Schachter and Singer suggested the importance of the cognitive interpretation of emotion. In other words, how does a given person interpret an emotional situation? Based on the circumstances, one person might interpret his or her arousal as fear, while another person might the same emotion as love or happiness. Cannon and Bard proposed that people interpret their emotions in relation to their environment. People feel, and then they look to their environment to explain the feeling.

Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion

Several studies suggest that people interpret and then label their internal emotional responses differently depending on the situation. For example, Dutton and Aron (1974) asked an attractive

Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Motivation and Emotion Page 5 of 14 woman to interview a group of young men on a swaying rope bridge, 200 feet above a river. She also was asked to interview a group of young men in a room in a building on the ground. Halfway through both the bridge and the ground interviews, she was asked to give each young man her phone number. Results showed that more than 60% of the young men interviewed on the rope bridge called her later, while 30% of the young men interviewed in the room on the ground did so. Dutton and Aron concluded that the young men had interpreted their physiological arousal as arising from the woman’s attractiveness and allure—not to the height at which they were interviewed.

Dutton Aron Experiment

In the 1960s, emotion researchers Richard Lazarus and Magda Arnold expanded the two-factor model and, in doing so, further emphasized the role of cognition in emotion (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2003). In addition to the interpretation of one’s internal experience, Lazarus and Magda suggested that interpretation, or cognitive appraisal, of the situation one is in plays a vital role in the experience of emotion. Their cognitive-appraisal perspective explains why the same situation can emotionally devastate one person and invigorate another. For example, person A may interpret the situation as scary, humiliating, or overwhelming, while person B may interpret the same situation as fulfilling, fun, or amusing.

Lazarus and Arnold cognitive appraisal

Lazarus and Magda proposed a four-step cognitive-appraisal process (Train, 2007):

1. People experience a situation and note that it is an emotional one. 2. They reflect on experiences in similar situations and what happened then before using those experiences to assess what is likely to happen in the current situation. 3. The assessment produces an emotion. 4. The autonomic nervous system is aroused.

Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Motivation and Emotion Page 6 of 14 For example, a woman in an audience is called upon to give an impromptu speech. She assesses the situation as scary and humiliating based on negative experiences with public speaking. She feels afraid because of this interpretation. Her fear causes an increased heart rate, increased respiration, perspiration, and shaking.

Researchers and theorists who discount the importance of cognition in emotion often subscribe to the belief that emotions are innate to being human and are intended to increase one’s chances of survival. Charles Darwin originally proposed this evolutionary perspective on emotion, arguing that emotions (e.g., fear) help humans (and other organisms) avoid danger. Happiness increases the chances that a person will engage in a healthy behavior again. Emotion theorists from this evolutionary perspective view emotion as generic and inborn and have identified eight emotions that aid in the propagation of the human species: fear, anger, sadness, enjoyment, shame, disgust, surprise, and contempt (Train, 2007).

Darwin’s evolutionary perspective

Motivation

Why do humans do what they do? What drives people to go to work? What drives people to form relationships? What do people hate? Why do people read books, watch television, take naps, exercise, or fall in love?

People perform these activities because they are motivated to do so. Motivation is a psychological construct responsible for driving a person toward a certain goal. Motivation also is associated with the performance of a series of behaviors that ensures the goal is met. For example, physiology motivates people to eat. Therefore, they will prepare a meal and sit at a table and eat it to meet the goal of satisfying hunger.

People are driven to perform goal-oriented behaviors An example of hunger motivating for a variety of reasons. These reasons cluster into someone to eat. three categories:

1. Biological motivators. The needs of the body are essential for survival. Biological motivators therefore are the most powerful motivators. For example, while driving home, one may be motivated to drive for as long as possible to avoid spending more money on hotels. However, if the body requires sleep, energy, or to eliminate its waste, the person will have to stop somewhere out of necessity. Sleeping, eating,

2. Psychological motivators. Just as the body needs nourishment and rest, so too does the mind. Psychological motivators drive people to behave in ways that increase their mental well-being. People are driven to have fun, to challenge themselves mentally, and to find emotional fulfillment in their work and relationships. Therefore, people will engage in interesting activities, act to quell curiosity, and look for work that uses their strengths. Sex drive and aggression also are considered to be psychological motivators.

3. Social motivators. People want to be liked and accepted. They are driven by a variety of goals that can help them achieve these goals. They might be motivated to make straight A’s in school, try for a promotion at work, join a group, make contact with others, or dress a certain way. Social motivators are quite strong and often tempt people to act in uncharacteristic ways. For example, Solomon Asch (1951) showed a group of people two obviously discrepant lines and asked the participants which line was longer. All but one person was a control subject and said that the obviously shorter line was the longest line. Each time the experiment was performed, the unaware participant agreed that the shorter line was the longest line in order to fit in with the group.

In addition to multiple sources of motivation, two types of motivation exist: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation derived from the experience or behavior itself. For example, a person might solve a puzzle simply because the challenge is fun, or a person might read a book to become engrossed in the plot. People feel most rewarded when motivated intrinsically; they are behaving because the behavior itself is gratifying.

Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, refers to motivation derived from an external reward that is separate from the experience. For example, a student may read a book because a teacher might mark the student’s exam with a high grade. In another example, a child might rake the leaves because a parent promises to pay the child $5 for doing so. Over-reliance on extrinsic motivation can decrease intrinsic motivation. For this reason, parents are strongly discouraged from paying their children for receiving good grades in school or offering a reward for sharing toys with siblings. The danger is that the child might learn to value the reward and not the act of achieving or getting along with others (Beswick, n.d.).

Theories of Motivation

Psychologists have offered a variety of theories for why people are motivated to achieve particular goals, why they seem to achieve goals in a particular order, how goals are set, and how emotion serves as a powerful motivator. Several of these theories are described below.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Abraham Maslow proposed one of the most popular theories of motivation, known as the hierarchy-of-needs theory. Maslow believed that people are motivated to satisfy a list of needs in sequential order, meeting the most basic needs before pursuing higher-level goals. Maslow also proposed that humans are driven to satisfy their physiological needs (e.g., food, water, and sleep) first. After these needs have been satisfied, people are driven to acquire a sense of

Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Motivation and Emotion Page 8 of 14 safety (e.g., shelter, employment, and health). Next comes an attempt to satisfy a need for belonging to someone or something (e.g., friendship, family, and sexual intimacy). The need for a healthy self-esteem (e.g., self-confidence, respect of others, and achievement) are satisfied next. These four types of needs (i.e., physiological, safety, a sense of belonging, and esteem) are referred to as deficiency needs, because if these needs are not met, people feel uncomfortable, anxious, or otherwise unsettled.

A fifth and final need that many people try to fill is self-actualization. Self-actualization Maslow's Hierarchy-of-needs Theory refers to realizing one’s maximum potential or maximum happiness by pursuing constant enlightenment. Such people are referred to as Renaissance people. They are deeply spiritual or well-read and intellectually and emotionally secure people.

Despite its popularity, Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory received little empirical support. Nevertheless, his hierarchy helps psychologists identify the needs of their clients and determine whether these clients are capable of meeting their needs (Foster, 2000). Maslow’s hierarchy also is a useful tool for people who wonder why they are unhappy or why they seem unable to move forward in their lives.

Two-Factor Theory of Motivation In the late 1960s, Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist and U.S. soldier who liberated concentration camp victims, proposed a two-factor theory of motivation that was based on his life experience. Herzberg’s theory pertains primarily to work motivation, but it can be applied more generally. According to this theory, people respond to a given situation based on motivator factors and hygiene factors. Motivator factors, or intrinsic motivators, include recognition, achievement, enjoy of job or career, growth, responsibility, and promotion. Hygiene factors, or extrinsic motivators, include wages or salary, relationships with coworkers, status, job security, supervision, and physical environment. Motivator factors are associated with satisfaction, while inadequate hygiene factors are associated with dissatisfaction (Herzberg, 1968).

Motivator Factors Hygiene Factors Recognition Wages or salary Achievement Relationships with coworkers Enjoyment of job or career Status Growth Job security Responsibility Supervision Promotion Physical environment

Goal-Setting Approach to Motivation Herzberg’s contemporary, Edwin Locke, proposed a goal-setting approach to motivation. This theory, like Herzberg’s, is most often applied to industrial and organizational psychology (i.e., the psychology of work). Locke’s research showed a relationship between the difficulty and specificity of a goal and people's performance of a task. He found that specific and difficult goals led to better performance than vague or easy goals. Statements such as “Do your best” are much less effective than “Try to trim at least 10 seconds off of your best time.” Vague goals

Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Motivation and Emotion Page 9 of 14 have no motivational powers, whereas specific, more difficult goals call upon one’s skills and require effort, thereby driving one to succeed. Locke would maintain that this is why people feel more satisfied after accomplishing something that was difficult than they do after accomplishing something easy (Locke, 1968).

According to Herzberg, specific and difficult goals work to increase performance for the following reasons:

1. Having a well-defined goal focuses one’s attention and energy. 2. Specific goals push one to achieve a standard. For example, if a medical transcriptionist must transcribe 10 doctors’ notes in a half hour, the transcriptionist will work diligently to achieve that standard. 3. Goals foster persistence. If there is a setback or a problem, then one is motivated to try even harder to overcome the obstacle.

Herzberg also suggested that three factors moderate the effectiveness of goal-setting. First, people must be confident that they are able to meet a given goal because of their skills, knowledge, and ability. Second, the goal must be attainable. If a goal is impossible, it only breeds frustration and apathy. Third, people must be committed to the goal or be able to see the goal’s value. A goal may be challenging and specific; however, if people do not see the goal’s usefulness, then the person will not be motivated to attain that goal.

McClelland’s Task-Reward In the mid-1960s David McClelland, a behavioral scientist at Harvard University, observed that motivation to achieve goals varies from people to person. He proposed that some people are more likely to be motivated to accomplish a task or work tirelessly at a difficult task for the reward of achieving the intended result. What motivates other people is simply not failing. They prefer simpler tasks. McClelland believed that most people have a mid- to low-level need for achievement. To quantify the need for achievement, McClelland used a projective measure called the thematic-apperception test. Test takers are asked to tell a story based on a series of pictures, all of which depict a person, or people, in a particular situation. McClelland believed that high-achievement people would describe the person in the pictures as attempting to achieve a goal. Mid-level achievers might indicate some action, but not necessarily goal- directed, while low-achievers might describe the person as passive (McClelland, 1961). McClelland’s classification system is widely used in the field of psychology.

The guiding principle behind Victor Vroom’s theory is that motivation depends on how much someone wants something and the likelihood of it being obtained. Vroom further explained that a person’s effort, performance, and outcome led to either increased or decreased motivation. For example, if people believe that increased effort will lead to increased success (i.e., effort expectancy), that their success will be rewarded (i.e., instrumentality), and that the outcome will prove pleasant (i.e., the valence of the outcome is not aversive, discouraging, or insufficient), then they will be more motivated to try to achieve a given goal (Vroom & MacCrimmon, 1968).

Equity Theory John Stacey Adams suggested that people are motivated by the pursuit of equity. In other words, people strive to achieve a balance between their effort (e.g., performance, energy, time, dedication) and the perceived reward (e.g., money, recognition, incentives). If people perceive inequity between effort and reward, then they will experience discomfort and will be less motivated to achieve. For example, if employees believe that their efforts far exceed the reward, then they are likely to be less motivated to produce results on the job. In the workplace, inequity is associated with high employee turnover and absenteeism. When the reward exceeds the effort expended to receive the award (e.g., high pay for minimal work), motivation to achieve and succeed decreases (Adams, 1965).

Opponent-Process Model Richard Solomon proposed an opponent-process model of emotion and motivation, which suggests that people experience emotion in pairs. For example, people experience pain and relief, happiness and sadness, anger and love. His theory holds that whenever people experience one emotion, they suppress the other emotion in the pair. In other words, it is difficult to express opposing emotions at the same time. In addition, when people become habituated to a situation, the original emotion expressed can be replaced by the opponent emotion. Solomon’s theory suggests that what creates satisfaction at one time may not produce satisfaction at subsequent times; however, if the situation changes, the negative emotion can replace the positive emotion. In other words, while old goals and expectations may not be as effective as they once were, the introduction of new goals can be met with significant resistance (Solomon, 1980).

References

Adams, J. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. Advancements in Experimental Social Psychology, 62, 335-343.

Adolphs, R., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. (1996). Cortical systems for the recognition of emotion in facial expressions. The Journal of Neuroscience, 16, 7678-7687.

Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership and men (pp. 177-190). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.

Beswick, D. (n.d.) Management implications of the interaction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.beswick.info/psychres/management.htm

Cannon, W. B. (1927). The James-Lange theory of emotion: A critical examination and an alternative theory. American Journal of Psychology, 39, 110-124.

Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 510-517.

Foster, J. (2000). Motivation in the workplace. In N. Chmiel (Ed.), Introduction to work and organizational psychology: A European perspective (pp. 302-326). Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers.

Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, 46, 53-62.

Hockenbury, D., & Hockenbury, S. (2003). Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers.

Locke, Edwin A. (1968). Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 3, 157-189.

McClelland, D. (1961). Methods of measuring human motivation. In J. W. Atkinson (Ed.), The achieving society (pp. 41-43). Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand.

Solomon, R. L. (1980). The opponent-process theory of acquired motivation: The costs of pleasure and the benefits of pain. American Psychologist, 35, 691-712.

Train, B. (2007). Introduction to psychology: Fresh perspectives. Forest Drive, South Africa: Pearson Education.

Vroom, V., & MacCrimmon, K. (1968). Toward a stochastic model of managerial careers. Administrative Science Quarterly,13, 26-46.

Glossary

Affect: The behavioral expression of emotion, particularly facial expression.

Cannon-Bard theory: The belief that emotion is triggered by an experience and that the emotion causes physiological arousal.

Cognitive appraisal: How one interprets a situation before responding emotionally.

Deficiency needs: The first four levels of Maslow’s hierarchy (i.e., physiological, safety, a sense of belonging, and self-esteem); needs that if not met lead to personal distress.

Effort expectancy: The belief that increased effort will lead to increased success.

Equity: Balance between effort and reward.

Emotion: A feeling driven by complex environmental, physiological, behavioral, and cognitive factors.

Evolutionary perspective: A Darwinian notion that emotions, such as fear, help people avoid danger and increase their chances of survival.

Extrinsic motivation: Motivation derived from an external reward that is separate from a given experience.

Goal-setting approach: The idea that difficult and specific goals increase motivation, and easy, vague goals diminish motivation.

Hierarchy-of-needs theory: The idea that people are motivated to satisfy an ordered list of needs, with the basest needs being met before higher-level goals are pursued.

Intrinsic motivation: Motivation derived from an experience or behavior itself.

Instrumentality: The belief that success will be rewarded.

James-Lange theory: The belief that people experience an emotion as a result of their physiological arousal.

Motivation: Internal drive to pursue and reach a goal.

Need for achievement: A personality continuum that ranges from people with a low need for achievement for whom goal attainment is not a motivating factor to people with a high need for goal attainment for whom goal attainment is the primary motivator of actions.

Opponent-process model: The belief that while old goals and expectations may not be as effective as they once were, the introduction of new goals can be met with resistance.

Self-actualization: The realization of one’s maximum potential or maximum happiness through the pursuit of constant enlightenment.

Two-factor theory of emotion: The belief that emotions are the product of arousal and that a person’s interpretation of the arousal is based on the person’s environment.

Two-factor theory of motivation: The belief that people are prompted to act on the basis of motivator and hygiene factors.

Valence: The understanding of a performance outcome as either positive or negative.