User:Barbie

This user is a participant in the Motivation and emotion unit, 2010. See also: Textbook

This page is an e-portfolio. Also see other participants' pages.

About Barbie

I am currently studying a Bachelor of Human Nutrition and doing Psychology as a minor. This semester i am enrolled in Motivation and Emotion with James Neill. I chose this unit to learn about what drives someone and learn how i can motivate myself to study rather then procrastinate.

I am also interested in Motivation and Psychological disorders, focusing on anxiety and the connections between motivation, emotion and eating.

Week 1

Introduction

This week we were introduced to motivation and the history of motivation.

Motivation = Energy + Direction. In the Study of Motivation we ask ourselves Two Questions:

1. What causes behaviour?
2. Why does behaviour vary in its intensity?

There are four motivational sources:

1. Needs
2. Cognitions
3. Emotions
4. External events

After the introduction James went on to teach us about the history of Motivation. Another Student created a great timeline on the topic.

Week 2

Assesments

In our lecture we went over our assesments for this semester and began to learn how to use wikiversity. We have three assesments:

1. Textbook Chapter- Motivation and emotion/Textbook/Emotion/Stress, arousal and coping
2. Multimedia- Stress, Arousal and Coping
3. E-portfolio- Barbie

We also had our first tutorial,which began by mixing with our peers by forming small groups with people who shared similar feelings and traits. We then were asked to define motivation and emotion and discovered that there are many different meanings for these two words. After sharing our definitions the following is what i think these two words mean.

• Motivation-The driving force behind any behaviour.
• Emotion-State of mind which is determined by thoughts and feelings.

Week 3

The Brain and Physiological Needs

This weeks topic was the Brain and Physiological needs. We discussed motivational sources:

• Cognitions
• Emotions
• External events
• Needs- any condition within an organism that is essential and neccessary for life, growth and well-being.

We continued into more depth with needs. It was interesting to know that sex was considered a physiological need, and when looking at the meaning just above of needs sex is neccessary for new life, but it remains a controversial topic. If it fits the definition of needs then there should be know controversy on the topic. The other physiological needs are:

• Thirst
• Hunger- short term and long term, 3 motivations of hunger:

1. Self regulation of food intake
2. Exercise/motivation
3. Mindfulness over one's environmental influences

• Breathing
• Sleep
• Homeostasis
• Excretion

The third motivation of hunger suggests reasoning behind a person suffering from anorexia. For a person with this disease their environment must over power the other two motivations of hunger as their want to be thin seems to become a need replacing the need to eat. The following link gives information on anorexia, What it is, the apparent causes, symptoms and more. Anorexia

Week 4

Personal and Social Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of Needs

‎

Week 4 in our lecture we went into depth of psychological needs:

• Autonomy- perceived control of choices, which requires support.

Four ways to support Autonomy:

1. Nutures inner motivational resources
2. Relies on informational language
3. Promotes valuing
4. Acknowledges and accepts negative feedback

• Competence- Confidence and Capability

These two aspects are gained through tasks that are challenging enough to interest the person without being too hard and causing stress, thus, overwhelming them.

• Relatedness- social need to connect with someone

We also discussed social needs, which is an acquired psychological socialisation history that activates emotional responses to a particular need-relevant incentive:

• Achievement- show personal competence

I think i am a Low-need achiever because i tend to procrastinate and struggle to motivate myself to put large amounts of effort in.

• Affiliation- please others to gain their approval, social connection and relationship
• Intimacy- warm, secure relationship
• Power- control over others

and Quasi Needs- which i still don't fully understand, when given the definition, the folloing examples help me:

• Needing money at the store
• Needing an umbrella in the rain

Both examples show quasi needs do not fit into the defintion of a need; any condition within an organism that is essential and neccessary for life, growth and well-being. One could argue in today's society that Money is a need rather then a quasi need as it is neccessary to buy food or to buy land and seeds to grow food, therefore it is essential and necessary for life, growth and well-being.

We also had our second tutorial. We began discussing with our small groups our progress on our Textbook Chapter and then moved onto talk about parts of the brain involved in Motivation and Emotion. Each structure within the brain has a motivational or emotional experience.

We also very briefly touched on Physiological needs, Psychological needs and Social needs. After this we completed a questionaire about Autonomy, Control and Impersonal traits, to see where we fit. My scores were very similar for each but my highest score was for Autonomy followed by Impersonal and then Control.

Week 5

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation & Goal Setting

• I nterests
• N
• T
• R ewarding within yourself
• I nherent
• N ot one task that is 100% Intrinsic or Extrinsic
• S atisfying psychological needs
• I
• C reativity & persistance

&

• E nvironmental motivation
• X ternal, Introjected, Identified and Integrated regulation
• T here are better ways to encourage participation then extrinsic bribery
• R ewards, can sometimes have unintended effects
• I mmediate and long term consequences of punishment
• N
• S
• I ncentives
• C onsequences- Punishment or reinforcement

MOTIVATION

• G oal Setting and goal Striving
• O verwhelm-Too difficult goal
• A ttainment requires planning
• L ong term and short term

• S tates-Present and ideal
• E nhance learning
• T OTE Unit: Test, Operate, Test, Exit
• T wo types of discrepancy: reduction and Creation
• I mplementation Intentions
• N
• G oal mechanisms

Week 6

Personal Control Beliefs & the Self

This week we had a lecture and another tutorial. Expectancy>Efficacy & Outcome
Self Efficacy-Sources

1. Behavioural history-successes and failures
2. Vicarious Experience-learning through observation
3. Verbal Persuasion-from others
4. Physiological activity

Consequences

• Choice
• Effort & Persistance
• Thinking & decision making
• Emotional Reactions

Empowerment-Possessing the knowledge, skills & beliefs that allow people to exert control over their lives.
Mastery Beliefs-Extent of perceived control one has over attaining desirable outcomes & preventing aversive ones.
Learned helplessness-State that results when an individual expects that life's outcomes are uncontrollable. It can result in depression, low self efficacy, motivational, learning and emotional deficits.

The Self & it's Strivings

• Defining or creating the self
• Relating the self to society
• Discovering & developing personal potential
• Managing or regulating the self

Possible Selves- representation of attributes, characteristics & abilities

• Social in origin
• Motivational role
• Important piece of puzzle
• Portraying self as a dynamic entity
• Future self or ideal self
• Identity

People in some society's tend to fear being different, but in today's society we see more and more people stepping up and showing that they are unique. Possibly celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres could be an Idol for others who were struggling to show their true identity and she has given them the confidence to do so. In recent years we have seen the rise of EMO's. I think emo's could be hiding their identity and trying to be substantially different from others.

In the Tutorial we looked at Intrinsic & Extrinsic motivation for being a university student like, Career, Education and Social opportunities. We completed a University Student Motivation Survey. The average, highest motivator for studying at univeristy is to attain a career. This is followed by learning, socila opportunities, altruism and pressure. After this we looked at learned optimism and discovered too much optimism can be negative. In the case for gamblers, they will continue to gamble as they believe they will win, thus a little pessimism is a positive thing. We completed a survey from THE QUEST which evaluated our pessimism and optimism levels. The last activity for this tutorial was on Self. We looked at defintions of Life effectiveness and completed another survey L.E.Q. to see how we think and feel about ourselves.

Week 7

No Lecture or Tutorial

Week 8

Class Free Period

Week 9

Nature of Emotion

After a week away from classes we began to discuss Emotion. There are four components of emotion

1. Feelings
2. Bodily arousal
3. Social-expressive
4. Sense of purpose

Emotion can motivate someone to take action. It can also be representative of how well someone is adapting.
Emotion is Caused by a significant event which is followed by cognitive and biological processes. Basic emotions differ from one perspective to another.

• Fear
• Anger
• Disgust
• Sadness
• Joy
• Interest

Emotions are beneficial to learn how to cope, for social interactions and regulate behaviour by contributing to cognition.

Week 10

Aspects of Emotion

Week 10 we continued with emotions and i missed my tutorial. 3 Aspects of Emotion:

1. Biological

• Autonomic nervous system
• Endocrine System
• Neural brain circuits
• Rate of neural firing
• Facial feedback

James-Lang Theory Hypotheses
1. The body reacts uniquely to different emotion-stimulating events
2. The body does not react to emotion-stimulating events
Some emotions are an adaptive response.

Izard's differential emotions theory
1. 10 emotion's
2. Unique feeling
3. Unique expression
4. Unique neural activity
5. Unique purpose/motivation

Facial Feedback Perspective, emotion stems from feelings aroused by:
1. Movement of Facial musculator
2. Change in facial temperature
3. Changes in glandular activity in the face

2. Cognitive

• Appraisals
• Knowledge
• Attributions
• Socialisation History
• Cultural Identities

3. Social & Cultural

• Socialisation History
• Cultural identities

Emotions can be considered negative or positive. This varies across cultures, for example interpretation of love can be different for different cultures. When James first mentioned that for parts of China people consider true love a negative emotion i was shocked but as he continued to explain that this is because of arranged marriages i understood that if one were to find true love outside of their marriage it would become a very negative experience.
3 parts for social and cultural aspects:

• Emotion Knowledge
• Expression management
• Emotional Management

Week 11

Personality, Motivation & Emotion

Personality Traits affect one's reactions to situations, whether they avoid, approach, or modify.
There are 5 personality traits:

1. Openess to experience
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion-Happiness, active
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism- Unhappiness, cautious

Arousal is a continual state, the inverted u shows how arousal level relates to performance.
Underarousal results in boredom which is avoided by many people. When someone begins to become underaroused they usual seek tasks that interest them to increase arousal.
Overarousal can cause stress. A situation where someone encounters a bear for most people would not be an ideal situation thus causing overarousal resulting in stress. The brain requires stimulation but over stimulation results in stress.

Sensation Seeking- personality characteristic of one who seeks intense experience and stimulation to maintain a good mood. Eg Ben Cousins Sensation seeking trait can be a predictor of addictions such as gambling or alcohol addict.
Affect Stable- stable mood
Affect intense- fluctuating moods
Control

• Percieved control-capability, situational support
• Desire for control

Percieved control belief-engagement vs disaffection-actual outcome

Week 12

Unconscious motivation

Freud's dual instinct theory
Eros-Instinct for life
Thanatos-Instinct for death
Wish Model- discrepancy theory, aggression and sex do not fit the drive theory
Contemporary Psychodynamic Perspective

The Unconscious

• Freudian Unconscious-appraises the environment
• Adaptive Unconscious-goals, judgement, action
• Implicit Unconscious-emotionally linked environmental motivation
• Subliminal Motivation

Psychodynamics

• Id and Ego
• Repression- Forgetting, Ignoring information
• Suppression- Realising then putting it out of mind

Ego Development-develops to defend against anxiety and to empower the person

• Symbiotic
• Impulsive
• Self Protective
• Conformists
• Conscientious
• Autonomous

Object Relations Theory

• Unconscious tone
• Capacity for emotional involvement
• Mutuality of autonomy with others

Week 13

Growth Motivation and Positive psychology

This week our textbook Chapter due date rolled around. My chapter can be found by clicking the link. It discusses Stress Arousal and Coping. Motivation and emotion/Textbook/Emotion/Stress, arousal and coping
Growth Motivation and Positive psychology is said to be overly optimistic, naive, vague and ill-defined.
The Question this week is how do we know what is wanted or what is really needed by the actualising tendency?

Holism and Positive Psychology-
Holism-human potential and encouraging development
Positive-building of strengths and competencies
Self Actualisation- Fulfill innner desire, process of enlightenment, continually working at. There are 2 aspects; autonmy and openess
It was Maslow's beleif that their are many motivations that fit into a hierarchy. It isimportant to encourage self actualisation through:

1. Growth Choices
2. Be Honest and Authentic, open to feedback that fosters growth
3. Situationally position yourself for peak experiences, choose environments of preference.
4. Give up Defensiveness, accepting mistakes as opportunities for change
5. Let the Self Emerge, inner wisdom about the right direction to move in
6. Be Open to Experience, approach motivation

Rodgers beleived an organism has one basic motivation-self actualisation. It is innate and continual, genetic potential, personal development, conditional or unconditional regard, social environment organismic valuation process, evaluating whether something is damaging or developmental.
The fully functioning individual is said to possess:

• Emergence
• Acceptance
• Expression

Casuality Orientations

• Autonmy- individual sees themselves as fundamentally in control, they make decisions based on needs and interests. It is possible that Fred Hollows could be seen as having an Autonmy casuality orientation.
• Control- Clues from other people about how to behave, always looking for guidance, more likely to be influenced by reward

Growth Seeking vs Validation Seeking

Relationships are important to encourage and improve conditions for self actualisation through:

• Warmth
• Genuineness
• Empathy
• Interpersonal acceptance
• Capacity for self determination

The Problem of Evil-intentional acts of harm Some people can get pleasure for others suffering. A child solider has been brought up to be violent he/she knows no different.

Personal Strengths Resilience, happiness, optimism and enjoyment etc. If we focus on strengths could prevent symptoms of depression and other disorders. Nuture
Optimism-inflated perspective of themselves, good for mental health, helps to love and like and accept yourself. Facilitate effort and persistance
Meaning-question meanings in life, sense of purpose. sickness is symptoms of lack of meaning
Eudaimonic well-being-actively persuing self actualisation, richer, deeper, authentic happiness then hedonistic.

Week 14

Conclusion

Motivation and Emotion was an enjoyable and interesting unit. I am unsure how i feel about the e-journal as i have conflicting thoughts. I feel it is a good method of getting students involved in tutorials and lectures and i agree with User:E.herbert that it is a fantastic learning tool if it is completed weekly. However the weekly writing proved difficult as i found myself completing other assesments and had another unit which also had weekly assesment items only these had deadlines. I find my motivation comes from a deadline and knowing it has to be completed now and not after that time. Having weekly deadlines may also make it easier for the marker. Thankyou James.