Pearls of wisdom

This page offers a pearl of wisdom
for each motivation and emotion
book chapter.

Motivation

Addiction is caused by social learning theory, reward and punishment, environmental cues, and brain function. Addictions can be broken by learning how to resist social pressure, reward and punishment, aversion therapy, and change in environment. (Addiction)
Cognitive dissonance can motivate and encourage behavioural change. (Dissonance)
Creativity can be enhanced by having goals, skills, knowledge, autonomy, time, risk-taking, and instrinsic motivation. (Creativity)
Flow is an intense, satisying state of concentration which occurs when skills are balanced with challenge. Flow inducing activities are goal-directed, rule-guided, and feedback-rich. (Flow)
Feedback highlights where one’s current performance is in relation to a goal. There are three major feedback questions: "Where am I going?", "How am I going?", and "Where to next?" (Feedback)
Being overly competitive can have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation and may cause you to dislike activities that were once enjoyable. (Competitiveness)
Extreme achievers are intrinsically motivated. They set specific long-term goals and use sub-goals with implementation plans and feedback to measure performance. (Extreme achievers)
Self-efficacy is key to motivational and performance success. Self-efficacy is one's belief in one's ability to accomplish a task. Self-efficacy is facilitated by self-agency, mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion and physiological and emotional arousal. (Self-efficacy)
Altruism has an anatomical basis (the prefrontal cortex gives us the ability to empathise and thus engage in altruistic behaviour) and altruism is a learned response, taught through culture. (Altruism)
Positive life change can be fuelled by regrets, failures, goals, the crystallisation of discontent and desire via focal events, and focusing on the positive. (Managing life change)
Reduce overeating by becoming more aware of physiological cues, self-regulation, willpower, and psychological inertia. (Over eating)
Four motives influence alcohol use: coping, enhancement, conformity and social motives. Drinking to cope with problems and enhance good feelings are most associated with alcohol related problems such as dependence, abuse and disease. (Alcohol)
Hypnosis can increase motivation (especially for those who are suggestible). Even the mere notion of hypnosis can motivate people to become more susceptible to hypnotic suggestion. (Hypnosis)
Risk-taking is a part of everyday life. If your risk-taking takes can take dangerous turn, pinpoint the triggers, set goals for change, make an action plan with positive reinforcers along the way, and seek external help. (Risk-taking)
Self-determination theory explains that autonomy, competence, and relatedness help people to become more intrinsically motivated. (Self-determination theory)
Sexual motivations can be understood through evolution, gender differences, pheromones, and self-efficacy. (Sexual motivation)
Infidelity is predicted by testosterone, relationship satisfaction, and personality traits. (Infidelity)
Time management can be improved by goal setting, limiting procrastination, categorising tasks, communicating, understanding habits, and finding healthy balance between work and life. (Time management)
Rule-breaking is motivated by short-term convenience and lack of trust and respect of moral codes. (Rule-breaking)
Weight loss can be motivated by future health benefits, medical triggers, and appearance concerns. Factors that help include autonomy and control, self-efficacy, goal setting, and incentives and rewards. (Weight-loss)
Playing violent video games triggers a slight tendency towards aggression, but evidence suggests that the link is weaker than is often proposed. (Violent video games)

Emotion

Envy can be a motivating emotion, if it is effectively controlled and regulated. (Envy)
Shame is an aversive, but adaptive, emotion. Manage shame by valuing connection with others, embracing differences without judging, being yourself, trusting someone with your secrets, taking emotional risks, and laughing out loud. (Shame)
Ways to manage emotion under stress include exercise, cognitive reappraisal, and emotional regulation techniques. (Handling stress)
Empathy supports others, relationships, and enhances our own lives. (Empathy)
Forgiveness is an internal process that replaces negative emotions with positive ones. Benefits include psychological health and well-being. (Forgiveness)
Loving, and being loved, is a fundamental aspect of a satisfying life. (Love)
Sleep is essential for optimal physiological and psychological functioning. Sleep deprivation has negative effects on mood and memory. (Sleep and happiness)
Poor sleep contributes to anxiety and depression. Heavy affect intensity can trigger nightmares. (Sleep and negative emotions
Eudaimonic well-being is about sustainable psychological well-being through experiencing control and autonomy in pursuit of meaningful goals. It is about more than the short-term hedonic pleasure side of happiness. (Eudaimonic well-being)
Controlling emotion is an integral part of conflict resolution. (Dealing with conflict)
Meaning making facilitates adjustment to trauma and is a significant factor in lessening the impact of negative thoughts. (Growth through adversity)
Music is primarily used to evoke and enhance emotive states. These emotive states are created by various musical components, subsequent physiological reactions, and cognitive factors. (Music and emotion)
Go outdoors and use nature to improve your life. (Nature and psychological well-being)
Improving psychological resilience is a trial and error process (Psychological resilience)
Sensation seeking influences our preferences, to help create optimal arousal - it influences our choice of jobs, relationships, food, sport, entertainment etc. (Sensation seeking)
Improving psychological resilience is a trial and error process until you find what works for you - but managing negative emotions, promoting positive emotions, and a supportive environment are important. (Psychological resilience)
Happiness can be improved by changing your thinking. Negative thoughts can be changed by disputing them, taking away their meaning, or replacing them with a positive statement. (Cognitions and happiness)