Welcome to your first reading blog.
Read Ch1 and Ch 2 in your textbook. Don't worry so much about your answers being long or beautifully written (yet!); focus on reading and understanding the material and then communicating that understanding to us when answering these questions.
From your reading, which topic(s) are most interesting to you?
If you had to describe to someone not in this class what Motivation is all about, what would you tell them based on your understanding of this chapter?
What was the most surprising or memorable thing you learned about in this reading?
The topic that was most interesting to me was learning about types of motivations, because two people could be performing the same behavior, such as studying for a test, but the motivation for why they are studying could be completely different. If the student is intrinsically motivated, they may be studying to learn more about the topic because they are curious, while a student that is extrinsically motivated might be studying so they can do well and receive recognition for their abilities. I think learning how to increase intrinsic motivation in people would be interesting and helpful to know because intrinsically motivated people generally have more positive emotions.
Motivation is about understanding the reason behind performing a particular behavior. It goes even more in depth than questioning why that behavior occurred and looks at why that behavior began when it did, why it lasted the amount of time it did, and what caused it to stop. Motivation is also about understanding why behaviors vary in intensity and why the same person might choose to do different things at different times. Our needs, cognitions, and emotions at a certain time all help to determine how motivated we will be to perform a behavior and to what degree we will perform it.
I thought the most surprising thing about these chapters was that the study of motivation has evolved a lot over the years and has involved many different theories, each one adding more to the study of motivation than the last. I thought it was surprising that many people, even Charles Darwin, were involved in coming up with these theories. I had no idea that the study of motivation was so complex.
When the book questioned me about my motive to read this book, this chapter and this page, I never really gave it a thought that there was motivation behind my actions. I was simply doing so, because that was my assignment. After giving it a closer look, my goal for this semester was to get on Dean’s List; I obviously need to read the book and do really well on assignments to accomplish my goal. The end goal is what has given me my motivation. This goal can fit in with other motivations; flow, achievement strivings, perceived competence, etc. The fact that there are so many different actions and thoughts and feelings involved in the study of motivation was quite surprising to me.
I've always hated reading things I'm not interested in/forced to read for a class, but all these aspects began to peak my interest and kept me turning the page. Thoughts about motivation and emotion seemed to start out simple and have grown to the ever-expanding and complex thoughts they are and are becoming today. The fact that just sixty years ago there were no textbooks for this science is mind-boggling. School has been around in some form since the beginning of time, but like everything else, it’s always advancing and coming up with new stems to fill in more of what was started with. Due to the fact that I love learning new things and am a very motivated and goal-oriented individual, I feel that every concept dealing with motivation will be interesting to me.
Motivation is(are) the reason(s) why a person acts in a certain way and what caused them to do this. A person may have done ________ because they were MOTIVATED by an internal or external motive. They may have done it for someone else but the most cherished is for self-benefit. Finding the underlying cause(s) for actions, thoughts, behaviors, etc., is what general motivation is.
I am not a psychology major and thus the field is a vaguely known subject to me. When it came to a topic I found most interesting, I found I was most intrigued by the historical evolution of motivation. Knowing very little on the subject, I found the progression of motivational theories to be fascinating. Out of the heads of ancient Greek philosophers birthed the basic question of why; why we do the things we do. From there the study of motivation blossomed into the great minds of philosophers and psychologists across the span of time.You see Decartes and the birth of the Will. You see it rise into a grand theory and you see it fall apart. You see Darwin's biological determinism help create Instinct and how powerful this theory was until it was exposed as a circular explanation and went by way of the Will. Then the emergence of Drive and the competing theories of Freud and Hull and its decline into the era of mini theories; motivation theory riding on the backs of other schools of thought, ceasing to be its own. This is most interesting to me because it not only gave me a comprehensive view of the history of the study, but it also exposed the hard work and intellect that was put into such an intangible concept in attempt to wrap a finger around, to try to make it tangible enough for in-depth studies.
Describing Motivation to someone not in the class would be a difficult feat. Seeing that this is my first encounter with the study, my mind is barely grasping it itself. However, I would tell them that it is the study of what compels us to do everything we do from eating and sleeping to thinking and feeling. Its the study of the very thing that is behind every little, minute thing we do.; what causes our behavior. Its something that is hard to study because its hard to determine exactly what it is. Some of it may be controlled by the mind, some by the body, and maybe its all the mind or all the body. Motivation is at the very center of our existence and the study of it is attempting to harness just enough of it to predict and study motivational patterns in all people.
What I found most surprising, or better yet something I had not realized ere knowing very little about the subject, was how detailed it really is. These philosophers and psychologists follow these behaviors down to the very roots to the small, seemingly frivolous things that everyday people don't see as important. I've started looking at even the simplest things that I do and trying to pinpoint a certain reason for my motivation to do so. It takes a scholarly mind and a dedication to the subject to dissect such small behaviors in the name of scientific progression. Motivation is a very detailed and concise study and this is something I had no knowledge of ere this reading. It was both surprising and fascinating.
From reading the first two chapter of our textbook, the most interesting topic to me was actually the explanation what motivation really is and what causes our behavior. There are so many sources of motivation that verify from situation to situation individual to individual.
The easiest way to describe what is motivation, is to say that it is something what causes our behavior. Yet, this is not enough. It is more complicated than that.I would explain it on the example that the author gave us; why do we exercise? There are many reasons: fun, health, good mood, accomplish goal, someone force you to do so, you are inspired to do so, relieve stress... Motivation has two motives: internal and external. Internal- something necessary such as hunger or thirst; cognitions such as our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions which is how we react to the important events in our lives. Thus, external motives are those from environment, social, and cultural sources.
Our motivation changes either go up or down.
What I remember the most from my reading is there are different types of motivation. For example, how we are motivated to achieve success and motivated to avoid failure.Students in the same class have different goals about the subjects; one wants to get an "A", other wants to pass the class. So, they are going to motivated differently, working less or more to achieve their goals.
Also, I would like to add that some people are motivated by their previous failures to work even harder to not fail the next time, some easily give up after many failures. Some, are extremely motivated after their success to at least keep it up or go even higher.A situations like those can be easily observed for instance in sport.
I suppose when looking at the topic of motivation, I am most interested in how I can motivate others (such as persuading people s beliefs and behaviors through their needs, cognitions, emotions, and external events within their lives), as well as how I can motivate myself (in order to better myself in certain aspects of my life where I am simply not motivated to do so). I believe that if I have a better understanding of these two topics, I will be able to progress further in my life by achieving my own personal goals, as well as being able to help those that I care about to achieve their life goals as well.
If I would have to describe to someone who has not taken previously taken this course what motivation is, I would tell them that motivation is what drives our own individual behavior and causes us to either engage in or avoid certain aspects of our environment. We can be motivated either through our needs (what we must have for our own personal well-being and continuation of life), our cognitions (our beliefs, plans and goals, and our understanding of our "self"), our emotions (feelings and response to an environmental condition), and external events (environmental incentives to move or behavior towards or away from events that produce positive consequences and away from those that signal aversive consequences).
I suppose that what I found most interesting within the reading can be found on page 17. On this page it discusses achievement situations and that, people whose goal is to approach success outperform those whom goal is to avoid failure. I suppose that I have never really given any thought to this idea although it makes absolutely perfect sense to me. I suppose this is something I should also begin taking into serious consideration when motivating myself to do well in my classes this semester!
Reading the two chapters, I found that the types of motivation interesting. It was a concept that I hadn't really thought of before, but its clearly there once you are aware of it. That motivation can inspire emotions and behaviors in individuals, but the behaviors themselves differing in intensity. Right along with how these behaviors can differ in intensity among individuals. It was a concept that in my head I was aware of but find interesting when brought to my attention.
Describing this class to someone outside, after reading the assignment, I would describe motivation as a continuous shifting of emotions, and behaviors. All influenced by different internal and external influences on an individual.
A thing I found surprising, was just how young the field was. I new it couldn't' have been that old, as the field of psychology is a young field in itself, but certainly not all that young either. The number surprised me but not the the only thing I found surprising or memorable. What I found memorable really was the fact that field of study on motivation almost fell off the face the earth sort of speak. How it was able to make a come back is indeed memorable.
Looks like the study of motivation has some motivation of its own. At least the individual that have kept it alive and made it into what it is today.
I found it very interesting that studying motivation is a fairly new concept. Courses and textbooks in motivation have only been around for the past 100 years. It will also be interesting to see how this field will change in the next 100 years as more research is conducted!
Motivation seeks to explain why people do what they do. Motivation is what determines the strength and direction of our behavior. Motivation is formed by intermnal motives (needs, cognitions, emotions) and external events. It can vary from person to person and is subject to change in different situations.
The most memorable section to me was learning how the study of motivation has become more science based. As a student who is double majoring in biology and psychology, I have become facinated by how much these two fields can overlap.
I found it very interesting that studying motivation is a fairly new concept. Courses and textbooks in motivation have only been around for the past 100 years. It will also be interesting to see how this field will change in the next 100 years as more research is conducted!
Motivation seeks to explain why people do what they do. Motivation is what determines the strength and direction of our behavior. Motivation is formed by intermnal motives (needs, cognitions, emotions) and external events. It can vary from person to person and is subject to change in different situations.
The most memorable section to me was learning how the study of motivation has become more science based. As a student who is double majoring in biology and psychology, I have become facinated by how much these two fields can overlap.
The most interesting thing I found about the topics covered in Chapters one and two to be about the different ways that people are motivated. I There are two types of motivation that exits. Those types are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is that motivation that comes from within the person. The motivation to due something is due to interest or curiosity about something. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that is due to a goal or tangible outcomes. I found it interesting how students who are more motivated to learn from intrinsic motivation have more creativity, positive emotion, and have better conceptual learning than do other students. However many students are extrinsic motivated and they only study to get good grades or decent grades, they don't just learn because they want to and it interests them.
Motivation is that desire or interest in something to either do for enjoyment or for a desired goal. Motivation lets you know what cause behavior and why does behavior vary in intensity. There are many things that cause us to be motivated to do something, Such things are that a certain behavior is fun, enjoyable, a personal challenge, you are paid or forced to do so, gives heath benefits, it inspires you, puts you in a good mood and helps relieve stress. These are just a few of the many ways people are motivated to do something or a certain behavior. There are also three grand theories to motivation. Those are the will, instinct and drive to do something or some behavior. Will is associated with motivation because will is the choosing or deciding whether to act or not to act. Instinct are the mechanistic and genetic motivations that come from within the biological determinism. Drive is the function of behavior to service bodily needs.
Before reading these two chapters, I never really thought about how motivation is behind all of the things we do on a daily basis. After reading these two chapters, I find myself thinking of the reason I do the things I do every day. The most interesting part to me is learning about all of the different things that motivate us and why they motivate us so much that we turn our motivations into actions. Learning about the different kinds of motivation is really fascinating because once you know more about it, you see it everywhere and all of the time. After reading the first chapter, I see why it took so long for theories on motivation to evolve because what motivates a person is so much more complex than biological needs, instincts, and drive. Motivation varies between each situation and each individual.
To explain motivation to someone who was not in this class, I would start by telling them that motivation is what makes a person do something and is energy and direction that makes them do it. Behind every task we do, there is something that motivates us to do it. I would tell them that the best way to figure out what motivates us to do the things that we do, is to ask the question “why?” I would also mention that motivation drives from internal motives and external motives. There are many different reasons for our actions and they vary among each person and situation.
The most surprising thing that I learned and will remember is the evolution of theories about motivation. How motivational courses and fields have been around for less than 100 years, but questions about the reasoning for our actions have been asked from Ancient Greek times. It was interesting reading how so many people played a huge roles in coming up with a theory for motivation.
Overall, I would have to say the most interesting topic in the first to chapters is the idea of how and why people are motivated and what makes people more motivated to do certain behaviors than others. I have never really given it that much thought. Normally, I just do what I need to get done to survive and live a successful life. I actually have questioned before why some people are so motivated and others aren’t. It’s always interested me when I see two people taking the same class and one student studies constantly for tests, while the other studies very little to none. It’s interesting to see the end result in this is sometimes the person who doesn’t have to study as much still can do very well. It is interesting to learn that this may be because that student actually is motivated, but in a different way. Maybe that student who doesn’t study much pays better attention in class and gets more out of the lectures than the student who has to study a lot. Or, maybe the student’s cognition is much more up to par and can easy understand the information without much effort. All in all, I found it very interesting to get to know reasons why people are more motivated than others and how that motivation is different compared to other kinds.
If I were to describe to someone what motivation is all about I would begin by telling then the definition of motivation as best explained- Reasons, both internal and external that give people the want, need, and energy to perform certain behaviors. Motivation can be caused internally such as wanting to have fun, values, goals, or emotions. They can also be caused externally such as by force or money. These motivational aspects give humans the desire to perform behaviors and be successful in whatever they are doing.
What I found most surprising about these chapters is how many different motives there actually are and how these motives, in different environments, impact different behavior! When I do something I always this it’s because I “have” to, but actually there are much more specific motives such as getting good grades (satisfaction), wanting a good job (goal), outside pressures such as friends and family (external), etc. I also thought it was surprising that motivation benefits adaptation because if someone isn’t motivated, he or she is more likely to give up in the future rather than keep trying. In summary, I found it very surprising that there are so many different motives and reasons people do what they do and that these motives in different environment change behaviors and can benefit adaptation.
As I was reading there were several topics that interested me. When I came across the five specific questions that address behavior I never really thought about why a behavior starts, stops, changes, is sustained over time, or is directed toward some goals and away from another. Coming from a medical background, I normally have a medical diagnosis and H/P available to me and have some insight about people’s behavior. For example, I could see that X amount of years of smoking has a high probability of leading to their current diagnosis and or lifestyle changes. Not having that data and asking the behavior questions makes me look at behavior in a different light. I found the historical perspective of motivation interesting and that this field really has not been around that long, the first textbook wasn’t written until 1964. The theories have certainly changed and have gone from grand theories to mini-theories.
If someone were to ask me what motivation was all about I would tell them that motivation is what gives behavior its energy and direction. There are internal motivators as well as external motivators and motivation can be expressed through behavior, engagement, bran and physiology, and self-reporting. People may do the same thing for different reasons and there are different types of motivation.
One thing that I found surprising was in chapter two regarding the Mid-century Rankings of the 10 Most Important Historical Figures in Psychology, there were no women listed. I guess I just found that odd. I also noticed how motivation has a long history, dating back to the ancient Greeks through European Renaissance to present day. Motivation is much more complex than I ever thought it was; there is an underlying motivation to everything whether we realize it or not.
Reading through the first two chapters got me thinking about a section we discussed in health psychology and how motivational factors determine what type of lifestyle we lead, and how easily outside factors can intervene with our choices; which has a huge impact on our everyday life, which to me is a very interesting concept, something you subconsciously don’t even think about can impact upon your life in such a way.
I would define motivation to someone outside of this course as outside sources that cause us to do or not do something. Whether it be hitting the snooze button for an extra five minutes, or getting up before the alarm goes off.
I found it very surprising that this is such a new study. It’s something that impacts our life every day, and it is just now becoming an area of interest and research.
After attending the first 3 classes and reading the first 2 chapters, I am very excited for this course. As a psych major I have always been interested as to why other people do what they do and what is going on in their head while they are doing it. However, after the first week and a half of this class, I have begun thinking about why I engage in certain behaviors and what are my motives for doing what I do and thinking how I think. I engage in several regular daily behaviors, that seem habitual to me, but I am more aware now as to why I am doing these behaviors. Even more interesting, my friends and I often engage in the same behaviors, but after reading, I coulnd't help but realize that the reasons we do these behaviors, vary greatly. I found two quotes on Page 2 of the book that really stuck with. "Few topics spark and entertain the imagination so well." & "Few topics are more useful to our lives." These quotes really sum up how I feel about the course and makes me even more excited than I already am. Learning simple things like what is motivation, and what are good motivation techniques for me, as well with for other people, I will be able to succeed in my last two years of school and my first few years of my career. This class will, I hope, allow me to become more motivated, recognize when my motivation increases or decresase, and learn new techniques, or better at old ones, to help me stay on top of things when I am feeling down. These are the things I would say to someone not in our class. I would also say that this course is useful to students of all majors because it really will improve the well-being of our lives. The exercise table in the book and that we saw in class, gave me great insight to why I exercise and how the reasons for exercise have change for me, over time. Although this table was strictly discussiing exercise, I was able to see how these reasons could be connected to other behaviors I, and others, engage in.
The thing i found most intersting in these two chapters was the simple defintion of the motivation. ""The study of motivation concerns those processes that give behaviors its energy and direction." This definition can be found on page 8 ad we also discussed it in lecture today. This definition already greatly changed my perception on what motivation is and gave me great insight to what this course is going to entail. I am very excited for the semester and to hopefully begin answering some of life's many "whys?"
The found the subject of internal motives to be the most interesting from these chapters. I thought these were interesting because they are the reasons behind most behaviors. Needs, cognitions, and emotions all determine what we do during our day to day lives.
I think motivation can be explained as a desire to complete a goal. Our individual desire can be determined by various different factors including internal motives and external desires. The more important a goal is to us, the stronger our desire will be. This important goal causes us to behave in ways that will make us reach our goal. This can be applied to everyday events such as eating, or larger events such as graduating college.
The thing I found most surprising from the chapter was the “unmotivating factors” of motivation. Things that are unpleasant to us can serve as equally motivating to us as things we enjoy. These are called avoidance tendencies.
From my reading, the twenty four theories of motivation and emotion were the most interesting. I would really like to come up with my own theory on a psychological topic so I am always interested in learning about theories that other people originally came up with. I am specifically interested in the ego development study because I think that is a topic that is under-researched. I am very interested in celebrity because people in this country are OBSESSED with celebrity and I think that the majority of celebrities are clinically insane. I think the environment they are in, combined with the size of their ego causes them to believe that they are in some kind of separate world from the rest of us causing them to be delusional. People literally worship celebrities and I think that is one MAJOR problem in American society.
Also, I just read an interesting article that discussed a man who was completely normal for the majority of his life. He had a wife and kids, steady job, financially stable, and mentally stable. One day he starts realizing that he has these urges to murder people. He starts seeing a therapist about this but eventually he stops therapy and goes on a killing spree. Turns out, his motivation was not anything that he could have avoided. No, instead it was a TUMOR in his brain. Once the tumor was removed all of the prior urges ceased. I think that motivation is a topic that goes WAY further than we think and we might have a much smaller role in our free decision making then we think.
If I had to describe motivation to someone outside of our class, I would probably say that motivation is the force that drives us to do the things we do. There are a million factors that go into it and no decision is ever made based on one motive. I could go way more in detail but since the question asked me about describing motivation to someone outside of the course, I wouldn't try to bore them with details.
I was surprised at how accurate Freud's view on motivation seems to be. He says that once a physiological need reaches the threshold level of urgency, (e.g., lack of food) bodily deficit becomes psychological drive. The mind then goes into a state of anxiety that motivates an individual to search for an object capable of removing bodily deficit.
Now his theory definitely received criticism as every theory does, but it seems pretty accurate to me and makes a lot of sense. One of the criticisms was that he overestimated biological influences on motivation but I think biological influences are the MOST driving motivators. But...I also tend to agree with Freud in many of his theories.
Motivation is a pretty cool thing to study and I am excited to learn more about why we behave the way we do...especially when it comes to biological motivators.
The topic that intrigued me most was learning about the different reasons why one can be motivated to do a certain activity. Two people may be performing the same task but the reasons why they are performing the task may be completely different. Someone may be doing their homework because they need to get a good grade, while another may be doing the same homework but only be doing it because they do not have a choice. With that, the intensity of the behavior also varies. For the one who needs to get a good grade they will likely be putting in a lot of effort and the person who is only doing it because they do not have a choice may not be putting as much effort into it. I have never really thought that everything I do has is because of some motivation and the fact that there are so many reasons you could be doing something is insane to think about.
Motivation in the simplest way is basically why you do the things you do. If someone is thirsty they are going to get something to drink and attempt to quench their thirst. Everything you do has a reason behind it; even the simplest of things has some motivation behind that. Also, the intensity of your motivation varies greatly with each task. If you want something to drink you might want to have something to drink, but if you are not that thirsty you may not want to get up to get something to drink.
I think what has stuck most with me in this reading is the different reasons for accomplishing some task. Each person has different goals that they have set and so two people may be studying for a test but hoping to achieve something entirely different. Thus, their intensity of performing such a task will be completely different. Now every time I am doing something I am probably going to ask myself why I am doing it.
The topic that I found most interesting was how motivation benefits adaptation. I honestly have never spent much time considering how motivation influences and drives people, and I especially have not thought about how motivation is a very positive force that allows us to essentially survive. We constantly find ourselves in various situations and environments, some good and some bad. Motivation is a force that allows us to make it through the constant change and cope with whatever comes our way. We face changes in stress, relationships, hunger, thirst, classes, and amounts of sleep, to name a few. Through all these changes we must have a drive to get us through the day until we get food, or something to drink, or a relief from stress. And this drive is motivation. Without motivation we end up feeling hopeless and as if we have no control over our lives and we end up “floundering”, as the author puts it. Therefore motivation is very adaptive and allows us to make the most of our lives and make it through the constant changes and hardships.
I would describe motivation as a drive that directs various behaviors, some favorable and others not. There are internal motives that drive us, such as needs, cognitions, and emotions, as well as external events, such as our environments, friends, and family. All of these drives come together to influence us into certain directions and behaviors. Hunger, for instance, is a motivation to find food. If we didn’t have hunger as a motivation, we would never feel the drive to eat and would become malnourished. Motivation allows us to adapt to situations and cope through our changing world.
The most memorable thing I learned about in this reading is all the different sources of motivation, and especially how they are applied to exercise. I am trying to start exercising and working out more regularly again, and so reading through all the different sources of motivation, and how they can all be applied to exercise, really showed me I have no excuse not to exercise.
One topic that I found interesting was the fact that motivation can influence life outcomes depending on our quality of performances and well-being. It can also influence our thoughts, dreams and goals. For example, what we do and how we do tasks in our college years can affect our future careers. If one doesn’t do homework or attend lectures, they may receive bad grades. Bad grades could reflect a bad GPA and may inhibit someone’s ability to get a job. If one has bad grades it can be inferred that they have poor motivation and work ethic. Why would an employer want to hire someone in a prestigious career if they possessed these qualities?
Motivation is what causes people to do what they do and what sustains that motivation. It gives behavior its energy (strength) and direction (achieving a goal). We can be motivated by internal motives, such as needs or emotions or external motives such as the environment, or social events. Motivation varies in intensity depending on what task we are trying to accomplish.
I think the most surprising thing is that intensity and reasoning behind motivation are different for everyone. Depending on what type of task you are trying to accomplish will determine if you have strong or weak motivation. For example, if you have to get an “A” on an exam to pass a class, the intensity of your motivation to study for the test will be high. If you can get a “C” on the exam to pass a class, the intensity of motivation to study will be very low. Also reasoning behind motivation varies. In the above example, you are studying very hard for the exam because you need to pass the class in order to graduate. Depending on the task and the reasoning for doing the task will vary in intensity and be different from person to person.
The first thing that I found interesting from the readings was the motivational reasons to exercise. These reasons gave me a better understanding of why I run, and some other reasons why I may be motivated to run as I grow older. I’ve gone through quite a few of the sources of motivation. I was in cross country when I was in high school so the extrinsic motivation was a big one I have ran into. The other thing I like about these readings was the overall explanation behind motivation. I had understood the basics behind motivation but I never really thought about the different behavioral expressions of motivation. Latency was the most interesting to me because sometimes people will get a text about work and chose to wait until later to answer.
If I had to describe to someone from an outside class what motivation is, I would tell them that motivation is what causes us to perform a certain behavior in order to satisfy needs, cognition, or emotions. These behaviors can come from either internal or external and can be positive or negative and the motivation can vary degrees.
The most surprising thing for me was the number of different levels of intensity for motivation. I knew there were different levels but I just never looked at it that closely to realize it. I used to look at it like one either has motivation or doesn’t have it. After the reading, I realize there are many different levels, varying from no motivation all the way up to (including the levels in between) very high motivation.
One topic that I found very interesting is the motivational reasons behind doing something. The example used in the book was for exercising. I liked seeing the many different sources of motivation that people have in regards to exercising. It shows that one person’s idea of motivation may not be the same as someone else’s.
If I had to describe motivation to someone that was not in the class, I would start of by letting them know its complex and not just one simple definition. I would then tell them motivation focuses on one main question, this question being “what causes behavior”. After understanding this, I would explain that motivation is also the energy and direction that gives behavior meaning. I would be sure to explain that motivation is not stagnant; it is a process that is continually changing. Because of this, it can vary across time and situations. I would end by restating that motivation is very complex and cannot be described in one short sentence. I would then encourage them to take the class!
The most memorable thing about these chapters comes from chapter two. I found it very interesting that motivation dates all the way back to the Greeks. It was really neat to read through the chapter and just see how the views of motivation have changed.
What I find interesting overall is how some people are more motivated than others to behave in risky activities like myself such as skydiving, white water rafting, and bungy jumping. I discovered that the term for this is intrinsic motivation because I want to behave in these certain activties whereas others may be part of extrinsic motivation because they are peer pressured into participating in these activities that don't interest them. It is suprising to me that they now have a more empirical and data based form of studying motivation known as "motivational science." In addition, I was interested in the varying aspects of motivation when it comes to exercise. It surprised me all the ways that motivation can be broken down into a simple activity such as exercise. I would define motivation as a process that drives us to behave in a certain manner to achieve our goal whether it be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Therefore, depending on the activity we may put forth more or less energy in order to accomplish this goal. It was interesting to read the physiological aspect (pupil size, heart rate, palpation) of expressing motivation because I was more familiar with people expressing themselves through behavior and engagement.
Chapter two included a lot of interesting information revealing historical figures and dated back to the first studies of motivation as a concept. Many theories about what drives motivation have been developed including a grand theory to help understand the wide range of motivations. The most interesting information, in my opinion, came from chapter one. Specifically how motivation varies in intensity. Motivation is a complex idea bringing up many questions. The thought that two very similar individuals, say best friends, may experience motivation on very different scales. One example, for instance, may include participating in a pickup basketball game. One individual may be strongly motivated to compete and wanting to play all day. The other friend, however, may attempt to engage in these activities but find very little motivation and desire this particular day to play. This helps reveal an intensity differential between the two individuals. Motivation is both mysterious and private. By simply looking at these two individuals we would be unable to understand their motivation, but instead make observations based on the physical actions and behaviors exhibited. We might observe the less motivated individual showing little effort by refusing to run down the court. Also, our motivations change from day to day.
I would describe motivation to someone outside of this class as a feeling, or feelings, that inhibit behavior. Our internal and external motivations are based primarily on needs and motivations direct our behavioral actions.
The most memorable thing I learned in the reading is the section on self-report. This section explained how forms of self-reported data may not always be the most accurate. While interviews and questionnaires may be easier to conduct, they may be fabricated. Perhaps behavioral expressions most accurately depict ones motivations.
My book is in the mail still, so will get it done asasp.
I thought it was interesting to think about my own motives, and why I make the actions I do. When the book questioned me within the first sentences, it forced me to think. I read this section before I attended a class, and I diagnosis everything that happened during the class. I began to question why students have the motive to ask questions, or why some students were taking notes verse the students who weren’t. It was intriguing to take something for one class and apply it to everyday life. Especially, when it isn’t something a person doesn’t think about on a daily basis.
After reading this chapter, I learned motivation is an intangible thing to describe. It is something that we use every second throughout the day. It is never amiss; however, we cannot see or feel it. In some instances, it is extremely hard to place a description upon it. Motivation is the underlying source of our feelings, actions, and thoughts. It drives us to do daily tasks and unconscious actions throughout the day. It is the reason we do what we do. Motivation is not effected just by internal mechanisms, but it is also affected by external events such as our environment, culture, and even our acquaintances. Each of these are expressed in four categories to describe an individual’s engagement. Each individual’s motivation is unique to them. Two individuals in the same situation may have two separate reasons for why the acted the way they did.
The most surprising thing that stood out to me was the idea that everyone’s motivations are different. The example the book described was being a part of a team. Each individual had its own reasoning for being there such as exercise, fun, or a life goal; yet, each member overall objective was to play the same game as everyone else. To me, it is interesting to think about this concept in everyday life. I can apply this to my constituents in class. I am curious to know why each student is there and what their reasoning for choosing that specific class is even though each of us general aim is to pass the class.
The things I found really interesting about the chapter included the sources of motivation. I’ve thought about motivation before but never in such detail and I never could have derived so many different reasons people do things (14 is a lot of reasons). The example of exercise was a great one that explained each source well. Flow in particular has always been of interest to me since I learned about it in another psychology class.
Motivation is not inspiration (like those inspirational quotes on posters with nice pictures) – something I’m sure everyone who hasn’t been in a class involving motivation would confuse with each other. A basic definition might be motivation is the reason we behave as we do at any given moment. Simply asking why we do things isn't quite enough, though. There is so much more to it, so much interaction. Even the same behavior can have different motivation for the same person at different times or for different people at the same time.
The most surprising thing, though it really isn't all that surprising when I thought about it, was the root of motivational science in philosophy. There is a very strong bridge between the subjects of philosophy and psychology and motivation is just another one of those spots where the two connect. Philosophers ask why and so do psychologists. All the history of philosophers and their theories was very interesting to read and see how it has developed over time.
The original reason why I choose to become a psychology major and became interested in the subject is because I wanted to understand human behavior and understand why people do the things that we do. So it is easy to see that the whole topic of motivation would be extremely interesting to me. In these first two chapters the most interesting thing to me was learning about what exactly motivation is and learning about how many different types of motivation there is as well as the many different ways in which it is expressed.
Motivation can be most easily described as the reason that we do the things that we do. Motivation determines why we start a behavior, how long we continue this behavior, whether we change our behavior or discontinue the behavior. Motivation can come from external events such as environmental sources, societal expectations, social influence from our friends or family and cultural expectations. Motivation can also come from internal motives. There are three internal motives; our needs (bodily needs to stay alive and well), cognitions (thoughts beliefs and expectations for ourselves), and emotions (how we reaction to the events we experience). A single behavior can be caused by multiple types of motivation, and may be caused by different motives in different people.
I think that the most memorable thing that I learned during this reading was that the origins of motivation lie within the origins of philosophy. I have taken philosophy courses before and it was very interesting to look at the famous Greek philosophers as the first people to study and look at motivation.
The most interesting topic to me was the graph that showed how we posses different levels of motivation for different things at all times (figure 1.4). When I'm sitting in the library studying I don't think about all of the different things that I am feeling motivated to do. In fact, I generally feel that I am being motivated to only do one thing, study. Once I choose to move on to another task I feel as if I am no longer motivated to study at all and am just focused on eating, for example. However, once I gave more thought to the subject I realized that I would still be feeling motivated to study just not nearly as much, along with feeling motivated to perform other activities.
I would describe motivation as both the internal and external forces acting on us at all times that help shape all of the decisions that we make. This could be something that we choose to do in order to achieve a desired outcome (approach tendency) or to avoid an undesirable outcome (avoidance tendency).
The thing that surprised me the most is how many different motivation theories have been hypothesized over the years.
The topic that was most interesting to me in these two chapters is the motivation-based reasons to exercise that were in Table 1.1. I know that most people do not enjoy exercising or exercise for the fun of it, which is why there has to be other reasons why people exercise. Before I seen this table I did not really think about the many other reasons why people exercise other than for the fact that they are trying not to gain weight and/or to stay healthy. I learned a lot from this table and found it fascinating.
If I were to describe to someone not in this class what motivation is all about, I would tell them that motivation is what drives people to accomplish a specific goal. Motivation is usually seen as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from internal factors, such as wanting to do something for the fun of it. External motivation comes from factors outside a person, such as exercising and being paid to help others exercise. Motivation also concerns processes that give behavior its energy and direction, which can also be seen as why people do what they do.
The most surprising thing to me in this reading would be that the study of motivation is a pretty new topic. I was really surprised that the topic of motivation has been around for less than a century. I thought of motivation as something that has always been around, so I was surprised that there was nobody studying this topic into more depth earlier than the past one-hundred years.
My opinion on what topic was most interesting is probably biased by the other classes I am taking this semester. I am taking both Industrial and Organizational Psychology, so the science behind motivating other people, especially groups of people rather than individuals, was the most interesting. Motivating an individual is so very different than motivating a group. It actually reminded me of your frequent comment that motivational posters in a work setting (or really anywhere) are total bunk. It would be neat to relate this class back to my Organizational class, after talking about the Hawthorne effect where novel changes make short term impacts on performance. Now I want to read about ways to make a long term impact on performance in work environments.
Based on this chapter, I would tell people that Motivation is a combination of energy and direction. The simplicity of that statement stuck with me from the chapter and lecture. The science of Motivation psychology focuses on why we do what we do and what causes the specifics of the behavior, such as when the behavior starts and stops and how long it lasts in between.
The most memorable thing I read was in Chapter two, on the discussion of the philosophical origins of motivational concepts. I knew that some history might involve evolution and survival tactics, but I didn't think to consider Motivational psychology from a philosophical standpoint. Reading about different theories from the history of famous philosophers was pretty neat, in my opinion. I've heard philosophy discuss free will and the purpose of what we do, but the philosophy behind why we do what we do was memorable to me.
The topic of motivation, in itself, is quite fascinating to me but if I had to pick what I was most interested in, I guess it would be internal motivation. I know that in the past, I have struggled with my own motivation on certain tasks (for instance, reading chapters and completing writing assignments) so this time around, I'm very motivated to really understand this subject. Especially now, since my internship does have a component of trying to motivate other people to not only comply with the terms of their probation but to also try and motivate them to want to straighten out their life. Without having the basic understanding of their needs, cognitions, or emotions, this task would be nearly impossible because all I would be doing is providing extrinsic motivation (i.e., possible revocation of their probation).
From my understanding of the chapter, motivation is an action (like a cognitive thought, or a physiological process/need) that propels us to perform and persist in a certain behavior(s) whether positive or negative.
The most memorable thing that I found in the chapter was the expression of motivation. This is because virtually everything that we do is an expression of our motivations. Right now, I am sitting in front of a computer and typing. This seemingly simple and straight-forward task can be broken down to show several behavioral expressions of my motivation to complete this assignment so that I do not receive a poor grade. For example, this assignment has taken me a while to do because I have been struggling to keep my attention on it (my youngest son can be a big distraction for me). However, I am exhibiting persistence in completing it rather than giving up because it is important for me to finish it. Additionally, I am making a choice to complete this assignment rather than spending my time doing something else like playing with my new phone. All in all, what seemed like a mundane behavior of typing on a computer actually revealed my level of motivation to complete a specific task.
I thought it was really interesting to learn how motivation is such a constant part of life, rather than only being a part of life when you're studying, working out, going to work, or eating healthy, etc. Humans are constantly behaving-- whether they are eating, sleeping, or studying for a test. After reading chapter one, I am able to look at life in a different light--especially when considering my own motives. Why do I do the things I do, and why others are doing what they are doing. What is motivating them? Why am I not motivated by what they are motivated by? How can I motivate others?
Humans are behaving every moment of life, and motivation is a constant, and constantly changing part of life. It includes the processes that drive the energy and purpose of each behavior as well as the duration of the behavior, the starting and stopping of a behavior, etc. Motivation is behind every behavior and different people may have different sources of motivation. For example, someone may be motivated by internal purposes like going to church, because they believe in God and being christian is part of their self-concept, and others may be motivated by external events like going to church, because their family will be angry with them if they don't go to church with the family.
One of the most surprising things that was touched upon in chapter one was the fact that people may be partaking in the same behavior for completely different reasons. Because they are doing the same thing, does not mean they are motivated to do so for the same reasons. One example would be someone might be studying for a test because they want to get an A in the class (approach) and another person might be studying for a test because they don't want to fail the class(avoidance).
For chapter 1, I guess I knew what motivation was from previous psychology classes. But I didn’t know that there was so much more to in when the book started breaking down all of the different elements, factors, and intensities that contributes to motivation. The section I really liked the most was ‘Themes in the Study of Motivation’ under Motives Vary Over time and Influence the Ongoing Stream of Behavior. What I liked was that it talked about how we have needs and drives but we act according to the one that is most dominate at the time. How motives like eating never really go away but instead lay dormant because another motive is more intense then it is. At first I was a little confused because I thought the motive to eat would all of disappear after someone has eaten because they no longer and any motive to eat (let alone look at food depending on how full they are). But then I thought of another example (just to try and wrap my head around the idea), someone is working on a project and is hungry at the same time. To me this makes sense, even when they person is really hungry they will continue to work because the motive to finish the project is greater than the need to eat.
Chapter 2, Instinct really caught my attention because it seemed like something that was in our DNA. Yet when a list of the different types of instincts was being put together it had over 6,000 different instincts on it! That just seems a little much to me. I thought they would be more narrowed down so that different characteristics would go under different types of instincts (example: survival).
If I had to describe to someone what motivation was all about I would say that it is the different drives and emotions that affect our actions and ability to make decisions. I used this terminology in one sentence because someone who is not in our class my not understand terminology the way it is meant to be used (fully understand the meanings).
Most interesting to me is how self-report is generally unreliable. Essentially, it implies that we, as humans, either don’t even know ourselves or are unwilling to accept ourselves as we are. Whether motivations and/or behaviors are instinctive, learned, or both, there is a certain degree of unconscious decision-making that may differ from what we either think we are (identity) or would have done (action) had we consciously chose our behaviors or had control of our motivations. This also approaches the concept that the “self” is not one but two – a duality in constant internal conflict.
Also very interesting is the extent to which motivations/wants/desires are developed as a result of the environment we are immersed in. If our experiences, role models, cultural norms and expectations, “help us acquire different goals, values, attitudes, expectations, performance expectations, ways of explaining our successes and failures, personal aspirations, and sense of self” (p. 18), then each of us has the potential to become highly motivated. However, what is the likelihood of change (or even rehabilitation if one can consider lack of motivation a deficiency) if a child is not surrounded by a supportive network during those most formative years of development? Since motivation experiences a beginning, period of change, and termination, does this provide a kid a “second chance” to experience that personal growth and sense of control over their own “capacity to generate motivation of one’s own”? (p. 14)
My description of motivation to someone not in the class: Motivation is a stimulus that prioritizes our actions to meet what we perceive (either cognitively or biologically) to be our foremost needs.
Most surprising or memorable thing learned from these chapters: In chapter two’s description of Plato’s and Aristotle’s organization of motivations, I found it interesting that the rational/calculating category (involving intention, choice, and the WILL), was considered the soul’s highest level – divine/immortal. To make a choice was to be in power -- a characteristic of the Gods. Even when the three categories were reduced to the dualism of passions of the body vs. reasons of the mind, the rational and intelligent were grouped with the spiritual. I personally think that the spiritual fits better with the irrational/unexplained, as it is more “felt” or experienced that reasoned to any degree.
Throughout the readings I was most intrigued with the the idea of 'source of motivation'; much like people today and people before us have been. Motivation has been studied for years and the believed source of motivation has changed. From The "Grand Theories" proposed by Freud, Hull, and other famous scholars, to the theory of incentive and arousal, and finally to the many 'mini-theories' we accept today; the source of motivation is always changing. This ever-changing source is not much different to other aspects in related fields. In our government, our public policy process in also very fluid. We rewrite policy much like we have changed our belief on the source of motivation. Both are impacted by environmental factors.
As I delved deeper into the chapters I found certain phrases that aroused my curiosity. One was, "motivation is private, unobservable, and seemingly mysterious experience." (p10) We as individuals generally know why we engage in the activities we do, however, outsiders trying to decipher our actions do not. People my express what their motives are, however, expressions, both physiological and behavioral may tell another tale. Therefore, it is often not a good idea to rely on self -report data.
The idea I most liked in the reading was the metaphor of motives as an ongoing stream. Everyday our motives change. Intensity may be increased or decreased by the amount of arousal an event causes. This stream combines behaviors and lets them flow freely depending on our internal and external motives including: needs, emotions, cognition, and everything else (environmental, social, etc.).
If attempting to describe motivation to someone who had no prior knowledge I would tell them that motivation is all about looking at why people do what they do and also at how behaviors vary in intensity. For example, how two people can study for the same amount of time (2 hrs) and one person is able to finish only one assignment while the other was able to finish three.
The topic most interesting to me is all of the different sources of motivation. Table 1.1 in the text shows there are at least 14 sources of motivation just for exercising. This was also the most surprising thing I learned about in this reading. I had no idea that there were so many sources of motivation! I had heard and read about some of these sources of motivations on the list in other classes, including intrinsic/extrinsic, flow, and goal, but I didn’t realize there were so many others. I am looking forward to diving deeper into these topics as we go on throughout the semester.
Another interesting thing I learned in reading the first two chapters was that even though the scientific study of motivation isn’t that old, the philosophical roots go all the way back to the Greeks—Socrates, Plato (Socrates’ student), and Aristotle. Those Greeks contributed so much to a variety of topics. Though it would be cool to live back in time with the Greeks, I enjoy much more learning about the practical applications of motivation that scholars have discovered in more recent centuries.
A third thing that interests me is that the topics of motivation and emotion can be paired with and applied to many other studies. I am a double major in Psychology and Leisure, Youth, and Human Services, and we also talk about many of the forms of motivation discussed within our first few chapters within my LYHS classes. Being a double major, I like being able to apply what I learn in my psych classes to the hands-on learning within my LYHS classes.
If I had to describe to someone not in this class what motivation is all about, I’d tell them that motivation was the factor/cause that makes a person behave in a certain way. It’s what gives them the “urge” to do something. I’d tell them that the topic of motivation, though defined somewhat easily, is way more complex than one can initially imagine—that it has relationships with many other specialty areas of psychology.
Before I sat down and began reading Our text book “Understanding Motivation and Emotion” I pondered as to what exactly Motivation and Emotions was. To my amazement all that came to me was the basic definition for both motivation and emotion, little did I know that there was more to it than having the motivation to accomplish something and the feelings one encounter in everyday life.
It was quite insightful reading both chapters. In chapter one we learn why motivation is important, different motivation-based reasons why a person exercises, the two perennial questions that revolves around the study of motivation, the processes that energizes and direct behavior, and the differences between latency and persistence, of course much more was discussed in chapter one but these were some of the topics I found rather interesting. Once may ask why is studying motivation and emotion important? Its important because it helps us gain the capacity to explain why people do what they do.
The study of motivation can tell us how we can improve our lives and the lives of others. It provides an opportunity to gain both theoretical understanding and practical know-how. Studies of motivation revolve around providing the best possible answers to two fundament questions 1) what causes behavior and why does behavior vary in its intensity. First what causes behavior, to really explain what causes behavior we need to ask a series of five questions: why does behavior start, once begun why is behavior sustained over time, why is behavior directed toward some goals yet away from others ( for example why does an athlete have ample motivation to want to play sports but not to study? What causes that particular motivation?) why does behavior change its direction. And why does behavior stop? what energizes an athlete to practice day after day? Motivation is a dynamic process always changing always rising and falling once motive dominates our attention while others lie relatively dormant . Students or people who learn out of intrinsic motivation show more creativity positive emotion and conceptual learning thus are more motivated to learn and have the persistence to continue learning oppose to those who learn via extrinsic motivation .
Similarly a lot of information was covered in chapter two, for examples the philosophical origins of motivational concepts, the grand theories, and the more new mini theories. The concepts of motivation have changed and developed, were challenged and replaced from three Grand theories will, instinct, and drive that seek to explain the full range of motivated action ( why we eat drink, work, play, compete, fear things etc.). To now’s mini-theories in which limit their attention to specific motivational phenomena that emerged in the 1960’s. the mini theories include achievement motivation theory, self efficacy theory, cognitive dissonance theory, flow theory, learned helplessness theory etc. the change in perspective opened the intellectual floodgates for the arrival of the mini- theories and the new paradigm in which behavior is energized and directed by a multitude of co-acting influences rather than by a single grand cause.
The item that interested me most in the readings was the explanation of approach and avoidance tendencies. It made me cock my head to the side and say, "Huh." Maybe we have a tendency to think of motivation only as a positive thing because it can be a self-help buzzword. I think it's easy to forget the flip side--that aversive motives are also important to our understanding of this subject.
To someone not in this class, I'd explain that motivation is all about understanding (through glorious science!) where our behavior comes from: why it starts, stops, continues, or gets more or less intense. It's about studying the processes that give the aforementioned behavior its energy and direction, to paraphrase the text. And then we put all that information into boxes with neat little labels.
The thing that kind of surprised me was seeing all the "mini-theories" related to the ME field. I recognized many of them. In this class, I thought I'd be exploring a lot of new territory, but it looks like there's some familiar ground here.
The topic I found most interesting was the actual explanation of motivation. Motivation is different for so many people and varies on situational factors and individual differences. Two people could be taking this class and one could be working two weeks ahead and the other could be doing assignments right before they are due.
To someone who hasn’t taken this course, I would describe motivation as specific factors that influence our behavior. It is determined by our needs, emotions, and desires. I would give an example of working out to help explain. People work out for various different reasons from wanting to feel good, look good, or simply to have good health.
I found it most interesting how many different motivational factors there from biological to social to emotional. I always looked at it as I have to go to work, but really there is no one forcing me to go. My motivation to go is that I have bills to pay, so I need to go to work to get a paycheck to pay them, as well as money for food to survive. I'm not going to work because I'm just being forced too.
The topic I found most interesting was the different types of motivation that exist. Although many people like coaches, managers, and teachers believe its is all about the intensity of motivation, theorists have a different view. They believe motivation comes in different types or kinds. Theorists concentrate less on the motivation's level of intensity and more on the the question of why someone is performing a task or carrying out a behavior. Two main types of motivation theorist suggest are intrinsic and extrinsic. Using school work as an example, someone who is intrinsically motivated will do there school work for the sake of learning. A person who is extrinsically motivated will do their school work in order to get good grades.
Motivation is all about why we do what we do. Motivation involves the processes that give our behavior energy and direction. Energy here means behaviors have an intensity level. Direction means all our behaviors have a purpose. There are processes that give our behaviors this energy and direction. Needs thoughts and emotions provide internal motivation while we gain external motivation from our social cultural and physical environments.
One of the points that really sparked my interest in these chapters talked about how we often do not realize what is motivating us to carry out our daily routines. I write a lot of to do lists for the things I would like to accomplish each day, and I began writing the day’s to do list soon after reading the chapters. With the text fresh in my mind, I found myself analyzing my motivations behind each task. I had to get groceries, the obvious motivation being survival and comfort. Although I have enough ramen noodles in my kitchen to survive, I still found it necessary to procure more satisfying foods. I also planned on going to the gym, not only to stay healthy but also for a myriad of less obvious social reasons. Then of course I had to work on homework and run miscellaneous errands for school. My motivation to attend school and do well in my classes stems from many different sources including my own curiosity, social pressure to be perceived as successful, and survival through the acquisition of funds.
I found many aspects of the reading interesting. One thing that particularly struck me was that before I read chapter one, I only thought of motivation as something we need and receive on occasion, like when needing to complete a big task or when doing something out of the ordinary. However, really essentially everything we do has a motivation behind it. I liked thinking about reading this book as an example. Why am I reading the book? Is it because I’m interested in the subject matter? Is it because I want a good grade? Is it so I don’t have to use a “gimme” in the next in-class quiz bowl?
Motivation is obviously an incredibly immense and complex concept to try to define simply. However, were I to try to explain it to someone who was not in this class what motivation is, I would simply answer with “It’s the WHY.” WHY does someone do this or that? WHY does someone’s reason to behave a certain way vary? WHY does a person’s behavior change? WHY do different people have different reasons to do something? The WHY list can go on and on, like a 5th grader on a long car ride with their parents. The answers to these WHYs are what give our behavior energy and direction. These motives can either be internal or external. Internal motives are Needs (physiological or psychological necessities), Cognitions (the way we think or perceive), or Emotions (short lived phenomena in reaction to the events in our lives).
I think one thing that struck me as something else that I hadn’t thought of before, or something that stuck with me, is the concept that motivation is NOT a universal trait that can be achieved. I think many people think motivation is a general feeling that varies in amount, so you can just “get more motivation,” like how you fill up gas in a car. In reality, motivation is incredibly different from person to person, even if performing the same task or behavior. For example, let’s say my friend and I both join the (hypothetical) UNI Iguana Club. My friend might have joined the iguana club because he has a passion and interest in iguanas. On the other hand, maybe I joined because the girl I had a huge crush on was also in the Iguana Club. Same action, two very different motivations. This just goes to show how intrinsically different people and their motivations can be.
Yay Iguanas?
Sources of Motivation
While reading chapters 1 and 2, the most interesting piece of information I found dealt with motivation, and why it differs from person to person. Some people complete a task or live their lives due to internal, person factors; while other people go about life due to external factors, like getting recognition from people or getting a raise for doing a good job at where they work.
For example, I know someone who gets A’s and B’s in college, and they try hard to because they know it will make their family (more specifically their parents) happy and proud of them. My other friend works hard and gets good grades in college, because she likes to feel good about herself, and knows if she does well in school, she’ll feel positive about herself, unlike my first friend who won’t feel positive or good about herself until she gets that recognition from her parents.
This whole knowledge about my two friends relates to the readings because Table 1.1 talks about motivational reasons for a certain behavior (in this instance, its getting good grades in college) . My first friend who works hard for her parents, her source of motivation would be an Achievement Striving, because she knows her parents have a standard of excellence she feels she needs to meet. Another source of motivation my first friend is experiencing are introjections, or trying to alleviate guilt. She’s had brothers and sisters who have failed at getting a good college degree, and my first friend feels the need to make up the slack & failure her brothers and sisters had.
My second friend, who works hard in college for herself and for good feelings of self-esteem, I believe her source of motivation comes from Perceived Competence. She believes that doing well in college, and getting good grades results in a positive self concept. She will feel good about herself, knowing she can get good marks, and this Perceived Competence will help her have future feelings of positive self worth, and have more success in the future. She’s proud of herself, and does not need anyone elses approval to get this good feeling.
Both my friends do well in school, but the reasons why they do well are very different. After reading both chapters, I chose to write on Sources of Motivation, because personally I could relate that section very close to my own life.
Waiting for my book in the mail, should be tomorrow :)
One of the more interesting parts of the selected reading to me was the definition of the study of motivation as the processes that give behavior its energy and direction or something similar. Prior to the introduction for this class I had always defined motivation as what causes us to do any particular action. This is true in a roundabout way, but the textbook’s definition is much clearer than that. When we focus on the energy and purpose of our life and our decisions, our motivations become much more recognizable. As the saying goes, pursuit is the proof of desire. One can say, I myself often do, that I am motivated to learn as much as I can from my college courses and textbooks. However, one just needs to look at where my energy and purpose lie to truly determine if that is the case. My freshman year I very rarely thoroughly read the textbook; I definitely did NOT take notes in class for any reason whatsoever. My energy was not used to learn as much from the course, readings and professor. Rather, it was used to do just enough to ensure I received an ‘A’ in the course. Therein lies my purpose: to receive an ‘A’ to boost my GPA and to make myself valuable in the eyes of future employers.
This leads me to my next point of interest, which as Pirate Chaser pointed out, is our own motivations. This year, as a sophomore, I have devoted a considerably greater amount of time and effort to actually learn the material. This could be for a variety of reasons. I could have more free time than last year (though, that one is a bit doubtful). I could be made to feel guilty by my studious, hardworking roommate’s example. I could want to be a better student or my classes could be that much harder I have to actually study and read the material in depth. However, upon further reflection and analysis of the textbook (See, I’m actually reading this one quite thoroughly), it seems that I am motivated by intrinsic motivation as compared to extrinsic. Extrinsically, I was (and still am) under pressure to receive good grades so that I could keep my scholarship, graduate, and seem knowledgeable and successful to potential employers. Now, however, I have gotten into some of the classes for my new major and it just seems ‘right.’ I am interested in the topics and actually WANT to learn about them. I’m also much more engaged, behaviorally, cognitively and even emotionally. Though, I haven’t quite gotten to the point of much voice engagement, though I imagine that will come. From reading the textbook, all of this seems to be from intrinsic motivation as it is something I WANT to do rather than something I HAVE to do to maintain a certain image or reputation.
In relation to this, I also found it extremely interesting what the book mentioned about self-reporting of one’s own motivations. It also makes a lot of sense. “What people say their motives are sometimes are not what people’s behavioral and physiological expressions suggest their motives are” (Reeve, 2009). An example of this would be how the book mentioned someone who professes low anger rates, but angers rather quickly. People tend to say things that make them look better, and not always intentionally either. Sometimes, they have a somewhat distorted self-perception, which can cause problems. This relates back to the idea that motivation as the processes that give behavior energy and direction. Someone can say they are devoted to community service, but if they tend to spend time watching movies, hanging out with friends, sleeping and doing stuff to better their life while never volunteering to help anyone else, their energy is NOT being devoted towards community service. Their true purpose wouldn’t be to serve, but rather to enjoy life or something similar.
In short, this was a really captivating read and encourages me that my major change was the right decision.
The topic that I found most interesting in these readings was the discussion of internal motives and external events that elicitmotivation. I’ve had the opportunity toget a basic understand of the main division between internal and externalmotivation, but the division further peaked my interest while reading the bookchapters. External events seem to be theeasier way to motivate someone, but from the readings and other course work,internal motives seem to have a stronger impact. The downside to motivation from externalevents seems to be the external event or reward needs to continue in order tocontinue the motivation from the external force. However, with internal motives, rewards orevents don’t need to be repeated and that motivation seems like it would belonger lasting and more effective.
Although motivation is used in everyday language, asolid definition that explains the term is a little complicated. Motivation is rooted in the idea that it is aprocess that starts with some sort of internal or external drive or force thatelicits some sort of behavior, cognition, or emotion. The motivation gives the behavior, cognition,or emotion direction and energy, meaning that it will focus the drive orforce. There are situational factorsthat can cause motivation to take different routes, but the basic idea is thatsome drive produces motivation in someone to do something, think aboutsomething, or feel about something.
The surprising part of the chapter was the twenty-four different theories that are associated with motivation andemotion. At first, I thought this listwas a little extensive, but as I further read the assigned readings and thoughtabout information from other classes, it seemed about right to have thatextensive of a list. Motivation canelicit a wide variety of responses and take those responses in a variety ofdirections. Also, emotions can createdifferent results with motivation. Thus,to have an extensive list found on pg. 20 seems correct as it encompasses allthe many situations and responses involved with motivation.
Basically from chapter 1 the idea I found most interesting was just how complex motivation is and can be. I took a class called Sport Psychology and a lot of the topics mentioned in the first chapter were covered in that class. For example, many of the theories listed on page 20 I am familiar with, but what is interesting is that there are so many theories of motivation that I have never even heard of. It is interesting all of the different ways to approach and learn about what drives us and why. Chapter 1 was very broad in the sense that it only mentioned a lot of the topics that will be discussed later in the book. Chapter 2 was much more interesting and enjoyable to read. I liked that in chapter 2 they went clear back to when the Greek philosophers first began thinking about motivation. It was interesting to see how ideas that stemmed from Plato and Aristotle molded into Freud’s ideas of the id, ego, and super ego. I think it’s important to understand how we got to our current understandings about motivation and every other fact or piece of knowledge we currently have. One of the most interesting things from chapter 2, in my opinion, was that early belief about humans was that we are “naturally inactive” and that motivation is what we need to arouse our passive selves to become active. The book mentioned that motivation was “the study of energizing the passive”. I thought this was interesting when I read it because I disagreed. I suppose some humans are passive, or lazy, but I think for the most part, humans are active and curious creatures. As I continued reading I realized that this is not the current way we think about humans. Today, we believe that humans are active and we rely on the idea that humans work towards “growth” motivation. That is, we strive to be creative and competent. I also found a quote from page 38 to be very interesting. “Motivational concepts are needed to understand the brain, just as brain concepts are needed to understand motivation.” I think it is interesting that motivation can be useful in all areas of life and in all forms of learning and it is necessary for understanding why people do or don’t do certain things.
If I had to tell someone not in this class what motivation is all about I would tell them that motivation is the thoughts, emotions, and necessities in our internal or external experiences that guide our bodies toward a specific goal or state of being, whether it be for biological needs, emotional needs, or cognitive needs. If that is too complex I would tell them that motivation is what makes us want to accomplish or do something in order to satisfy a need that we feel is important.
The most memorable thing I learned from these chapters was the progress we have made in the understanding of motivation. We began as philosophers thinking about motivation as part of our psyche that controlled and monitored our needs, whether they are body needs, social needs, or intellectual needs. Our early understanding was that motivation was our will, and then we moved forward into the instinct theory. This moved us closer to genetics and biological influences in motivation. Then we progressed into the drive theories. These theories believed that drive came from a functional biology that made behavior the act of satisfying bodily needs. Freud had a creative idea about drive being a warning system for our bodies, telling us that we must take action. Clark Hull also made a huge impact on motivation studies. He believed that bodily need was the ultimate source of motivation. Hull also relied on the use of learning to explain his theory. He believed that if a response was followed quickly by “a reduction in drive” then we would learn to associate that behavior and reinforcement would occur. What is interesting is that, while these theories are all not sufficient for defining/explaining motivation, they were all necessary to get to our current understanding of motivation.
I am a psychology major but after reading these two chapters I realize that there is a lot I do not know when it comes to motivation. There are many factors that go into motivation. Two of the main things that motivation looks at though is external and internal forces. I would have to say I am more of an external person. I would rather not be but after reading through the content I learned a lot more about myself.
When having to describe motivation to someone else; the first thing I would want to point out is that there are two conflicting forces: the external ones and the internal that are constantly shaping our behaviors in our everyday life. Another big point that is said is that motivation is what drives humans to accomplish a specific goal. So if I had a goal to loose 20 pounds that motivation is what is going to drive us to loose that weight.
I thought the charts that we discussed in class and in the book were very memorable. Those types of things stick in my mind the best. The chart about why people worked out I found very interesting because there are so many different factors that causes a person to be motivated to work out. When first seeing this chart I was astonished because there are just so many reasons where as i thought the only reason people choose to work out is to loose weight or be healthy.
The topic that I found most interesting was the discussion on grand theories in chapter two that described will, instinct, and drive. The grand theory of will stated that in order to understand motivation, we must understand will. However, the theory became difficult because the theory required no just an explanation of motivation but also had to explain the will. The next grand theory was based on Darwin’s concept of instinct. Instinct is derived from genes and is expressed through bodily reflexes. Instincts are portrayed as being impulsive and irrational forces that move people toward their goal. The concept of drive replaced instinct. Drive is based on the idea that the function of behavior is to serve bodily needs. When the bodily needs are not being met, drive motivates behavior to get what the body needs.
The study of motivation deals with processes that provide behavior with energy and direction. Energy deals with the strength/intensity of the behavior. Direction deals with the idea that the behavior has a purpose or is working toward accomplishing a goal. The study of motivation aims at providing the answer to two questions: 1) what causes behavior? 2) Why does behavior vary in intensity? There are two important types of motivation, which are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within an individual, such as enjoyment or interest. Extrinsic motivation is motivation found outside the individual, such as money, good grades etc. Motivation can be expressed in four ways: brain activations, behavior, engagement, physiology, and self report.
The most memorable thing that I learned from the reading was the different expressions of motivation. The eight expressions mentioned were: attention, effort, latency, persistence, choice , probability of response, facial expressions, and bodily gestures. Latency deals with how long it takes an individual to get started on a task after the stimulus is presented. Persistence is the amount of time someone can perform a task without stopping.
One of the more interesting parts of the selected reading to me was the definition of the study of motivation as the processes that give behavior its energy and direction or something similar. Prior to the introduction for this class I had always defined motivation as what causes us to do any particular action. This is true in a roundabout way, but the textbook’s definition is much clearer than that. When we focus on the energy and purpose of our life and our decisions, our motivations become much more recognizable. As the saying goes, pursuit is the proof of desire. One can say, I myself often do, that I am motivated to learn as much as I can from my college courses and textbooks. However, one just needs to look at where my energy and purpose lie to truly determine if that is the case. My freshman year I very rarely thoroughly read the textbook; I definitely did NOT take notes in class for any reason whatsoever. My energy was not used to learn as much from the course, readings and professor. Rather, it was used to do just enough to ensure I received an ‘A’ in the course. Therein lies my purpose: to receive an ‘A’ to boost my GPA and to make myself valuable in the eyes of future employers.
This leads me to my next point of interest, which as Pirate Chaser pointed out, is our own motivations. This year, as a sophomore, I have devoted a considerably greater amount of time and effort to actually learn the material. This could be for a variety of reasons. I could have more free time than last year (though, that one is a bit doubtful). I could be made to feel guilty by my studious, hardworking roommate’s example. I could want to be a better student or my classes could be that much harder I have to actually study and read the material in depth. However, upon further reflection and analysis of the textbook (See, I’m actually reading this one quite thoroughly), it seems that I am motivated by intrinsic motivation as compared to extrinsic. Extrinsically, I was (and still am) under pressure to receive good grades so that I could keep my scholarship, graduate, and seem knowledgeable and successful to potential employers. Now, however, I have gotten into some of the classes for my new major and it just seems ‘right.’ I am interested in the topics and actually WANT to learn about them. I’m also much more engaged, behaviorally, cognitively and even emotionally. Though, I haven’t quite gotten to the point of much voice engagement, though I imagine that will come. From reading the textbook, all of this seems to be from intrinsic motivation as it is something I WANT to do rather than something I HAVE to do to maintain a certain image or reputation.
In relation to this, I also found it extremely interesting what the book mentioned about self-reporting of one’s own motivations. It also makes a lot of sense. “What people say their motives are sometimes are not what people’s behavioral and physiological expressions suggest their motives are” (Reeve, 2009). An example of this would be how the book mentioned someone who professes low anger rates, but angers rather quickly. People tend to say things that make them look better, and not always intentionally either. Sometimes, they have a somewhat distorted self-perception, which can cause problems. This relates back to the idea that motivation as the processes that give behavior energy and direction. Someone can say they are devoted to community service, but if they tend to spend time watching movies, hanging out with friends, sleeping and doing stuff to better their life while never volunteering to help anyone else, their energy is NOT being devoted towards community service. Their true purpose wouldn’t be to serve, but rather to enjoy life or something similar.
In short, this was a really captivating read and encourages me that my major change was the right decision.
The topic that interests me the most when it comes to motivation is the different types of motivation that exist. This interests me the most because I find myself asking the question ‘why does that person do that’ all the time. Reading through the different types, such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, helped address the question of why people do what they do. It is amazing to read about all the different motives that people may have when doing a behavior. To me, it is very interesting to think about two people doing the same action yet having different motives for doing the action.
If I were to explain to someone what motivation is all about, I would start with explaining that motivation is what directs people’s behavior and what gives people the energy behind their behavior. For example, depending on the person’s motivation, their behavior is going to either be subtle or intense. I would also explain that motivation is dynamic, meaning that it changes over time. Motivation varies from situation to situation and from person to person.
I would say that the most surprising thing I learned is in Chapter 2. I have never read about the history of motivation and it was very surprising to me that motivation came from a line of will, instinct and drive. To hear the history about how motivation came about through research and the fact that motivation studies were almost nonexistent was very surprising to me.
I find while reading that I try to connect the ideas in the book to myself. For me personally I've always been the type of person with most things that I'm good at starting a new routine or a new workout program or something, but then after a while I give up and I wonder what happened to all my motivation.
I find it very interesting and true that the more you put your mind to something and that you stay dedicated to it is very true. Like the example in the book that the person who gets walked all over and never does anything on their own will have lower self-motivation and emotion to strive to do better or even matter.
I think what I find most interesting was the “grand theories” because it breaks down motivation into more basic human actions or feelings like will, instinct, and drive. I believe will is true, you have to put willpower to start or end things, resisting certain actions or urges, and etc. Instinct I believe is a big part to keep people motivated or to motivate like to “ survive” today were not really fighting to survive for scarce food sources, but we are trying to survive in the world of becoming better at one’s job to get promoted or get a better education to have better lifestyle than just settling for average. And lastly drive, we need something to keep pushing us and we need that mentality that if we keep going we can exceed at whatever our goal is or whatever we put our mind to.
When I thought about motivation before this class all I thought it was was the reason why someone decides to do a certain task. When I was reading chapter one, the most interesting thing that stuck out to me was the fact that motivation is not only the reason why someone does something, but it is also the reason why the behavior is sustained over time, why people do a certain task and not another, why someone may decide to do a different task, and lastly why the behavior stops. I never thought that there would be so much going on with motivation.
If I had to tell someone not in this class what motivation is all about I would go back to saying what I said earlier about what was most interesting to me. I would tell them how motivation is not simple at all. It involves so many different aspects about why we do certain tasks, from not only when we start the task but also why we keep doing the task we are doing and the reason why we stop the task. Once I learn more about motivation in general it would be easier to explain it to someone.
The thing that was most surprising to me is that the field of motivation itself has been around less than 100 years. I find this surprising because people have always had motivation in their lives. I can't believe that it was not studied sooner than it was.
Reading these chapters brought about many topics that are interesting. One thing that I found interesting is the fact that motivation is not something that we have or don’t have, it is something that is continuous even though it varies in its intensity. I never really thought about motivation that way. I have always said I don’t have enough motivation for this or that, and now I am thinking about it in different ways. If I want to go eat, but I am also tired, instead of thinking, “I have no motivation to go eat,” I am now thinking, “My motivation for sleep must be greater than my motivation to eat.” I think that is really interesting. There is motivation in everything we do, even sleeping. I also thought it was interesting that there are five central questions to motivation study, why a behavior starts, why it stops, why it changes, why it is sustained over time, and why it is directed toward some goals and away from another. I think these questions are vital and a good point for motivation study to begin with. I have started looking at everything in light of these questions.
If I had to explain what motivation is, I would tell people that it is the energy and direction that drives our behaviors and emotions. Motivation is behind everything we do, even when we don’t think we are doing anything. There are many different influences on each person’s motivations and behaviors and the study of motivation focuses on those. They can be caused by internal (thoughts, feelings, etc.) or external (rewards, punishments, etc.) factors. It is behind what causes us to approach some things and avoid others. It is the basis of who we are.
The thing that was most surprising to me was the fact that there are SO many mini-theories of motivation. I didn’t realize how many there were. I figured that there would be some that would encompass most aspects, which I learned is more synonymous with a Grand Theory. I was also surprised that motivation as a study is only about 100 years old. I didn’t really think about how long we have focused on it as a science. I think it is cool that it started with ancient philosophers, which makes sense. It kind of took me aback to realize just how complex the study of motivation is. It will always continue to grow and become more complex I believe. Most of this information in these chapters was surprising because it is about things we don’t typically think about.
I think the most interesting part of these chapters for me was how it explores the topic more deeply than we generally tend to do. By this I mean that we as Americans tend to oversimplify motivation as something like “that thing that finally causes me to get off my butt and do something.” And sure, that may be an adequate starting point, but the topic is far more nuanced than most would otherwise assume. Most human behaviors stem from a variety of causes and when combined, these factors can determine outcomes such as the direction of motivated behavior, how long it can be sustained, and what will cause it to stop. These motivating variables include human needs, cognitive ways of thinking, emotions, and external events that provide environmental incentives.
One thing that I have failed to think about in the past that I find surprising is the number of ways in which we express our motivations. Once more, we typically reduce this down to just the ways in which we behave, but this again goes a bit deeper. Behavior consists of how much we are able to focus, the level of effort we put in, the amount of time we delay a response to a stimulus, the probability of making a motivated response, and variations in facial expression and bodily gestures. The detailed history of the study of motivation found in Chapter 2 was also quite fascinating. The chapter explains that over time, motivation was viewed through three different “grand theories”: a philosophical view involving the “will”, a physiological perspective using “instinct”, and a “drive” theory dealing with biological needs. In the end, the large scope of each of the theories limited researchers from making much progress in the field, so motivation theory gradually moved on to a more manageable body of “mini-theories.”