Motivation & Attitudes: Motivation Article

Motivation & Attitudes - - - Motivation Article: Motivation is what makes us do things that can sometimes be challenging or boring (often comes from needs) Physiological needs are innate, biological, and must be met in order for you to survive Drive reduction theory suggests that motivation comes from your desire to reduce internal tension, which is a signal from your body that something is off and you need to act to survive (i.e. you feel hungry, therefore you eat a burger) Psychological needs are based on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, expectations, and self-image (important for mental health and happiness) Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when there are significant differences between what you think or believe vs. how you act, you feel uncomfortable or unhappy. This discomfort leads you to change your behavior so you’ll feel better (i.e. you hate liars but you yourself are a lying, which makes you upset) Learned needs are needs that come from your experiences and are heavily influenced by things that happen to you throughout your life. You learn to want things such as praise, money, success, pleasure, etc. Incentive theory suggests that any experience that is connected to a reward will make you more motivated to act on it (i.e. pizza party if you finish certain amount of books over the summer) Maslow believed that you can’t grow as a person until your basic needs (like those related to survival) are met (put into three broad categories) → 5 actual - steps Self actualization is when one reaches their maximum potential; a desire to accomplish everything one can do and become the most one can be Maslow believed that only 1% of people ever reach self-actualization Physiological Concept of Positive & Negative Feedback: Positive feedback is when the rate of process works to increase the product Negative feedback is when the rate of process has to be controlled in order to prevent the accumulation of a product (most things in the body are this) Instincts, Arousal, Needs, Drives: Drive-Reduction & Cognitive Theories: Motivation is broken down into 5 schools of thought: evolutionary (role of instincts in motivation), drive reduction theory (focuses on drives and needs in order to maintain homeostasis), optimum arousal theory (people are motivated to reach full alertness/arousal), cognitive approach (focuses on our rational and decision making ability), and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (motivated to satisfy certain needs in a particular order) Incentive Theory: Incentive theory states that reward is presented after the occurrence of an action with the intention of causing the behavior to occur again (association of a positive meaning to the behavior) → NOT focused on negative reinforcement Biological & Sociocultural Factors Food, Sex, & Drugs: Biological factors that regulate food, sex, and drugs have to do with hormones (brain regulates these drives by regulating them subconsciously) → leptin tells us that we are full Sociocultural factors are conscious choices and desires to express these needs Sexual response cycle: 1. Excitement, 2. Plateau phase, 3. Orgasm, and 4. Resolution/Refractory period (sex drive is related to testosterone levels in both males and females) - - 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. Components of Attitudes: Attitude is a learned tendency to evaluate things/people/events/objects/ into a certain way Affective component refers to the emotional component and how we feel about something (i.e. I’m “scared of spiders”) Behavioral component refers to how we act or behave with regards to something (i.e. I will “avoid” and “scream” if I see a spider”) Cognitive component refers to thoughts/beliefs or knowledge about something that will influence our attitude (i.e. I “believe” spiders are dangerous This is referred to as the ABC Model of Attitude Attitude Influences Behavior: Theory of Planned Behavior states that we consider our implications of our actions before we decide how to behave; the best predictor of our behavior is the strength of these intentions in a particular situation Implications Intentions are based on attitudes (to a certain behavior), subjective norms (what we think others think about our behavior), and perceived behavior control (how easy or hard we think something is to control our behavior) Attitude to Behavior Process Model says that an event triggers an attitude (. This attitude is combined with some prior knowledge in order to shape our behavior in a new situation (i.e. Tommy hates junk food because his family suffers from heart disease because his family eats junk. He therefore avoids these kinds of foods) Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) says that behavior is a function of 6 things: Previous behavior Attitudes towards a behavior Subjective norms (what others think) Intentions Willingness to engage in a specific type of behavior Models/Modeling Elaboration Likelihood Model for Persuasion is a cognitive approach; focuses on the why/how of persuasion; two routes through which information is processed: Central route says that the degree of attitude change depends on the quality of the arguments by the persuader Peripheral route looks more that the superficial and nonverbal persuasion cues (i.e. status, attractiveness, expertise, etc.) Behavior Influences Attitude: Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon states that we are more likely agree to small actions first and eventually, over time, comply to larger actions Role-playing is when you are in a new role, you feel phony or “fake”; start attempting to be perfect; over time the role starts to become who you are (what feels like phony/strange, eventually becomes who we are and is an attitude we have towards that behavior) Situational Approach: Social psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how social phenomena influences us and how people interact with others Using one situation is not very predictive of an individual’s behavior because it often is situational Situational approach is that changes in human behavior are factors of the situation rather than the traits a person possesses Attribution is the process of inferring the causes of events/behaviors (can lead to fundamental attribution error) Extra Notes: The ventromedial hypothalamus is the nucleus of the hypothalamus and is associated with feelings of fullness