CHAPTER
10
Motivation and Emotion
Chapter Preview
Motivation is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. Under the influence of Darwin’s
evolutionary theory, the popular view was that instincts control behavior. Drive-reduction theory
maintains that physiological needs create psychological drives that seek to restore internal stability, or homeostasis. In addition, some motivated behaviors increase arousal, and we are pulled by
external incentives. According to Maslow, some motives are more compelling than others.
Hunger seems to originate from changes in glucose and insulin levels that are monitored by
areas deep within the hypothalamus, as well as changes in the levels of appetite hormones such
as ghrelin. To control weight, the body also adjusts its basal metabolic rate. Body chemistry and
environmental factors together influence our taste preferences. In studying obesity, psychologists
have found that a number of physiological factors make it difficult to lose weight permanently.
Those who wish to diet should set realistic goals, minimize exposure to food cues, exercise, and
make a lifelong change in eating patterns.
The need to belong is a major influence in motivating human behavior. Social bonds boosted
our ancestors’ survival rates. We experience our need to belong when feeling the gloom of
loneliness or joy of love, and when seeking social acceptance. People who excel are often selfdisciplined individuals with strong achievement motivation.
Emotions are psychological responses that involve an interplay among (1) physiological
arousal, (2) expressive behavior, and (3) conscious experience. James and Lange argued that we
feel emotion after we notice our bodily responses. Cannon and Bard contended that we feel emotion when our body responds. Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory states that to experience
emotion, we must be aroused and cognitively label the emotion.
Some emotional responses are immediate, as sensory input bypasses the cortex, triggering a
rapid reaction outside our conscious awareness. Others, especially responses to complex emotions,
require interpretation.
Carroll Izard has identified 10 basic emotions, most of which are present in infancy. Other
emotions are variations of these 10. Although the physical arousal that occurs with the different
emotions is for the most part indistinguishable, researchers have discovered subtle differences in
brain circuits, finger temperatures, and hormones. In using physiological indicators to detect lies,
the polygraph does better than chance but not nearly well enough to justify its widespread use.
We decipher people’s emotions by “reading” their bodies, voices, and faces. Women are superior to men in emotional sensitivity and responsiveness. Although some gestures are culturally
determined, facial expressions, such as those of happiness and fear, are universal. Facial expressions not only communicate emotion but also amplify the felt emotion.
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Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
Chapter Guide
Introductory Exercise: Fact or Falsehood?
The correct answers to Handout 10–1 are as follows: 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. T 5. F 6. T 7. T 8. F 9. T
10. T
u Lecture: Why Do Students Go to College or University? (p. 610)
u Exercise: The Hope Scale (p. 609)
u Feature Film: A Man for All Seasons (p. 610)
uW
orth Video Anthology: What Is Motivation?
Motivational Concepts
u Lecture: Evolutionary Psychology (p. 610)
u Exercises: Exploration Index (p. 611); Sensation-Seeking Scale (p. 611)
u Worth Video Anthology: Self-Stimulation in Rats
10-1.Define motivation as psychologists use the term, and identify the perspectives useful for studying
motivated behavior.
A motivation is a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal. The perspectives useful for studying motivated behavior include (1) instinct/evolutionary perspective, (2)
drive-reduction theory, (3) arousal theory, and (4) Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Under Darwin’s influence, early theorists viewed behavior as being controlled by instincts, complex behaviors that are rigidly patterned throughout a species and are unlearned. When it became
clear that people were naming, not explaining, various behaviors by calling them instincts, this
approach fell into disfavor. The idea that genes predispose species-typical behavior is still influential in evolutionary psychology.
uE
xercise/Lecture Break: How Do You (Should You) Reduce Your Drives? (p. 610)
Drive-reduction theory proposes that most physiological needs create aroused psychological states
that drive us to reduce or satisfy those needs. The aim of drive reduction is internal stability, or
homeostasis. Furthermore, we are not only pushed by internal drives but we are also pulled by
external incentives. When there is both a need (hunger) and an incentive (smell of freshly baked
bread), we feel strongly driven.
Arousal theory states that rather than reducing a physiological need or minimizing tension, some
motivated behaviors increase arousal. Curiosity-driven behaviors, for example, suggest that too
little or too much stimulation can motivate people to seek an optimum level of arousal. According
to the Yerkes-Dodson law, moderate arousal leads to optimal performance.
u Lecture: Maslow’s Hierarchy (p. 611)
uE
xercises: A Short Measure of Self-Actualization (p. 612); Self-Transcendence Inventory (p. 612); The Meaning in
Life Questionnaire (p. 612)
u Project: An Assessment of Your Present Needs (p. 611)
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs expresses the idea that, until satisfied, some motives are
more compelling than others. At the base of the hierarchy are our physiological needs, such as for
food and water. Only if these are met are we prompted to meet our need for safety, and then to
meet the uniquely human needs to give and receive love, to belong and be accepted, and to enjoy
self-esteem. Beyond this lies the need to actualize one’s full potential. Near the end of his life,
Maslow suggested that some people reach a level of self-transcendence in which they strive for
meaning and purpose that is beyond the self, that is, transpersonal.
Hunger
u Feature Film: Alive (p. 613)
u Exercise/Critical Thinking Break: Factors Influencing Human Eating Behaviors (p. 613)
u PsychSim 5: Hunger and the Fat Rat (p. 613)
u Worth Video Anthology: Hunger and Eating
Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
79
10-2. Describe the physiological factors that produce hunger.
Although the stomach’s pangs contribute to hunger, variations in body chemistry are more important. A major source of energy in your body is the blood sugar glucose. You do not consciously
feel changes in your blood glucose. However, areas deep within the hypothalamus (for example,
the arcuate nucleus, which regulates the body’s weight as it influences our feelings of hunger and
fullness) monitor your body’s internal state. One task of the hypothalamus is to monitor levels of
the appetite hormones such as ghrelin (which is secreted by an empty stomach). Other appetite
hormones include insulin, leptin, PYY, and orexin. Some researchers have abandoned the idea that
the body has a precise set point—a biologically fixed tendency to maintain an optimum weight—
preferring the term settling point to indicate an environmentally and biologically influenced level
at which weight settles in response to caloric input and expenditure. Human bodies regulate
weight through the control of food intake, energy output, and basal metabolic rate—the body’s
resting rate of energy expenditure.
u Lectures: Taste Preferences—Learned and Genetic (p. 613); Environmental Factors in Eating (p. 616)
uE
xercises: Motivations-to-Eat Scale (p. 614); A Survey of Eating Habits (p. 615)
10-3. Discuss psychological and situational factors that influence hunger.
Part of knowing when to eat is our memory of our last meal. As time passes, we anticipate eating
again and feel hungry.
Although some taste preferences are genetic (for example, sweet and salty tastes), conditioning
and culture also affect taste. For example, Bedouins enjoy eating the eye of a camel, which most
North Americans would find repulsive. Most North Americans also shun dog, rat, and horse meat,
all of which are prized elsewhere. A taste may be conditioned, as when people given highly salted
foods develop a liking for excess salt or when people who have been sickened by a food develop
an aversion to it. We also tend to avoid unfamiliar foods (neophobia), which was adaptive for our
ancestors.
We eat more when eating with others (through social facilitation). In addition, the size of food
portions (called unit bias) and even of bowls, plates, and eating utensils affects how much we eat.
Food variety also stimulates eating.
uL
ectures: Student Eating Habits (p. 617); Paul Rozin’s History of Eating (p. 618); Genes, Exercise, and Weight
Control (p. 620); Losing Weight (p. 620); Maintaining Weight Loss; (p. 620) The National Weight Control Registry
(p. 621); A Twinkie Tax—Is Fighting Fat a Social Responsibility? (p. 622)
uL
ecture/Critical Thinking Break: Sleep and Weight Control (p. 617)
uE
xercises: The Dieting Beliefs Scale (p. 619); Antifat Attitudes Questionnaire (p. 619)
uW
orth Video Anthology: Eating and Weight Gain: A Role for Fidgeting; Eating and Weight Gain: Genetic
Engineering
u Feature Film: Super Size Me (p. 616)
10-4.Discuss the factors that predispose some people to become and remain obese.
Obesity affects both how you are treated and how you feel about yourself. Obesity has been
associated with lower psychological well-being, especially among women, and increased risk of
depression.
Fat is an ideal form of stored energy. It is a high-calorie fuel reserve that can carry the body
through periods when food is scarce. In fact, in most developing societies today, obesity signals
affluence and social status. However, the tendency to eat energy-rich fat or sugar becomes dysfunctional in a world of easily accessible food. Combined with a lack of exercise, the abundance
of high-calorie food has led to higher rates of obesity, which raises the risk of illness and shortens
life expectancy.
Although genes influence body weight, they do not determine it. People differ in their resting metabolic rates, and once someone gains fat tissue, less energy is needed to maintain that tissue than
is needed to maintain other tissue. Unquestionably, environmental factors such as sleep loss, social
influence, often eating high-calorie foods, and living a sedentary lifestyle also matter.
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Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
Those who wish to diet should begin only if they feel motivated and self-disciplined. They should
minimize exposure to food cues, boost energy expenditure through exercise, limit variety and eat
healthy foods spaced throughout the day, beware of the binge, make a lifelong change in eating
patterns, and connect with a support group.
The Need to Belong
u Lectures: Social Ostracism (p. 631); Does Social Rejection Literally Feel Cold? (p. 633)
uE
xercises: The Need to Affiliate (p. 630); Measures and Issues Related to the Need to Belong (p. 630); Fear of
Negative Evaluation Scale (p. 631); Demonstrating Ostracism: The Train Ride (p. 632)
uE
xercise/Critical Thinking Break: Bullying and the Need to Belong (p. 634)
uF
eature Films: March of the Penguins (p. 631); Cast Away and the Need to Belong (p. 631); The Mirror Has Two
Faces and the Looking-Glass Self (p. 631)
10-5. Describe the evidence that points to our human need to belong.
Social bonds boosted our ancestors’ survival rate. Adults who formed attachments were more
likely to come together to reproduce and to stay together to nurture their offspring to maturity.
Cooperation in groups also enhanced survival. When relationships form, we often feel joy. Most
people mention—before anything else—close relationships as making life meaningful. Even our
self-esteem is a gauge of how valued and accepted we feel.
Feeling insecurely attached in childhood can persist into adulthood, in two main forms: insecure
anxious attachment and insecure avoidant attachment. Sometimes, our need to belong is denied.
After years of placing individual families in isolated communities, U.S. immigration policies
began to encourage chain migration.
When something threatens our social ties, negative emotions overwhelm us. When ostracized,
people may engage in self-defeating or antisocial behaviors and underperform on aptitude tests.
Ostracism elicits increased activity in the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex, which is also activated
by physical pain.
10-6. Describe how social networking influences us.
Evidence of the human need to belong is the social networking that dominates most of our lives
today. Cell phones have been history’s most rapidly adopted technology, texting and e-mailing are
displacing phone talking, and 94 percent of 2010’s entering American collegians were using social
networking sites, such as Facebook.
Social networkers are less likely to know their real-world neighbors. However, the Internet is
diversifying our social networks and is mostly strengthening our connections with people we
already know. Social networking also stimulates healthy self-disclosure. We often are less focused
on others’ reactions, less self-conscious, and thus less inhibited. And we are more likely to reveal
our real personality. On the negative side, those who score high on narcissism are especially
active on social networking sites.
Achievement Motivation
uE
xercises: The Needs Assessment Questionnaire (p. 639); Desire for Control (p. 639); Achievement and Intrinsic
Motivation (p. 640)
10-7.Define achievement motivation.
Achievement motivation is the desire for significant accomplishment, for mastering skills or
ideas, for control, and for rapidly attaining a high standard. Those who achieve the most are distinguished not so much by natural ability as by hard work and daily discipline. Self-discipline has
been a better predictor of school performance, attendance, and graduation honors than intelligence
scores have been. What distinguishes successful people from their equally talented peers is grit.
Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
81
Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition
uE
xercises: Facial Feedback and the James-Lange Theory of Emotion (p. 677); A Process Model of Emotion
Regulation (p. 678)
uE
xercise/Critical Thinking Break: Cognitive Labels for Emotions (p. 679)
uW
orth Video Anthology: Emotion = Arousal Plus Interpretation
10-8. Describe how arousal, cognition, and expressive behaviors interact in emotion.
An emotion is a response of the whole organism that involves an interplay among (1) bodily
arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.
The James-Lange theory states that our experience of an emotion is a consequence of our physiological response to a stimulus; we are afraid because our heart pounds (say, in response to an
approaching stranger). The Cannon-Bard theory, on the other hand, proposes that the physiological response and our emotional experience occur simultaneously. Heart pounding and fear occur at
the same time—one does not cause the other.
uL
ectures: Cognitive Appraisals and Emotion (p. 679); Public and Private Self-Consciousness (p. 679)
Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion focuses on the interplay of thinking and feeling, not on the timing of feelings. This theory states that to experience emotion, one must (1) be
physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.
The spillover effect occurs when arousal from one event affects our response to other events.
Dozens of experiments show that a stirred-up state can be experienced as different emotions
depending on how we interpret and label it. Arousal fuels emotion and cognition channels it.
Sometimes we experience unlabeled emotion, says Robert Zajonc. Joseph LeDieux has described
how sensory input can follow a pathway that leads via the thalamus to the amygdala, bypassing
the cortex and triggering a rapid reaction that is outside our conscious awareness. Other, more
complex emotions, including hatred and love, require interpretation and are routed along the slower route to the cortex for analysis. Richard Lazarus explains that we must somehow appraise the
situation to know what we are experiencing. Automatic emotion and the importance of conscious
thinking in emotion illustrate our two-track minds.
Embodied Emotion
uE
xercises: The Affect Grid (p. 690); Brief Measures of Positive and Negative Affect—The PANAS Scales (p. 692);
Individual Differences in Emotional Complexity (p. 692); The Disgust Scale (p. 693); Envy and Jealousy (p. 695);
What Do You Fear? (p. 696)
uL
ectures: Elevation—A New Positive Emotion (p. 694); Scared to Death (p. 697)
u Exercise/Project: The Affect Intensity Measure (p. 691)
u Project: The Relationship Between Affect and Personality Traits (p. 693)
u Worth
Video Anthology: The Development of Disgust; Do Body Smells Reveal Fear and Happiness?
10-9.Name some basic emotions.
Carroll Izard’s investigations identified 10 basic emotions: joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt. Although other researchers argue for additional emotions, Izard contends that other emotions are combinations of these 10.
u Exercise: Sensation-Seeking Scale (p. 680)
u Worth Video Anthology: The Physiology of Emotions
10-10. Describe the link between emotional arousal and the autonomic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls arousal. In an emergency, the sympathetic nervous
system automatically mobilizes the body to fight or flee, directing the adrenal glands to release
hormones that increase heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar level. Other physical changes
include dilated pupils, slowed digestion, and increased sweating. The parasympathetic nervous
system calms the body after a crisis has passed, although arousal diminishes gradually.
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Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
u Exercise: Estimating the Effects of Test Error (p. 684)
uL
ectures: Oxytocin and Trust (p. 681); The Brain and Emotion (p. 682)
u Project: Assessing Brain Asymmetry (p. 682)
uW
orth Video Anthology: Brain Fingerprinting: Memory, Recognition, and Lie Detection
10-11. Discuss whether different emotions activate different physiological and brain-pattern responses.
Similar physiological arousal occurs during fear, anger, and sexual arousal. Nonetheless, these
emotions feel different. And, despite similar arousal, sometimes our facial expressions differ
during these three states. For example, people may appear “paralyzed” with fear or “ready to
explode” with anger.
Fear and rage are sometimes accompanied by differing finger temperatures and hormone secretions. Emotions may also stimulate different facial muscles. During fear, brow muscles tense.
During joy, muscles in the cheek and under the eye pull into a smile. Emotions differ much more
in the brain circuits they use. For example, brain scans show increased activity in the amygdala
during fear. Finally, emotions activate different areas of the brain’s cortex. The right prefrontal
cortex becomes more electrically active as people experience negative emotions, such as disgust.
The left frontal lobe shows more activity with positive emotions.
uL
ectures: Government Confidence in the Polygraph (p. 683); Interviewing for Integrity (p. 684)
10-12. Discuss the effectiveness of polygraphs in using body states to detect lies.
The polygraph measures several physiological indicators of emotion—for example, changes in
breathing, cardiovascular activity, and perspiration. Research suggests that if polygraph experts
were the judges, more than one-third of the innocent would be declared guilty and one-quarter of
the guilty would be declared innocent, percentages that are too high to justify its widespread use in
business and government. A more effective approach is the guilty knowledge test. Several research
teams are exploring new ways to detect deception.
Expressed and Experienced Emotion
uE
xercises: The Mood Awareness Scale (p. 685); Emotional Expressivity Scale (p. 686); Nonverbal Communication
(p. 686); “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test: Sample Items (p. 686); Difficulty in Detecting Deception (p. 687)
u Exercise/Project: The Affective Communication Test (p. 687)
u PsychSim 5: Catching Liars (p. 687)
u Exercise/Lecture Break: The Real Science Behind the Show Lie to Me (p. 688)
u Podcast: Deception and Lies (p. 688)
uW
orth Video Anthology: Ekman’s Facial Expression Research: Detecting “Microexpressions”; Reading Nonverbal
Communication
10-13. Describe our ability to communicate nonverbally.
All of us communicate nonverbally as well as verbally. For example, a firm handshake immediately conveys an outgoing, expressive personality. With a gaze, an averted glance, or a stare, we can
communicate intimacy, submission, or dominance. Most people can detect nonverbal cues, and we
are especially sensitive to nonverbal threats. Experience contributes to our sensitivity to cues, as
studies of abused children demonstrate.
Our brains are rather amazing detectors of subtle expressions. For example, a mere 10-second clip
of a teacher’s voice or face enabled viewers to assess whether the teacher liked and admired the
child he or she was addressing.
Introverts are better emotion-detectors than extraverts, although extraverts are easier to read. The
absence of gestures, facial expressions, and tones of voice in electronic communication deprives
us of an important source of information.
10-14. Discuss how men and women differ in their emotional expressions and experiences.
Women generally surpass men at reading people’s emotional cues. Women’s nonverbal sensitivity
helps explain their greater emotional literacy. Their skill at decoding others’ emotions may also
Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
83
contribute to their greater emotional responsiveness. When surveyed, women are far more likely
than men to describe themselves as empathic. However, physiological measures of empathy reveal
a smaller gender gap. Women also tend to experience emotional events more deeply with greater
brain activation in areas sensitive to emotion.
u Lectures: Cultural Differences in Emotional Expression (p. 688)
u PsychSim 5: Expressing Emotion (p. 688)
10-15. Discuss whether gestures and facial expressions mean the same thing in all cultures.
Although some gestures are culturally determined, facial expressions, such as those of happiness
and anger, are common the world over. Children’s facial expressions, even those of blind children who have never seen a face, are also universal. Charles Darwin suggested that before our
ancient ancestors communicated in words, their ability to convey threats, greetings, and submissions with facial expressions helped them survive. Emotional expressions may also enhance our
survival in other ways. For example, surprise widens the eyes, enabling us to take in more information. Disgust wrinkles the nose, closing it from foul odors. Cultures differ in how much they
express emotions. For example, cultures that value individuality display mostly visible emotions.
In Chinese culture, which encourages people to adjust to others, personal emotions are less visibly
displayed. Like most psychological events, emotion is best understood as a biological, cognitive,
and social-cultural phenomenon.
uL
ectures: Freezing Frowns With Botox (p. 689); “Catch the Feeling” (p. 689); A “Wrinkle” on Facial Feedback
(p. 690)
u Worth Video Anthology: Emotions and Facial Expression; Ekman’s Studies on Facial Expressions of Emotion
10-16. Describe how facial expressions influence our feelings.
The facial feedback effect indicates that expressions amplify our emotions by activating muscles
associated with specific states, and the muscles signal the body to respond as though we were
experiencing those states. For example, students induced to make a frowning expression reported
feeling a little angry. People induced to smile felt happier and found cartoons funnier. Similarly,
the behavior feedback effect shows that if we move our body as we would when experiencing
some emotion (shuffling along with downcast eyes, as when sad), we are likely to feel that emotion to some degree. Acting as another acts helps us feel what another feels.
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Chapter 10 Motivation and Emotion
HANDOUT 10–1
Fact or Falsehood?
TF
1. Humans who have had ulcerated or cancerous stomachs removed do not experience
hunger.
TF
2. Part of knowing when to eat is our memory of our last meal.
TF
3. It is possible for two people of the same height, age, and activity level to maintain
the same weight, even if one of them eats much more than the other does.
TF
4. Most people who lose weight on a weight-loss program will eventually regain most
of it.
TF
5. Despite their popularity, texting and e-mailing have not been able to displace phone
talking as a means of communication.
TF
6. Self-discipline is a better predictor of school performance than intelligence scores
have been.
TF
7. Some emotional responses involve no conscious thinking.
TF
8. The polygraph has proved to be extremely effective in detecting lies.
TF
9. Introverts are superior to extraverts at reading others’ emotions.
TF
10. Facial expressions associated with emotions such as happiness and fear are the same
the world over.