Emotion and
Motivation
Chapter 8
Motivation & Emotion in
Historical Perspective
 “Motivation” and “emotion” are relatively new
concepts:
 “Motivation” was a collection of other concepts, such
as pleasure, lust, power, reason, etc.
 “Emotions” evolved from “passions”; rose to
prominence after Darwin and his work on emotion
and facial expressions.
 The general notion that people have inner
„pushes‟ and external „pulls‟ and are passionate
(not always rational) is ancient.
Emotional Experience: The
Feeling Machine
 Emotion: a positive or negative experience that is
associated with a particular pattern of
physiological activity
 Measured through multidimensional scaling
 Two dimensions of arousal and valence
 James-Lange theory: stimuli trigger activity in the
ANS, which in turn produces an emotional
experience in the brain
 Cannon-Bard theory: a stimulus simultaneously
triggers activity in the ANS and emotional
experience in the brain
 Two-factor theory: emotions are inferences about
the causes of physiological arousal
Figure 8.1
From Distances to Maps
Figure 8.2
Two Dimensions of Emotion
Critical Thinking Question
 In what ways does you text suggest
emotions are like points on a map? In
what ways are they not?
 Metaphor and the language of psychology:
Maps represent concrete, specific places
anyone can visit, is anger such a place?
 Mapping the emotions vs. heuristics for
understanding emotions.
 Example of “reification error”?
Figure 8.3
Classic Theories of Emotion
Figure 8.4
The Physiology of Emotion
The Emotional Brain
 The amygdala plays an important role in
emotion; threat detector
 Appraisal: an evaluation of the emotionrelevant aspects of a stimulus
 Fast (thalamus  amygdala) and slow
(thalamus  cortex  amygdala) pathways of
fear in the brain
Figure 8.6
The Fast and Slow Pathways of
Fear
The Regulation of Emotion
 Emotion regulation: the use of cognitive
and behavioral strategies to influence
one‟s emotional experience
 Reappraisal: changing one‟s emotional
experience by changing the meaning of the
emotion-eliciting stimulus
Emotional Communication:
MSGS w/o Wrds
 Emotional expression: an observable sign of an
emotional state
 Observers can read our emotions; especially in our
face (46 unique action units)
 Universality hypothesis: emotional expressions
have the same meaning for everyone; originally
proposed by Darwin
 People (even those who have never seen a human
face) are generally good at judging and creating the
same facial expressions.
 There are six universal emotions expressed: anger,
disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.
 Facial feedback hypothesis: emotional
expressions can cause the emotional experiences
they signify
Figure 8.7
Six Basic Emotions
Figure 8.8
The Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Questions
 Why are we “walking, talking
advertisements” of our inner states?
 Why are some facial expressions
universal?
 Why do emotional expressions cause
emotional experience?
Deceptive Expression
 We can control (at least to some degree) our
expression of emotion.
 Display rules: norms for the control of emotional
expression
 Intensification, deintensification, masking, neutralizing
 Different cultures have different display rules.
 Sincere and insincere expressions may „leak
out.‟
 Morphology (reliable muscles), symmetry,
duration, temporal patterning
 People are generally poor lie-detectors
 Polygraph machines are somewhat better detectors
Figure 8.9
Neutralizing
Figure 8.10
Crinkle Eyes
Figure 8.11
Lie Detection Machines
Questions
 How does emotional expression differ
across cultures?
 What is the problem with lie detecting
machines?
Motivation: Getting Moved
 Hedonism: the notion that all people are
motivated to experience pleasure and
avoid pain.
 Pleasure vs. Power – which is stronger?
 Capgras Syndrome sufferers have
sustained damage to the connections
between the temporal lobe and the limbic
system.
 Believe family members/friends are imposters
due to lack of emotional connection
The Conceptualization of
Motivation
 James called the natural tendency (innate)
to seek a particular goal an instinct.
 Drive: an internal state generated by
departures from physiological optimality
 Homeostasis: the tendency for a system to
take action to keep itself in a particular state
Questions
 In what ways is the human body like a
thermostat?
Basic Motivations and Hunger
 We are motivated to eat to convert food to
energy.
 Hunger signals (orexigenic, anorexigenic) are
sent to and from the brain.
 The hypothalamus (lateral hypothalamus,
ventromedial hypothalamus) is specifically
involved in hunger
 However, hunger is much more
complicated than brain mechanisms.
Figure 8.14
Hunger, Satiety, and the
Hypothalamus
Self-Actualization
 Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) stated that
people are motivated to fulfill a hierarchy
of needs.
 Must satisfy the basic needs before social
needs, which must be satisfied before selfactualizing can begin.
 Maslow estimated only around 1% of people
reach self-actualization.
Figure 8.13
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Eating Disorders
 Bulimia nervosa: an eating disorder characterized
by binge eating followed by purging
 Anorexia nervosa: an eating disorder
characterized by an intense fear of being fat and
severe restriction of food intake
 Gender and cultural differences
 Obesity (BMI of ≥ 30) is also a problem in our
country
 Causes include biochemical abnormalities, eating when
we aren‟t hungry, and nature having designed us to
overeat
 The human body resists weight loss because of added
fat cells (which don‟t decrease in number) and dieting
decreases metabolism.
Figure 8.15
The Geography of Obesity
Table 8.1
Body Mass Index Table
Questions
 What causes anorexia?
 Why do people overeat?
 Why is dieting so difficult and ineffective?
 What are some (other) factors to consider
when calculating the BMI?
Psychological Motivations
 Humans alone can conceptualize death,
and are motivated to avoid death-related
anxiety.
 Terror management theory claims that we
cope with our existential terror by developing
a cultural worldview (meaningful immortality
through our legacies).
 Consider religion in the context of war-torn
countries (are their beliefs more conservative
or liberal?)
Questions
 Morality-salience hypothesis: the
prediction that people who are reminded of
their own mortality will work to reinforce
their cultural worldviews.
 How do people deal with knowledge of
death?
 “leap of faith” or the annihilation of a rational
universe?
Kinds of Motivation
 Intrinsic motivation: motivation to take
actions that are themselves rewarding.
 Tend to be more satisfying
 Extrinsic motivation: motivation to take
actions that are not themselves rewarding but
that lead to a reward
 May undermine intrinsic rewards
 Delaying gratification is something our
species does well.
 Threats or punishments can make the
prohibited behavior more appealing.
Kinds of Motivation continued…
 Conscious motivation: a motivation of which one is
aware
 We are aware of our general motivations.
 Unconscious motivation: a motivation of which one
is not aware
 Need for achievement: the motivation to solve
worthwhile problems
 Approach motivation: a motivation to experience
positive outcomes
 Promotion focus
 Avoidance motivation: a motivation not to
experience negative outcomes
 Tend to be more powerful
 People take more risks to avoid loss.
 Prevention focus
Table 8.3
BIS/BAS