Transcript 19. MOTIVATION.2016

CLASS 19
MOTIVATION
AND
EMOTION
What’s the difference?
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Confusing because they usually occur together
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Emotion
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the subjective experience of a physiological reaction to a
stimulus
 e.g. anxiety, excitement, disgust, love
Motivation:
activates a specific goal-directed behavior
 hunger, thirst, sex, escape, money, power
 not necessarily conscious
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Q: Function of motivation ?
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Simple Answer -- For survival:
Organisms need to initiate adaptive behaviors
(eat, drink, sleep, etc.)
Forces to push them in right direction
cars & computers can’t do it
VARIETIES OF MOTIVATION
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How many and what is their origin?
Freud – just two
Learning theory – reward & punishment
Humanistic theory – hierarchy of needs
Instincts – too many and no organization
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Here are some of them…..
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Acceptance, the need for approval
Curiosity, the need to learn
Eating, the need for food
Family, the need to raise children
Honor, the need to be loyal to the traditional values
of one's clan/ethnic group
Idealism, the need for social justice
Independence, the need for individuality
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Independence, the need for individuality
Order, the need for organized, stable, predictable
environments
Physical activity, the need for exercise
Power, the need for influence of will
Romance, the need for sex and for beauty
Saving, the need to collect
Social contact, the need for friends (peer
relationships)
Social status, the need for social
standing/importance
Tranquility, the need to be safe
Vengeance, the need to strike back and to compete
DARWIN’S
EVOLUTIONARY
THEORY
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Organizes and explains motivation
Motivations maximize reproduction
of the species
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Mechanism of evolution
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Sexual reproduction  variation
Environmental pressures and mate-competition
Some survive
Namely, those who suit new circumstances
 Floods
 Famine
 War
Evolution Creates Diverse Species
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Many niches in ecosystem
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Each niche selects for different traits
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Yields great diversity between species
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It all happens automatically !
Evolutionary Psychology
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Not just physical differences are selected
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Also behavior and thinking
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Our species shows specific psychological tendencies
 e.g., specific fears, desires and intuitions
Other species show their own tendencies
Who survived?
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The fittest ?
–not strength or speed but intelligence
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The best reproducers ?
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Must show cross-sex attraction
Effective reproducers
Must also enjoy nurturance
 Adaptive qualities depend on gender
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Individual Differences
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Not emphasized in evolutionary theory
3 possibilities
1. Natural variation around ideal mean ?
2. Mutations ?
3. Polymorphisms ?
Gender differences
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Predictable from evolutionary theory because
males and females must have different
reproductive agendas
IN SHORT:
 Men spread their seed and fight off
competitors
 Women invest in their babies
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Most sex differences are small
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Except with regard to:
 physical
aggression
 reproductive preferences
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Those show large differences
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Different species? Different planets?
Clark & Hatfield (1989)
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Students approached by opposite-sex stranger
1. Date ?
yes = 50% of males
50% of females
2. Have sex ?
yes = 75% of males
0% of females
Let me count the ways
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Casual sex vs. commitment
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Sex vs. relationship focus
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Entertainment choice
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Interest in nurturance
Which theory ?
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EP predicts all these differences should occur in
every human society
Other theories predict that they should vary across
culture
Class essay #3
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Clark & Hatfield study (1989)
Do you think that the same sex difference would
occur if this study were run on the UBC campus this
year?
Explain your reasoning in 100-150 words
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 OR
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