Emotion and Motivation

Definitions:


emotion - a positive or negative experience that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity


affect - a mental state which may give rise to emotion


fast and slow pathways to emotional behavior
-fast pathway - stimulus to thalamus to amygdala to emotion
-slow pathway - stimulus to thalamus to cortex to amygdala to emotion


emotional expression - any observable sign of an emotional state


sign - caused by the thing it signifies


symbol - arbitrary designations that have no causal relationship with the things they symbolize


Universality Hypothesis of Emotional Recognition - the hypothesis that emotional expressions have the same meaning for everyone


Facial Feedback Hypothesis of Emotional Recognition - the hypothesis that emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they signify


motivation - the purpose for or cause of an action


drive - an internal state generated by departures from physiological optimality


extrinsic motivation - a motivation to take actions that are not themselves rewarding but that lead to reward


intrinsic motivation - a motivation to take actions that are themselves rewarding


need for achievement - the motivation to solve worthwhile problems


approach motivation - a motivation to experience positive outcomes


avoidance motivation - a motivation not to experience negative outcomes


Learning Objectives:


Describe emotion in terms of valence and arousal
Valence describes how positive or negative an experience is, while arousal describes how active or passive an experience is. The valence-arousal chart shown below should help give an idea of what valence and arousal really are, when relating the two to given adjectives.

Describe emotion in terms of pathways in the CNS

Compare and contrast the effects of cognition and emotion on behavior
Both cognition and emotion can either evoke or inhibit a certain behavior. Emotion will act on behavior more quickly than cognition because there are less neural pathways for a given stimulus to cause a behavior. Also, a behavior cause by emotion can be inhibited by cognition, and vice versa, or even both can cause a behavior, or vice versa.


Compare and contrast emotion and affect
Both emotion and affect can give rise to a certain behavior and cognition; however, affect will do so indirectly. Since affect may give rise to an emotion, it may then evolve into a behavior and cognition. Emotions come and go, but affect is a more lasting mental state; as a result, emotions which evoke behavior and cognition can either lengthen the period of an affective mental state, or shorten it.


Compare and contrast ways we use symbols to express signs of emotion
In most cases, these symbols used to express signs of emotion are generally facial expressions, with the odd emoticon thrown in. The general facial expressions are considered universal by the Universality Hypothesis, and emotions are easily read by these facial expressions. With the most subtle of differences in facial expressions, such as a slight crinkle in the corner of our eyes, we can differentiate between communications of friendliness or genuine happiness. Emoticons, in specificity, are just a generalized depiction of our faces and communicate emotions similar to how we would read a facial expression.


Describe ways we can use emotional signs to deceive
Intensification involves exaggerating the expression of one's emotion, as when a person pretends to be more surprised by a gift than he or she really is.
Deintensification involves muting the expression of one's emotion, as when the loser of a contest tries to look less distressed than he or she really is.
Masking involves expressing one emotion while feeling another, as when a poker player tries to look distressed rather than delighted as he or she examines pocket rockets.
Neutralizing involves feeling an emotion but displaying no expression, as when judges try not to betray their leanings while lawyers make their arguments.
Note that it is pretty difficult to detect deception most of the time, at least with the average person trying to detect a decent liar.


Identify examples of behaviors resulting from intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Just remember that extrinsic motivation involves a reward other than completing a given task, and that intrinsic motivation finds that completing a task is reward enough.


Thought Question:


Q: What are some functions of emoticons? Why are they helpful for electronic, text-based communication? Provide an example where a particular communication may be misconstrued without the use of an emoticon and show how adding a particular emoticon can help clarify the meaning of an ambiguous text message.


A: Emoticons help clarify a misconstrued communication. In electronic, text-based communication, it is often difficult to determine if another person is joking or not, especially if there is little knowledge on the person you are talking with. In texting, for example, many people make sarcastic or even outright rude remarks to one another, merely in jest. By adding an emoticon, such as a laughing face XD, a face with a tongue out :P, or a smiley face ;D, you can indicate to another that you are really only joking with the other. Alternatively, emoticons can be used as a means of deception, to make a real insult seem like just a joke, or to lighten up a conversation gone sour.