1) Defining motivation.

2) The relation between

emotion and motivation.

3) Theories of motivation.

M.L.PANDIA
 Differences between every-day
and psychological understanding of
terms:

 emotion
 motivation
Definitions of emotion in
psychology

Each process of evaluation/apprisal
(Jarymowicz, 1997).

Complex regulative processes that have
many components (affective, physiological,
content) and cannot be reduced to
subjective feelings (Reykowski, 1992).

Specific regulation processes that are
elicited in response to stimuli (coming from
external environment or from the inside of
the body) that are important for an
individual (as a biological organism or as a
person) (Nowa Encyklopedia Powszechna).
Definition of motivation in
psychology


“Term used to describe all the
mechanisms of initiating and continuing
behavior. It refers to mechanisms that
can be:

Either basic or complex,

Either internal or external,

Either affective or cognitive
(Łukaszewski, 2000)
Function of emotion:
adaptation
motivation
communication
regulation
(finding those characteristics of objects
and events that are important (have
positive or negative meaning) for an
individual and energizing the organism
to respond in an appropriate way)

Thus: emotion can elicit motivation!

 Motivation – process of regulation that
guides human actions in order to achieve a
particular state:

Change in physical or social world

Change in ones own situation, in Self

(sometimes it is not an end point that is

important but the process of achieving it)
 Two characteristics of motivation:


Direction

Strength

The strength depends on:


Attractiveness of a achieving a goal
(anticipated gratification)

How possible it is to achieve a goal (or
how much do we believe in it)

Motive – specific inner psychic state
described as “sense of unfulfillment”
and readiness to initiate an
activity/action (motivational tension).


Motivational tension appears when
both attractiveness of achieving a goal
and our belief in achieving it are higher
than 0.
 Causes of unfulfilled motives:

biological needs

psychological needs (subjective sense of lack of
something that is necessary for living and
growth)

activation of affective patterns (avoiding stimuli
that cause pleasant emotion/approaching stimuli
that cause negative emotion)

factors that serve as distractors to our activity
(frustration, stress, conflict, anxiety)

task formation (when something is not in
accordance with our standards, norms)

activation of interests

activation of values (ex, when values important
for us are threatened)
Motivational tension is reduced when:


goal is achieved

when it just lasted for a long time
(mechanisms of regulation become weak)

as a consequence of cyclic changes in an
organism (ex. hormons)

under the influence of strong feelings and
sudden reactions
Theories of emotion
STIMULUS ??? EMOTION
Theories of motivaton
 Sociobiology (genes!)
 Ethology (instincts!)
 Learning theories
(reinforcements/punishments!)
 Psychodynamic theories (unconscious
drives!)
 Humanistic theories (needs: deprivation
and being, need for selffullfillment!)
 Cognitive theory (cognitive balance!)