Preparing us for action

The functions of emotions

Controversies regarding emotions

Achievement motivation theory

It is a stable, learned characteristic in which satisfaction is obtained by striving for and attaining a level of excellence. People with high achievement motivation tend to compete against some standards and prove themselves successful. They tend to choose tasks that are of intermediate difficulty. People with low achievement motivation tend to be motivated primarily by a desire to avoid failure. As a result they choose easy tasks. The outcome of high achievement motivation is generally positive. Research shows that high achievement motivation is associated with future economic and occupational success.

Conclusion on the different approaches to motivation: it is useful to employ different approaches simultaneously in order to understand and explain the motivational aspects of behavior.

Emotions -are feelings such as happiness, despair, and sorrow that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements influencing behavior. While motives are internally caused, emotions are responses to an external stimulus. Example: understanding and evaluating the meaning of the act we do when we are happy

There are a number of components of emotion. Some of these are:

1. The perception of the emotion-arousing stimuli.

2. Subjective feeling or experience of emotion.

3. Involuntary physiological changes of the body’s internal balance.

4. External bodily changes.

5. Cognitive factors; awareness of situation, previous experience, memory.

6. Voluntary behavioral consequences; response to the stimulus.

Emotional responses come first and then we try to understand them. People first develop cognition about situations and then react emotionally.

According to Darwin, human beings are not the only species that has emotions. Animals too, show fear, rage, and possibly love. Darwin suggested that there are specific, fundamental emotions that find expressions in the species. Example: Swans mourn hopelessly at the death of a male.

Some research findings suggest that there is gender difference with respect to emotions. Women tend to experience emotions more intensely and expressing more readily than men. This difference is attributed to: innate biological factors; societal expectations for men and women.

Example: If we see an angry dog running toward us, thesympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system prepares us for emergency action.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-04