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Welcome Summer 2012 Students!

Final Post

What motivates a person to get out of bed in the middle of the night and raid the fridge?  Why do some people feel pushed to study hard and others to hardly study?  It is questions like these that have been racking the brains of philosophers and psychologist alike for centuries.  Fortunately for you and me, Prof. Berg with the help of Lambert Deckers’ textbook, teaches a whole class about motivation completely cutting brain racking out of the education equation.  Motivation is a combination of many different biological, environmental, psychological and physiological factors that are explained in great detail throughout the chapters of the book.  From Darwin’s theory of selection to Hull’s drive theory, this course taught me how human nature mixed with personal experience dictate the things we do and the way we set and achieve goals for ourselves.  Covering topics like addiction, emotions and even the economics of motivation (not as horrendously boring as it sounds) this class has given me a unique insight into the “why” that lies behind not only day-to-day actions, but long term relationships and habits that are effective for a healthy lifestyle.

            Of all the topics covered in this course the one I found most interesting is the explanation of facial expressions and the connection they have to emotions.  It would seem that emotions that come from within your body would have no external representation.  However, this is not the case.  Both Bacon and Descartes saw changes in facial expressions as outward signs of emotion.  Even more intriguing was the idea that facial expressions are not learned but instead innate presented by Darwin.  He reasoned that expression served to communicate our emotions and “reveal the thoughts and intentions of others more truly than do words” (Deckers, 43).  I agree with Darwin when he says this because actions do speak louder than words and disconcerting look from a figure of authority is often more scary than any loud scolding.  This could be because one never really knows what lays behind another person’s eyes, especially if they are hidden within a scowl or even a deceptive smile.  

Post 1, 2, & 3 (Better late then never)

Post1
Psychoactive drugs
Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that have the ability to alter mood and behavior. There are many different psychoactive drugs and the most widely used one is caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant and is found in soda, coffee and chocolate as well as some other things. This substance is considered a psychoactive drug because of its effects on our bodies. I think that caffeine is the most accepted drug there is in our country and I believe there needs to be more care with handling it. Like any drug I think that in high concentrations or amounts it should be restricted from the developing population because the increased likelihood of harmful effects. This is definitely the case for younger children and energy drinks. I have seen many young people unable to function without caffeine and this is one of the reasons it should be used more sparingly. I think not a lot of people realize that it is a psychoactive drug and I think more education should be based around it.

Post2
Hunger motivation
Hunger motivation affects all of us daily. We all think that it is time to eat at various times of the day and this drive is known as hunger motivation. The feeling of hunger comes from the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. This is supposed to let us know when our bodies need food, and when we may have had too much. People eat because of internal feelings, as well as external feelings. When our brain is sending internal messages from the hypothalamus, this is an internal factor. Things that we eat when we do not feel hungry may be because of boredom, stress, or something that looks delicious is placed in front of us. These are external factors that allow our body to use hunger motivation. I think that hunger is the most out of control motivator for people in America today. I know I myself struggle with hunger motivation daily and try and optimize my intake for health purposes.
This is a video illustrating hunger motivation at an extreme instance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYffV7qhvTc
Post3
Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined by the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences. The four components of sensation seeking are; thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, dis-inhibition, and boredom susceptibility. People may take various risks to fulfill these sensations, and this can sometimes be dangerous. People who seek more sensations may be more susceptible to drug abuse. Also, there have been studies that might show that this is in genetics. Some people do not have as many triggers for sensation as others do, and you can see that these people stay to the safe side. People take all different kinds of risks that range from something as simple as balancing on a beam, to substance use and these things can drastically affect someone’s life. Sensation seeking is a type of motivation that is rewarded by usually risky activity.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVgUnl0wu2c

final project post - and i bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.

In reading this book, I learned a lot of official terminology for my everyday experiences.  For example, the simple joy I receive from stretching out a dough ball in order to make a pizza is my motive for going to work, and my paycheck is my incentive for dealing with the stress and heat I deal with at work.  Also, I have previously blogged that my daughter keeps me motivated to do things I need to do, such as finish school, as well as keeping me motivated to not do things I want to do, such as party and b.s.  In other words, to provide her with a happy and healthy life, I am pushed to graduate college and pulled from being a bar rat (which is beneficial for everyone).

One new idea I learned from this book is the idea that motivation is part of human nature and has evolved over the centuries in order for humans to survive.  The strive for sweet foods is beneficial for humans to desire caloric foods that give us nutrition.  Also, the rejection of bitter food comes from the fact that poisons are bitter, which aided in human survival.  To view human motivations as a survival of the fittest adaptation is not only interesting, but it is a genius thought derived from the observation of animals.  It may only be a theory, but I am buying what they are selling.

The thing I found most interesting in this book is the fact that motivation has been theorized by philosophers since Aristotle, and probably even before that.  Not only were they thinking about motivation, but they were using terminology to explain the way they felt and why they wanted to do the activities they wanted to do.  It is truly common sense that when your stomach is growling, you are hungry, but to give that feeling an official terminology is advanced thinking.  Also, from using these urges and describing why they happen and what they make you do, these ancient philosophers were trying to use these thoughts to correct negative behavior.

This class was interesting and I am glad I took it.  Thanks!

Final Post : ) Economics of Motivation & Getting Closer to Graduation

According to our text, economics of motivation is measured in various ways: money, time, and energy. There is a cost to satisfying a need, or acheive a goal, to do this you must have resources. We all as college students experience the economics of motivation with our goal being college graduation.

Our response costs : number of credits required to graduate

Our time costs: how many years it takes us to complete these courses

Physical energy costs: number of days we dragged ourselves to class when sick

Our psychological energery costs: staying on task, not giving up..

Our oppurtunity costs: we all gave up events and some even jobs and relationships in the name of getting it done.

     After almost six long years I have almost satisfied my goal. At the close of this semester, I am completing my psychology degree with one more semester until I finish my education degree.There were several setbacks, and obstacles, but the reward of the acheivment will far surpass any regret from past frustrations. Each semester gave me the feedback and positive reinforcement I have needed to keep working toward the next semester and ultimately my end goal : finally graduating from college.
      This was the perfect course to select as my final psychology course. I love learning about what drives us in our behavior, this class inspired me to constantly apply the material in the text, slides and website to my own life, and think about it through a personal lens rendering a fuller understanding. Reading posts written by my classmates gave me alternate perspectives to think about, and whether I responded or not, I always digested what you all wrote and enjoyed all of what I read. This class had very little oppurtunity cost because while there was a lot of reading, and we did a lot in a short amount of time.. its only June and in one short month we earned four credits! Thanks for a great semester and have a great summer!

Ever hear of the "winter blues"? Well I have, just about every year. I never paid much attention to it until I moved to a small studio apartment on the beach. I moved there in the summer, and spent a lot of the time at the pool, on the deck outside my door, on the beach, boardwalk and all around outside. I slept and ate inside and spent the rest of my days enjoying my location. Then I had my first winter. I would come home from work, and spend my day in my tiny apartment. I usually kept my blinds closed because I felt like my neighbors could see in my bedroom (so to speak) so in efforts to preserve privacy they were perpetually shut; making my tiny apartment very very dark. My first winter there I slept alot, ate alot, and was super lazy.... disconnected and found myself feeling isolated and unhappy. Then and spring and summer approached I was back outside loving life and back to my happy self. Then again, come winter.. the same thing. I told a friend what I was experiencing and she said I had the winter blues and needed some vitamin D. I didnt believe her, so I looked up this "winter blues" and surprised to see it was a legit condition and lots of people experienced it every year. I read about light therapy, and decided to just go out side and get my own light. I started taking walks on the boardwalk and taking vitamin D and trying to get some sunshine however I could ( even leaving my blinds open in my place). Pretty soon I was feeling good and forgot all about my dark depression of the cold cold winter.
   The winter blues is a milder form of bigger issue called Seasonal Affective Disorder. According to Mental Health America,Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD is a mood disorder associated with depression and related to seasonal variations of light. SAD affects half a million people every winter between September and April, peaking in December, January, and February and the winter blues affects even more people.
Symptoms of winter-onset seasonal affective disorder include:

• Depressed mood
• Irritability
• Hopelessness
• Anxiety
• Loss of energy
• Social withdrawal
• Oversleeping (feeling like you want to hibernate)
• Loss of interest in activities you normally enjoy
• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates such as pastas, rice, bread and cereal
• Weight gain
• Difficulty concentrating and processing information

Its crazy to think that something like the season changes can so strongly affect people, but it does. Suggested treatments include medications and light therapy. Less severe cases can be helped through more sunlight exposure. Luckily for us, its summertime now. Hopefully we all are out there enjoying the sunshine!

Final Project Post

I was very surprised in reading the first chapter alone by how in depth the study of motivation is. There is way more involved than I had originally imagined and it was really very interesting to learn about. The Text and Slides first introduced motives and incentives. Motives deal with the internal biological and psychological needs and these push a person to an end state;for an example hunger is a motive for eating. Incentives are external and they pull a person to an end state, late fees are an incentive to pay your car insurance on time. We were shown how emotion is linked to motivation in many aspects., An example of this would be fear, seen as the universal motive that tells us to escape a harmful situation or even a situation that we don’t wish to be in. We were informed throughout the text, about addictive behaviors, and whether they’re behavioral or psychoactive. We then moved into homeostasis and what drives us to eat and drink as well as our drives and needs. Through the last part of this course we learned how our personality characteristics affect behavior because our traits affect the situations we put ourselves in. We finished out with goal motivation, which is all about using the goal as the incentive for a person to achieve that end state, and finally furthered out outlook on how emotions are motives.


My favorite part of the course was probably the chapter on, Addictions and Addictive Behavior.Having a few friends and family memebers who struggle with addiction and having addictive behaviors I really enjoyed getting an in depth look into why they act the way they do. While it all interested me, I was particularly intrigued by the small section on positive addiction. Addictions are usually seen as negative, so I was very surprised to find this because I’ve never heard of an addiction that is positive, like exercise. Exercise addiction, although positive, can have many of the same symptoms and effects as drug addictions. Tolerance can be built up and many experience withdrawal symptoms when they are unable to work out. Strenuous exercise can create what’s called runner's high, which give feelings of euphoria, positive mood, and relaxation. This is because of the endorphins that are released. You are considered addicted when you crave this runner's high, as well as when you organize your life around exercising and push to yourself to extremes although there are consequences. It was funny to read this during this course because I believed it has happened to me. During my time at school I became very health conscious and began going to the gym. However I became so addicted to working out everyday that I began to skip a class or two just so I would have time to make it to the gym. It was like I needed to be there to feel better.

Overall I enjoyed this course. Motivation is a topic which is used everysingle day by people all over the world. What Motivates you?

Final Post-End of Motivational Sequence?

Maria Capelli
Final Post

       Let me start off by saying I was highly motivated to take this motivation course. I was excited to find out reasoning behind the actions of myself and others. I read the book from cover to cover and learned more than I ever thought I would. A person should definitely take this course if they want know how people’s actions are influenced by external incentives and internal motivations. If you know someone struggling with addiction, chapter 8 could give insight into what caused the addiction and some ideas on how to reverse it. If you’re constantly fatigued by stress, chapter 7 can teach you how to inventory your stressors and manage them more easily. There’s a chapter, concept, or theory for almost everything you can think of in this book. It was a very good choice in reading material along with all the wonderful Powerpoint note slides that Dr. Berg provided us. Included in the Powerpoint slides were not only notes from our book, but also some videos that examined some real life situations related to the course material. The best part of this course was the blog. After reading blog posts from people who are also taking the course like me, it seemed that all the material we covered was being experienced by everyone all the time even if we didn’t realize it.I'm sad that my motivational sequence for this course is ending.

      My favorite topic in the book was how we are motivated by internal needs. In chapter 2, we learned that there are primary (viscerogenic) needs and secondary (psychogenic) needs. Primary needs refer to physiological needs such as water, air, food, and sleep. Secondary needs refer to mental or emotional satisfaction based upon our primary needs. All of our physiological needs are the same, and our mental needs vary, but all of our motives and up being fairly similar. In chapter 3, universal motives were introduced. Universal motives occur in all countries and cultures even if they are expressed differently. Universal motives are based upon Bronislaw Malinowki’s list of basic needs. I thought the list was a great way to separate the stems of motivation. It made it easier to understand why people crave food, go on vacation, move away, have children, build houses, and perform many other universal actions.

     I sometimes wonder why I am studying to be a psychologist. Psychologists do make good money, but why wouldn’t I shoot for a career with higher pay such as a pharmacist or an engineer? What is my motivation for wanting to be a psychologist? Well, in the video below there is something called a purpose motive. The reward of having a purpose is higher than the reward of a monetary incentive. I will enjoy a career where I help people and make a difference more than I would enjoy a career that has higher pay but is strictly using mechanical skills. The video below explains EVERYTHING that I mean. If you think it’s too long to watch the whole length, trust me that it is worth it and you will not want to stop watching.

Final Post

This course was useful in helping me understand many things and especially helpful for me at work. I am a supervisor of lifeguards a relatively easy job and understanding certain aspects that this course taught was especially helpful in getting some work done with a relatively lazy staff. The concepts learned in this course also helped me realize the reason I may struggle at times when I am working my night job and it seemingly holds true that as I close in on my paycheck I start becoming motivated to work again, and how each paycheck seemingly takes precedence over my long term goal of paying off my school debt simply because of the nearness of that reward.

It was interesting to learn about the positive and negative reinforcement that drugs and gambling incur along with all of the motivators there are simply based around food and drink. I am a psychology major and always enjoy reading about the many different theories that psychologists base around a subject, in this case motivation, but I also like how philosophers Locke and Hobbes contributed to the subject. Overall I thought this was an excellent topic to base a course around because it pertains to pretty much everything we do or don’t do in life and it gave me a better understanding of the many different motivators and drives that steer people throughout their lives. The video I selected talks about what motivates us and uses animations to do so. I found the studies that this video talks about extremely interesting.

http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc

Motivation Final Post

There are so many things in life that can motivate you. It can be words from a song or quote from a movie. It can be your goal of having a career or helping your family. And it even could be someone else's words that move you and remind you not to give up no matter how hard the road ahead of you is. This class not only taught me about motivation, but it also made me understand more about myself and what motivates me. It also has taught about what things motivate other people to behave the way they do.

Things that motivate me are getting good grades, my family, and my work. I work hard to get good grades because I want to have a great career. I want to be able to provide for my family and for myself. My family always motivates me. There support and love for me has always made me work harder for things I want in life and be grateful for everything I have. And the last thing that motivates me is my work. Even though I am just a waitress; it isn't my career, but I still work hard and always try to take pride in my work and do the best job that I can.

My favorite parts of the course were talking about facial expressions and emotions. It is really fascinating how the two are so tied together. You can really make a persons day with the right expression, and you can tell how there feeling through their body language. Our facial expressions allow us to communicate without words.  I think that motivation is all push and pull. We push for things that we want to achieve for the incentive that is given. But the pull is for things that we physically need in life. I think that this method is used throughout life and it will continue to be used.


 I posted a video of a speech that I love. It is really moving and motivating. The man giving the speech shows that no matter how hard the battle is, even if its the battle for your life, you should never give up. You should always believe in yourself, and smile and laugh often. I think these are great words to live by.



"Don't give up, don't ever give up"

Too Much Self Esteem is a Bad Thing

Entitlement. This word seems to be the main concept in the minds of young teens in this country these days.More and more we see how young teens are given new cars, designer clothes, i phones, and other novelty items. Even shows, like MTV's Sweet 16, shows young teenagers given lavish parties and gifts given to them by their parents, only boosting their self esteem and reputation. In chapter 9 of our Motivation text book the topic of self esteem was discussed. My previous knowledge about self esteem usually relates back to the idea of teenagers struggling with low self esteem. However, after doing some research I noticed that more and more studies are being conducted based on the fact the self esteem has been increasing in teenagers throughout the country. I found this to be quite interesting, and after thinking about it I completely agree. I have a younger sister who is about to be a senior in high school and she has the highest self esteem out of anyone of my friends or family members. It almost as if we told her how beautiful she is and how much we love her so much, that she internalized that into a narcissistic level of high self esteem. Even the stories I hear about her teenage friends would shock you! One of her friends even told her parents that if they were buying her a car made after the year of 2011, for her birthday, not to bother because she wouldn't be caught dead driving something so old. So what did the girls parents do? They bought her a brand new 2012 sedan. This made me wonder how the feeling of entitlement and high self esteem go hand in hand. Some who research the psychology of teens have concluded that the trend of instilling a high self esteem, born of good intentions in the Age of Aquarius, has had toxic effects.

Research done by Brittany Gentile, a psychology graduate student at the University of Georgia, found that between 1988 and 2006, the average junior high student's score on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (a questionnaire that asks whether respondents agree with such statements as "On the whole, I am satisfied with myself") jumped nearly four points on a 40-point scale. The average score for a high school student went up almost two points during a similar span. I firmly belive this is due to the fact that many teens feel entitled to the things they want and the things their parents have provided for them. More and more I come to find that teens, I have interaction with, believe that they are on top of the world and nothing can hurt or touch them. It's not to say that having a high self esteem can necessarily mean that the teen is spoiled, yet it seems to be the case most of the time. 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07-04/news/ct-met-teen-self-esteem-20100704_1_self-esteem-jean-twenge-praised

Final Post

What I learned most in this course was a greater awareness into why people behave in certain ways. Gaining greater awareness into myself and other people is one of my favorite things about being a psychology major. I enjoy coming across one of those aha moments that makes me say to myself oh okay that's why I do this. There was certainly a greater deal of those moments in this class. Mainly because motivation is everything. Without motivation we wouldn't be in college or try to form some kind life we envision for ourselves.
One of my favorite topics that the book touched on was the concept of positive psychology. The main idea of positive psychology isn't to have people walking around with a big grin on their face all the time, but it wants to help people reach whatever their optimum potential may be. One of these optimum experiences is flow "Flows refers to the desirable subjective state of a person experiences when completely involved in some challenging activity that matches the individual's skills. The activity has a clear and provides immediate feedback regarding the caliber of one's performance"(Deckers 256). A good example of this is when you feel like you've been doing an activity you are totally concentrated on for only a few minutes, but you look at your watch to see hours have passed by. I've certainly experienced this state before, but maybe not enough. The flow state is certainly a powerful incentive that I will strive for. Obviously it is a difficult state of mind to activate, which is why people choose the easier option like watch television all day. The video below is a good example of why flow is important especially in younger people.

Final Post (Amanda Stallard)

During this course I have learned about many different factors that motivate people towards a desired outcome or goal. Everyone has something or someone that motivates them to do or not do something.  The constant push and pull of motive and incentive drive a person through out their lives to make decisions that will have lasting effects on themselves and others.  The concept of motivation was not something that I had really thought about before and did not realize how many decisions that I make in one day that effect my future in positive and negative ways.  What motivates a person to do something varies from each individual and every person has different incentives that move them towards an end point. 

This class has really helped me to think in depth about who and what motivates me in my life.  One huge motivating factor is my family.  I strive to do my best and follow through on every task so that I can make my family proud of my accomplishments. This summer I am completing my bachelors degree and in reflecting back on the journey to reach graduation I have really surprised myself.  I never thought that I could have been so successful in my academic career.  I found within myself that I am an extremely motivated person and it feels so good to have almost accomplished a goal that I have worked so hard for.   

I really enjoyed taking this course and in particular I found the sections about sexual selection, emotions, and stress to be fascinating.  I never really thought about the process of selecting a mate and the outside factors that play a role in this decision making process.  I enjoyed several of the videos about sexual selection and found the experiments about rating your mate to be really interesting.  The section on facial expression and emotions was really fascinating because universally we all understand facial expressions that are linked to emotions.  When someone smiles, frowns, or scowls we are able to understand and read this emotion without even saying a word.  This concept allows all humans to understand one another even if there is a language barrier.  The section about stress really hits home for me because I feel like for the past three years I have been in constant stress mode.  This section helped me to understand how the process of becoming stressed occurs and how to deal with the effects of stress. 

Motivation is made up of the push of motive and the pull of incentive.  This push and pull is a wonderful thing because it has helped me to reach my goals and accomplish feats that I never thought were possible. This course has helped me to learn alot about myself and to better understand others.  Throughout this course I have been able to reflect on my life’s journey and how to improve myself for a better future. Thank you to the class for your informative and interesting blog posts and to Professor Berg for  presenting the course material in such a cohesive and enjoyable manner.  I wish everyone the best of luck in their futures and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Final Post

It is important to understand motivation because motivation is what drives us to be the people that we are. Right now, having a career is what motivates me. I want to complete my bachelors with a GPA that will get me into a graduate program, that will conclude with me having the career that I want. Yet, to achieve these things I am also motivated to stay healthy, have a well balanced diet and exceed at my current job. Without these things I would not be able to achieve my main goal. Which this class helped to to understand that there were more motivating factors in my life other then school.    

This class taught me a lot about different motivators. Motivators that I had not originally ever thought about as something that made me motivated. For example, I never thought about the material in chapter 5, about thirst, hunger, and eating. I never really thought of hunger pain's being a motivator to eat, or being full as a motivator to stop eating. I had only thought of hunger in terms of natural instinct.  I added a video from Epic Meal Time, I felt this related because these men are motivated by their love of food to create ridiculous concoctions on a weekly basis.   

a final note about class...

Taking this class has been about motivation, and what drives people to do or act certain ways. Motivation drives a lot of things in life, without taking a step back and pointing out the motivational drive behind doing something, the motivation becomes ignored and becomes just an action. motivation can be seen when someone is hungry, trying to achieve a goal. The motivation can be both internal and external ideas or needs, for example an external body shiver is a response to an environmental factor of being chilly out. whereas an internal motivation is hunger, the body's response to running low in energy.

my music teacher had a quote engraved into a plaque that stated: Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks. Johann Gottfried Von Herde. In my life music has been a huge motivation in my life to do well in school. Growing up playing music in the band you had to be passing the majority of your classes. being able to play an instrument in school was an incentive or reward I got for having good passing grades. So as a kid i never realized that my motivation for school and getting good grades was from a drive to play music. 

Because music has been a huge part in succeeding in life it has also been a coping mechanism that i have came across. whenever i am stressed about the end of a semester or when i am not getting along with someone, or generally just having a bad day i sit down and either play my clarinet or listen to a favorite song and all my troubles fade away and i feel like i am able to think with a clearer head, and am in a better mindset. 

this class has definitely taught myself things about myself and gives me a better understanding of what has been my motivation in life.

I am really happy that I decides to take this class. Motivation is something we learn at a very young age because our drives, needs, and awareness are present from the time we enter the world. From a very early age I recognized as a student that I am motivated by competition. I learned alot of great concepts in this class such as hierarchical needs, biological properties, and the theories of drug addiction which explained positive reinforcers and negative reinforcers. I choose psychology as my major because I was in a relationship with someone who was addicted to prescription pills. During this time in my life I tried to help my boyfriend get off the drugs but nothing seemed to work. One day I decided to do some research on how to become a drug counselor and found out the best way was to come back to school and get a Bachelor's degree in psychology. I enrolled at Stockton and I am now a senior and this class was a great experience for me. My life changed one day when his sister called me and said he overdosed on the pills and died. Sometimes when traumatic events happen to you, a persons drive goes to zero but I look at the negative and use it to motivate me so I can reach my goal. Although he is not here any longer and I won't be able to treat or help him, I am so focused on being a successful Drug counselor that nothing can stop me now. Just wanted to share my experience on how I motivated myself I knew my plan would work and now I can work and feel good about helping others to achieve their goals. I found this video and the statics on prescription drug use is so high that on person dies every 19 minutes hope you guys like it just some information.




prescription drugs

Final Project

Motivation: to be moved into action, or decide on a change in action.

Throughout this course I have gained a broader understanding of what motivation really is and how it can be found in everything. Motivation is what drives us to live. It’s the first thing that we do unconsciously every day of our lives. If we didn’t have motivation, then why even get up each morning; brush our teeth, get ready for the day, eat, live? All of these things are driven by our internal disposition known as motivation. Our actions or behavior does not occur spontaneously but is induced by either internal motives or environmental incentives. Our motives are linked to incentives. The incentive is the anticipated reward or aversive event available in the environment. A motive is linked to an incentive because it attains an incentive as the goal of a person’s motive.

So how are motives seen? Hunger is a motive for eating. Music provides the impulse to dance. An interest charge is the incentive for timely bill paying. Motives and incentives are seen in every day life whether we realize it or not. I enjoyed taking this course because it gave me the realization and understanding of how motivation is put into action internally within ourselves and how we can view it in the world around us. I found a video that I found not only inspirational but motivational. It depicts a man who does not have arms or legs, yet it still motivated to live life to the fullest.

Check out this motivational video!

Final Blog Post

I made my final blog post on Prezi. I really hope it works because it is only the second time using the site, but I didnt want to do a normal powerpoint. Please let me know if it doesn't work, so that I can put it in a powerpoint and repost it!

http://prezi.com/gehxfd9efkss/edit/#13

Post 3- Stess

Maria Capelli
Post 3
Chapter 7 Stress

     Before I realize that stress could weaken your immune system, I used to put my body and mind through multiple stressors. I was enrolled in school full time, dancing six days a week, and putting more stress on myself then I even realize. I eventually learned that the 'open window hypothesis' is very true. (p. 169) I was over exercising, not eating enough, and starting to miss school, assignments, and dance lessons. I would be so exhausted that I would come home, pass out, and eventually become ill. I suffered from many colds, sinus infections, etc. I finally decided that since dancing wasn't a career choice I was about to make I would have to quit. As soon as I quit dancing and putting my body though tremendous physical stress I got sick less. I had more energy, was able to focus more on school assignments, and even had a sharper attention span. As sad as I was to quit it was probably one of the best choices I made. Before I quit, I went to see a neurologist who referred me to an athletic specialist. The specialist told me I had hypotension. Hypotension is one of the conditions listed in our book for psychosomatic disorders. (p. 169) I strongly believe that the hypotension I had was caused from all the stress I was putting myself through from my life's demands at the time.
     If you are a person who is a 'workaholic', has too much on your plate, or just overall is taking on more responsibilities than you can handle, then I highly suggest slowing down. You will get more achieved by working slowly and efficiently than stressing your body and mind out and risking falling ill. I have been sick enough times to realize that taking things slow and easy is the best way to heal your body. Never try to push yourself through anything because your body and mind can only handle so much stress until it gives out. This was very hard for me to learn and extremely hard to put into practice.

Is Adoption Always the Best Option?

Post 2
Chapter 9 Personalities and Traits
     I often wonder why I have the personality I do and where my traits come from. Questions like these are especially interesting to me because I am adopted. If I was raised by my birth parents, would I behave differently? Would I still be motivated to make the same actions I do now?
     Many of the traits that I have don't seem to be shared with my parents. That makes it clear to me that i must have been born with my traits making them innate. However, my personality seems to have been influenced by my environment. I react to most things the same way my parents would and I associate it with the nurturing I received from them. I can tell that my motivation stems mostly from my innate traits, but some of it also comes from the personality I have that was formed by my enviornment. The parents of children with a lack of self- motivation probably also have or had a lack of self-motivation. If they gained self-motivation and were able to impose motivational incentives for their children, then the children will have a chance of being more motivated than their natural traits had previously allowed them to be. If there is a strong lack of motivation found innately in a child though, it could be unlikely that any environmental influences could override innate instincts the child naturally has. If the parents of a child have always had low self-motivation and continue to raise their children that way, then I expect the child would never obtain a high level of self-motivation unless socially influenced by another person such as a teacher or a mentor.
     I would like to know whether or not my birth parents were self-motivated. If they were, then I would attribute my good self-motivation to my genetics. If they weren't then I would attribute my self-motivation to my adoptive parents' upbringing. My motivation could come from a mix of both innate and aquired traits and personality, but I think in my situation I would lean towards one side or the other.The study of the seperated and adopted twin sets leads me to believe that most motivation comes from innate traits. I believe that this is the same for me. So make sure if you ever decide to adopt kids that their biological parents have traits that you would like to see in your child, because changing those traits with experience could be very difficult. You probably wouldn't want to end up with a psychopath for a child, which is what this study finds:

"Analyses revealed that having a biological criminal father was related to psychopathic personality traits for male adoptees, but not for female adoptees. For males, having a criminal biological father increased the odds of scoring in the extreme of the psychopathic personality trait scale by a factor ranging between 4.3 and 8.5. However, there was no association between having a biological criminal mother and psychopathic personality traits for adoptees." (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235211000845)

Luckily my parents didn't adopt a psychopath, but a very smart and self-motivated child that will someday hopefully be a psychologist. If they weren't so lucky they would probably be returning to the adoption agency to look for a sign like this one:

Final BLOGG yahhh!!

Hi everyone! So I decided to do a little short animation video. I have been working on this video for about 2 days. It's a short video due to limitations by GoAnimate website (only website that lets you do free animation that I could find on google) . I really enjoyed this class and definitely doing my final blog. This is my first time ever playing with cartoon characters as well as making a video. I m very happy how it turned out. I hope you enjoy it, because I did. Thank you, have a great summer and good luck with your finals. :)


Here is a direct URL link to my video just in case if this doesn't work.
http://goanimate.com/videos/0Q5h9_zOAib4?utm_source=linkshare

one advice i give is to FULL SCREEN the video so you can read the text PLEASE

goals what motivates me to accomplish them...

As an ADHD student is has always been hard to set a goal and remember to accomplish it within a designated time frame. my source of goals have always came from a level of aspiration, what i desire for myself in life or things that would give me a sense of fulfillment. when it came to what i wanted for myself post highschool graduation it was all just a big what should i do and how can i make myself better, while making milestone accomplishments towards graduation.

the list consisted of:
keeping a higher GPA level
finishing school to prove to certain people that i could finish schooling
staying active in the community
getting into a better school
getting into teaching
saving money
having my assiciates before i turned 21
and my bachelors before i turned 22
being out of the house by 23
and so on...

this list was made up from one of my former teachers to be placed on my fridge as a constant reminder that there were things i had to do in school and not just be distracted my a partying college life which yes is highly fun but as a distracted person this list constantly reminded me that i had small milestones that in the future lead to a bigger goal of a degree and also adulthood. the smaller the goal and more of them kept it easier to accomplish a big goal or will help achieve the goal of a bachelors in December. another factor which has made it easier was because the tasks are things i highly desire making accomplishing them more important. as i accomplish the tasks i cross them off one by one till my list is complete.

The End is Here (final project)

I made a short animation using youtube’s Goanimate. It is in 2 parts due to the limitations of the free version. I understand their flat voice can be a little hard to keep up with; therefore, I am also posting the text below.

(part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgY-kRdf3pU

(part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4IESV3fpGc&feature=relmfu

The end of this class is here and I have learned many things.  Motivation is just what consciously or unconsciously moves a person into an action.  It can come from internal sources (intrinsic) or external sources (extrinsic). As an example of both, I could have read Decker’s book just because of simple pleasure of reading, but I was more pulled into it by the desire to earn a good grade.  Motivation can also be affected by many factors such as, stress, personality traits, and emotions.  Due to evolutionary past we have universal motives that we all share common, but because everyone has a variation of personality traits we can also differ in motives.  Lastly, motivation contributes to our goals which consume time, psychological energy, and physical energy.

My favorite part was learning about reinforcers, punishers, positive incentives, and negative incentives. This is something I can use if my motivation is ever lost.  For example, to motivate myself to get up extra early to exercise I can form a mental image of a nice sunrise by the boardwalk.  To look forward to exercising I can visualize the consequence of exercise as me being more fit.  This summer spiders that are being attracted by dust are becoming my negative incentive motivating me to avoid being messy and disorganized.

This was a nice, fast paced class. I hope everyone enjoys their summer.