In Maslow's article, he describes many forms of motivation and why humans are either satisfied physically and psychologically. It's interesting that he states that once needs are dominated, then other needs are amplified as more important or there is a stronger motivation in seeking to satisfy those absent needs/desires. For me, I am a undergraduate whom hales from a working class family. I have high motivation to change the lifestyle I was brought up in, to a higher class of citizen to better myself and my family. This is one reason why I am in college. There is the need for money, security and stability in my future in order to live the life I wish to lead, eventually. I attend school to equip myself with knowledge so that I will become the man I wish to be. The motivation to be successful.
At this point in time, I am motivated to stay motivated. If I continue on thinking my psyche will enhance itself on a mundane course through these semesters of countless hours doing work to advance my education, I would be deeply depressed. With the knowing that life eventually grants some relief, I strive to be comfortable physically and emotionally to control the questions of, what if.
Nothing is guaranteed. But motivation in Maslow's article was not simply discussing my issues, yet he describes how not only adults but also children are motivated even if they are unaware of the reasons. A newborn cries so that in return he will receive food and satisfy his/her appetite. A mother knows that she must remain motivated to complete such tasks for her child so that her offspring will grow and develop to their full potential, hopefully becoming a contributing citizen in society. The motivation for all is within what needs and desires are absent or unmet by our individual situations throughout our lives. Maslow understands that human motivation relies on many axioms physiologically and psychologically for a well rounded, healthy being.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Final Project Post: Motivation
Motivation has different definitions. To be motivated is to be moved to action/behavior or change in action/behavior. A motive is an internal disposition to approach or avoid an incentive. An incentive is an environmental stimulus that attracts or repels. All of these definitions put together defines motivation, but there is much more to it than that. Us as human beings have drives that we are not even necessarily aware of. Evolution is one of the main things that affect motivation and our drives as humans. Emotions affect our motives. For example, getting angry is an adaptation to a blocked goal. There are many sources for our motivation. There are internal sources, such as biological or psychological. There are external sources, such as incentives and goals. All of these things put together motivate different people in different ways.
We covered a lot of different and interesting topics in this course, but if I had to choose one that I liked the best it would have to be addictions and addictive behaviors. This topic was interesting because so many people have addictions and it was personal to be because my father is an alcoholic. It was interesting to see how different addictions affect people and what motivates them to be addicts. In genetics of addiction individuals who are genetically related are more vulnerable to drug experimentation and addiction. For personality, people who are high sensation seekers are more likely to experiment with drugs. People who are impulsive and people who have a low sensitivity to dopamine in their brain have a higher risk of using drugs. There is also gambling addiction, which is when people are not sensitive to negative financial and social consequences and are just after the "high" of winning money. Some people do not have addictive personalities and some people do. Everyone is different and it is sometimes hard to know the reality of addiction, but it is good to be knowledgeable, so that you can prevent yourself from becoming an addict and also help others.
Every topic in this course was related to real life and it was very interesting and informative. I learned a lot in this course and since everything was related to real life this information is something that I am always going to think about when making decisions in my life. For example, why am I choosing this guy as my boyfriend? or Am I not going after this job because I am just afraid of failure? Am I going to college for myself or for my parents? Am I doing volunteer work for intrinsic rewards or external rewards?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
This link is a video on what motivates us at home and in the work place
We covered a lot of different and interesting topics in this course, but if I had to choose one that I liked the best it would have to be addictions and addictive behaviors. This topic was interesting because so many people have addictions and it was personal to be because my father is an alcoholic. It was interesting to see how different addictions affect people and what motivates them to be addicts. In genetics of addiction individuals who are genetically related are more vulnerable to drug experimentation and addiction. For personality, people who are high sensation seekers are more likely to experiment with drugs. People who are impulsive and people who have a low sensitivity to dopamine in their brain have a higher risk of using drugs. There is also gambling addiction, which is when people are not sensitive to negative financial and social consequences and are just after the "high" of winning money. Some people do not have addictive personalities and some people do. Everyone is different and it is sometimes hard to know the reality of addiction, but it is good to be knowledgeable, so that you can prevent yourself from becoming an addict and also help others.
Every topic in this course was related to real life and it was very interesting and informative. I learned a lot in this course and since everything was related to real life this information is something that I am always going to think about when making decisions in my life. For example, why am I choosing this guy as my boyfriend? or Am I not going after this job because I am just afraid of failure? Am I going to college for myself or for my parents? Am I doing volunteer work for intrinsic rewards or external rewards?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
This link is a video on what motivates us at home and in the work place
Motivation: Final Post
Throughout the past 3 months, I have learned many different and new concepts in this course; I will briefly cover a couple of those here. To begin, the whole idea of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation fascinated me. I definitely would consider myself to be mostly motivated by extrinsic forces; I love to compete against others. I also found the topic of introversion and extroversion. The premise of trying to figure out why people are the way they are has always interested me, and this is just another trait that deals with that. In terms of me, I am undoubtedly an extrovert; I am very outgoing and love to be around people most of the time. This course was highly informative about a very interesting topic, motivation is something that every human being grapples with on a daily basis, some more than others, but it is a topic that most of the general population can connect with.
If I had to narrow it down, I would definitely have to say my favorite topic that was covered this semester was the universal motives of sex, fear, food, and music. I liked the specific example that was shown on a video during one class; it was about this special group of hunters in Africa who would spend days hunting a single animal. They would exhaust astonishing amounts of energy to hunt a single animal with one goal: to feed their families. When I actually thought about this topic I found it really amazing that no matter how different cultures may be in the world, we all really do have the same reasons for doing what we do. Everybody wants to survive, people need to eat, people need to reproduce, and people get scared; no matter how far people may be from each other, we all share these innate traits as human beings.
Of course many of the topics we have discussed can relate to everyday life. Take procrastination for example, what better environment to relate to than a college campus? Mate selection, once again another topic that is very prevalent in a college setting. Like I previously stated, motivation is a constant factor that people deal with each and every day, and there are biological factors and psychological factors that each person possesses and this is why people handle various situations in different ways. My last thought is this, some things never change; no matter what day in age, people will always be different.
If I had to narrow it down, I would definitely have to say my favorite topic that was covered this semester was the universal motives of sex, fear, food, and music. I liked the specific example that was shown on a video during one class; it was about this special group of hunters in Africa who would spend days hunting a single animal. They would exhaust astonishing amounts of energy to hunt a single animal with one goal: to feed their families. When I actually thought about this topic I found it really amazing that no matter how different cultures may be in the world, we all really do have the same reasons for doing what we do. Everybody wants to survive, people need to eat, people need to reproduce, and people get scared; no matter how far people may be from each other, we all share these innate traits as human beings.
Of course many of the topics we have discussed can relate to everyday life. Take procrastination for example, what better environment to relate to than a college campus? Mate selection, once again another topic that is very prevalent in a college setting. Like I previously stated, motivation is a constant factor that people deal with each and every day, and there are biological factors and psychological factors that each person possesses and this is why people handle various situations in different ways. My last thought is this, some things never change; no matter what day in age, people will always be different.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Final Motivation Post
Motivation is a class where the information can be directly applied to your every day life and for me those are the best classes. The study of motivation aims to discover what motivates us to behave in a certain way. Understanding motivation is a critical concept in the study of psychology. In psychology we study behavior and motivation is what causes specific behaviors. If we can understand what motivates humans, then we can understand behavior and then aim to predict, explain and control it.
This class taught principles of motivation; the history and evolution behind it, how it affects human drives and needs, how it affects our health, personality and how we can impact what motivates us. By learning these theories, we can have better self awareness and better understand our own behaviors. Studying motivation opened my eyes to my own behaviors. I found myself becoming more aware of the things I did, what I accomplished and how I went about the task. Motivation covers behaviors from beginning to end, from what motivates us to act, to how we act.
As someone interested in studying Industrial Organizational Psychology, this class was very important to this area of study. Motivation is a key factor in studying human behavior in organizational settings. Organizations need to understand motivation in order to run an effective business. To manage a successful workforce, you need to know what drives them to perform at their optimum levels. Leaders need to know how to motivate workers and understand behaviors. Motivation is a critical component in every organization.
Final Project Post
To be motivated is, “to be moved to action/behavior or change in action/behavior.” This semester we learned about the history, types and what drives our behavior. Our motives is what pushes us to reach a goal. This can be for example, hunger is a push towards food. We also learned a lot about emotions being, “a universal multi-channeled reaction by which a person adapts to stimulus change.”
As early as the 1600s philosophers have been studying motivation. One of the earliest sources of motivation is hedonism which is when a person strives for pleasure but will avoid pain. Evolutionary psychologists also had reasonings behind motivation. They believe that there are universal motives. These are shared motives that come from evolution. Examples of these shared motives are, sex, food and fear.
Another interesting topic we discussed was addictions. By learning about different drugs and alcohol we were able to understand how these can play a huge role in our behavior. In understanding addictions we are able to help people that have them. What was also intriguing about this subject was how your personality can play a huge factor about whether your more liking to become addicted to something or not. Our personality traits determine how we react to certain situations. One trait that we talked about the most in class was, sensation seeking. This is when there is, “a willingness to take various risks for the sake of such sensations and experiences.” We watched a video on people from a tribe doing bungee jumping. But it wasn’t just normal bungee jumping, they would build a huge tower out of sticks and then by using just rope they would jump.
Finally, we learned about incentives and the cost behind our motives. First off an incentive is an external stimuli that motivates our behavior to occur. This can be anything from money to grades. By having reinforcers and punishers our incentive can increase or decrease. Thus, every goal comes with a cost. These costs could be anything from physical, psychological energy to opportunity costs.
Overall, in this class we discussed many different topics. Much more then what I wrote above. What I wrote above is sort of just an overview. What I liked the most about this class is how everything is related to real life. It was easy to understand the topics this way. I also liked how Professor Berg always had a video that related to a topic. My favorite topic we covered in class was mate selection. It was interesting to understand the ways we pick mates. In finding our mate we look at a mates value. When your value is higher you are more appealing to others. People who are physically attractive tend to have an easier time finding someone. But it is not just about being physically attractive, when selecting a mate psychological and values also factor in. From our textbook the author defines good genes hypothesis as, “the member of the other sex selects an attractive individual based on the assumption that attractiveness signals genes for health, fertility, and intelligence.” Women and men both look for different traits in the opposite sex. Research has shown that women look for men that are financially stable and ambitious. On the other hand men look for women who have good looks which relates to fertility. What intrigued me the most was the video we watched in class. In the video, men and women were dressed in body suits. They were then asked to find someone of the opposite sex. It was interesting because each person picked a mate that had around the same mate value as themselves.
One video that I thought that would be really funny is, “How to trick people into thinking your good looking” by Jenna Marbles. I picked this video because it shows that girls do to be attractive in a hilarious way. I thought it related to the subject in the sense that it shows how someone can change quickly change their mate value.
Final Post-- Optimism
I can identify motivation everywhere since taking this class this semester. Who knew that why we choose things in our lives can have so many facets. Choosing our mate, our careers and even what kind of cereal we eat , they are all decisions affected by the word"motivation".
I read a recent article in the June Psychology Today magazine that I want to share. Written by Jill Coody Smith, the article, "Optimism, Optimized" plays like a board game. The author asks the question;Is optimism always best tactic to use in life? She says research has determined the answer is "not always!" Sometimes expecting the worst helps us get through waiting for results; like waiting for SAT results, medical test results. Preparing for bad news prepares us for the inevitable and when the news is better than expected, we are relieved. Another benefit of expecting the worst in medical treatment is that preventive medicine; flu shots, mammograms, physicals, they all work toward our healthy future. Another scenario presented was a parent dealing with their teenagers. We should always expect the best of our children. If you expect that you child will drink or have sex, you may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Iowa State research has shown that mothers with low expectations for their kids will raise kids that embody the "party animal persona". College grads that are confident are more successful at job hunting than are pessimistic grads. NYU researcher cautions grads to expect the best but to be realistic. He stated that job seekers should not fantasize about their own capabilities, just work hard and persevere.
The article had other interesting points, find it if you get a chance. Again, motivation is so complex but simple at the same time. Life is full of opportunities to see the "Glass half-full." Optimism is generally good for our attitude, relationships and physical well-being.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/optimism_2.html#ixzz1gGdTaoUD
I read a recent article in the June Psychology Today magazine that I want to share. Written by Jill Coody Smith, the article, "Optimism, Optimized" plays like a board game. The author asks the question;Is optimism always best tactic to use in life? She says research has determined the answer is "not always!" Sometimes expecting the worst helps us get through waiting for results; like waiting for SAT results, medical test results. Preparing for bad news prepares us for the inevitable and when the news is better than expected, we are relieved. Another benefit of expecting the worst in medical treatment is that preventive medicine; flu shots, mammograms, physicals, they all work toward our healthy future. Another scenario presented was a parent dealing with their teenagers. We should always expect the best of our children. If you expect that you child will drink or have sex, you may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Iowa State research has shown that mothers with low expectations for their kids will raise kids that embody the "party animal persona". College grads that are confident are more successful at job hunting than are pessimistic grads. NYU researcher cautions grads to expect the best but to be realistic. He stated that job seekers should not fantasize about their own capabilities, just work hard and persevere.
The article had other interesting points, find it if you get a chance. Again, motivation is so complex but simple at the same time. Life is full of opportunities to see the "Glass half-full." Optimism is generally good for our attitude, relationships and physical well-being.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/optimism_2.html#ixzz1gGdTaoUD
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Free Post (Mate Selection)
For the free post I choose mate selection. This was interesting to me to see how people pick the other sex that they would like to be with. I learned a lot of different terms such as sexual selection, mate value, and mate poaching. Also after watching a short experimental video, people tend to pick people close to their number of attractiveness. Fives with fives, and sixes with sixes and so on. Sexual selection is defined as “one sex selects the individual from the other sex for mating based on physical attractiveness.” Mate Value was defined “one’s personal characteristics that makes them desirable to the opposite sex.” And lastly mate poaching is when someone “attempts to attract a person who is already in a relationship.” Men tend to do it about 60% where as women tend to do it about 40%. All in all this was neat to learn about and glad I got the oppurtunity.
Final Post
At first I was a little hesitant on taking this course. “Motivation” sounded really broad and I have never taken Dr. Berg. “Motivation” did not sound too appealing either. On top of that, people always say “never take a course with one word as the course name.” I decided to go against my gut feeling and those nay sayers, and I’m glad I did.
During this semester I have learned a great deal of information dealing with psychology and motivation especially. Some of the course topics were: evolution & motivation, addictions, needs & drives, stress & coping and final personality. These topics were interesting and Dr. Berg did a great job explaining it. When it comes to evolution and motivation we learned about what motivates people to act the way they do, incentives, and emotions. In the needs and drives section, we discussed homeostasis, certain psychological and physiological needs. Hunger and thirst are two of the main needs for humans to survive. Stress and coping was also intriguing because the fact is everyone has stress in their lives. People need to know how to handle stress such as: assess the situation, recognize these stressors, and stay calm, and it could be very beneficial. Last but not least, in the personality chapter we discussed introverts, extroverts, and the different genetic make-up. Genetics and the combination of nature and nurture play a role in our personality.
My favorite section hands down would be the addictions section. By no means am I a drug addict, but narcotics are fun to learn bout. It gives you knowledge to better yourself and to understand what drugs do to people and their bodies. I especially liked how we classified them and learned what part of the brain it affects. It really hits home for the fact that we all know friends or family members who have these problems.
During this semester I have learned a great deal of information dealing with psychology and motivation especially. Some of the course topics were: evolution & motivation, addictions, needs & drives, stress & coping and final personality. These topics were interesting and Dr. Berg did a great job explaining it. When it comes to evolution and motivation we learned about what motivates people to act the way they do, incentives, and emotions. In the needs and drives section, we discussed homeostasis, certain psychological and physiological needs. Hunger and thirst are two of the main needs for humans to survive. Stress and coping was also intriguing because the fact is everyone has stress in their lives. People need to know how to handle stress such as: assess the situation, recognize these stressors, and stay calm, and it could be very beneficial. Last but not least, in the personality chapter we discussed introverts, extroverts, and the different genetic make-up. Genetics and the combination of nature and nurture play a role in our personality.
My favorite section hands down would be the addictions section. By no means am I a drug addict, but narcotics are fun to learn bout. It gives you knowledge to better yourself and to understand what drugs do to people and their bodies. I especially liked how we classified them and learned what part of the brain it affects. It really hits home for the fact that we all know friends or family members who have these problems.
Final Post
Motivation is the force that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. The meanings of motivation involve motive and incentive. The motives push a person into action toward a goal and the incentive pulls a person toward a goal. An example would be, “I am motivated to go to school and my incentive is the degree that I will receive after I graduate.” I really enjoyed the Addictions and the Economic of Motivation chapters/lectures.
The Addictions chapter spoke about how the end result in using drugs or drinking alcohol is what motivated people to use the substance and then get addicted to it. I know that after a long week, I do enjoy a drink. Alcohol produces euphoria and releases social inhibitions. My brother is a very quiet person, but when he drinks alcohol he becomes a social butterfly. He finds it easier to talk to people especially women when he is drinking alcohol.
The Economics of Motivation chapter discussed how there is a cost to satisfying a need to achieve a goal and to satisfy that goal it requires resources. The costs for motivated behavior may involve money, time, response costs, physical energy costs, psychological energy costs, and opportunity costs. It costs both money and time to complete a degree in college. We also spoke about choice overload. I never actually gave it a thought that we have way to many choices to chose from. Choice overload is when a person cannot make up his mind because there are too many available choices. When choosing classes for spring semester, there are so many classes to pick from that I become confused. When I go to Acme, there are so many brands of each product that I feel choice overload. I enjoyed Motivation Psychology. I learned a lot in the class that explained how different things work.
Luck
This was a very interesting article. I loved the section where the author discussed the testing of the black cat superstition. All my life I have had a black cat in the house. I feel that my luck has fluctuated over the years and lead my to the conclusion that luck is a word to sublimate jealousy when put upon by other individuals. I also feel that you are showing your confidence in yourself or task when you consider yourself luckily. Lucky is a subliminal slang that is used way too often. This word has so much power attached to it. We seek it where ever an opportunity presents it self. Others will wish you luck, which is a nice sentiment but its what you do and how you motivate yourself that will lend more credence. Motivation is a key part in allowing luck to enter your life. The unmotivated individual will gather luck in small or at random times. The motivated individual with gain small successes that lead to big opportunities where they see the luck in their process. It seems that the word luck is overused and over powering that we associate it with a lady eg. "lady luck". There are only a few word that become associated with a entity and I find it fascinating that the majority of these words are uncontrollable. Mather Nature, Lady Luck, Lady Liberty, Father of Time, so on and so on. I feel we put these figures at large because they are at times daunting and perplexing.
-Philip Bosco
-Philip Bosco
Final Post
This year in motivation class, has opened my eyes to new ways of motivation. The more I understood motivation transformed my new regiment. My new regiment consists of more structure and a drive for success. I purposely do actions now to benefit me but I do make time for help to my friends. Helping my friends motivates me because I want the people that surround me to succeed. I dont want to associate myself with someone that goes through the rungs of society. I want friends that ripped out those rungs and shot a grappling hook to get to the top. The point of class that stood out the most and spoke to me was the Aderal and the talk about enhancing chances in gambling. As a brother of someone with ADHD, I found the author of the ADD article to be a load rubbish, and it motivated me to do more research into ADD. I found that evidence has shown that Albert Einstein had ADD. This little caveat of information was brought to my brother and we talked about it. After the discusion we both established out new routine to obtain more efficiency and success. We now shoot short films, music video, and soon we will be working on a pilot episode with a local director that we both know.
We are now re-shooting our latest project, and we're really motivated to get this start-up production company off the ground. I am motivated to not be that typical person that says they shoot films and has home videos of horrible footage. I want to have backing of my claims. Here is our latest project which is now in reproduction to fix some loose strings. Tell me what you think : -Philip Bosco
We are now re-shooting our latest project, and we're really motivated to get this start-up production company off the ground. I am motivated to not be that typical person that says they shoot films and has home videos of horrible footage. I want to have backing of my claims. Here is our latest project which is now in reproduction to fix some loose strings. Tell me what you think : -Philip Bosco
Friday, December 9, 2011
Final Project Post
When you take a course with a title as vague as "Motivation," you do not really know what to expect. Some may assume it to be a course of such nature to be shallow and an "easy A" course, while others may expect to get lost in an endless sea of abstract theories and irrelevant case studies. However, I found this course to be an extremely insightful look into human nature; exploring what drives us, how it does so and why. Through our lectures, I uncovered simple answers to huge questions (such as the logic behind attracting a mate), while other things that appeared initially simple wound up being intensely deep and intriguing (such as the way hunger and thirst drive us).
These are hardly the only cases that come to mind when it comes to appealing and intriguing subject material. Explorations into how our Personality and Self Image affect Motivation led to me second-guessing my mindset about many different tasks and projects I struggled with in the past. Looking into Arousal and Behavior gave me better insight into what truly drives an individual aside from natural needs. And understanding Universal Motives provided me with a better perspective of how similar our desires are to everyone else on the planet, regardless of our culture or history.
If I had to pick a favorite element of the course, it would be the utilization of the class blog. I feel that it is one of the most unique and creative ways I have seen used to create a sense of community in a course where most of the work was based online. The assigned readings were always very helpful and relevant as well; the article on Adderall reminded me why I avoid the stuff and provided a lot of great information about its effects and its flaws, while the Luck article provided me with a lot of insight into how our attitudes shape the world around us. I would definitely recommend this course not just for fellow Psych majors but anyone looking to get a better perspective on how we as humans function and thrive.
In closing, I'd like to provide a link to Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) video. The words were taken from a commencement address by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich. I've always found it to be one of the most uniquely motivating things I have ever encountered. I hope anyone that watches it gets the same feeling I did:
The Luck Factor
I found this article to be extremely insightful, however I couldn't help but question if the phenomenon being discussed was truly luck. To me, the effects on the negative minded people vs. positive minded people sounded more like the Law of Attraction, of like thoughts attracting other ones. By this logic, anyone who thinks negatively (and consequently attracts negative thoughts to themselves) is therefore unlucky, whereas those that are positive are lucky. I think this negative vs. positive attitude also affects people's mindsets when they discussed finding hidden messages/rewards in the newspaper they were assigned to read. Someone with a more open, positive mind is more likely to be receptive to outside influences which, in turn, often wind up to be positive. Therefore it makes sense that if someone is negative (aka unlucky) they are more closed off to outside stimuli and opportunities. I would also like to know more about Luck School - I bet there's a very good chance that the exercises the author assigned to people had much more to do with opening themselves up to the world around them and looking at things in a positive light than it did with actually exerting "luck" into their daily lives and embracing superstition.
Final Post
In this class we discussed many internal and external factors that played a role in why individuals are motivated to behave in a certain manner. Through this course, I have become more aware of the certain behaviors and reactions that can be caused by various reasons. Just to name some examples, the type of personality a person has (introvert or extrovert) as well as the type of reward an individual is given for completing a task can play a major role in how an individual will behave and the decisions they will make. Individuals are also motivated by an array of emotions, drives, and instincts, while some are motivated by their addictions.
This class was by far the most interesting class I had all semester, and I found learning about the motivational factors one doesn't see every day to be the most interesting part of the class. For example, learning about those who are extreme thrill seekers. These individuals will do practically anything to fulfill their thrill seeking desire, like skydiving. Learning about individuals who exhibit hedonic reversal was also very interesting. These individuals enjoy things that are painful, un enjoyable, and often feared. I attached a video from the show Man vs. Wild that shows some of these exotic behaviors. (Not a video you want to watch right before or after eating)
Learning about motivation is both important and beneficial in understanding people. Understanding what motivates individuals, will prove to be beneficial with my future endeavors as a teacher and communicating with others in my society. By learning about what motivates people to behave or react in certain ways can help us to understand and relate to individuals on a deeper level, and communicate with them more effectively.
This class was by far the most interesting class I had all semester, and I found learning about the motivational factors one doesn't see every day to be the most interesting part of the class. For example, learning about those who are extreme thrill seekers. These individuals will do practically anything to fulfill their thrill seeking desire, like skydiving. Learning about individuals who exhibit hedonic reversal was also very interesting. These individuals enjoy things that are painful, un enjoyable, and often feared. I attached a video from the show Man vs. Wild that shows some of these exotic behaviors. (Not a video you want to watch right before or after eating)
Learning about motivation is both important and beneficial in understanding people. Understanding what motivates individuals, will prove to be beneficial with my future endeavors as a teacher and communicating with others in my society. By learning about what motivates people to behave or react in certain ways can help us to understand and relate to individuals on a deeper level, and communicate with them more effectively.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Final Post.
Motivation is such a well-known word and topic yet it is extremely challenging and complex. This course was an excellent overview of motivation ranging from its definition, the sources of motivation, the emotions and desires and goals that are associated with motivation, and how all the aspects of motivation are interconnected and interrelated. In the beginning of the course we learned about the basic needs, such as hunger and thirst, that motivated our decisions and actions and as this course progressed so did the information that we learned. We learned about how emotions influence our motivation, how even though everyone is different we all share the same basic instincts, needs and wants, about addictions, and how complex the subject of motivation is. It was interesting to learn how motivation is influenced by so many factors and that so many factors influence motivation in turn.
One of my favorite parts of this course was learning about mate selection. The study we learned about in class about how men prefer women when they are hungrier was fascinating. It was interesting hearing the results of the study and how simple variables can change a person's answers. The videos we watched about how people act differently when they were on the treadmill when they were given different instructions was also interesting. Instincts for mate selection is innate and female and male genders place higher value on different qualities. For example, women want good and stable financial prospects in a mate because they do not want to have children with someone who is not financially stable. This makes sense because women are the ones who are left to raise the child if the father runs off. It was also interesting to learn how different animal species have special techniques to attract members of the opposite sex. While everyone has different preferences in a significant other we all have some of the same characteristics and qualities that we value as important. Mate selection is important in that it keeps the species of animals and humans reproducing and continuing to occupy the world. Motivation is the key to survival and without it the world about diminish.
One of my favorite parts of this course was learning about mate selection. The study we learned about in class about how men prefer women when they are hungrier was fascinating. It was interesting hearing the results of the study and how simple variables can change a person's answers. The videos we watched about how people act differently when they were on the treadmill when they were given different instructions was also interesting. Instincts for mate selection is innate and female and male genders place higher value on different qualities. For example, women want good and stable financial prospects in a mate because they do not want to have children with someone who is not financially stable. This makes sense because women are the ones who are left to raise the child if the father runs off. It was also interesting to learn how different animal species have special techniques to attract members of the opposite sex. While everyone has different preferences in a significant other we all have some of the same characteristics and qualities that we value as important. Mate selection is important in that it keeps the species of animals and humans reproducing and continuing to occupy the world. Motivation is the key to survival and without it the world about diminish.
Final Post
Before taking this class I was not sure what to expect, and I was curious to learn about the concept of motivation. I did not expect that there would be so much behind this idea and that there was even an in depth history behind it. People deal with motivation everyday and do not even realize it. There are so many things that I learned that are extremely relevant to today's lifestyles. For instance, choice overload. I experience choice overload basically everytime I try to buy something. There are countless times that I have gone online to purchase something and it takes me days to finally find the right product for the right price. Some of the times I just give up all together because all the choices are too overwhelming. I enjoyed learning about the economics of motivation because it is so relevant in everyday life. I never thought about the fact that in order to satisfy any needs, there is a cost that is measured in different ways. I also enjoyed learning about personality and self as well as goal motivation. I find myself setting a lot of goals and after this lesson I learned to start setting more specific goals. By setting more specific goals it is easier to narrow in what I really want to accomplish. It is knowledge like this that can help me for the rest of my life. Taking this class gave me a new outlook on what motivation really means.
Never stop! Do it Now
Inspiration
Inspiration Every artist was first an amateur, nothing is impossible, do it now! Never stop, these are some of the many quotes used to help inspire us to do what we have no desire to do. As humans, we need this as one of our survivor mechanism. Motivation is a term used in the attempt to get yourself or someone else to get some sort of elevated energy to do what needs to be done. Is the attempt to find a desire to do something which most of time we don’t desire. Poems, quotes, songs, videos and classes such as this one, make that same effort to help others or themselves without a longing. Is one of the most important tools to have as a human: from preschool till we die, we need desire to do things. Without it, we sometimes fail to make our dreams come true; chores as simple as just getting up and going to work can be a problem. I know now for a fact that motivations play a vital role in my life. The motivation to go to college and stay in college till my graduation.; it takes more than just saying , it takes doing ; the strong power of will. Motivation can be biological, psychological and environmental. Biological aspect of stress includes topics such as, evolutionary motivation: universal motives such as sex, fear, food and music. Addictions, Homeostasis: temperature, thirst, hunger and eating. Behavior: Arousal and affective valence, coping with stress and health. Psychological aspect deals with drives, needs and awareness, Personality and self-motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, goal and economics, motivation; and also emotions and moods and as motives. Motivation whether biological, psychological and environmental; is an essential need in every human life.
The silent Killer
“The silent Killer”, is the other name used to refer to stress. This is due to its remarkable ability to cause life threatening diseases. It is known to cause high blood pressure, chest pain, and irregular heartbeat. Graying of hair and hair loss of most people are also due to stress. Stress, coping and health; chapter seven of the text book gave me a deeper knowledge of the impact of stress to the human body. I had a very bad experience with stress about a year ago, it changed my whole persona. I lost almost all my body weight, 70 pounds. Even though I appeared fine and I wasn’t feeling sick, my body was communicating something different to me. My face had lost all the fat and it looked lean and my clothes couldn’t fit anymore. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and it felt like whatever I did was wrong. I felt like I had no self-confident and I was slowly losing my sense of self. Stress took over my life and made me feel miserable about myself and everything I did. It took me awhile to recover from this horrible situation and what I call the worst time of my life, was a very dark place; I never wish to be again. Learning about stress in class open my eyes even more to understand exactly what happen to my body during my experience. I know what is does to the body and ways to prevent it. This was by favorite topic on the entire course because of its importance but yet people have a very low lack of knowledge about it. Due to stress consistent impact in our daily lives is hard to control it; we do not even realize its impact sometimes or that we are even stressing most of the time, therefore it goes unnoticed. Stress awareness needs to be highly raised, in order to help prevent all its consequences.
Inspiration Every artist was first an amateur, nothing is impossible, do it now! Never stop, these are some of the many quotes used to help inspire us to do what we have no desire to do. As humans, we need this as one of our survivor mechanism. Motivation is a term used in the attempt to get yourself or someone else to get some sort of elevated energy to do what needs to be done. Is the attempt to find a desire to do something which most of time we don’t desire. Poems, quotes, songs, videos and classes such as this one, make that same effort to help others or themselves without a longing. Is one of the most important tools to have as a human: from preschool till we die, we need desire to do things. Without it, we sometimes fail to make our dreams come true; chores as simple as just getting up and going to work can be a problem. I know now for a fact that motivations play a vital role in my life. The motivation to go to college and stay in college till my graduation.; it takes more than just saying , it takes doing ; the strong power of will. Motivation can be biological, psychological and environmental. Biological aspect of stress includes topics such as, evolutionary motivation: universal motives such as sex, fear, food and music. Addictions, Homeostasis: temperature, thirst, hunger and eating. Behavior: Arousal and affective valence, coping with stress and health. Psychological aspect deals with drives, needs and awareness, Personality and self-motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, goal and economics, motivation; and also emotions and moods and as motives. Motivation whether biological, psychological and environmental; is an essential need in every human life.
The silent Killer
“The silent Killer”, is the other name used to refer to stress. This is due to its remarkable ability to cause life threatening diseases. It is known to cause high blood pressure, chest pain, and irregular heartbeat. Graying of hair and hair loss of most people are also due to stress. Stress, coping and health; chapter seven of the text book gave me a deeper knowledge of the impact of stress to the human body. I had a very bad experience with stress about a year ago, it changed my whole persona. I lost almost all my body weight, 70 pounds. Even though I appeared fine and I wasn’t feeling sick, my body was communicating something different to me. My face had lost all the fat and it looked lean and my clothes couldn’t fit anymore. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and it felt like whatever I did was wrong. I felt like I had no self-confident and I was slowly losing my sense of self. Stress took over my life and made me feel miserable about myself and everything I did. It took me awhile to recover from this horrible situation and what I call the worst time of my life, was a very dark place; I never wish to be again. Learning about stress in class open my eyes even more to understand exactly what happen to my body during my experience. I know what is does to the body and ways to prevent it. This was by favorite topic on the entire course because of its importance but yet people have a very low lack of knowledge about it. Due to stress consistent impact in our daily lives is hard to control it; we do not even realize its impact sometimes or that we are even stressing most of the time, therefore it goes unnoticed. Stress awareness needs to be highly raised, in order to help prevent all its consequences.
Final Post
Motivation is complex topic, one that I didn’t know much about prior to taking this class. Everyone knows what motivation is, however it could be difficult to define. In this class we learned everything about motivation from what it means, to its sources, how it evolved, and how it relates to goals, stress, needs, performance, arousal, and emotion. There is so much complexity to what motivates us, how certain factors influence our motivations, and where motivation all comes from. Everything we learned about was relatable to everyday life, which made each idea intriguing and easy to understand.
There are three words (motive, motivated, and incentive) that kept coming up in this course and therefore were important to know. An incentive is an environmental stimulus that attracts or repels. A motive is an internal disposition to approach or avoid an incentive. And last but not least, motivated means to be moved to an action/behavior or change in action/behavior. An example of something we learned about incentives is how external sources such as food can be an incentive. For example in a study by Tolman &Honzik (1930) hungry rats were learning a maze. They found that if they provided a food incentive maze errors decreased. A real life example of this could be if a professor gives out a mini research paper and uses extra credit as an incentive. Many students will therefore complete the paper because are attracted to the extra credit idea.
The chapter on universal motives was very interesting to me and was one of my favorite things we talked about in class. Universal motives are shared human motives due to evolution. Some examples are hunger, food, sleep, sex and reproduction, and fear. The universal motive we talked a lot about is mate selection. Characteristics of long-term mates indicate that women prefer mates who have good financial prospects and are ambitious and industrious. This seems stereotypical but it makes sense because these traits are needed to raise a family successfully. Males prefer mates who have good looks because it is a sign of fertility, which is a trait needed to produce many children. We watched a video on an experiment done with males and females on mate value and I loved it. Another universal motive is fear. Fear is the motive for escaping dangerous stimuli or circumstances and is a result of interaction of evolutionary history and personal history. I have a friend who is deathly afraid of snakes just like I am and we come from opposite sides of the country. Many people are afraid of snakes, but now I can see the evolutionary aspect of it because snakes can be extremely dangerous and our ancestors probably learned that and therefore fear was instilled. Although motives have a heredity and experience aspect to them, I find it really interesting how evolution has created these motives. It’s amazing that someone living on the other side of the world shares the same motives as us.
Final Post
Throughout this course, we have learned about many aspects of motivation and most importantly, how they are all related. It is difficult to understand one idea about motivation without exploring the others. We talked about he biological, psychological and environmental influences as well as the history of each. When we learned about things such as addictions, homeostasis, arousal, stress, and many other topics, it was interesting to explore how they were all related and effected one's motivation and actions. The best part about this class is how everything we talked about is relevant to us and can be related to our personal lives. Every class was more than just a textbook based lesson because it was related to real life experiences and important insight that personally effected each one of us.
"For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction... A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three -- the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings."
--Peter McWilliams
Similar to many other students in the class, I was very interested in learning about addiction. Some people have an addictive personality while others seem to be able to use substances or have behaviors that do not develop into addictions. Addiction is typically related to drug or substance abuse but that is not always the case. This semester we also learned about pessimism and optimism. The quote above correlates both pessimism and addiction and I thought it was very interesting.
Pessimism affects ones psychological mind, physical body, and personal emotions. This was also mentioned in Richard Wiseman's article, "The Luck Factor." Pessimism can have a lot to do with how a person handles a situation and how they let it effect all three part of their life- their mind, body, and emotions. Just as with addictions with drugs, once a person is so overcome by pessimistic traits, it is difficult and nearly impossible to beat them. Not saying it is impossible, however, because even the most serious drug addicts have been treated and recovered.
The video below is the first segment of a youtube video titled, "How to Stop Being a Pessimist. I though it was very interesting and gave the viewer good advice and insight into the topic of pessimism. The tips given can be looked at as how to overcome the addictive nature of pessimism :
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