The Never Ending Addiction

This week, I decided to discuss the chapter we did on addiction. Addiction is something that I’m sure many people have some form of personal experience with; whether it be your parent, friend, sibling, self, relative, or even a friend of a friend. For me, it is my brother who is addicted to heroin. I, personally always wanted to know… What is the motivation behind continuously doing drugs?

Many people think that they can just try a drug, and for some, yes that is exactly what they can do. But for others, for most, that one time becomes much more than that. Something called priming, which is “a strong craving for a drug can be reinstated with a single dose of alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, or heroin” is what I believe makes addiction possible. It’s what makes people come crawling back. It’s what will make someone with a drug addiction have to wake up everyday and fight that fight. To everyday have to consciously choose not to do that drug - and most of the time fall short.

We live in a society that opiates are so easily obtained its pretty ridiculous, almost sad. When taking a little pill and washing it down with a sip of water, it doesn’t seem so bad, almost doesn’t seem like a drug and especially not a drug addiction. That exact thinking is what can send that very behavior spiraling out of control and directly to a needle. Typically, when people think of heroin addicts, they think of dirty people, a cheap motel, and a bad neighborhood. I can tell you that, yea there are people like that, but nowadays, heroin use is on a rise and among communities that are the exact opposite. It has gone from a problem to an epidemic. A heartbreaking one.

There are types of medications, such as naltrexone and suboxone that block the actually high when doing a drug, therefore fighting the cravings. However, I mean part of you wants to stop and say, “wait… pills for someone who’s addicted to prescription pills and opiates?” As far as I’ve witnessed they do work the way they are intended to, but does that mean that it’s a cure all? No. For most, the drug always finds a way to win.

Selecting a Mate

Selecting a Mate

Natural selection is the necessity to make sure our species survives. As humans for us to survive for a long time we need to find a mate with adaptive traits. According to Darwin sexual selection is, “the struggle between males for possession of the females; the result is not death to the unsuccessful competitor, but few or no offspring.” 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.

When we covered this topic in class it really intrigued me. Personally, I think that you can’t really be in a relationship with someone unless your physically attracted to them. But sometimes even if the person is not that good looking there personality or values outweigh there lack of looks. When we watched the video in class I thought it was very interesting how each man and woman paired up with someone that had around the same mate value as each other.

Mate Selection

In class on Tuesday when we talked about evolutionary history and motives, the topic of mate value really interested me. The video we saw in class about the males and females trying to find mate based on random numbers on their head, and then again on pure physical attractiveness interested me. They found that the participants matched up with a person who was rated about the same attractiveness give or take a point. We also talked about male’s preferences for physical attractiveness in females, and female’s preference for status in males. This made me wonder if in general females will place more value on physical attractiveness in their self-concepts, and therefore males do the same with status.

I searched an online database and found an article that was very related. It is titled, “Are the Traits We Prefer in Potential Mates the Traits They Value in Themselves? An Analysis of Sex Differences in the Self-concept.” The intro talks about research on self concepts in terms of evolutionary history and suggests that self concepts evolved from pressures in the social environment. One example of a strong social pressure is mate preferences. Like we saw in class, past research has shown that men and women are both attracted to mates with good senses of humor and who are kind. However men pay more attention to physically features of potential mates, where as females pay more attention to the status and resources of mates. Something that has not been studied as much is the importance men and women place on different areas of self-concepts.

The hypothesis tested was that self-concepts of men and women reflect preferences of potential mates. To test this, a series of 6 mini studies were conducted employing different methods. In each of the studies the researches predicted that self traits relating to status and resources would more strongly reflect men’s self concepts, and that traits relating to physical attractiveness would more strongly reflect women’s self concepts. The results supported their hypothesis. In studies 1-3 traits relating to physical attractiveness were important for women’s self-concepts, and traits relating to status and resources were important for males. Then in studies 4-6 men were most upset when rivals derogated them in traits regarding status, and women were most upset when rivals derogated them in traits in physical attractiveness. In a way this makes perfect sense to me. Evolution has made it so women’s physical attractiveness is a major construct a self-image because it’s the trait that men will notice the most. And the same goes for males and their self-concept on status. It also ties into how society has taught females to look pretty and perfect all the time while males are taught to always pay for dates and own expensive items. Evolution is a funny thing, isn’t it?

The Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) phenomenon

I had found an interesting article on the web about a phenomenon that is undoubtedly familiar to all of us-- the Tip-of-the-Tongue phenomenon, which, in other words, is the "blocking" that we experience in the brain when trying to recall specific things throughout our day, such as the name of the actor in the movie previously shown, or the name of the food you had wanted for dinner. Why do we tend to forget such things in which we would normally be able to recall at the snap of a finger?

While the article did not mention specifically why it is we experience this, it did provide insight to those who suffer from a condition called synaesthesia. Individuals who experience this are able to hear colors, smell words, and even taste sound, in a literal and almost psychedelic sense due to the different "cross-wiring" of the neurons in the brain responsible for interpreting senses. A study conducted on those who suffer from this and who also experience the Tip-of-the-Tongue phenomenon found that those who could "taste words" were better able to recall the names and things of those lost in the mind. A student, who was trying to recall the word "castanet," was successfully able to by turning that into a literal taste of tuna. This was accomplished by showing the student a picture of a platypus; the visual stimuli of this triggered the student to perceive the taste of a tuna, thus making him able to retrieve the once-forgotten word of "castanet."
I chose this article as a post because it instantly stuck out to me; I had never heard of the Tip-of-the-Tongue phenomenon prior to my reading of it, and I wanted to know how those with synaesthesia could be controlled, over their normal counterparts, to regain the name, idea, or thought that was once lost in the vast sea that is the brain. If anyone is interested in seeing the article, it can be found here: www.spring.org.uk/2008/01/on-tip-of-tongue-blocked-memories.php

Positive Reinforcement

While observing a third grade classroom,  I noticed the teacher used positive reinforcement to encourage good behavior within her classroom.  The teacher would offer certain rewards for good behavior such as 5 extra minutes of recess, candy, free homework passes, and even simple compliments.  The students seemed to respond well to the positive reinforcement, and her classroom was one of the most well behaved classes I got the opportunity to observe. 
As an aspiring teacher, I found Positive reinforcement to be something  I would like to implement in my own classroom.  I noticed that positive reinforcement really motivated the students to behave, as opposed to the  negative reinforcement some of the other teachers used on their students. By rewarding their good behavior the students knew what the teacher wanted them to do, and were more likely to repeat the good behavior again.

Universal Motives

It is interesting for me to learn what is behind motivation. Before this class I never really thought about what made people do certain things. I would not have even classified food as a motivation; just as something that is craved and fulfills hunger. I never thought to take a deeper look into the motivation aspect of people's actions. I also would have certainly never thought about the universal motives that people share around the world. Sex, fear, food, and music are all important parts of people's lives and have been for an incredibly long period of time.

The process of selecting a mate is shared not only by people around the world, but also animals. Every species has a different way of trying to impress a mate, but in the end they are all looking for one thing--someone who will pass down their good genes to their offspring. The good genes hypothesis states that men and women prefer attractive partners because of the assumption that attractiveness signals genes for health, fertility, and intelligence. Individuals also reject those whose physical appearance suggests the possibility of bad genes like bad health and low intelligence. The point of selecting a mate is to ensure survival and longevity ( Deckers pg 55). While selecting a mate, men and women look for things to establish a relationship, but might look for different characteristics when it comes to maintaining that relationship.

The universal motive behind selecting a mate is only one portion of all universal motives. Learning the logic behind these motives is interesting and helps me to understand the concept of motivation in ways that are very relevant to everyday life.


Source - Motivation by Lambert Deckers

Evolving Motivation

Tuesday in class, we discussed how over time physical human evolution has lead to the evolution of motivation. I found an interesting article that also reflects how as society changes, so do our forms of motivation. In the work place and other instances in life, many external rewards have been the source of creating motivation in individuals. Now, we are more inclined to lean toward what motivates us from within, also known as the "self-determination theory". More accomplishments and satisfaction comes from choosing to be motivated from within rather than from someone else.

Read more at:

http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/articles/2010/12/PSYCHOLOGY-Cracking-the-mystery-of-motivation/

-Amanda Beccaria

Post 2-Motivation Sequence

The first part of a motivation sequence is the choice to select among motives to satisfy incentives to attain. Next is the instrumental behavior, which is what satisfies the motives or attains the incentive, which show strength of motivation through duration, persistence, frequency, and intensity. When I was getting ready to graduate high school, I had no desire or motivation to go to go to college. I knew that my parents would be disappointed, so I decided to suck it up and go for them. While in my first semester, something changed, and I was motivated to be there, and the more classes I took, the more I realized that I wanted a degree and a career. I look at those as my incentives; without the proper schooling, I would never be able to have the degree or career I really want. Maybe it was because I chose to be there, or maybe it was just because I was interested in my classes, but for some reason, my motivation regarding school changed, and I couldn't be happier about it.

What was I thinking?

What would motivate a age 50-something woman to re-enroll in college? Fully-employed, making a good wage, free of family obligations and a ready to enjoy travel among other life's pleasures woman? These are questions I often ask of myself, especially on weekends when I am studying for an exam or writing a paper. Quitting college as a junior years ago, that's another topic all together so lets discuss todays motivations. My initial motivation to re-enter school was to change my career choice but remain in the same field. Clerical work in a hospital settingan get redundant so I looked into other options. Love working with children so my goal is to get a certification in Child Life Therapy. What could I do with a 3/4 degree in Sociology?, Not much with a BA, so lets try a degree in Psychology. Adding my credits to the Psychology field, I could get a degree in 2 years. Oh, yea.. I forgot, have to work full-time so will be taking on-line and evening classes. Make it 3 1/2 years..



My motivation sequence began with the goal of career change and the instumental behavior to reach that goal was to re-enroll in Stockton. The sequence is ongoing but sometimes the incentives change. Initially, my incentive was to finish an asignment within the alloted time frame. A good grade for the assignment was also important but not so much. Grades are much more of an incentive now that I am taking my final classes, I have struck a deal with myself to maintain my average. My psychological motives to get my degree are by far much stronger than any other. The degree will not change my life financialy or socially in any way. Continuing on through and acheiving the sense of accomplishment and pride at finishing, now that's another incentive. While writing, I have come to realize that incentives and goals are always changing. My advice as an older woman blogging (never blogged before; virgin blogger??), on goals and motivation; Never stop striving for new goals and look for incentives to help reach those goals.

Post 2-Universal Motives

Universal motives are shared human motives due to evolution. These motives have evolved through nature and nurture. Some universal motives could include; hunger, fear, music, social interaction and acceptance, sleep, sex and reproduction, and ect. These universal motives can actually be categorized into different groups. These categories include aesthetics, emotions, control of environments, facial expressions, fears, goal settings, self concept, sexual interactions, and social milieu.



One of the most important universal motives is sexual selection. This is important because in order for our species to continue we need to reproduce, so selecting a mate is very important. We determine a partner based on mate value. Our mate value is based on things like attractiveness, how ambitious we are, financial security, if we're caring and kind,and if we have a sense of humor. Even different species participate in this. Take peacocks for example. Males try to attract females by showing off their massive, beautiful feathers.



In class we talked about how people actually walk differently when they feel they are being evaluated for sex appeal. We try to act more masculine or feminine to be more appealing to those who are watching. We saw evidence of this in the video clip where people were to walk on a treadmill. Those who were told there walk was being evaluated just for an experimente walked normal and those who were told they were being evaluated on their sex appeal were drastically different. They were much more dramatic in their movements. This is all so important to us and all kinds of people and species because it is a universal motive to reproduce and get our genes to continue on into the next generation.

Breanne Bryson

Cognitive Dissonance Right Now

          Cognitive Dissonance is a very simple thing to understand, it is a time in thought, when planning or making a decision, where there is an inharmonious confrontation between what you know you should be doing and what you are actually going to do at that moment.  This cognitive dissonance affects your decision making based on the reward that would come of this decision.  If the reward is going to be small it better be easy to obtain in a short time, such as when you choose sleep over attending class because it is so easy and you rationalize your bad decision to skip class because there is very minimal (unless however you skip class a lot then thats a whole other problem involving cognitive dissonance) long term affects of this decision.  It is harder to see the long term benefits of attending class and doing well in 20 years because of getting a college education when your laying in bed hung over and just want your head resting on a pillow.

          Recently, I have stopped eating red meat and poultry.  I still eat fish and dairy but, making the choice to stop eating meat has helped me become stronger at balancing my dissonance.  I work for a catering company and i am around delectable gourmet meals al day with filet mignon, prime rib, pork chops, all tempting me, and I make the conscious decision not to eat them.  I get real hungry sometimes, but the have some awesome mac and cheese that i enjoy so much.  I did it to honestly see if i could.  To see if I could do something JUST to see if I could do,  Its been three weeks now and I'm going to see how long i can go.  But i've ben great so far, its not bad eating tuna steaks and shrimp and crab cakes all the time.  But cognitive dissonance can be beaten if you let your mind and your pride and your true honest feelings guide you through life.  Just try to resist temptations and do what you know is right for you and stay strong and positive and YOU WILL FLOURISH.

Cognitive Dissonance

Along with a majority of the previous posts, I also did not fully understand the article as a whole but I did grasp the concept of what dissonance was and the class discussion today helped me further understand the meaning. Festinger does a good job giving examples of this unpleasant togetherness that he talks about, but hearing the examples presented in class about the ideals and life itself made it much more clearer for me. Also ironically we discussed cognitive dissonance in my social psychology class just last week, so it was interesting to hear the different definitions and examples given in that class as opposed to the ones given in this class. The notion of cognitive dissonance is a contradiction to the ideals of something and what actually happens, life. The example Festinger uses in the article about the person who is very intelligent but often meets repeated failure is a great example of this. The ideal is for the person to do well as an intelligent individual but what actually happens is that he is met with repeated failure. Another example that I can think of along these lines is studying for an exam. The ideal would be that you do well on the test by studying hard, maybe instead of going out, but what often happens is you hang out with your friends instead of studying as much as you could of and not doing as well on the exam. However, this could be extremely motivating for a person who notices this contradiction between what they want to happen and what really does. The intelligent person may strive harder to avoid failure as does the person who decided to hang out instead of study so much. If they notice this dissonance that is taking place then they may strive to change it which in the end could be an extremely motivating thing.

Cognitive Dissonance

After discussing this article in class and with fellow pych majors, it brought a bit of question and laughter. Would you really believe a saucer was going to appear and save one from a flood, on someones elses word non-to-less? Not me. This experiement that was done in the article explained that cognitive dissonance can exists not only through thought but behavior and values that cause ones behavior.
I had brought up in class how the way that I looked at cognitive dissonance was comparing our wants and our needs. The example that I had given that heped me understand the definition of ideal and lifes actions which is cognitive dissonance, is shopping. The ideal is to save the money for long term furture needs and the actions that we preform, is the spending on things we want. This also relates to the smaller-sooner reward and the larger-longer reward that we discussed in class that relates to self-control. Saving that money will help you get the house or car you needed which is the ideal and the larger-longer reward, whereas the sooner-smaller reward are those two shirts and the flipflops you wanted.
Not saving that money in the process created stress because one is now having feelings of doubt for their future goal which is not being able to aford that car now or the guilt for wanting that goal so bad and ruining it. Changing the goal or ideal sometimes is what Festinger says will relieve the negitive feelings, like in the case with the people being told that after the first series of times waiting for a nonexistant saucer to save them, that it was a drill relieved the stree for a while. In my case making a new goal or ideal like for example maybe saving a little at a time instead of just saving may help and relieve stress, I could also change my behavior like saying that I do not need anymore clothes and posting pictures of my need around may help.
Eventually the mind will break the chain in the cognitive dissonance or dissagressing thoughts and create a feeling that is negitive and cause change to occur. Once that change occurs Festinger says the negitive feeling with dissappear! Now That I agree and believe! Not flying saucers and god messengers!

Cognitive Dissonace

My thoughts after reading this article for the first time was interesting to say the least. The author, Leon Festinger, gave his definition of what cognitive dissonance was as well as its relationship with other things. He gives his readers a detailed explanation of what cognitive dissonance meant and what it refers to. He also gave some vivid examples of cognitive dissonance. For example, he states "if a person knows two things, something about himself and something about the world in which he lives which some how do not fit together" is what he termed cognitive dissonance.

The in class discussion opened my mind a little bit better in terms of fully comprehending the authors thoughts. The class gave some explicit details of cognitive dissonance. The fact that when our ideals doesn't match with life this is what brings about anxiety, fear, stress and frustrations. In order for dissonance to go away one must adjust his or her behavior. If not, than this could lead to all kinds of problems such as hypertension, high blood pressure, etc. I would certainly agree with my colleague that cognitive dissonance is nothing but pure reality.

Cognitive Dissonance

When I had Social Psychology class, we learned about cognitive dissonance. As I recall, cognitive dissonance is the feeling that you get after you learned that you have not achieved your goal. We gave many examples in class such as feeling neglectful and mad that you overslept and cause you overslept you were late for class. Festinger explains dissonance as a relation between two things.

The college students in the experiment truly believed that the flood was coming. Each time the flood did not come, the students were led to believe another story. Most of the sample stuck together and believed each time that there was going to be a floods and they were going to be picked up by flying saucers. These people truly believed that the messages were real. I would have left after the first flood did not happen!

Cognitive DIssonance

Cognitive Dissonance is a contradiction between two things, our ideals and the information we are presented with. Our ideals can be our thoughts, goals and values, while the information presented is what we actually see or do. When these two things match, there is no problem. However, when they don't seem to match up is where we have a problem-cognitive dissonance. This can produce anxiety, fear, stress and frustration. Some believe that because of these negative effects, it pushes us to overcompensate these negative actions and pull more towards the positive aspect of things. One can think of cognitive dissonance as "Needs" vs. "Wants", this is because often our long-term needs are thrown aside to attend to our short-term wants.

The article does an excellent job of demonstrating cognitive dissonance. It observes a specific group that predicts a flood will end the world. They have a strong belief system, which proved to be wrong in their prediction. The dissonance comes into play when they continue to believe in the God, who ended up being wrong about the flood. The contradiction is to continue to "believe" in something that obviously isn't true.

An example of this would be a woman who is looking for financial security, that is also in a relationship with someone who is financially irresponsible.The conflict would be that she needs financial security (long-term) and her boyfriend is irresponsible (short-term). Her choices are to leave the relationship, put her long-term goals in perspective, and find another form of security. Her other option is to work on her short-term goals, which would be the relationship, and lessen her need for financial security.

Each and every day we can face cognitive dissonance. We are constantly faced with choices, where we need to decide if it is more important for "now" or for the "long-run." Experience can often clash with our expectations in life, forcing us to decide between two things that both can seem perfect in their own way. The choices we make shape our lives- it is all a matter of the importance of our goals- long-term versus short term.

K.MCGINLEY-MOTIVATION

Cognitive Dissonance

I read this article three times and like most of the class I thought it was hard to follow and confusing. Although I was confused while reading this article I did understand Festinger’s definition of Cognitive Dissonance. Festinger states that cognitive dissonance refers to a relation between cognitions which exist simultaneously for a person. An example Festinger used in the article to describe cognitive dissonance is a person knows something about himself and something about the world in which he lives. Another example that he gives is a man knows he is very intelligent but repeated fails. From these examples I understand that cognitive dissonance means people can have two cognitions that do not fit together.

The motivating aspect of cognitive dissonance is to reduce the dissonance. Festinger states that reducing dissonance is rewarding the same way one eats when they are hungry is rewarding. By not reducing dissonance this may cause stress, anxiety, fear or maybe even frustration. If two cognitions are dissonant then there may be some type of tendency to change the cognitions to fit together. As we talked about in class today there were many examples of cognitive dissonance that we deal with everyday and we have to find what motivates us change our cognitions to fit or deal with the stress and anxiety that results from cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance and Social Influence

When I thought of cognitive dissonance I had no idea what it meant. Festinger did a good job, in my opinion, of breaking down the meaning and making it easy to understand. I thought the example of the study Festinger had done with Riecken and Schachter of a group of people who predicted a catastrophic flood that would overwhelm most of the world on a certain date was interesting. The cognitive dissonance was even though the flood prediction was wrong and never happened, they still believed in the gods and in the validity of the communications from them. They came up with explanations and excuses for the flood not happening.

I also thought that is was interesting that the believers who waited together in a group reassured one another and came up with explanations to justify what happened, so that they would still believe in the gods. The people who waited alone became skeptical of their beliefs and started to question them. It makes sense that in a group one is more easily motivated and convinced than if one were alone. One might act a certain way in a group setting and not act that same way when one is alone. Social influences and peer pressures are a big part of society and popularity. Is anyone self-motivated when it comes to making decisions? Or do social influences make us the people we are today? In my opinion, it seems that everything about the world we live in is because of social motivation and influence.

Cognitive Dissonance

As most of the class already mentioned, I had a hard time following the article and finding significance in it. The author seemed to be writing in circles and was being everything but straight-forward with his thoughts. Although his writing style was confusing to me, I was able to grasp Festinger's explanation of cognitive dissonance because I am familiar with the idea from previous classes.

The experiment that was first referenced, that involved the psychiatrist and his patient, was simple and rather direct but I was completely unable to make a connection between the joke and the idea of cognitive dissonance. Festinger did not explain which aspects of the joke were related to cognitive dissonance and simply said, "This kind of thing, if it occurred actually, would be harder to explain in alternative ways." Since the concept was hard to explain, i do not see the significance in the joke being mentioned, but not explained.

The study Festinger did along with Reicken and Schachter was easier for me to connect to cognitive dissonance. Each step was explained thoroughly, although I believe Festinger could have been more direct. The main idea was that the dissonance between their religious beliefs and the reality that the messages they were receiving were not credible could be reduced as long as there were enough people that believed in the messages. The believers created a bond of support that with held any single member to doubt the messages.

The last study, involving the students from a Psychology course at Stanford, was very confusing to me. As i continue to re-read it, i feel as though it is a simple experiment, just poorly explained. I was unable to see any aspect of increasing or decreasing dissonance throughout the experiment. I feel as though this could be used as a helpful example if it were better explained and easier to follow.

Even Festinger's summary and conclusion was difficult for me to understand. After everything he wrote throughout the article, I was hoping to be able to put the pieces together in the conclusion but it only left me more confused. After everything I read, I am still asking, What is the Motivating Effect of Cognitive Dissonance?

Cognitive Dissonance

In would agree with most of the class in saying that this article was poorly writen and very difficult to understand even having gone over this topic in a different class last year.  But having read it it would seem that the main idea behind the theory of cognitive dissonance is hold two different conflicting ideas at the same time.  For instance if a person believed that littering was bad this person would feel dissonance if this person was to litter.  The only way that this dissonance would resolve itself is if one of these ideas gave into the other; in other words either you would have to say maybe littering isn't such a bad thing and someone else will pick it up for me, or you would have to go back and pick this litter up so that your ideal that littering is bad is no longer being tested. 

The most interesting part of this article though is when it goes into the experiment being performed.  Participants were brought into an experiment that was designed to be very boring, two groups of people were told to give instructions about this task they were going to complete and they were told to tell them that this task was not so bad and somewhat entertaining.  Some of the people were told to give the instructions were given a dollar while some others were given twenty dollars.  After this task the dissonance level of these individuals were measured and not surprisingly the people given twenty dolars to lie on average had a lower level of dissonance.  This shows that levels of dissonance can be lowered if the outcome or payout at the end is greater than the original thought the person had.