final post

           One thing I definitely liked about this class was the book Endurance. I felt like this went hand in hand on the topic of the course. Just the different ways the crew gained that extra push of motivation to continue their journey was remarkable. It really showed the motivation and strength a human can show.

            I also learned a few aspects of motivation from this class. I thought it was interesting to learn that if a person has too many options available to them, it actually discourages them from doing them. So it actually lowers their motivation. Another aspect I enjoyed was the one video we watched about mate selection. They gave the subjects numbers and told them to try and get a mate and make the highest number possible. The number was supposed to symbolize money. It really was an eye opener in human behavior.

            The one thing I will take from this class has to be the lessons I learned from the book Endurance. Just the strength of the men was truly remarkable. I have been a fighter in martial arts, and we always talk about a fighter’s spirit. Yes these men were not in an actual fight, they were fighting against the elements. This was a true testimony of what a fighter will is all about. This is the one aspect I can use in my training and life going forward. 

section 5

 In the fifth section, the men have made landfall. This is such a huge step I their journey. After all they have gone through, just the feeling of solid ground underneath them must be huge. The men send a group to go find help, while the others sit and wait for their return.

            This is a huge part of the journey. They have finally made it off the dangerous ice and onto land. However, the journey is not over. They are still in need of saving, they are not   out of the woods left. However, just being off the ice I feel like would give me that second wind to keep pushing because survival is so close

section 4

In this section the conditions went from bad to worse. The men are at an all-time low in being cold. They were so cold and wet sleeping was basically impossible. The uncontrollable shaking of their bodies also did not assist in the attempt to sleep.

            This is a crucial time in the journey for the men. This is the low point of the journey. I do not know how I would have survived at this time. I complain when it is 30 degrees out. However, these men are basically freezing to death and are sleep deprived. There bodies as well as their minds are being tested on a grand scale.  

Section 3

During this section the crews’ attitude fluctuates. At one point the crew is happy and at other times they are down. Food and supplies are starting to become scarce. He allows the crew to eat more on Christmas to try and raise their spirits. If he can accomplish this then they will be more positive to the journey ahead.

            Seal blubber begins to become scarce, so dogs must be sacrificed. This is hard on some members of the crew. One pack in particular was raised by the men. So this makes it even that much harder. Overall though the crew understands that this must be done in order to survive, and that is the ultimate mission. 

Post V

        After reading Part IV I was a lot more excited to read part V feeling a sense of hope for the men, assuming this section would have a good outcome.  For the most part it did, however it kept me on the edge of my seat, especially ending it with some what of a cliff hanger.  Reaching Elephant Island was most definitely a boost in optimism yet it still did suffice for a permanent camping space.  Shackleton decided it was time to find help now that he knew leaving his men here they would be safe.  He set off on the Caird with five other men heading to St. Georgia to hopefully get a relief ship.  One of the many advantages of camping on Elephant Island was the ability to no longer depend on such low rations of food instead there was a little bit better of a selection of food.  The land consisted of a lot of penguins and seals, as far as meat wise and to satisfy their sugar craving the men ate sugar cubes.  Another advantage was the ability to make a hut to live in, where the men made walls out of rocks and used their boats are roofs.  They wrapped tents around the huts in order to keep from getting too cold.  Blackboro's frostbite in his foot eventually led to an amputation.  The only tedious part now was waiting.  Waiting may seem better than working to stay alive but in the same respect it can be just as hopeless.  The men didn't know if they were waiting to die or waiting to live.
        Personally, I have zero patience and not only would I have not made it this far but waiting for Shackleton's possible arrival would have been torture for me.  Even after everything the men had been through, the effort that they had put into this challenging, near death journey they were still able to put strength into making a hut to live in while they waited.  That deserves recognition, what they did all came down to being motivated to live.

Post 5

In section five the men finally make it on to land after more than a year. Although the men were excited to have made it, I felt as if I was personally feeling the emotion with them. I found it amazing that they even made it this far. If that was me, I do not think I would have been as strong or motivated as them. The men ranged from different diseases, infections and injuries over the vast trip. After they make it to land, a small unit of men are sent to get help while the others must await their return. The suspense has been building throughout the entire book, yet I think now is the most crucial. The men have come so far and so close yet not close enough. The story of their journey has made me feel fortunate for the simple pleasures in life; running water, a warm bed, dry clothes and edible food. The courage in these men is enormous and teaches an important lesson of bravery, brotherhood and survival. It is incredible what the human body is capable of. 

Post IV

        The last section consisted of many ups and downs as far as the feelings of the men, regarding optimism, positivity and negativity however this section took a new turn, things were moving along.  At first everything seemed anything but good.  From the whales surrounding the men to a man falling into the water after ice began to crack under his tent.  This was their first attempt to leave Patience Camp which eventually led to Shackleton's decision of no longer camping.  They began their sail with hopes of a different destination, instead they landed on Deception Island, hoping that there would be food here yet again their hope was crushed.  The weather appeared to once again interrupt their plans, resulting in another set back and getting caught in a current.  Now that their living conditions were altered, other hazards that at one time were not considered a problem became a new founded issue.  Living on a boat made water an enemy, splashing onto the vessels getting the men wet when the temperature was below freezing.  Blackboro could not feel his feet and Hudson got frostbite on his hands.  

        The voyage became even more complex when the boats separated and the Docker disappeared. Finally all of the boats found Elephant Island, a destination that seemed like a lost cause, all three boats were able to reach it.  Once they all found a safe spot to land, as hungry and tired that they were they still could not be happier to be able to camp again.

        Although this section started off rocky, reaching Elephant Island was nothing short of a stepping stone to reaching civilization and having hope again that the mens live's may in fact be saved.  It was almost as if they knew that there was a reason they had to make it through the hardships at the beginning of this section because this difficult journey actually had a purpose.

       

Final Project Post

When I was picking my classes for the fall I didn't know anything about this class. My friend actually found it so we decided to take it together. I'm happy that we ended up in this course. Motivation is a very interesting topic and understanding it will definitely help you understand other areas of psychology. To be motivated means to be moved to action. We all have internal motives pushing us towards our goals and if that wasn't enough these goals offer incentives that pull us towards them. What I like about motivation is the fact that it is affected by biological, psychological, and environmental factors. It is so diverse yet so simple. We are all motivated into action every single day. I am motivated to be a good student because I hope to acquire a college degree and then hopefully a good job. We all have goals, big and small, and without motivation they would never even exist in the first place.

I enjoyed many aspects of this course. My favorite parts of lecture days were the many videos we watched and how Professor Berg related everything to real world experiences. It really made the topics much more interesting and relatable. One of my favorite chapters was chapter 3. Chapter 3 was about the evolutionary antecedents of motivation. It personally like evolutionary psychology and I think it is pretty interesting that all of our major sources of motivation can be traced back to our ancestors. Some of our universal motives include sex, fear, food, and music. Another part of the chapter I liked was the section about selecting a mate. Every single person has what is called a mate value. This value is determined by the person's characteristics that makes him or her desirable to another person as a partner. There is also the good gene hypothesis that states that beauty signals that a person has good genes for intelligence, a good immune system, healthy babies, and good parenting. Who knew how much of a role attractiveness actually played in finding a mate. It really makes you rethink the idea that beauty is only skin deep.

The last part of Chapter 3 that I liked was the part about food preference and the appeal of music. Preference for food comes from our evolutionary and personal history. Humans overall prefer fat in foods.This explains why fast food is so appealing despite the fact that it is bad for your health. Babies also exhibit an innate preference towards sweets and an aversion to sour and bitter stimuli. These evolutionary dispositions make me feel less bad about enjoying a greasy burger followed by some delicious ice cream. The last part of the chapter that I liked was about the universal appeal of music. I had never thought about music from an evolutionary standpoint so this section was interesting. Music actually has some survival benefits. These benefits could include the fact that music may promote group cohesion, regulate mood, help in mate selection, and is overall pleasurable to listen to. Music has been in human culture for over 30,000 years and it can be found all over the world. I like the idea that music is a part of human nature and that responding to it is innate in all of us.

After taking this course it is hard not to notice every day examples of motivation. For example, today I woke up at 11:00 and after talking to my friend decided that I wanted to get lunch with her.This motivated me to take a shower, get ready, and finish this post before going out. I woke up craving a honey bbq chicken supermelt and a mint cholocate chip ice cream sundae from Friendly's. Any other day this would make me feel like a fattie but knowing that evolutionary psychology suggests this to be normal of me I feel pretty awesome about it. As a student, motivation is what keeps me up to date on tasks. I want to graduate and get a good job so these things drive me to go to class and do the best I possibly can. I can go on and on about everyday examples so to sum it up motivation is exhibited everywhere. None of us would be where we are today without it.

Here is a video from Epic Meal Time about candy pizza. Not only is this guy hilarious but a candy pizza is every humans dream: the perfect combination of fats and sweets.

Post 5

This section 5 is when the men finally get to land. They do not have much emotion to being on land even though they appreciate a sturdy ground to sleep on. They are getting closer to the end even though they aren't even close to reaching their destination.

Final Project Post

To be motivated, one must be moved to commit an action or behavior or to change an action or behavior. A motive is an internal disposition to approach or avoid an incentive. An incentive is an environmental stimulus that attracts or repels. Motives and incentives both work together to create motivation in people. 

Throughout this course, I learned a lot about what drives people to be motivated and the different things that affect one's motivations. A person's personal history has a lot to do with how motivated they can be and what different things motivate them. Some means of motivations are universal: sex, fear, food, and music. However, these four items affect people differently depending on personality and physical traits. A main motivation for all people are physiological needs. Homeostasis is a huge motivation for people; if someone is hungry or thirsty they are very strongly motivated and will do almost anything to get these basic needs met. 

Another driving force of motivation is arousal. Brain and psychological arousal have a large affect on one's motivations. The degree of arousal also changes the level of motivation and it can vary from person to person. Different personalities can affect motivation as well. The factors of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism all factor into this. For some people, the larger end reward can be very motivational, but for others they would rather have immediate gratification and not hold out for long periods of time, i.e. in terms of weight loss things of the like. The size of the cost and resources needed to achieve a goal also contribute greatly. There are many internal and external factors that affect one's motivation and each person feels these things differently.

My favorite part of the course is when we were talking about how food and thirst affect motivation and how much of an impact this has on people's lives. I found Brian Wansink's soup bowl experiment really interesting. The other video where he demonstrated all the different ways people's eating habits can be controlled based on the environment was really cool and something to think about. It showed how people are not as in control of themselves and their decisions as they think they are. It relates to my life because now I am constantly aware of most of the things Wansink mentioned while I'm eating. Health and healthy eating is a big thing to me, so I really like to remain completely conscious of what I'm eating and how much I eat. I think if more people were aware of the factors he talks about in his book, then they would be able to control more of what they eat and be overall healthier. 

Final Post

Overall I enjoyed the course Motivation.  I feel like I had never thought of the psychology behind motivation prior and found the connections in class rather interesting.  As for the book Endurance, although I found it difficult to read exemplified the themes of the course quite nicely.  I felt I did not utilize my text book much and that just from being attentive during lecture I made out ok.  I liked the hybrid aspect for the course and felt like it worked well and that the online exams were significantly less stressful for me.  My favorite part of the course was the how we select mates portion where we watched videos on studies as well as did the text survey in class.  Overall the use of video clips in class was an excellent supplement.

In addition I found this clip quite interesting! :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SY8qJntO4Q

post 5

During this section the men finally reach land and this is monumental!  Unfortunately, there was some disappointment involved with their arrival.  They had to depart rather quickly because of inclement weather. I feel that this let down would have broken me and I would have just given up.  I admire these mens' spirits during this section.

Endurance post #6

Ah and the long journey is finally over! It is absolutely crazy to think every single member of the crew survived in such conditions for over a year. It's an unbelievable and amazing triumph these men have accomplished just to be able to live. Even when all hope was lost, they've managed to get through it all.
A lot of times during class Prof. Berg has asked us what would be the hardest part of the journey for us individually. I personally think the cold and the lack of food would be the two toughest situations for me to handle. I absolutely hate the cold, i can barely take the winter months in New Jersey. Also, I am a HUGE foodie. Eating and deciding what to eat consumes a huge part of my day already, let alone if I'm hungry.
So as this books comes to a close and we all know how it ended for the crew, reflect back and think what would be the hardest obstacle for you to overcome.

Final Project Post

           From the lectures in class to reading Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage outside of class, I learned a vast amount of terminology and an overall understanding of motivation psychology. All in all, I highly enjoyed my time spent in class and additionally, my time spent reading the novel outside of class. It was beyond interesting learning about motivation from an educational and psychological viewpoint. 

            Each and every lecture had aspects that were both extremely informative and also entertaining and stimulating. Chapter 5 discusses the homeostasis of temperature, thirst, hunger, and eating. In this lecture, there were videos shown discussing mindless eating. I was unaware that we mindlessly eat as much as we do! In the video, there was an experiment involving individuals eating out of a soup bowl that gradually would fill back up after soup was taken out of it from the individual eating it. The experiment showed that we base our hunger and our feeling of being full on whether or not our plate or bowl is full or empty- how fascinating!

            The lecture discussing chapter 3 from our textbook was the most attention-grabbing to me. It discussed evolutionary antecedents of motivation like the universal motives of sex, fear, food and music. The sex aspect of the chapter involved the explanation behind our selection of a mate. I found the Dove video the most interesting in the lecture. It shows how our society has extremely high standards for beauty and attractiveness in females.  

Dove Video

Endurance: Post 5

     This section of the book went from one extreme to another.  In the first chapter of this section it mentioned how Shackleton had lost some of the tremendous amount of self-confidence that he once had.  On page 220 it says, "It was obvious that the burden of responsibility Shackleton had borne for sixteen months had nibbled away somewhat at his enormous self-confidence.  He wanted to talk and to be assured that he had acted wisely."  Shackleton found himself questioning Worsley about their chances at this point in their journey. On page 221 it says, "As for the journey itself, he seemed strangely doubtful, and he asked Worsley's opinion of their chances.  Worsley replied that he was sure that they would make it, but it was evident that Shackleton was far from convinced."  Shackleton felt that he had proven himself on land but he viewed the sea as his enemy.  He felt that being out at sea was "an act of physical combat, and their was no escape."  Shackleton referred to the sea as a battle against a tireless enemy in which man never actually wins and the most that he can hope for is not to be defeated.  I think this section of the book was so rocky where one second the men were up and then not even a second later they were back down again fighting for their lives like they never had before.  It definitely made it interesting because you never knew what obstacle they were going to face next.  By the end of chapter five, McCarthy's voice shouted out "Land!"  The men finally saw a black, cliff with patches of snow clinging to its side and they were only approximately ten miles away.  Shackleton said to the men, "We've done it." The men were in complete shock and just stared ahead without even making a sound.  The men had feeble, foolish grins spread across their faces of unspeakable relief.  I definitely didn't expect anything else to come about after they finally spotted land but unfortunately that wasn't the case.  When the men were only about forty-five minutes from land they weren't able to reach it because that would of meant death for them.  The men were once again in such awful disappointment and had faced another storm that they didn't think was possible to escape this time around.  On page 251 it states, "Worsley thought not so much of dying, because that was now so plainly inevitable, but of the fact that no one would ever know how terribly close they had come."  Then the boat was spared after this incident had occurred.  I could not imagine being in their position.  It was like every time something positive had happened for them, something bad followed right after. At the end of this section, it was such a relief to see that the men had finally reached the island in which they had sailed 522 days before.  About time!

Final Project Post

General Overview

I originally ended up in Motivation because a friend of mine wanted to take the class as well.  I looked it up on the GoPortal and decided to sign up.  I'm happy I did because this class filled many knowledge gaps for me.  I've taken many other psychology courses, each one with its own points to make, but this class provided information that filled in the blanks for other courses.  Motivation is an important topic because without motivation we wouldn't be where we are today.  I don't believe that humans would even exist.  We learned how Motivation plays a role in the perpetuation of the species and evolutionary psychology in general.  Being able to get up and do something is important for survival.  On some level, all of our actions, decisions, behaviors and so on are a result of Motivation.  In another course, I learned about something called Akinetic Mutism, a condition where one loses all motivation.  They're still conscious, but do not possess any of the drive that sets us into action.  With the knowledge I received from this class, the idea of Akinetic Mutism became all the more dreadful.  An understanding of how Motivation underlies our basic existence brings about awareness of just how serious a total lack of Motivation would be!

Every day, I am motivated to get up and do all kinds of things - getting up, getting dressed and showered, getting in the car to go to school, getting to class, getting back home, etc...  Dull, but without Motivation, I wouldn't be doing any of those things.  On a day-to-day basis, we're driven to move forward.  I think about the long-term incentive of getting a college degree, so I can get a good job, and live comfortably.  I am motivated by the incentive to do well and learn so I can one day (hopefully) be successful.  

In short, Motivation is a great course that complements other psychology courses very well.  It provides extended knowledge about a myriad of topics that are highly applicable to both other courses as well as everyday life!

Favorite Part

There are a number of topics from this course that I really enjoyed, but if I had to pick one, I think it would be Chapter Three: Evolutionary Antecedents of Motivation.  In particular, the part on instinctive behaviors.  I remember being very engrossed by the section on mate selection, mate value, the good gene hypothesis and so on.  

What I think drew me in to this section was the biological basis that seems to dictate a lot of motivation related to these topics.  In our early history we tried to find mates who would both produce healthy offspring and remain with the children to ensure their survival.  Mate value was really interesting; although, when we added up our own subjective estimation of out mate value I had a really, really low score.  I don't think my mate value is that low... I think my problem was more about self-esteem and modesty (I couldn't bring myself to give myself a top score on anything...).   Many of my classmates rated themselves high!  The idea is that people will seek someone with a high mate value or avoid someone who has a low mate value is intriguing.  A related concept, the good gene hypothesis, was interesting as well since it relies on the idea that a person's physical appearance and attractiveness can predict intelligence, health, ability to produce healthy offspring, etc...  Research has shown that attractiveness is based on the same principles regardless of culture or country.  Sexual dimorphism (the difference of features between men and women), symmetry (how much the left and right half of the face match up), and averageness (how much a face represents an average of many different faces among a population) make up attractiveness. As much as we may not like to think that these kinds of things play into our relationship decisions, experiments on the subject have shown that they play a pretty big part (see The Science of Sex Appeal).  

These innate motivations that drive us to chose a partner are deep-rooted because in our history we had to seek mates who would better the changes of the survival of any offspring.  However, I think it's interesting how we are changing.  For example, a woman may not need a man who can stay around to support her and her young anymore because it is much easier for us now than in the past to successful on our own.  Despite this fact, if I recall correctly, our poll in class still reflected (for the most part) the fact that the sexes seek instinctual characteristics (i.e., men seeking attractive women or women seeking financially successful men). 

Creative Piece

I thought about a couple of different concepts to cover, at one point I even considered videotaping myself taking a shot of hot sauce, but despite my love of hot sauce that just seemed like a bad idea... Instead, I decided on focusing on the Yerkes-Dodson Law, which posits two things.  First, some arousal helps performance but too much arousal will hinder performance.  Second, the optimal level of arousal is task dependent - it is based on the difficulty of the task.  Given that it's the time of the year where everyone is scrambling to get work done, living off coffee and not enough sleep, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how arousal is related to our performance!  Instead of making a video, I decided to make a short comic (I'm camera shy). 

In the following mini-comic, we have a young woman - Procrastinor Girl - who finds tests and studying easy.  Since studying is an easier task for her, she figures she'll just drink a bit of coffee to get herself a little energized and get the task out of the way.  Since this is an easy task... higher arousal makes sense since the Yerkes-Dodson Law states that easier tasks require higher arousal than harder tasks.  Unfortunately, she bit off more than she can chew and doesn't finish studying by the time her arousal starts to decrease, eventually leading her to crash face first into her book.  Enjoy!

Extension

This class is all about real-world extensions.  Motivation is one of those areas of psychology that relates directly to everyday life with every concept.  Not all psychology classes do this, for example, Abnormal psychology is relevant, but not all of the concepts can be used outside of class because it's not likely that everyone you meet is going to have a given diagnosis.  Although, we're all a little abnormal in our own way.

The creative piece I did on the Yerkes-Dodson Law is an example of how Motivation concepts apply to everyday life.  We all study, we all work hard, and I'm sure all of us have at some point tried to pull a coffee-infused all-nighter only to crash before our work is done.  Of course, the short discussion about mate selection is also highly applicable to the real world.  

There are other concepts that are relevant as well.  Taste in music for example.  We enjoy music that is complex, but not too complex - the idea of incongruity resolution.  Novelty is important, music that gets built into a schema becomes boring over time.  Or, going back to our comic, Caffeine.  In Chapter Four: Addictions and Addictive Behavior, Caffeine is cited as making people alert and clear-headed and a lot of people drink it for this reason, much like Procrasinator Girl!  We all make decisions - some of us choose to procrastinate because that's who we are, it's a personality trait.  Personality traits cause us to avoid or approach situations, maybe some of us avoid classes we think are too much work, others might be attracted to particular courses for the same reason that someone else avoids it.  Some of us react to getting a B happily, for someone else it might feel like the end of the world, which also relates to our goal-seeking behaviors....

All of these examples interconnect and overlap.  I could write for hours about different concepts that affect everyday life.  In fact, even if I just expanded on the above paragraph it would become too long!  Many of these concepts reoccur in other chapters, but with new motivational perspectives given to them.  All in all, Motivation is complicated by many factors and to understand all of these factors would take a great deal of work.  Our class covered a lot, but I'm sure there's even more out there.  New research with new discoveries that add to and evolve the way we currently understand human Motivation.  Maybe if I get motivated enough I'll do some research on contemporary studies of Motivation over the break...

Final Project Post

Motivation as defined by Lambert Deckers, the author of our textbook, is the process by which a person is moved into action. Motivation is an intensely strong force which can originate from both our internal sources (biological and psychological) and our external sources such as goals or incentives. One of the first pieces of information I learned from the textbook and PowerPoint’s was that emotions are a “special” case of internal motivation. I also find it interesting that the textbook states: “The source of motivation determines specific behaviors as if the person had no other choice in the matter.” It is amazing to me that our brains are so smart that we literally trick ourselves into becoming motivated for a goal, acting as if there is no other option. Before taking this class I never knew how much biological involvement there was in a human being’s motivational decisions.  

In this class I enjoyed the many videos and learning tools Professor Berg used to show different motivation topics. Chapter 4 on drug abuse and addiction was very interesting because the power substances can take over your body is incredible. I was not surprised to see caffeine as being named the most widely used psychoactive stimulant in the world. This fact learned in class has helped me outside the classroom and has made me want to limit my daily cups of coffee to now one or two. I strongly believe next to the drug abuse and addiction chapter the next best chapter to help students take what they have learned in this class and live a better life outside, was chapter 7 on stress, coping, and health. There are many physical and psychological health related issues due to stress. I learned that It is important to try and de-stress as much as possible and find solutions to problems without getting overly stressed or strained.

My favorite day in class was when we talked about, and watched the video by Brian Wansink and his “bottomless soup bowl experiment”. At first this concept made me laugh, then made me think, do I do this? The idea of the experiment is genius. The more food people see in front of them, the more they are likely to eat. The two videos on Wansink’s study were great and a fun way to describe palatability. I’ll never forget that video and have shown it to many of my friends and family.

I found another video relating to the Dr. Wansink ideal of "mindless eating". This video is about mindless drinking:

Post 4

Section 4 is astonishing because it is a miracle they are still alive. Over a year of eating whale blubber, sleeping in the wet cold and no showers the men are still together. This chapter clearly defines the intense struggles the men have endured. Some of the men are seas sick, other have physical injuries, they are all sleep deprived and can not even go to the bathroom normally anymore. It is the everyday pleasures that I have realized humans take for granted, It is thought these struggles that I have placed so much emotion into these men. So at the end of the chapter when the men finally see Elephant Island, their reactions are suppressed. The mean are drained and know better than to react. Despite the low motivation at this point, motivation is still alive. And for that, I hope they all make it through alive and well.

Post 2

In section 2 of the book, everything revolved around preparing for survival. Shackleton asks the men to get rid of anything that is not necessary to live. The men dumped things such as clothes and books. For this reason, the men are preparing for the boat to sink and try to decrease the weight of the ship. The men also had to live off of rations of food and adjust to the whale blubber. The chapter really seemed to test the men’s character and moral. Although things were looking grim, they still seem highly motivated for the trip. Although the Endurance is slowly sinking and food was scarce the men still amaze me through their positivity. 

Endurance Post #5

The men finally reach land! It was incredibly exciting when they reached land, but soon after it was disappointing when they realized they could not stay there for long due to the fact that intense weather conditions did not make it suitable to stay on. The men in general showed an immense amount of motivation because they continually had hope they would eventually get rescued. In my opinion, I am completely unsure of how my motivation level would be. Obviously, I would have to be nothing but optimistic because there is no other choice unless I would desire to die. Although, I believe I would have no incentive to keep hope alive. Additionally in this section, the men continued working together. Team work most likely aided in keeping the motivation of the men high! Again, like I stated in previous blog posts, Shackleton is an amazing leader of this expedition and most likely is the majority of the reason the men stayed as motivated as they did.