Unit 10 Motivation and Emotion
Overview
Unit 10 (and Unit 9) focuses on behaviours related to motivation and emotion. Having participated in the material from Part I (Unit 9) of Motivation and Emotion, you now have an understanding of motivational concepts, hunger and body image related motivational factors, and achievement motivation. If you need a refresh on Unit 9, remember that Motivation concerns the physiological and psychological processes underlying the initiation of behaviours that direct organisms toward specific goals (Krause et al., 2018). Recall too, that motivating factors can take many forms ranging from simple to complex. An example of a simple motivation is when you are thirsty you are motivated to satisfy your thirst with a drink. In Part II, Unit 10, we will explore complex motivations that involve perceived needs, wants, and desires. The first two topics of Unit 10 look at many factors (like attitudes and values) that contribute to one’s understanding of sex and sexual motivations. The last topic discusses the fascinating biology and capricious experiences in the world of emotion.
Topics
This unit is divided into the following topics:
- Sources of Sexuality
- Sexual Values and Choices
- Emotion
Learning Outcomes
When you have completed this unit, you should be able to:
- Define, and apply, the key terminology of motivation and hunger, sexual motivation, social and achievement motivation, and emotion.
- Explain the biological, cognitive, and social processes that shape eating patterns, and the causes of common eating disorders.
- Apply your knowledge of hunger regulation to better understand and evaluate your own eating patterns, and research on sex and advertising to the commercials and Internet ads you see each day.
- Analyze the role of the media on people’s body image and different explanations for what influences sexual orientation.
- Describe the similarities and differences in sexual responses in men and women, how people experience a need to belong, and the different forms of love.
- Apply theories of motivation to understand your personal motivation to achieve in school or your career and apply your knowledge of theories of emotion to new examples.
- Analyze claims that a sense of belonging is something people need versus something they want, and what purpose(s) facial expressions serve.
- Explain how the nervous system responds to emotions, and the cultural similarities and differences in emotional expressions.
Please note, these learning outcomes are the same as for Unit 9 as this chapter of the textbook was divided between Unit 9 & 10.
Activity Checklist
Here is a checklist of learning activities you will benefit from in completing this unit. You may find it useful for planning your work.
Learning Activities
- Read and Reflect – Chapter 11
- Review the Unit 10 – Course Notes (found on Course Notes tab)
- Complete the Sexual Hostility and the Promotion of Aggression and Violence activity
- Complete the Healthy Sex activity.
- Complete the Emotion Regulation activity.
Note
The course units follow topics in the textbook, Revel for An Introduction to Psychological Science by Krause et al. (4th Edition). For each unit, please read the pertinent chapter(s) before completing the assessment for the unit.
10.1 Sources of Sexuality
We are undeniably sexual beings. But why? Certainly our biology motivates us, much as it motivates our hunger. Hormones play an important role in our sexual drive. But sex is different from hunger: Without food we die, but not without sex. Sex is also different from hunger in the greater influence that non-biological factors have. Sexual arousal follows a predictable pattern of biological change. But the factors that control what arouses us, and how to respond to our arousal, we get from our culture.
Here are some ideas to consider in exploring the cultural influences on your own sexuality:
- How did your parents model sexuality? What sexual values and attitudes did they convey to you, both through their actions and through their words?
- How and what do you most want to communicate to your children about sex?
- In your journal trace your own sexual history. What were some important experiences for you, and what did you learn from these experiences?
- What are some of the messages about sexuality that you see in the media?
- Can you think of any ways that the media, your parents, and your own experiences may have given you unrealistic or false ideas about sex?
*(Adapted from Corey & Corey, I never knew I had a choice,(7th ed). (2002). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.)
Activity: Read and Reflect
Take a moment to read through chapter 11 of your textbook and review the Course Notes for this unit. Consider how some of the themes and concepts you read about apply to what you have learned in this section.
Activity: Sexual Hostility and the Promotion of Aggression and Violence
The first resource of this activity is an educational and thought-provoking experience, you might try a scale that assesses your hostility towards the opposite sex. The link below contains the scale in an article from Psychology Today. Though this is an older resource, it is still important to address areas where discrimination may be functioning in your life as discrimination can lead to mistreatment of people. Moreover, despite the continuing efforts of human rights activists and lobbyists, aggression and violence is still prevalent in society today. Mistreatment of any kind is a violation of person’s fundamental rights as a human being. However, there is wide spectrum of attitudes towards, and consequently people’s experiences with, aggression and violence, found worldwide. The second and third resources below provide research-based information around degrading and non-degrading sex references in music and on virtual violence.
For a sobering look at Degrading and Non-Degrading Sex in Popular Music see:
American Academy of Pediatrics statement on virtual violence:
After exploring the resources above, consider the following questions:
- What are some of the messages about sexuality that you see in the media?
- Can you think of any ways that the media, your parents, and your own experiences may have given you unrealistic or false ideas about sex?
Be prepared to share your thoughts and insights with other members of the class
10.2 Sexual Values and Choices
Think about this question: “What is the purpose of sexual behavior?” List your response on a scrap of paper. You might also consider asking a few other people for their responses. You may want to post the responses you get on your forum group or to your Learning Lab. You will see as the list grows that sex is many different things to different people. The answers you will usually get include: reproduction, fun, relaxation, domination, aggression, profit, meeting people, love, attention, and avoiding psychological intimacy. These responses are important because they reflect individual values and choices.
How have our sexual attitudes and values changed over the last hundred years? Our society has moved from Victorian denial into the flapper era, wartime sex role changes, the introduction of “the pill,” the women’s movement, and the concern about sexually transmitted diseases. Where do you project we will go from here?
According to statistics, you probably know someone who has been sexually abused or been involved in “acquaintance rape.” How do you think the experience of abuse or rape might affect an individual’s attitudes towards sexuality?
Most religious traditions value sexuality highly. From a Jewish, Muslim, and Christian perspectives, sexuality is a gift from God, to be cherished and guarded within the bounds of marriage. It is not something to be discussed at length and in detail publicly, or to be performed in a laboratory for observation. What is an appropriate attitude towards sex research? When do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
Activity: Healthy Sex
The first article below highlights the importance of providing young adults with healthy sexual information especially during the transition between high school and college/university. The second resource makes recommendations for people from a wide range of sexual values and behaviour.
This site makes recommendations for people from a wide range of sexual values and behaviour:
Take a moment to consider how this information applies to what you have learned in this section. Be prepared to share your thoughts and insights with other members of the class
10.3 Biology of Emotion
Have you ever been embarrassed? Of course, we all have! Embarrassment is a good example for trying to separate biological, psychological, and social elements of an emotion. These correspond to blushing (biological), feeling embarrassed (psychological), and violation of a social norm (social). Now back to your embarrassing moment: Which came first, blushing, feeling embarrassed, awareness of your faux pas? Which followed next? Last?
The close connection between our minds and our bodies usually makes it difficult to tell whether our bodily emotional response comes before or after our psychological emotional response. This is why even psychologists have disagreed on whether you run from danger because you are afraid, or are afraid because you are running from danger. It is agreed upon however, that a physiological reaction does occur. Numerous physiological changes happen as part of emotional experiencing, for example, blood pressure and flow changes in both the brain and body, heart rate changes, perspiration adjusts, breathing (respiration) is altered, hormones are released, and there are changes in pupil dilation and constriction.
Experiencing Emotion
Now that you understand what’s happening inside your body when you are angry or embarrassed, or experiencing some other emotion, maybe you can see why we often find it so hard to control our emotions. Of course this leads to the question “Should we try to control our emotions?” Or should we just accept them as natural and inevitable? What is the proper role of emotions in our life? For example, imagine you are angry, very angry. Should you suppress and deny your anger out of fear of what you might do? Or should you “blow off steam” and freely express your true feelings?
Consider the following arguments (adapted from Philipchalk, 1988):
No Role
It is not hard to see that emotions are not only frequently unpleasant, but are also a source of conflict. Anger causes us to say things we later regret; fear of others inhibits our honesty; and even anticipated happiness may blind us to the harmful effects of our actions. We speak of being “swayed by our emotions,” indicating they caused us to do or say something we wouldn’t have done otherwise. Emotions are often unpredictable, making it difficult to arm ourselves against them. They vary with our physical and mental condition, with the amount of sleep we’ve had, our blood sugar level, and a host of environmental factors. They have a clear physiological “animal-like” component. And they are part of our fallen nature. Paul warns us, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24). No doubt Paul recognized that emotions arising from our physical bodies frequently play an important role in leading us to “practice the very evil that I (we) do not wish” (Rom. 7:19).
Surely such an unpredictable and potentially dangerous influence should be discounted in favor of our more God-like rational faculties; isn’t the “cool intellect” superior to the “hot-head?”
Furthermore, since emotions are such an elusive and private matter, the direction they give to behavior is easily misinterpreted, sometimes with disastrous results. For example, we might misinterpret physiological arousal as attraction. Psychologists Dutton and Aron (1970) found that male subjects meeting an attractive woman on a high bridge felt more attracted to her than subjects meeting her on a lower bridge. Or we might misinterpret our physical attraction as love. Psychiatrist Scott Peck (1978) argues that the experience of “falling in love” is inevitably sexual. Particularly important for Christians is the danger of misinterpreting an emotional response as the voice of God. Some Christians frequently attempt to determine God’s will by looking for an inner feeling. They may even base life-changing decisions on fleeting inner impressions of peace, unsettledness, or excitement. This can be extremely dangerous. Such feeling may be little more than expressions of their own inner wishes or fears, or simply physiological arousal that has been mislabeled.
To summarize, emotions are unreliable, easily misinterpreted, and a tool for possible manipulation. They are deeply rooted in our animal-likeness—our physical bodies. As such they should be brought into subjection and perhaps ignored or entirely minimized. In short, it would appear from these considerations that emotions should have no legitimate role in the regulation of behavior.
Important Role
The first thing to note with regard to the importance of emotion is that they appear to be part of God’s design for us. God has chosen to form us as emotional beings as well as rational and volitional ones. Although we are fallen, and therefore our capacities of thought and will, as well as our emotional responses, are imperfect, we are created in God’s image nevertheless. The bible ascribes emotions to God. Although some people may dismiss these references as anthropomorphisms, God certainly acts as thought He felt emotions like anger, sadness, and joy. Furthermore, Jesus took on an emotion-feeling body, and expressed a full range of emotions (possibly more than most men in contemporary Western culture). In addition, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) includes several blessings with strong emotional components (e.g., joy, peace). Whatever their weaknesses, emotions cannot be dismissed as wholly sinful.
One of the important early findings of modern psychology was the discovery that emotions must not be completely ignored. To deny and suppress them is to court harm. This does not mean that we should give free expression to every feeling we have. Psychological health doesn’t require that we blowup in anger every time that someone crosses us. But neither should we deny, especially to ourselves, that we are angry. Anger can be redirected to constructive ends; it can be controlled through cognitive strategies such as refusing to dwell on the situation that produced it. The Apostle Paul seems to take a similar position when he says, “Be angry and yet do not sin” (Eph. 4:26), indicating that while anger is probably inevitable, the sinful response in thought or behavior is not
Of course there is a positive side to emotions. They provide the flavor, the resonance, the texture, and the color in an otherwise dull existence. One of the main features that distinguish a person from a machine, which might be capable of many human feats, is the person’s sentient or feeling ability, the person’s capacity to experience emotion. Emotions are the source of much that is pleasant and good in life. Christians find joy and peace in serving God. Even so-called negative emotions have their value. We can direct hatred towards evil; anger can motivate us to overcome injustice; and fear can drive us to God.
Thus emotions are an inevitable part of the God-ordained human condition. They provide the highs as well as the lows in our experience, and their recognition (although not necessarily their uncontrolled expression) is necessary for our health. Although they may frequently lead us astray, and may potentially be the source of unwanted influence, we are fallen creatures, and our other faculties, rational and volitional, are also imperfect. Emotions must be trained. As C.S. Lewis noted, we must be educated to “feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likable, disgusting, and hateful” (The Abolition of Man, [1943] 1978, p. 15). For Lewis, trained emotion not the lack of emotion is the essential mark of the virtuous person. The maturing person will show greater and greater appropriate emotionality.
Despite controversy at the theoretical level concerning the exact relationship between our thoughts and other components of emotions, the work of Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer (see Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion ) has clearly indicated the importance of mental responses. We probably have the potential for a great deal more control over our emotions than we usually admit.
Activity: Emotion Regulation
How well do you handle your emotions? If you are finding that you are being led emotionally in directions that are not the best for your life or you find that you’re avoiding your emotions, it may be time to find out how to make your emotions work for you. The following resources can help you discern between helpful vs. harmful ways of dealing with emotions. The second link is a resource that offers help for emotionally dealing with disaster in your life.
After exploring these resources, consider the following questions:
- Do you think that we can “put on a happy face” and really feel different?
- Can we make ourselves happy or sad by what we think?
Be prepared to share your thoughts and insights with other members of the class
Assessment
Refer to the course schedule for graded assignments you are responsible for submitting. All graded assignments, and their due dates, can be found on the “Assessment” tab.
In addition to any graded assignments you are responsible for submitting, be sure to complete all the Learning Activities that have been provided throughout the content - these are intended to support your understanding of the content.
Checking your Learning
Before you move on to the next unit, you may want to check to make sure that you are able to:
- Define, and apply, the key terminology of motivation and hunger, sexual motivation, social and achievement motivation, and emotion.
- Understand the biological, cognitive, and social processes that shape eating patterns, and the causes of common eating disorders.
- Apply your knowledge of hunger regulation to better understand and evaluate your own eating patterns, and research on sex and advertising to the commercials and Internet ads you see each day.
- Analyze the role of the media on people’s body image and different explanations for what influences sexual orientation.
- Describe the similarities and differences in sexual responses in men and women, how people experience a need to belong, and the different forms of love.
- Apply theories of motivation to understand your personal motivation to achieve in school or your career and apply your knowledge of theories of emotion to new examples.
- Analyze claims that a sense of belonging is something people need versus something they want, and what purpose(s) facial expressions serve.
- Explain how the nervous system responds to emotions, and the cultural similarities and differences in emotional expressions.