PSY 355 wk 5

Emotional Motivation

      Most psychological phenomena can be reduced to biological function, neuroanatomy, and conditioned responses; however, the complexity of human emotion and how it motivates behavior remains a mystery. Emotion is the subjective experience of physiological and psychological arousal in either a positive or negative expression, and while ones physiological responses can be measured, the subjective experience of how that emotion is felt is difficult to measure. In spite of the challenges faced when trying to understand and define ones motivation as derived from emotional experience, psychologists continue to strive to understand the compelling motivational force known as emotion. This paper will examine emotional motivation including aspects such as; methods used in researching emotion, historical theories of emotion, and the facial feedback hypothesis.

Researching Emotion

      When it comes to emotion there are countless numbers of words and phrases to describe one’s personality. If a personality psychologist wanted to understand a particular trait of the personality, the study would be overwhelming to figure out on how much each of those countless numbers of words and phrases that is characterized by that person. In order to make life easier, personality psychologist commonly use a statistical tool to simplify vast amounts of information by gathering similar information into clusters. This tool is a procedure known as exploratory factor analysis (EFA). This is one of the most frequently applied statistical methods in personality research and many trait theories are mainly based on EFA results (Bower, 2000). This system was used over a 100 years ago by psychologist Charles Spearman, who hypothesized that the enormous variety of tests of mental ability –measures of mathematical skill, vocabulary, other verbal skills, artistic skills, logical reasoning ability, etcetera (Bower, 2000). This process could be explained by one primary factor of common intelligence. Spearman thought that he could measure this and select a subpopulation of people with the same score on intelligence, in that subpopulation one would find no correlation among any tests of mental ability (Bower, 2000). In other words Spearman thought that intelligence was the only factor common to all those measures. The breakdown of factor analysis begins with a large number of variables and then tries to reduce the interrelationships amongst the variables to a few numbers of clusters or factors (Bower, 2000). This finds relationships or natural connections where variables are maximally correlated with one another and minimally correlated with other variables, and then groups the variables accordingly (Bower, 2000).

      Another method used to research and uncover basic motion is by categorizing emotions into six groups and analyzing the degree of intensity of the emotion in that group. This method is known as category analysis that includes happiness/joy, love, surprise, sadness, fear, anger, and basic emotion (Deckers, 2005). The basic words we use to describe how we feel reflect on the words one uses that are within these groups. However, different levels of groups can experience different highs and lows within each (Deckers, 2005). By investigating the meaning of the words used to describe each emotion, psychologists are capable of categorizing each emotion and what group it belongs in (Deckers, 2005).

Historical Theories of Emotion

      There are many historical theories of emotion addressing aspects of human motivation for emotion from Darwin’s evolutionary approach, to the more biological approach offered by the James-Lange theory.

Darwin

      Darwin believed that emotions are one of the products of evolution. Darwin compared emotions among different types of species in order to understand different emotions. Darwin argued in his book that facial expressions between humans and animals tend to be the same when it comes to emotions. In an illustration there is a dog that shows a mean face i.e. aggression and cowering in submission. People do not necessarily cower in submission, but their facial expressions are indeed similar to both illustrations.

Cannon-Bard

      The Cannon-Bard Theory has two different parts: (1) feelings of emotion in the brain and (2) expression of emotion in the autonomic and somatic systems. Compared to the James-Lange theory, the Cannon-Bard theory claims both processes to be parallel and therefore have no causal relationship with one another.

James-Lange

      The James-Lange theory of emotion was the first physiological theory. In the James-Lange theory emotion-inducing sensory stimuli is received then interpreted by the cortex, which in turn triggers changes in the visceral organs through the autonomic nervous system and in the skeletal muscles through the somatic nervous system. After all of this the autonomic and somatic systems send signals to the brain and emotions are produced.

James Papez

      “Papez proposed that emotional states are expressed through the action of the other limbic structures on the hypothalamus and that they are experienced through the action of the limbic structures on the cortex” (Pinel, 2007).

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

      The Facial feedback hypothesis is the theory that facial movement can influence emotional experience and thus aid in improving our emotional states and psychological states of minds (vanderbilt.edu). This is in relation to the theories of Charles Darwin who argued that, “Simulation of an emotion tends to arouse it in our minds” (Darwin, 366). If we analyze how the facial feedback hypothesis is used in psychology today, as it relates to emotion as a motive, we will find that humor and the simulation of it through smiles and laughter can aid in motivating people to be positive in certain negative or undesirable situations and even alter one’s psychological state of mind. Depression is the most prominent mental health issue in society today.  There are a host of “treatment” suggestions that flood the media and internet.  One such treatment is humor, which focuses on increasing laughter and smiling.  Smiling is a painless and free treatment, but can these simple motor movements be enough to have an effect on mental health?  Recent studies suggest that smiling does have a measurable influence on emotion (Vanderbilt.edu).  The event appraisal emotion sequence is how we perceive an event prior and post the event and the feelings that we connect with that event.  If you are going to the dentist and you imagine going to the dentist as happy, positive, and an event that is good for you, you are more likely to feel excited and less anxious about the event. However, if you see going to the dentist as negative, expensive and painful, one is more likely to feel negative, anxious and sometimes afraid. Examine both ideas together we can make the argument that facial expressions are stimuli that used in the appraisal emotion sequence can help us determine how we will feel about an event before and after that event takes place.

Conclusion

      Human motivation is derived from many sources both intrinsic and extrinsic. In an effort to keep the subject less muddled and confusing, one might be inclined to attempt to define motivation and behavior from an either/or perspective…one is motivated to action by either intrinsic or extrinsic factors. However, to simplify and define a complex human motivator such as emotion into one of its many component parts would be a gross over simplification. Emotion is an internal physiological and psychological to an external stimulus. Only by employing proper research techniques, understanding concepts such as the facial feedback hypothesis, garnering an understanding of historical theory can one even begin to grasp the power of emotion as a motivational force. 

References

Deckers, L. (2005). Motivation Biological, Psychological, and Environmental (2^nd ed.). Boston:    

      Pearson Education.

Bower, B. (2000). Looking for the brain's g force. Science News, 158(5), 72. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.