Unit 7: Personality, Motivation, emotion, stress, and coping

PERSONALITY

 Gordon Allport (1937) defined personality as, “personality is the dynamic

organization within the individual of those psychophysical system that determines his
unique adjustments to his environment.”

Determinants of Personality

 Biological factors-
o Body build- it influences personality directly by determining what an
individual can and cannot do. It can be of 3 types:
 Mesomorphs- strong and muscular. Body builds are superior to both
ectomorphs and endomorphs.
 Ectomorphs- tall and thin. Superior to endomorphs.
 Endomorphs- round and soft body.
o It has also been reported that body fluids of an individual affect the person’s
self-concept, which is an important constituent of personality.
o Studies of temperament- it is aspect of personality that includes mood,
activity level, and emotion, and the variability of each. Twin studies with
humans seem to show a genetic influence.
o Traits, types and chromosome- Eysenck proposed that traits related to
introversion-extraversion type dimension are linked to inherited characteristics
of the reticular formation, the part of the brain that influences an individual’s
level of arousal.
 Person-situation controversy (socio-cultural)-
o Situationism- emphasizes situational, environmental determinants of people’s
behavior.
o Dynamic groups believe that people possess certain core drives, motives,
conflicts, or tendencies that produce consistency in their behavior across
various situations.
o Theories like B.F. Skinner, who believe the notion like traits of character and
free will should be dropped and who favor a detailed account of the
environment and how it determines our behavior.
 o Person’s characteristics and situation’s characteristics both influence behavior;
but neither alone is so important as in the interaction of the person and the
situation.
o Some conditions (funeral, interviews) are considered powerful because they
offer a very small range of acceptable behaviors and therefore exert great
control over people’s actions.
o Other situations (picnics) are considered weak because they allow a broad
range of behaviors.
o Personality traits seem to be better predictors of behavior in relatively weak
situations than in powerful situations.

Type and trait theories of personality: focuses on people’s personal characteristics and how
these categories are organized into a system.

 Type theories- the notion that people can classified into types is one of the oldest
ideas about personality- over 2000 years old.
o The first type theory, proposed by Hippocrates, in about 400 B.C. he is
known as the father of medicine. He grouped people into 4 temperament
types:
 Sanguine- cheerful, vigorous, confidently optimistic.
 Melancholic- depressed, morose.
 Choleric- hot-tempered.
 Phlegmatic- slow moving, calm and unexcitable.
 A type is a class of individuals said to share a common collection of characteristics.
o Eysenck’s hierarchical theory (1967): he developed a type theory in which
the types are actually personality dimensions, and every individual is scored or
rated for his or her position on each dimension.
o The vertical dimensions show people high in neuroticism at the upper end and
people high in stability at the lower end.
o The horizontal dimension shows people high in introversion at the extreme left
and people high in extraversion at the extreme right.
o “Strike-zone approach”- people must show certain specific personality
characteristics to a certain degree before they are typed. It is also used to
identify type A and type B people.
  Trait theories- trait can be described as “characteristics that lead people to behave in
more or less distinctive and consistent ways across situations.
o Allport’s trait theory (1961)- his approach used multiple traits. he mentioned
2 types of traits:
 Common traits- traits which are reflected in the behavior of most of
the persons in a society or community or culture.
 Personal traits- unique characteristics of a person and not shared by
other members of the society. These are highly consistent and can be
seen in almost all behaviors of the individual irrespective of the
situation concerned.
 Cardinal traits- traits that are so dominant that nearly all of
the individual’s actions can be traced back to them. Most have
no cardinal traits.
 Central dispositions/traits- characterizing an individual’s
behavior to some extent but not in such a complete way as
cardinal traits. A person can have 10-12 of such traits.
 Secondary dispositions/traits- traits that are influential but
only within a narrow range of situations.
o Allport used 2 approaches-
 Idiographic approach- it entails efforts to understand, explain, and
sometimes predict an individual’s behavior in various situations. It
searches for consistencies within particular individuals.
 Nomothetic or dimensional- aimed at the discovery of personality
principles that apply to people in general. It involves search for
consistencies and general principles that apply across individuals.
o Single trait research- locus of control, the degree to which we believe that we
cause, or control, the events in our lives.
 Internal locus of control- we are the cause of most events.
 External locus of control- most events are caused by luck, faith etc.
 Julian Rotter (1966) developed a questionnaire to measure internal
versus external LOC.

Dynamic personality theories- which emphasizes on-going interactions among motives,

impulses, and psychological processes.
 Freud’s psychoanalytic theory- it is a dynamic personality theory type. It has 3
major parts.
o A theory of the structure of personality, in which the ego, id, and superego are
the principal parts.
 Id- most primitive part, storehouse of biologically based urges.
Operates according to the pleasure principle. If left to itself, the id
would satisfy its fundamental urges immediately and reflexively as
they arose, without regard to rules, the realities of life, or morals of any
kind.
 The id is usually bridled and managed by the ego. The ego consists of
elaborate ways of behaving and thinking which constitute the
“executive function” of the person. Ego tries to satisfy the id’s urge for
pleasure but only in realistic ways that take account of what is possible
in the real world.
 Superego corresponds closely to what we commonly call the
conscience. It mainly consists of prohibitions learned from parents and
other authorities. The superego may condemn as “wrong” certain
things which the ego would otherwise do to satisfy the id.
o A theory of personality dynamic, in which conscious and unconscious
motivation and ego defense mechanisms play a major role.
 Freud saw ego as a sort of mediator between the id and the superego.
The ego’s task of satisfying both id and superego requires a somewhat
risky balancing act.
 Freud proposed 3 levels of consciousness-
 Conscious- we are aware of certain things around us and of
certain thoughts.
 Preconscious- memories or thoughts that are easily available
with a moment’s reflection.
 Unconscious- memories, thoughts, and motives which we
cannot easily call up.
 All of the id is unconscious; the ego and superego include material at
all the three levels of consciousness.
 We repress, or banish from consciousness, ideas, memories, feelings,
or motives that are especially disturbing, forbidden, or otherwise
unacceptable to us.
 The process of repression is itself unconscious and automatic. We do
not choose to repress an idea or impulse- it just happens, whenever the
idea or impulse is so painful and anxiety-arousing that we must escape
from it.
 In such cases, our anxiety triggers repression, and the unacceptable
material is buried in the unconscious.
 According to Freud’s theory, repressed material does not remain safely
tucked away. Instead, it continues to operate underground, often
converting the repressed conflicts into neurosis- disturbed behavior
involving anxiety or defenses against anxiety.
 Neurotic symptoms often bear a symbolic relationship to the repressed
material that is causing them.
 He described dreams as the royal road to unconscious.
 Oral stage (birth to 1)- infants obtain sexual pleasure first by sucking
and later by biting. A baby given too little opportunity to suck (or too
much), or made anxious about it, may acquire an oral fixation which in
adulthood, may foster excessive oral behavior.
 Anal stage (ages 1-3)- toilet training occurs. At this time the region
around the anus becomes highly sensitive to stimulation of “holding
on” and “letting go.” Freud maintained that fixation at the first
substage results in adult characteristics of messiness and disorder;
fixation at the later stage- excessive compulsiveness, over conformity,
and exaggerated self-control.
 Phallic stage (ages 3-5)- genitals become the major focus of sexual
excitement. It is also the time that children develop sensual feelings
towards the parent of the opposite sex. Freud called these thoughts and
feeling in boys, Oedipus complex; in girls-Electra complex. Defenses
of identification- the boy tries to become like his father.
 Freud believed that superego strength- that is, how harsh one’s
conscience is in punishing misbehavior- depended largely on
events of the phallic stage.
  Latency period (6-puberty)- not considered very important for
personality development. As the child learns more about the world,
sexuality is largely repressed, and the ego expands.
 Genital stage (adolescence and beyond)- mature heterosexual
interests appear. There are 3 major sources of sexual arousal during
this period:
 Memories and sensations from early childhood periods.
 Physical stimulation of genitals and other erogenous zones.
 Hormonal secretions.
o A theory of psychosexual development, in which different motives and body
regions influence the child at different stages of growth, with effects persisting
in the form of adult personality traits.
 Freud’s idea was that from birth on, we have an innate tendency to
seek pleasure, especially through physical stimulation and particularly
stimulation of parts of the body that are sensitive to touch: the mouth,
the anus and the genitals.
 Freud called them erogenous zones.
 He believed that if a child’s needs at one of the psychosexual stages
were either unsatisfied or over satisfied, fixation would take place.
That is the child would show continued attachment to an old stage even
after moving on to a new one.
 As a result, behavioral patterns and problems from the fixated stage
would persist, often into adulthood. By observing an adult’s behavior
carefully, one could recognize the psychosexual stage in childhood at
which the adult had fixated.
 Jung’s analytical psychology: Jung placed much less emphasis than Freud on sexual
and aggressive impulses arising from past conflicts and much more emphasis on
people’s future oriented goals, hopes and plans.
o He used a word-association test, in which people read a standard array of 100
terms and instructed to respond to each term as quickly as possible with the
first word that occurs to them.
o Stimulus terms that resulted in long delays, an inability to respond, or certain
other key signs were thought by Jung to be parts of what he called complexes.
 o Complexes are the network of ideas bound together by a common emotion or
set of feelings.
o Collective unconscious- it grows out of the past experiences of the human
race. Stored within it are primitive fundamental images, impressions, or
predispositions that were common to earlier members of the human race,
called archetypes.
o Archetypes are subjective reactions that originated in our ancestors in response
to certain universal experiences. They are inherited ways of organizing, or
reacting to, our experience with the world.
o Personal unconscious- developed out of any of the individual’s conscious
experiences that had been repressed.
o The process of harmonizing one’s conscious and unconscious components
happened in a unique way for each person and led to a unique pattern of
behavior. This process is called individuation.
o ANIMA- Female arche type in a male’s psyche, ANIMUS- Male arche type in
female psyche.
 Adler’s individual psychology: Adler believed that people are forever struggling to
overcome their feelings of inferiority. He identified this struggle as the most basic life
urge. Acting on this urge, people stive continually, for superiority and mastery of the
external world. When someone fails repeatedly to overcome weaknesses and achieve
some mastery or simply places excessive emphasis on some particular inferiority, the
result can be what Adler labeled as inferiority complex.
o He also stressed the concepts of compensation and overcompensation- the
pursuit of activities designed to make up for or to overcome inferiority.
o He also stressed on style of life. Each individual creates his or her own
personal approach to living; this highly individualized style grows out of the
individual’s unique sense of his or her own inferiority.
o This concept together with the concept of the subjective nature of individual
goals, led Adler to label his theory individual psychology.
o His theory’s third contribution was the close attention he gave to birth order as
an influence on personality development.
 Horney’s psychoanalytic interpersonal theory: two major components of her
“person” psychology were the twin notions of basic anxiety and basic hostility.
 o Basic anxiety is what arises in childhood when the child feels helpless in a
threatening world.
o Basic hostility is what usually accompanies basic anxiety and grows out of
resentment over the parental behavior that led to anxiety in the first place.
Because hostility cannot be expressed directly to parents, it is typically
repressed, which only increases the child’s anxiety.
o Children rely heavily on one of the 3 modes of social behavior-
 Moving towards others- involves excessive compliance.
 Moving against others- involves pursuit of satisfaction through
ascendance and domination of others.
 Moving away from others- is self-protection by withdrawal.
o Horney believed that normal people use all three modes of social interaction at
times but in a relatively balanced and flexible manner, adjusting their
approach to situational demands.
o Neurotic people she argued, allow one approach to dominate their social
interactions, and this rigidity gets them into trouble.
 Defense mechanisms in dynamic theories- repression, reaction formation, projection,
rationalization, intellectualization (involves reasoning, the anxiety is reduced by a
retreat into detached, unemotional, abstract language.), displacement, regression,
sublimation.

Learning and behavioral theories of personality: learning theorists seek to understand

people’s behavior by studying their learning history, their current environment, or both.

 Early social learning theory by Dollard and Miller: they argued that we act
indecisive and neurotic when we are torn between approaching and avoiding a certain
course of action. In such cases, the tendency to approach is often stronger than the
avoidance tendency at first; but the closer we get to the moment of truth, the more
likely it is that the avoidance tendency will win out and we will retreat from the
planned action.
o They said repression is a learned response of “not thinking about” something
that is anxiety provoking.
  Skinner’s radical behaviorism: Skinner’s approach is exclusively instrumental, or
operant-that is, it deals only with the processes by which reinforcement and
punishment influence the likelihood of behaviors.
o For Skinner, personality is actually a collection of reinforced responses.
o We are the people that we are because we behave in certain ways, and we
behave in certain ways because of the reinforcement contingencies we
experience.
 Later social learning theory by Bandura and Walters: they focused on the highly
efficient form of learning k/a observational learning or imitation.
o Observational learning takes place in a social situation involving a model and
an imitator.
o The imitator observes the model and experiences the model’s behavior and its
consequences vicariously; also called vicarious reinforcement.

Humanistic theories: personality as the self. The term self has 2 meanings. One has to do
with the people’s attitudes about themselves k/a self-image, or self-concept. Second relates to
the executive functions- processes by which the individual manages, copes, thinks,
remembers, perceives and plans.

 Roger’s self-theory: rogers emphasized the whole of experience, the phenomenal

field. This is the individual’s subjective frame of reference; it may or may not
correspond to external reality.
o The self- in addition to the present self, there is also an ideal self, the self the
person would like to be. Trouble occurs when there are mismatches, or
incongruences.
o Personality development- as children grow, parents and others react to their
behavior, sometimes in a positive way and sometimes with disapproval.
Children thus learn to regard some of their actions, thoughts, and feelings as
unworthy, and they often react by distorting or denying these unworthy
aspects of self.
o He also gave Q-sort technique, a method of self-description, in personality
research. The individual is given a large number of descriptions and is asked
to sort them into categories from “least characteristics” to “most
characteristics.”
 Maslow’s self-actualization theory: in his view we all have higher-level growth
needs such as the need for self-actualization and understanding of ourselves, but these
higher needs only assume a dominant role in our lives after our more primitive needs
are satisfied.

 Kohlberg’s theory of moral development:

o According to Piaget there are 2 types of morality:
 Heteronomous morality- present in younger children
 Autonomous morality- consider intentions, rules are subject to change,
present in older children.
o Piaget’s cognitive stages of development serve as the underpinnings of
Kohlberg’s theory, but he suggested 6 stages. These he argued are universal.
o Development from one stage to another is fostered by opportunities to take the
perspective of others and to experience conflict between one’s current stage of
moral development and the reasoning of someone at a higher stage.
o He gave “Heinz dilemma”.
o Kohlberg suggests that moral development emerges in a 3-level sequence,
which is further subdivided into 6 stages-
 Preconventional- (before age 9)
 Obedience/punishment- people obey rules to avoid being
punished. Obedience is its own reward. (heteronomous
morality)
 Instrumental- reward orientation; people follow rules in order
to earn rewards for their own benefits. Instrumental purpose,
individualism and exchange.
  Conventional- by early adolescents (10-13): membership in society
becomes important. People behave in ways that will win the approvals
of others.
 Good boy/good girl- people want to be respected by others and
try to do what they are supposed to do. Mutual interpersonal
expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity.
 Law and order- authority and social order maintaining
morality; people believe that only society, not individuals, can
determine what is right. Obeying society’s rules is right in
itself.
 Post conventional- by early adulthood (18-30): people accept that
there are certain ideals and principles of morality that must govern our
actions. These ideals are more important than any particular society’s
rules.
 Social contract- morality of contract, individual rights, and
democratically accepted laws; people rightly feel obligated to
follow the agreed rules of society. But as society develops over
time, rules have to be updated to make societal change reflect
underlying social principles.
 Universal ethical principles- morality of individual principles
and conscience; people accept that laws are attempts to write
down specific applications of universal moral principles.
Individuals must test these laws against their conscience, which
tends to express an inborn sense of those principles.
o He argues that advances in children’s cognitive development did not ensure
development of moral reasoning. Instead, moral reasoning also reflects
children’s experiences in dealing with moral questions and conflict.
 Seligman’s explanatory styles- It is a cognitive personality variable reflecting the
way people habitually explain the causes of events in their life. He also gave learned
helplessness model.
o There are 2 types of explanatory style-
 Optimistic explanatory style- the way you explain the things that
happen to you.
  Explains positive events in terms of personal, stable or
permanent, global causes.
 Negative events- external, temporary, specific causes.
 Pessimistic explanatory style- personally blame themselves.
 Bad events- a fixed factor, global and internal.
 Good events- external, unstable, and specific.
o explanatory style consists of 3 dimensions:
 Internal/external- whether or not a person believes that they have
control or influence over events.
 Stable/unstable- whether a person believes a repeated event will be
same or subject to change.
 Global (pervasive)/specific- whether or not a person’s explanation
generalizes the events to others beyond the specific event in hand.

Cognitive theories of personality- differences in personality stem from differences in the

way individuals mentally represent information.

 Julian Rotter was introducing cognitive variables into the behaviorist approach.
Rotter proposed the concept of behavior potential, meaning the likelihood of a
particular behavior occurring in a particular situation. The strength of the behavior
potential is determined by two variables: expectancy and reinforcement value.
 Bandura has taken this approach even further, developing what he calls social-
cognitive theory, emphasizes on reciprocal determinism, in which external
determinants of behavior (such as rewards and punishments) and internal
determinants (such as beliefs, thoughts, and expectations) are part of a system of
interacting influences that affect both behavior and other parts of the system.
o According to Bandura the relationship between environment and behavior is a
reciprocal one: The environment influences our behavior, which then affects
the kind of environment we find ourselves in, which may in turn influence our
behavior, and so on.
 Walter Mischel has attempted to incorporate individual differences into social
learning theory.
 Cognitive variables by Walter Mischel:
o Competency- intellectual abilities, social and physical skills, and other special
abilities.
 o Encoding strategies: People differ in the way they selectively attend to
information, encode (represent) events, and group the information into
meaningful categories. An event that is perceived by one person as threatening
may be seen by another as challenging.
o Expectancies: Expectations about the consequences of different behaviors will
guide the individual’s choice of behavior. We may anticipate the
consequences of a certain behavior but fail to act because we are uncertain of
our ability to execute the behavior.
o Subjective values: Worth: Individuals who have similar expectancies may
choose to behave differently because they assign different values to the
outcomes.
o Self-regulatory systems and plans: People differ in the standards and rules
they use to regulate their behavior (including self-imposed rewards for success
or punishments for failure), as well as in their ability to make realistic plans
for reaching a goal.
 Kelly’s personal construct theory: Kelly focused on something more personalized
in which people can come up with their own dimensions with regard to themselves as
well as other people around them, because an individual may be perceived differently
by two different individuals.
o She came up with Rep Test (role construct repertory test), in which people will
fill in the construct, the name of the person and their relationship with them,
also they will mark an X on the individuals who have same personality
according to them.
o By looking at the entire set, the investigator or therapist can explore a number
of themes that seem to characterize the individual’s interpretation of the world.
 Self-Schema: A schema is a cognitive structure that helps us perceive, organize,
process, and utilize information. Through the use of schemas, each individual
develops a system for identifying what is important in his or her environment while
ignoring everything else. Schemas also provide a structure within which to organize
and process information. Schemas are relatively stable over time.
o Self-Schema, consists of ‘cognitive generalizations about the self, derived
from past experience, that organize and guide the processing of self-related
information’.
 o The resulting self-schema is made up of the aspects of our behavior that are
most important to us, and it plays a central role in the way we process
information and interact with the world around us; Self-schemas not only
guide the perception and processing of information but also provide a
framework for organizing and storing it.

Existential theories

 Dasein- word from Heidegger’s work, meaning being there or being in the world. It
has 4 parts.
o Unwelt- we + environment
o Mitwelt- we + social
o Eigenwelt- we + own self
o Uberwelt- we + spirituality
 Rollo May- anxiety emerged as a result of uncertainty in life and of looming death.
Human being fear death because we cannot comprehend our own lack of existence. In
defining anxiety, May distinguished between anxiety and fear, and between normal
anxiety and neurotic anxiety. He gave 4 stages of personality development (not to be
thought of as stage or benchmark. They are better thought of as place that coexist with
the human experience):
o Innocence- the pre-self-conscious stage when you are an infant. Innocent
people are premoral, that is, they are neither bad nor good but only doing what
they must do.
o Rebellion- it is the stage of consciousness of self in which people define
themselves in opposition to or defiance of another. They desire freedom but
have as yet no full understanding of the responsibility that goes with it.
o Ordinary- ordinary consciousness of self to May is the normal adult ego, or
what people mean when they say that someone, they know has a healthy
mature personality. They can learn from their mistakes and take responsibility
for their life.
o Creative- May believed that not everyone reaches creative consciousness of
self, as that stage involves transcending our usual limited viewpoint and
catching a glimpse of ultimate reality. It is roughly similar to Maslow’s peak
experience.
 Logotherapy by Victor Frankl- it is the pursuit of meaning for one’s life. Non-
directional and insight oriented.
o Freedom to find meaning- he argued that in all circumstances, individuals
have the freedom to access that will to find meaning.
o Meaning of the moment- for decisions to be meaningful, individuals must
respond to the demands of daily life in ways that match the values of society
or their own conscience.
o Individuals are unique- idiographic. Every individual is unique and
irreplaceable.
o Core features:

 Each person has a healthy core.

 The primary focus is to enlighten a person to their own internal
resources and provide them with the tools to use their inner core.
 Life offers you purpose and meaning; it does not owe you a sense
of fulfillment or happiness.
o Meaning with logotherapy:
 By creating a work or accomplishing some task
 By experiencing something fully or loving somebody
 By the attitude that one adopts toward unavoidable suffering
(boundary situations such as loss of loved one, near death
experience).
o De-reflection- it is used when a person is overly self-absorbed on an issue
or attainment of a goal. By redirecting the attention, or dereflecting the
attention away from the self, the person can become whole by thinking
about others rather than themselves.
o Paradoxical intention- it is a technique that has the person wish for the
thing that is feared most. This was suggested for use in the case of anxiety
or phobias, in which humor and ridicule can be used when fear is
paralyzing.
o Socratic dialogue- it is the technique in which the logo therapist uses the
own person’s words as a method of self-discovery. By listening intently to
what the person says, the therapist can point out specific patterns of words,
or word solutions to the client, and let the client see new meaning in them.
 This process allows a person to realize that the answer lies within and is
just waiting to be discovered.
Transpersonal psychology:
 The word transpersonal means to ‘go beyond’ the material person.
 three fundamental concepts in the term “transpersonal:”
o connection to a larger sense of existence

o recognition of what’s sacred

o drive to find a greater sense of being.

 Because transpersonal psychology aims to consider the individual as a whole, it

doesn’t focus on specific tools or methods.

 Sumber explains that transpersonal psychology looks to understand how your mind
works by studying it through your relationships with family, friends, and even
therapists.

EMOTIONS

 Charles Darwin said that there is an innate, or inborn, basis for the facial expression
of certain emotions. A study found primary emotions are innate in nature.
 Learning plays a large role in the expression of more subtle emotions, for example,
jealousy. People learn to express these emotions in different ways.
 The Autonomic Nervous System produces many of the bodily changes that occur in
emotion. It is part of PNS. It has 2 parts:
o Sympathetic system- active during aroused states, prepares the body for
extensive action by increasing heart rate, raising BP, increasing blood-sugar
(glucose) levels, and raising the levels of certain hormones.
 Discharges epinephrine and nor-epinephrine.
 Nerve impulses in the sympathetic system  reaches adrenal glands
(above kidneys)  trigger secretion of these hormones  they go to
the blood and circulate in the body.
o Epinephrine-
 In the liver  mobilizes glucose and makes energy available to the
brain and muscles.
  Cause the heart to beat harder.
 In the skeletal muscles  mobilizes sugar resources so that muscles
can use them more rapidly.
 Constrict blood vessels and raise BP.
o Para-sympathetic NS: active during calm and relaxed state. Helps to build up
and conserve the body’s stores of energy.
 Somatic NS: part of PNS. Activates the striped muscles of the body. The changes in
breathing, muscle tension, and posture seen in emotion are brought about by activity
of the somatic NS.
 Flight-or-fight response: sympathetic NS activates.
 Relaxation response: parasympathetic NS activates.
 Facial-muscle movements are closely related to the body’s internal adaptive response
in emotion.
 Skin conductance high- anger; low- fear, sadness.
 The limbic system and hypothalamus are stimulated in emotional responses.
 Aroused state due to increased activation of brain cells in the cerebral cortex,
limbic system and hypothalamus.
 Activity in these cells is directly or indirectly influenced by nerve fibers coming from
reticular formation to reach almost all the brain areas involved in regulating emotion.
Since the activating fibers from the reticular formation must go upward, or ascend, to
reach the higher brain areas involved in emotion, the activating portion of the reticular
formation is called ascending reticular activating system (ARAS).
 ARAS- provides arousal in emotional states, involved in keeping us awake, alert, and
conscious.
 Indicators of arousal:
o EEG- brain waves are characterized by their frequency and amplitude.
 Aroused/excited- high frequency, low voltage (amplitude) waves.
 Relaxed- low frequency, high voltage (amplitude) waves.
o Heart rate, BP, breathing patterns.
o Skin conductance- GSR (galvanic skin response).
o Orienting reaction- organism’s orientation to a new stimulus or to a stimulus
change. It consists of tensing muscles and changing the positions of the body
and the head in order to maximize the effectiveness of the stimulus.
 Arousal and performance: performance is an inverted U-shaped function of level of
arousal when cues must be discriminated. A little arousal is a good thing because it
keeps you working and alert, but too much arousal results in disorganization of
thoughts and performance.
 Stress: internal state which can be caused by physical demands on the body or by
environmental and social situations which are evaluated as potentially harmful,
uncontrollable, or exceeding our resources for coping.
 Stressors: the physical, environmental, and social causes of the stress state.
o Environmental- catastrophes, major life changes, hassles.
o Psychological- pressure, uncontrollability, frustration.
 Eustress- results from positive events that require the body to adapt. optimal amount
of stress that people need to promote health and well-being.
 General adaptation syndrome: given by Hans Selye. It talks about the body’s
responses to stressors. It consists of 3 stages-
o Alarm stage- the emergency response of the body. Sympathetic NS activates
the body responses, prepare us to cope with the stressor here and now.
o Stage of resistance- if the stressor continues to present. The body resists the
effects of the continuous stressor. However, resistance to new stressors is
impaired during the stage. Increased activity of the adrenocorticotrophic
(ACTH) axis.
o Perception of stressor  signal sent from various parts of brain to activate the
hypothalamus  releases CRF (corticotrophin releasing factor)  acts on
anterior pituitary to release ACTH  ACTH stimulates cells in the outer
layers, or cortex, of the adrenal glands  releases cortisol and other
hormones.
o Cortisol promotes the formation of glucose (blood sugar) by breaking down
fats and proteins. In the short run it is adaptive, the body has more fuel
available. In the long run, increased use of protein to make fuel may be serious
because proteins are needed in the manufacture of new cells.
o White cells, which are crucial for fighting infection, have a short lifetime and
must be continuously replaced. If protein required to make them are in short
supply, fewer WBC can be produced, and the body will be less able to fight
infection.
 o Cortisol also has inhibitory effect on formation of infection fighting proteins
called antibodies, together with shrinkage of tissues which manufacture the
WBC.
o Stage of exhaustion-in this stage, the body’s capacity to respond to both
continuous and new stressors has been seriously compromised. Psychosomatic
disorders are a term used when perceived stressors- mental events-increases
then susceptibility of the body to disease.
 In the wellness cycle by Nathan and Charlesworth 1984 we make the client practice
certain health- promoting lifestyle responses which helps certain techniques like
adaptive behavior responses (assertiveness, time management), Adaptive physical
responses (nutrition, exercise, relaxation) Adaptive cognitive responses (stress
inoculation, cognitive restructuring) which helps the person have positive long term
effects and hence increased over-all cost which moves back again to the health
promoting lifestyle (rest is the same as stress cycle).
 Stress coping: the process by which people try to manage the perceived discrepancy
between the demand and resources.
o Emotion focused coping- controlling the emotional responses to stressful
situations.
 Behavioral approach- distracting attention from the problem.
 Cognitive approach- redefine the situation to put a good face to it.
o Problem focused coping- reducing the demands of the stressful situation or
expanding the resources to deal with it.
 Stress management strategies:
o Biofeedback- a procedure in which people learn to modify internal responses
such as heart rate and body temperature. Involuntary physiological responses
could actually be brought under voluntary control through what seems to be
instrumental conditioning. Used in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, or
irregular heartbeat. Also used in Raynaud’s syndrome, a disorder in which
blood vessels constrict and cause the hands and feet to grow cold. Also used in
headaches.
o Progressive muscle relaxation- Jacobson (1938) developed this technique.
Aimed at achieving muscle and mental relaxation. Clients are given a set of
instructions that teaches them to relax. They assume a passive and relaxed
 position in a quiet environment while alternately contracting and relaxing
muscles. Deep and regular breathing also is associated with producing
relaxation. At the same time clients learn to mentally “let go,” perhaps by
focusing on pleasant thoughts or image. Clients are instructed to actually feel
and experience the tension building up, to notice their muscles getting tighter
and study this tension, and to hold and fully experience the tension. It is useful
for clients to experience the difference between a tense and a relaxed state.
The client is then taught how to relax all the muscles while visualizing the
various parts of the body, with emphasis on the facial muscles. The arm
muscles are relaxed first, followed by the head, the neck and shoulders, the
back, abdomen, and thorax, and then the lower limbs. Relaxation becomes a
well-learned response, which can become a habitual pattern if practiced daily
for about 25 minutes each day.
o Music therapy- Music therapy is the use of music and/or elements of music
(like sound, rhythm and harmony) to accomplish goals, like reducing stress or
improving quality of life.
 Compositional music therapy- client composes music with the
assistance of a therapist.
 Improvision music therapy- spontaneous song creation by therapist
interpreting their client mood.
 Receptive music therapy- plays music for their clients to respond to.
Clients can express their thoughts through words, their own
compositions, or dance.
 Re-creative music therapy- client recreates the music played by the
therapist.
o Breathing exercises- serve to reduce physiological arousal and can be an
excellent grounding technique.

o Guided imagery- Guided imagery is a relaxation technique. People who try

guided imagery might picture events, scenes, or other things that will cause
feelings of relaxation and calm.
o Mindfulness- being aware of internal thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as
well as external surroundings and situations, without automatic responses such
 as judgment or stress. focuses on learning how to be more aware and to reduce
automatic responses.
o Meditation- Meditation therapy is “a method of relaxation and consciousness
expansion by focusing on a mantra or a keyword, sound, or image while
eliminating outside stimuli from one’s awareness.”
o Yoga asanas- a sport that focuses on the physical aspect of yoga, where
players have to perform yogic postures and are judged on their difficulty,
balance, control, flexibility and endurance.
o Stress inoculation training (SIT)- it is a psychological method of coping
with stress and its effects. It is a CBT technique where one becomes resistant
to the effects of a stressor. Treats the source of stress, not just the symptoms. It
consists of 3 phases-
 Conceptualization- the client is urged to think differently about stress.
The therapist explores past stressful events and evaluates which coping
strategies have worked in the past.
 Skill training and rehearsal- this gives the client techniques to deal
with the stress and suppress its symptoms.
 Application and follow through- the client is encouraged to apply the
training in the real world. They are given stimulation to see if it has
worked.
 Type A- competitive, achievement-oriented, ambitious, and perfectionists. They are
also more prone to experiencing stress and may be impatient, easily angered, and have
a sense of time urgency.
 Type B- Type B personalities are typically more relaxed, laid-back, and easy-going.
They are less likely to experience stress and may be more patient, creative, and
imaginative.
 Type C- analytical, detail-oriented, and focused on accuracy. They are often
introverted and strongly desire order, logic, and precision. They are also more prone
to experiencing emotional stress.
 Type D- Type D personalities are typically anxious, worried, and have a negative
outlook. They are also introverted and tend to keep their emotions to themselves.
 James-Lange theory: felt emotions is the perception of bodily changes. It proposes
the following sequence of events in emotional states-
 o We perceive the situation that will produce emotion.
o We react to this situation.
o We notice our reaction.
 Our perception of the reaction is the basis for the emotion we experience. So the
emotional experience, the felt emotion, occurs after the bodily changes; the bodily
changes precede the emotional experience.
 Cannon-Bard theory: felt emotion and bodily responses are independent events;
both are triggered simultaneously.
o According to this theory, we first perceive potential emotion-producing
situations in the external world.
o Then lower brain areas, such as hypothalamus are activated.
o They send output in 2 directions:
 To the internal bodily organs and the external muscles to produce the
bodily expressions of emotions.
 To the cerebral cortex, where the pattern of discharge from the lower
brain areas is perceived as the felt emotion.
 Schachter-Singer theory: the interpretation of bodily arousal. This theory maintains
that the emotion we feel is due to our interpretation of an aroused, or “stirred up”
bodily states. They argued that the bodily state of emotional arousal is much the same
for most of the emotions we feel and that even if there are physiological differences in
the body’s patterns of responses, people cannot perceive them. Since the bodily
changes are ambiguous, the theory says, any number of emotions can be felt from a
stirred up bodily condition. The sequence of events in the production of emotional
feeling, according to this theory is-
o Perception of a potential emotion-producing situation.
o An aroused bodily state which results from this perception, and which is
ambiguous.
o Interpretation and labeling of the bodily state so that it fits the perceived
situation.
 Cognitive-appraisal theory of emotion: given by Richard Lazarus. This theory says
that the emotions we feel results from appraisals, or evaluations, of information
coming from the environmental situation and from within the body.
 o In addition, memories of past encounters with similar situations, dispositions
to respond in certain ways, and consideration of the consequences of actions
that might result from the emotional state enter into the appraisal.
o The outcome of the complex appraisal of all this information is the emotion as
it is felt.
o Reappraisal of potentially emotion producing situations is an important part of
this cognitive theory.
o People reappraise with the emotion producing stimuli by-
 Denial
 Intellectualization
 Reaction formation
o Primary appraisal- involves estimating the severity of the stressor and
classifying it as threat, a challenge or a harm or loss.
o Secondary appraisal- involves estimating the resources available for coping
with the stressor.
 Theory of relationships among emotions: Robert Plutchik has proposed a
descriptive theory that is concerned with what are called primary, or basic, emotions
and the ways they can be mixed.
o In order to show relationships among emotions, Plutchik assumes that they
differ in 3 ways:
 Intensity
 Similarity
 Polarity, or oppositeness
o His model had 8 segments representing 8 primary emotions. He said that they
are derived from evolutionary processes and therefore have adaptive value.
o The strongest varieties of the emotion are at the top of the segment, with
progressively weaker varieties toward the bottom.
o Emotions that are opposite each other conflict, while emotions that are close to
each other around the figure are complementary.
 Activation theory: proposed by Lindsley in 1951. Emotions represent a state of
heightened arousal rather than a psychological, physiological or biological process.
Arousal lies on a wide continuum ranging from a very low of deep sleep to extremely
agitated states of rage and anger.
 o Established connection between cerebral cortex and the sub cortical structures.
o shows the importance of the brain-stem portion of the brain called the reticular
substance.
o the EEG in emotion shows an activation pattern with reduction in alpha
(synchronized) rhythms and induction of low-amplitude, fast activity.
o The EEG activation pattern is reproducible by electrical stimulation of the
brain-stem reticular formation (BSRF).
o destruction of the rostral end of the BSRF abolishes EEG activation and
allows restoration of rhythmic discharges in the thalamus/cortex.
o The behavior associated with destruction of the rostral end of the BSRF is the
opposite of emotional excitement, namely, apathy, somnolence, lethargy, and
catalepsy.
o The combined mechanism of the basal diencephalon and lower BSRF is
identical with, or overlaps with, the EEG activating mechanism, and this
mechanism causes the objective features of emotional expressiveness to
appear.
 Leeper (1970), says that almost all our sustained and goal-directed behavior is
emotionally toned and that it is the emotional tone which provides the motivation for
long sequences of behavior.
 Tomkins argues that motives or drives simply give information about some need or
condition of the body. Accompanying these drives are emotions that produce the
energy for the drives; they amplify the drives to give them strong motivational power.

MOTIVATION

 Motives are inferences from behavior (the things that are said and done). If our
inferences about motives are correct, we have a powerful tool for explaining
behavior. Motives also help us make predictions about behavior.
 Drive theories: also called “push” theories of motivation. Behavior is pushed towards
goals by driving states within the person or animal.
o When an internal driving state is aroused, the individual is pushed to engage in
behavior which will lead to a goal that reduces the intensity of the driving
state.
o Thus, motivation is said to consist of:
  Driving state
 The goal directed behavior is initiated by the driving state.
 The attainment of the appropriate goal.
 The reduction of the driving state and subjective satisfaction and relief
when the goal is reached.
o After a time, the driving state builds up again to push behavior towards the
appropriate goal.
o The sequence of events just described is sometimes called the motivational
cycle.
o Freud- driving state are inborn and instinctive; learned drives- originate in the
person’s or animal’s training or past experience and thus differ from one
individual to another.
 Incentive theories- the stimulus characteristics of the goal can sometimes start a train
of motivated behavior. Incentive theories are “pull” theories of motivation; because of
certain characteristics they have, the goal objects pull behavior toward them.
o The goal object which motivates behavior is k/a incentives.
o Individuals expect pleasure from the attainment of what are called positive
incentives and from the avoidance of what are k/a negative incentives.
 Opponent-process theory-
o Hedonistic views of motivation say that we are motivated to seek goals which
give us good emotional feelings and to avoid those resulting in displeasure.
o Opponent-process theory takes hedonistic view of motivation.
o According to this theory, there is a baseline. The peak point of the emotional-
motivational state occurs soon after the emotion-provoking situation is
encountered. This state (state A) can be pleasant or unpleasant emotional state.
o Next, with the emotion-provoking stimulus still present, the intensity of the
emotional-motivational state adapts and declines to a steady state.
o When the emotion-provoking situation terminates, an after reaction occurs in
which the emotional-motivational state is the opposite of state A.
o State B (opponent state) gradually declines until baseline is again reached.
Thus, the sequence of emotional-motivational changes goes like-
baseline peak of state A decline of state A to a steady state state
Bdecline of state B to baseline.
 o With repeated usage, user will experience less pleasure (less state A), while
the intensity of the unpleasant after response (state B) will increase.
 Optimal-level theories- hedonistic view. These theories are also called “just right
theories.” There is a certain optimal, or best, level of arousal that is pleasurable. The
individual is motivated to behave in such a way as to maintain the optimal level of
arousal.

Biological motivation- the automatic physiological mechanisms that maintain homeostasis

are supplemented by motivated behavior. Departure from homeostasis creates a driving state
that pushes a person or animal to seek food and water. Motivated behavior driven by these
homeostatic imbalances helps to restore balanced conditions.

 Certain hormones, or chemical messengers circulating in the blood are also important
in the arousal of some biological motive states.
 Sensory stimuli or incentives also play a role in the arousal of other drive states.
 Hunger motivation- levels of rates or rates of use of dissolved nutritive substances
circulating in the blood are crucial for the activation of feeding.
o If the levels or rates of use fall below a certain point, a set point, hunger drive
is initiated, and food is ingested to raise the blood levels of nutrients back to
the set points.
o Glucose, or blood sugar, is an important substance involved in the initiation of
hunger motivation and feeding.
o Low rates of glucose use are correlated with reports of hunger and eating
behavior. high rates are related to satiety.
o Others are free fatty acids from the breakdown of fat stores and ketones from
the metabolism of free fatty acids.
o Hypothalamus is critically involved in hunger motivation and a number of
biological motives.
o Receptors of glucose and other fuels are present in liver also and that
information about the blood nutrients is carried to the brain along the nerve
pathways connecting liver and brain.
o Certain external triggers like sight and smells of palatable food can lead to
eating even in the absence of any internal need state.
 o The stomach contains nutrient receptors which provide satiety signals.
Another satiety signal may be provided by a hormone called cholecystokinin
(CCK). This hormone, which is involved in the breakdown of fats, is released
when food reaches the part of the intestine immediately below the stomach.
o Two regions of hypothalamus-
 Lateral hypothalamus (LH)- excitatory region for hunger motivation.
 Ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH)- satiety signal.
 Thirst motivation- ADH (antidiuretic hormone) regulates the loss of water through
the kidneys. But the physiological mechanisms involved in maintaining the body’s
water level are not directly involved in thirst motivation and drinking.
o Thirst motivation and drinking are mainly triggered by two conditions of the
body:
 Loss of water from the cells.
 Reduction of blood volume.
o When water is lost from bodily fluids, water leaves the interior of the cells,
thus dehydrating them. In the anterior, or front, of the hypothalamus are nerve
cells called osmoreceptors, which generate nerve impulses when they are
dehydrated.
o These act as a signal for drinking and thirst. Thirst triggered by loss of water
from the osmoreceptors is called cellular-dehydration thirst.
o Loss of water from the body also results in hypovolemia, or a decrease in the
volume of blood. When blood volume goes down, so does blood pressure. The
drop in BP stimulates the kidneys to release an enzyme called renin.
o Through a several step process, renin is involved in the formation of a
substance k/a angiotensin 2 that circulates in the blood and may trigger
drinking.
o The idea that cellular dehydration and hypovolemia contribute to thirst and
drinking is called the double-depletion hypothesis.
 Sexual motivation: estrogens, the female sex hormones, come in large parts from the
ovaries, but they also come from the adrenal glands. Estradiol is one of the most
important estrogens.
o Androgens, the male sex hormone, are secreted into the blood from both the
testes and the adrenal glands. Testosterone is the major androgen. Both male
 and female sex hormones are present in both men and women; it is the relative
amounts which differs.
o While a person’s sex is inherited, the organization of the body and the brain as
either male or female depends on the presence of the appropriate sex
hormones during early life in womb.
o Later in life, the sex organs grow rapidly, and hormone release increases
markedly. Secondary sexual characteristics develop under the influence of
estrogens or androgens at puberty.
o Not only the body, the brain too seems to be organized by sex hormones to
predispose a person to behave in male and female ways.
o The relative relationship between hormones and sexual drive in human
females has not been proved.
o In males, a certain level of androgens, especially testosterone, must be present
for sexual behavior to occur at all. Increases above the threshold level have
little or no effect on male sexual motivation and behavior.

Social motives

 Achievement motivation- achievement is task-oriented behavior that allows the

individual’s performance to be evaluated according to some internally and externally
imposed criterion, that involves the individual in competing with others, or that
otherwise involves some standard of excellence.
o Since the social motives, including the need for achievement are largely
learned, differences in early life experiences lead to variations in the amount
of achievement motivation.
o Fear of failure- for people whom fear of failure is low relative to the need for
achievement, achievement motivation expresses itself in many ways.
o A gender difference exists in the expression of the need for achievement. Fear
of success- women believed their successful performance would have negative
consequences such as unpopularity and a reduced feeling of femineity.
o Competitive motivation improves performance for people with low
achievement, or work-mastery, motivation, but actually impairs performance
for those in whom achievement motivation is strong.
 o The need for achievement is related to a society’s economic and business
growth.
 Power motivation:
o Social power is the ability or capacity of a person to produce (consciously or
unconsciously) intended effects on the behavior or emotions of another
person.
o The goals of power motivation are to influence, control, cajole, persuade, lead,
charm others, and to enhance one’s reputation in the eyes of other people.
People with strong power motivation derive satisfaction from achieving these
goals.
o Power motivation can be expresses in many ways; the manner of expression
depends greatly on the person’s socioeconomic status, level of maturity, and
the degree to which the individual fears his or her own power motivation.
o The term Machiavellianism describes people who express their power
motivation by manipulating and exploiting others in a deceptive and
unscrupulous fashion.
 Affiliation: concern for establishing, maintaining, repairing friendly relations. It
involves motivation for social contact. Aroused when individual feel threatened or
helpless and also when they are happy. People high on this are motivated to seek other
people’s company and maintain friendly relationship with them.
 Exploration needs: There are motives to seek, variety in stimulus, to process
information about the world, to explore and be effective in mastering challenges from
the environment.
 Effectance motivation- a general motive to act competently and effectively when
interacting with the environment.
 Self-actualization motivation: it is related to effectance motivation and intrinsic
motivation. It refers to an individual’s need to develop his or her potentialities.
 Zuckerman’s sensation seeking- According to Zuckerman (1979), “Sensation
seeking is a trait defined by the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and
experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such
experience…The high-sensation seeker is sensitive to his or her internal sensations
and chooses external stimuli that maximize them.”
 o Zuckerman et al made sensation seeking scale. Using factor analysis,
Zuckerman and his colleagues have identified four subscales within the
sensation seeking trait:
 Thrill and Adventure Seeking: Many people enjoy engaging in risky
sports and other potentially dangerous experiences that produce unique
sensations related to speed or defying gravity, such as rock climbing,
BASE jumping, or drag racing.
 Experience Seeking: This factor encompasses novel sensations and
experiences, such as arousing music, art, and travel. It also
incorporates social nonconformity, particularly associated with
belonging to groups on the fringes of conventional society.
 Disinhibition: This factor covers sensation seeking that focuses on
social activities, such as parties, drinking, illegal drugs, and sex.
 Boredom Susceptibility: Individuals who score high on this factor
cannot tolerate any kind of repetitive experience, including routine
work and boring people.
 Motivational competence: Competence motivation is a theory that centers on the
idea that people are driven to engage in activities to develop or demonstrate their
skills. If someone successfully performs a challenging task and receives praise from
family or peers for it, then they will experience a belief in their competence in that
achievement domain—physical, cognitive or social.
 Self-regulation theory (SRT): system of conscious personal management that helps
us control what we think, say and do. The term self-regulation refers to a complex and
dynamic set of processes involved in setting and pursuing goals.
o Goal and goal setting- The most fundamental aspect of self-regulation theory
is the idea that much of human behavior is directed toward accomplishing
goals. Indeed, it is the pursuit of goals that forms the focus of much of self-
regulation theory.
o Feedback and self-monitoring- feedback refers to information concerning an
individual’s progress toward attaining a goal. By comparing feedback to goals,
an individual can determine the level of success he or she is having in
pursuing the goal. Feedback need not come from outside sources (e.g., one’s
supervisor)—indeed, such external feedback is often unavailable. Thus,
 individuals often rely on self-monitoring to evaluate their progress toward
achieving their goals.
o Goal hierarchies- goals are arranged hierarchically in a series of means-ends
relationships.
o Approach versus avoidance goals- goals have been described as future states
that individuals wish to attain. Such goals are often referred to as approach
goals because individuals seek to move toward these states. However,
avoidance goals are also powerful influences on behavior, representing
undesired future states that individuals wish to avoid. In short, success at an
approach goal often leads to excitement or elation, whereas success at an
avoidance goal often leads to relief or relaxation.
 Flow: A state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to
matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great
cost, for the sheer sake of doing it given by “Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.”

 Curiosity and exploratory behavior: Think of curiosity and exploratory

behavior as having a cause-and-effect relationship. Curiosity is the thought that
motivates a human to engage in exploratory behavior which results in some sort of
outcome that can be negative or positive and can lead to punishments and/or rewards.
Nissen (1930) experimented with rats and defines exploratory behavior in two ways:
1) as an inborn exploratory drive, 2) that curiosity is a secondary or learned drive
acquired through classical conditioning.

Theories of motivation
 Content theories: it focuses on “whats” of motivation.
o Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954): he divided the needs into growth needs
and deficiency needs. Jonah effect/complex- when we are scared of our best
potential. Therefore, progression is upwards but not automatic.
 Deficiency needs are physiological needs, safety needs, belonging and
love needs and esteem needs. The more time we spend here the more
important they become. We only notice them in case of deficiency.
 Growth needs are the self-actualization needs.
 Aesthetic needs and cognitive needs- recently added below self-
actualization need. And above self-actualization need, transcendence
needs are added.
o Alderfer’s ERG theory: it is an extension of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Alderfer (1972), suggested that needs could be classified into 3 categories,
rather than 5. These three types of needs are existence (safety needs and
physiological needs), relatedness (esteem needs and social needs) and growth
(self-actualization and self-esteem).
 These needs encompass the needs proposed by Maslow and they can
be satisfied within the work environment.
 He said that we may focus on any of these needs and need not start
from the bottom. Progression is upward.
 Satisfaction progression- moving to another need after satisfying one.
 Frustration regression- to preserve self-esteem. Not able to fulfil the
upper needs, then they focus on fulfilling a lower need.
 o Herzberg’s 2 factor theory (1966): Herzberg developed the motivator-
hygiene theory. He concluded there are 2 sets of needs: the hygiene needs,
which produce job dissatisfaction and the motivator needs, which produce job
satisfaction.
 Hygiene factors: working conditions, coworker relations, policies and
rules, supervisor quality, base wage salary. Failure to meet these needs
leads to high attrition (employees will leave). Job dissatisfaction is
influenced by these factors.
 Motivator needs: achievement, recognition, responsibility, work itself,
acknowledgement. Job satisfaction is influenced by these factors.
o McClelland’s theory (1971): suggested that needs are amplified or
suppressed through self-concept, social norms and past experiences.
Therefore, needs can be “learned.” 3 of the primary needs in this theory are as
follows:
 Need for achievement (nAch)- the desire to excel, to achieve in
relation to a set of standards and to pursue and attain goals.
 Need for affiliation (nAff)- the desire for friendly and close
interpersonal relationships.
 Need for power (nPow)- the desire to control one’s environment and
to influence others.
 Atkinson’s formula = Ts (tendency to succeed) = (Ns) motivation x
(Ps) probability x (Is) incentive.
 Process theories of motivation- these theories are concerned more with how
behavior is initiated, directed and sustained and attempt to identify the relationship
among the dynamic variables, which make up motivation.
o Vroom’s expectancy theory: Vroom (1964) suggested that motivation is a
product of 3 factors:
 Expectancy- one’s estimate that effort will lead to successful
performance.
 Instrumentality- one’s estimate that performance will result in certain
outcomes or rewards.
 Valence- the extent to which expected outcomes are attractive or
unattractive.
  The relationship is stated in the following formula: expectancy*
instrumentality* valence = motivation.
 Porter and Lawler (1968) published an extension of Vroom
expectancy theory which is k/a Porter-Lawler expectancy model.
Motivation alone doesn’t predict successful performance but a function
of two factors:
 Skills and abilities
 Role expectancy/perception- having clear perception of his/her
role and accurate knowledge of the job requirements.
o Equity theory: it suggests that individuals engage in social comparison by
comparing their efforts and rewards with those of relevant others.
 The perception of individuals about the fairness of their rewards
relative to others influences their level of motivation.
 Equity exists when individuals perceive that the ratio of efforts to
rewards is the same for them as it is for others to whom they compare
themselves.
 In case of inequity- increase own outcomes, decrease own inputs,
leave, change referent (find someone else to whom to compare self),
reevaluate other’s inputs.
o Organizational justice theory:

 Interaction justice also includes informational justice along with

interpersonal justice. Informational justice refers to providing the right
information.
 o Job characteristic model: it is a contemporary theory. Hackman and
Oldham’s (1974) job characteristics model suggested that 5 core job
dimensions affect certain personal and work-related outcomes, including job
satisfaction. The 5 cire job dimensions identified are-
 Autonomy
 Feedback
 Skill variety
 Task identity
 Task significance
o MPS (motivating personality score) = variety + identity + significance/3 *
autonomy * feedback.

Frustration and conflicts of motives

 The term frustration refers to the blocking of behavior directed towards a goal.
Conflict among simultaneously aroused motives is the most important reason why the
goals are not met.
 Sources of frustration- the causes of frustration are found in-
o Environmental frustration- environmental obstacles.
o Personal frustration- people are often frustrated because they aspire to goals-
have a level of aspiration- beyond their capacity to perform.
o Conflict-produced frustration- a major source of frustration is found in
motivational conflict, in which the expression of one motive interferes with
the expression of other motives.
 Types of conflict-
o Approach-approach conflict- conflict between two positive goals; goals that
are equally attractive at the same time. These conflicts are usually easy to
resolve and generate little emotional behavior.
o Avoidance-avoidance conflict- involves 2 negative goals. Many intense
emotions are generated here. 2 kinds of behavior are likely to occur-
 Vacillation of behavior and thought- people are inconsistent in what
they do and think; they do first one thing and then another. Vacillation
occurs because the strength of a goal increases as the person nears it.
As one of the negative goals is approached, the person finds it
 increasingly repellant and consequently retreats or withdraws from it.
But when this is done, the person comes closer to the other negative
goal and finds it, in turn, unbearably obnoxious.
 Second is attempt to leave the conflict situation.
o Approach-avoidance conflict- most difficult to resolve because a person is
attracted and repelled by the same goal object. Because of the positive valence
of the goal, the person approaches it; but as it is approached, the negative
valence becomes stronger. Vacillation is common. Emotional reactions
accompany these conflicts.
o Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts-several goals with positive and
negative valences are involved. What a person does depends on the relative
strengths of all the positive and negative valences involved. These valences
which are obstacles to reaching a goal, are generally internalized resulting
from the training in social values which a person has received.