Question

I need to write a 10 pages paper on Emotion and Motivation - from Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 of the textbook "Psychology" 9th edition by D. G. Myers.

Answer 1

Motives are conditions both physiological and psychological within the organism that makes it act in certain ways. Motives take a variety of forms like needs, interests, attitudes, tendencies, desires, tensions, sets persisting stimuli, etc. In the absence of motive our mind is in a balanced state i.e.. in a state of equilibrium which is termed homeostasis. When a motive is aroused there is tension and the mental balance is destroyed. Then the organism tries to regain his equilibrium by satisfying the motive.

The whole process of learning centres round the child. So, motivation of the learner plays a major role in leaning. Motivation means the inner need of the child. The teacher must provide desirable goals to meet these needs.The teacher should not only provide desirable goals for the satisfaction of the pupil’s motives, but at the same time, he must provide conditions that will help and stimulate the students to achieve these goals.

Incentives are o two types- intrinsic. Intrinsic incentive means an inner urge or desire to learn, here the learning activity itself acts as an incentive. Extrinsic incentive means the influence of external factors like reward and punishment, desire for social recognition, competition, etc.

From experiments conducted on learning it has been found that intrinsic incentive has a greater influence on learning. True learning may only be imparted through the satisfaction of the need and interest of the pupils. The learning that takes place through external incentive is artificial and mechanical. So in modern education stress is laid on developing the interest of the students in what they are learning.

The functions of a motive are threefold-

1. Motives energize our behavior i.e.., motives release energy which in turn leads to greater activity. For example, when the hunger motive is aroused we search for food.
2. Motives act as selectors of our behavior. It is our motive which determines when we will act and how we will act in a particular situation.
3. Motives direct our behavior. Energy released by a motive is useless unless our action is directed towards an object that is capable of satisfying that need. For example, when we are hungry our action must be directed towards food.

As the child grows he develops new needs, interests, drives, attitudes etc. i.e.. motives, and these are modified as he makes new adjustments to new environments and situations. Sometimes a pupil’s personal motives may not find social acceptance and it is the teacher’s duty to resolve such conflict and develop desirable motives in them. At the same time teachers must be aware of the needs, interests, goals and motives of the students, so as to be capable of arousing their interests and motives and induce them to pursue their goal of learning with great enthusiasm.

An effective method of teaching is to make the pupils aware of the goal of their activity or assignment, so that they will wish to attain such goals. This will of course be ineffective, unless such goals are within the reach of the students.

Motivation is an internal process that activate, guide and maintain behaviour over time. According to the drive theory, biological needs lead to the arousal of drives, which activate a force to reduce them. Behaviors that succeed in reducing a drive are strengthened and are repeated in the drive is aroused again. Their fears that fail to reduce the drive are weakened and are less likely to recur when the drive is aroused once again. Many people watch or read erotic materials in order to increase their sexual excitement coma even when they don't anticipate immediate sexual gratification. In view of such evidence, most psychologists now believe that drive theory, by itself does not provide full explanation of human motivation. But it is a part of our emotion.