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Lecture 1: Why did she do that?

(8-16-21)

Questions:

  • activity #1
  • A very important question: Why did she do that?
  • Other good questions:
    • Why did I do that?
    • How can I get her to do this?
    • How can I get myself to do this?

Motivation

Merriam-Webster

  1. The act or process of motivation
  2. The condition of being motivated
  3. A motivating force, stimulus, or influence: INCENTIVE, DRIVE

Dictionary

  1. The act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act a certain way
  2. The state of condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something
  3. Something that motivates; inducement; incentive

Cambridge Dictionary

  1. Willingness to do something, or something that causes such willingness
  2. Motivation in literature or film is the reason a character behaves a certain way

MacMillian Dictionary

  1. A feeling of enthusiasm or interest that makes you determined to do something
  2. A reason for doing something

Deckers (2018) notes that:  “According to the philosopher Arthur Schopenhause (1841/1960), to be motivated is to be moved into action, or into a change in action.” (p. 2)

Dr. Deckers defines a motive as “a person’s relatively stable internal disposition to be concerned with and approach positive incentives and avoid negative incentives (Atkinson, 1958/1983; McClelland, 1987)”, a goal as, “a goal is presented as the internal image of a future outcome that a person plans to achieve: an end state.”, and an incentive as, “An incentive is an anticipated reward or aversive event available in the environment. It is also contingent upon behavior”; he uses these ideas to define motivation: “In life, the motivation of behavior is a function of all three: motives, goals, and incentives” and to differentiate between “push and pull” motivation: “motives (desire, want, longing) push individuals toward some end-state while external objects, referred to as incentive and goals, pull individuals there.” (pp. 2-3). 

Dr. Deckers offers a definition of motivation: “A journey typified as motivated behavior from a beginning to a selected end-state comprised of a concrete goal, consummation behavior, and subjective feelings.” (p. 24). 

Our text (Reeve, 2018) begins with a “simple definition: Motivation is wanting” (p. 2) and then a more “formal” definition on page 8: “The study of motivation concerns those internal processes that give behavior its energy, direction, and persistence.” 

Dr. Deckers sees, “The purpose of the psychology of motivation is to explain what motivates the same person at different times and different people at the same time.” (p. 10). 

We can contrast that with your author’s view (Reeve, 2018):  “The study of motivation revolves around providing the best possible answers to two fundamental questions: (1) What causes behavior? and (2) Why does behavior vary in it’s intensity?” (p. 5)

We might also want to consider why a behavior starts at one time and not another (Dr. Reeve would probably consider this under his first question); why a behavior ends (again, Reeve might see this as part of (1); how long a behavior persists (this is not exactly the same as (2); the frequency with which the behavior occurs, under what circumstances, and how the behavior changes over time.   

Both authors stress a central aspect of motivation is action, being moved to do something (or not do something):  What puts us into motion, what makes us stop, what keeps us still.

Why did she do that?

Key themes in our class:

  1. Human behavior (actually most behavior) is complicated.
    • a) life is complex
    • b) human behavior is complex
    • c) the brain is complex
  2. There are often multiple ways of looking at something.
    • a) different terms/phrases/concepts about same/similar phenomena
    • b) utility versus truth standards
    • c) carpe vocabulum! (seize the vocabulary)
  3. Old theories never die.
    • a) there may be a grain of truth to outdated theories and new theories may not completely replace old theories
    • b) see 2. above
    • c) “final answers” elude us (see 1. and 2.) above)
  4. Our applied knowledge often outstrips our understanding (theoretical knowledge).
    • a) we may be able to create a desired effect with very limited understanding of “why” or “how”
    • b) treatment effects may not (usually don’t) increase our understanding of basic processes
    • c) see 1. above
  5. Disagreement continues about fundamental aspects of human nature and actions.
    • a) proactive versus reactive
    • b) good vs. neutral (or evil)
      • “Imagine an airplane makes an emergency landing and breaks into three parts. As the cabin fills with smoke, everybody inside realizes: We’ve got to get out of here. What Happens?
      • On Planet A, the passengers turn to their neighbors to ask if they’re okay. Those needing assistance are helped out of the plane first. People are willing to give their lives, even for perfect strangers.
      • On Planet B, everyone’s left to fend for themselves. Panic breaks out. There’s lots of pushing and shoving. Children, the elderly, and people with disabilities get trampled underfoot.
      • Now the question: Which planet do we live on?”
        • Tom Postmes’ (professor of social psychology, University of Groningen, Netherlands) question (Bregman, 2019, pp.2-3)
    • c) nature vs. nurture (yes, yes, we all know it’s really “and”, both heredity and environment; but–what is the mix, what proportion of each, how do they interact?)
    • d) what is the best (most accurate, most useful) understanding of motivation (human motivation, the motivation of other animals)

And answers:

How do you know things?

epistemology, in philosophy, our theory of knowledge: what distinguishes justified belief (truth, fact) from opinion (my personal preference or view of things)

  • divine revelation
  • authority
  • tradition
  • reasoning
    • Plato (writing as his teacher Socrates)
  • experience
    • Aristotle
  • empiricism (science)
    • Knowing things with confidence
      • Science is a methodology for learning about a subject that interests us. It is a created tool, not a revealed truth about the universe. (Don’t take me wrong: I have a great deal of faith in science [note use of word “faith”]. It has proved more successful than any other approach in advancing our understanding of the world and has greatly benefit human kind.)
      • Science rests upon some basic assumptions (different authors will cite different numbers of assumptions and state these in different ways but the discussion usually revolves around certain ideas):
        • There exists a physical world independent of our senses.
        • Events in this world happen for certain causes.
        • Evidence can be used to learn about these causes.
        • There is a consistency in these causes over time and place.
      • Science is usually more about confidence than certainty.
      • Interestingly, science (most scientists) acknowledge at least certain situations where these assumptions may not apply (singularities/inside black holes, the big bang, the possible evolution of physical constants over time).
    • A science of human behavior?
      • Natural philosophy and moral philosophy
      • Psychology, an experiment centuries in the making
      • One kind of answer to our question: Why did she do that?
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