Motivation and Emotion-Reasons Behind People’s Actions
A lot of people act in a certain way and engage in different activities based on their emotions and motivation at that instant. The actions that most people undertake in their pursuit to meet their needs are most on the basis of their feelings and thoughts. Emotional stability has proven to be very useful in individual performance, and scholars combine this with personal motivation and attribute it to success rates among individuals of interest. There is a high correlation between motivation and emotions, and one cannot work independently (Baumeister, 2016).
In the first case study, the medical patient is at a high risk of a heart attack, and he’s well aware of what he needs to do to prevent this. For him, motivation is there to start working on his diet and doing regular exercises, but he lacks the proper emotional conviction to start the same. Pessimism gets in his way with individual motivation, and this affects his desire to work on himself, even though he knows that the doctor is right. His excuse that exercise and proper diet are not his things shows a lack of intrinsic motivation, and this affects his final decision.
The student in the second case study enrolls in a class just because of his impulse towards that class. The choice he makes is not based on interest but rather on his perception and is not on what he truly needs. This becomes a problem as failure reflects in his performance, which is as a result of less concentration and lack of enough study. The poor performance makes him feel like a reproach, which leads to a lack of motivation and loss of desire to go on with the class.
Conditions Affect Motivation and Emotion.
Psychology has it that motivation and emotions are affected by certain conditions. Emotions are expressed from the ground of the immediate condition in place. The changes in state such as pain-causing situations, pleasure, or joy intriguing circumstances indeed trigger emotions. Conditions can be core drivers of sentiment, for instance, under success or achievement, people rejoice and gain confidence. On the other hand, failure provokes shame, loss of interest, and may even cause distress.
The conditions also induce the motivation to perform an activity. Certain conditions are what motivates people to consider different approaches. The requirement or state one might be in arouses interest, conviction (the desire to keep the status quo or make an amendment), the passion for a particular undertaking, and compassion in a painful or empathetic situation.
As seen in the first case study, the medical patient’s condition affects his emotions and lack of motivation. His health condition is the leading cause of his doubts and pessimism towards his physician’s advice on losing 40 pounds to avert the risk of a heart attack. It has led to his lack of motivation to change his lifestyle by exercising and maintaining a healthy diet. The possibility of a different condition such as the need for a free disease lives with no threat of heart disease would give him an intrinsic motivation to work on exercise and a healthy diet.
In case study 2, poor performance affects the student significantly. He suffers reproach, which affects his self-esteem as he cannot bring himself to telling anyone of his poor performance. It lowers his motivation to go on with the class in the second half of the course. If the return were better, the student would have shared his excitement to go on with his class and invest in this class by paying more attention and enough study for an excellent performance.
Application of Motivation in Practical Problems.
Motivation is applicable and necessary for solving problems. It is applicable in our daily lives, workplaces, and the achievement of desired goals (Reeve, 2016). Organizations require motivated workers who aim at high performance to achieve their objectives. The issue of low productivity in industries sometimes relates to poor work performances such as lack of engagement and absenteeism, which may be a cause of lack of motivation. Therefore it has seen to it that employers apply motivation theories to eradicate this problem and ensure that employees are well motivated. The discovery of the positive effects such as increased productivity that motivation reflects is leading to many firms adopting these theories in the workplace.
Our daily lives display the presence of purpose and desire to attain personal goals in every aspect of life through motivation. Motivation enables us to arise and aspire to be productive. It arouses inner aspiration and hidden potential that needs a certain spark to illuminate. Motivation applies to the problem of time management that has been a crucial issue in our daily lives (Reeve, 2016). Time wastage is minimal if one is motivated and the better the focus, enhancing productivity and effectiveness.
The education sector would lag if the motivation were not a primary key to excellent performance. Teachers require motivation to teach as that cannot be guaranteed by a salary such as Indian teachers who offer their teaching services freely or for a meager wage (Horowitz et al. 2018). The lack of employment opportunities for degree holders can cause frustration and depression. Students, therefore, need the motivation to complete their degrees regardless of the lack of jobs in the market. They need the motivation to start up their businesses and inventions in the pursuit of self-employment. It has solved the problem of giving up after rejection from various interviews.
The economic growth of many countries since way back has faced major drawbacks and enormous problems such as natural calamities. Some of the natural disasters affect the agricultural sector, dramatically killing the hopes and efforts of farmers. The only factor that would keep their spirits up is motivation. The developers of economic stability and growth in countries need motivation in the face of the many obstacles.
Motivation is applicable in solving problems faces by athletes as it gives them a desire to keep fit and win the games and athletics regardless of the tough exercise (Beauchaine et al. 2017). Motivation is also essential in marketing. The promotion of goods and services to an unresponsive audience is difficult. The application of different strategies in marketing may not guarantee increased sales, and it is through motivation that salespersons keep on convincing the audience despite the negative responses.
The medical patient would solve his problem of losing 40 pounds if he has the motivation to exercise and change his diet. Health problems, especially lifestyle-oriented diseases, are solvable under intrinsic motivation, and this is what the medical patient lacks. In the second case study, the student needs the motivation to progress forward with his class in the second half of the course despite the poor performance. Motivation would enable him to push himself towards better performance and not lose heart in the face of failure.
Long Term Intervention Plans.
Motivation intervention is a strategy or an approach that psychologists use to enhance motivation for change among clients. These intervention plans vary by the problem that the client faces, the stage, and what is more sensitive and responsive to his/her needs. The different approaches taken are only valid if they consist of the following elements; the FRAME approach, decisional balance exercises, inconsistency between personal objectives and current behavior, and flexible pacing.
The FRAMES approach is an acronym word.F stands for, feedback regarding the measures to associated problems such as physical health. R for responsibility to determine personal change. A for advice about changing the lifestyle. M for menus of own directions of change options. E stands for the emphasis of empathic counseling and S for self-efficacy, which means empowering the client positively to encourage change (Lichtenberg et al. 2016). Decisional balance exercise entails weighing the costs and benefits of life choices such as the medical patient who weighs the pros and cons of changing his lifestyle versus not changing his lifestyle. This method entails balancing the pros and cons of a significant choice, whichever outweighs the other and the values. Clients get assistance through recognizing the mismatch between their goals and current choice to assist them in enhancing motivation for change. The suffering student would get help in this way. Flexibility pacing is where the client moves towards change in his or her own pace.
An individual’s mindset is one of the essential factors in motivation. Cultivation of a vibrant mind in terms of values, beliefs about oneself, and assumptions are necessary for the adoption of change. The development of mindsets is a process that involves learning and influences. It applies to learners most, especially where they have to consider their choices in pursuit of effort and change in self-attributions, which results in better academic performance (Horowitz et al. 2018). Individual interest is also crucial as it attributes to the choices that an individual takes. Attention is best when it is personal interest and not situational interest. Situational interest arises as a response to appealing characteristics of a factor and may affect an individual’s learning and engagement. The student in the second case study has a situational interest; his interest is from how simple and easy the class seems, and it’s the cause of his poor attention and lack of engagement in class.
External rewards are another motivation intervention plan which applies mostly in workplaces. It is a way of promoting extrinsic motivation and encouraging individuals to change. Employers offer incentives, job promotions, and rewards for work well done, which encourages employees to work for the better to acquire rewards. Prizes also work for students and motivate them to perform better in the other stage (Horowitz et al. 2018). This intervention plan brings about a sense of pride and a desire for excellence, which contributes to intrinsic motivation.
Optimistic interventions is another long term intervention plan that focuses on changing the pessimism of an individual towards certain conditions. (Lichtenberg et al. 2016) It is an approach that enables an individual to view life positively and find the benefits of the positive choice of change. One optimistic intervention plan is a test called imagine yourself test where individual notes of where he or she sees him/herself after a certain number of years. This method would work for the medical patient. If the medical patient takes an imagine yourself test, it will enable him to see that his choice of not changing his lifestyle would mean reduced life expectancy as well as the struggle with heart disease for the better part of his future. Thus would motivate him to take his physician’s advice and exercise and maintain a healthy diet.
Meaning Oriented Intervention Measures are inclusive of activities that help find meaning in the day to day living and associated choices (Lichtenberg, et al. 2016). The awareness and understanding of what is meaningful in life enhances motivation towards the achievement of the things that matter most. This method mostly applies to stress management and coping with trauma from the effects of a disaster, failure, and other depressing situations is manageable. This method would also work in the first case study. If the medical patient finds meaning in living a healthy life free from lifestyle-oriented diseases, he would certainly work towards changing his lifestyle and have no doubt in the value of his physician’s advice.
These motivation intervention plans dig into the cause of the trouble that individuals face and enable them to move towards change and self-improvement. The application of these methods would work for both the medical patient and the suffering student and bring out positive outcomes.
The intervention model that I would consider is Supporting Psychological Need Satisfaction, which emphasizes the needs of human needs. According to psychology, humanity comprises of requirements that every human being craves. (Emery, et al. 2016) The three fundamental needs include a need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The self-determination theory brings out the intertwining of the three essentials and describes these needs in the following ways.
- Competence is the ability to be suitable for a specific task, and every individual feels the need to in control of particular works and have an experienced mastery over the specific task
- Autonomy is having the feeling of the relationship between one’s actions and interests and beliefs.
- Relatedness is the need to feel a sense of belonging and connect with others, which is essential for intrinsic motivation. Every individual wants to share and air out his/her opinions without fear of rejection or humiliation.
The satisfaction of these needs brings out positive outcomes and the well-being of every human being. The self-determination theory focuses on motivation, performance, and psychological health through the satisfaction of these needs. It is a significant intervention method that would arouse motivation for the achievement of personal goals in every sphere of life.
References
Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Toward a general theory of motivation: Problems, challenges, opportunities, and the big picture. Motivation and Emotion, 40(1), 1-10.
Beauchaine, T. P., & Zisner, A. (2017). Motivation, emotion regulation, and the latent structure of psychopathology: An integrative and convergent historical perspective. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 119, 108-118.
Emery, A. A., Heath, N. L., & Mills, D. J. (2016). Basic psychological need satisfaction, emotion dysregulation, and non-suicidal self-injury engagement in young adults: An application of self-determination theory. Journal of youth and adolescence, 45(3), 612-623.
Horowitz, E., Sorensen, N., Yoder, N., & Oyserman, D. (2018). Teachers can do it: Scalable identity-based motivation intervention in the classroom. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 54, 12-28.
Lichtenberg, J. D., Lachmann, F. M., & Fosshage, J. L. (2016). Self and motivational systems: Towards a theory of psychoanalytic technique. Routledge.
Reeve, J. (2016). A grand theory of motivation: Why not?. Motivation and Emotion, 40(1), 31-35.