In our day-to-day experiences, cognition and motivation are two, intertwined processes that guide our behavior and even the planning of future behavior. As an inherent process, motivation serves to direct our needs-driven behaviors, at the most basic level, ensuring survival; at more sophisticated, complex levels, motivation directs our goals-driven behaviors, working to satisfy those higher-order needs we hold. Various factors (e.g. other individuals, situations, awareness, etc.) may influence the just how motivated one becomes in each situation. Similarly, emotional regulation plays an important role in directing goal related behavior; identifying the effects of emotional leverage is important in motivationally directed behavior.

• For this week’s forum, reflect on your personal experiences, thinking about the influence of motivation and emotion in your own life.
• Discuss the theory of motivation you see as most applicable to your life and behaviors, sharing how you become and remain motivated to reach your goals.
• Based on your reflection, how has emotion affected your motivation-driven behaviors?

https://apus.brightspace.com/shared/elf/psyc303/le…

Minimum 300 words answer

Classmate#1:

In my personal experiences, I have been through several events where I have either met or not met the different stages of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs thus either preventing me from progressing onto the next step or allowing me to proceed further up the pyramid. At times when I was missing the bottom tier of physiological necessities, for example, like sleep or nutrition during basic military training, I was more prone to anger and irritable outbursts. Whenever I achieved balance of my goals in the bottom tier, I progressed to the next tier which is safety. During this stage I suffered with thoughts of employment. This was the purpose for me to pass tech school. The emotional stresses that came with the safety category affected my health. This is when I noticed my hair falling out and the fearful behavior started. Once I passed my exams, I was able to progress onto the love and belonging stage. I progressed quickly through this step as I met my husband and made friends shortly after arriving at my first base. Happiness changes people and the behaviors associated with happiness are shown as contentment. My self-esteem and confidence arouse as my achievements began to accumulate and my behavior went from a learning role to a leadership role. I have yet to reach self-actualization because, I do not feel I have met my full potential yet. When I have achieved my ideal of self, my emotions will be more level headed and the small things will no longer bother me. Trying to attain self-actualization is my motivation to reach my ultimate goals. Emotion has affected my motivation- driven behaviors. I use it as an indicator to determine my success. It’s almost a precursor to a successful event. Emotions are inevitable. You will move through emotions as you attempt to satisfy each stage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Classmate #2:

Hello Class,

This week we learned about motivation and emotion and how this can lead to a pathway of behaviors that can shape us. I felt that this topic can really show us who we are, and what kind of emotional leverage one has identified through our motivations and daily emotions towards situations. As we have seen, motivation is closely related to performance and the ability to do something. Motivation is defined as the desire to achieve a goal or a certain performance level, leading to goal-directed behavior. I went over the various theories of motivation and found that Arousal Theory: Just the Right Amount of Excitement was the most appropriate theory for reflecting on on my personal experiences, and behaviors towards the motivation I have for my goals. “This arousal is also called excitement. If arousal is too high, we get stressed. If it is too low, we get bored. So what motivates our behavior, according to the Arousal Theory, is the search for just the right amount of excitement, known as the optimum level of arousal (or excitement).”( Motivation Theory for Psychology).

During this time in my life, I feel that I haven’t been overly stressed or overly excited about about accomplishing my goals, such as school, my pregnancy, and living in another country. I feel that I have been able to manage that optimal level of arousal to be motivated, but not overly bored to where I can’t accomplish my goals due to excuses, or how I feel that deal. I decided to explain this theory because I have aligned my goals with the pace of my emotions to know what I can handle, and be aware of what is “too much” mentally, physically, and of course emotionally. Emotions have affected my motivation in the pervious years, where I took a couple of years off from school, because I was stressed financially, and where I was at the age I had not accomplished what I wanted. I feel that motivation and emotions play a huge part in goal, what we do each day, and what we actually get done. There have also been many factors, and influences that have held me back from finishing school, such as moving, finances, and stress. I feel that we can all agree that complex levels of stress can affect our situations, and or goal related behaviors.

References:

Learnwithalbert. (2017, April 30). The Ultimate Guide to Motivation Theory for AP Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.albert.io/blog/ultimate-guide-to-motiv…

Classmate #3:

Motivation and emotion have had a significant impact on the manner in which I set and attain my goals. Motivation and emotion have proven to have a notable impact on the manner in which I approach different goals in my life. Through motivation, it is possible for me to direct my focus and energy on attaining a given goal and changing a given aspect of my life. Motion emerges from different feelings that are present in the conscious and subjective experience (Reeve, 2014). They are observed to emerge in the form of psychological and psychologic expressions resulting in feelings that drive me towards a given action.

The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has proven to be the most applicable motivational theory in my life. The proposed model is comprised of five tires, which define the manner in which motivation changes based on the needs of an individual. Examining the pyramid model from the bottom, the needs are observed to be: psychological safety, love, belonging and satisfaction, self-esteem and self-actualization (Lester, 2013). While examining the model, it is possible to observe the manner in which my motivation changes based on the needs that I am pursuing at any given moment. For instance, my motivation for pursuing this particular degree is to attain self-actualization and gain satisfaction in my achievement after I am done with it. In this case, it is evident that the need falls into the category positioned at the top of the pyramid.

Based on my reflection, I have noted that motivation is a drive that triggers me to act and behave in a given way to achieve a specific goal. In this case, emotion defines the feelings that emerge from the drive and motive itself. Emotions are triggered y the actions themselves, which are caused by the motive. In addition, the attainment of a given goal results in significant satisfaction triggering emotions through failure or achievement of the set goal.

References

Lester, D. (2013). Measuring Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Psychological Reports, 113(1), 15-17.

Reeve, J. (2014). Understanding motivation and emotion. John Wiley & Sons.

Minimum 200 words answer to each