Psychology for Dummies (22 page)
Read Psychology for Dummies Online
Authors: Adam Cash
Tags: #Psychology, #General, #Body; Mind & Spirit, #Spirituality
At least once a week, I come home and find the red light on my answering machine flashing, and I wonder who called. Was it a friend I haven’t talked to in a while? A long-lost relative? No, it was one of those annoying long-distance phone companies trying to get me to change my provider.
A lot of marketing efforts are based on a motivational theory called
expectancy theory.
Expectancy theory holds that our motivations are the product of an analysis of the potential rewards associated with a particular behavior and how likely we are to achieve those rewards. Long-distance carriers count on me associating a switch with an expectation of a reward. This is a straight-forward but powerful means of motivating people, especially if you can trick them into thinking that the rewards are likely to come rolling in!
Incentive theory,
which is closely related to expectancy theory, simply states that we are motivated to seek rewards and avoid negative experiences such as pain. My experience with phone companies has led me to expect pain from changing long-distance plans every other day, which overpowers the expected reward of saving a few bucks. What I expect, whether it’s really the case or not, ultimately has a powerful effect on my behavior. When I have a message on my machine from a long-distance company, I just erase it.
Sometimes we’re motivated to do things that aren’t much fun, like going to the gym. Well, at least I don’t think they’re much fun. A lot of us engage in behaviors that seem more painful than pleasurable on the surface. This doesn’t mean that we have a masochistic need or instinct. Motivations that may appear outwardly painful and not so pleasurable can be explained with the opponent-process theory of motivation.
A lot of people like to eat hot and spicy foods. Personally, I like to taste my food, not feel it for 20 minutes after I take a bite, but hey, to each his own.
Opponent-process theory
states that we are motivated not by the initial response or incentive that we receive, like the pain of hot foods, but by the reaction that occurs after the initial response.
For every response that occurs, there’s an opposite reaction called the
opponent process.
After being exposed to a particular stimulus for a while, the initial response diminishes, and the opposite response grows stronger. What’s the opposite response, the opponent process, of hot foods? Endorphins — those natural painkillers released by the body to combat pain. Spicy foods actually chemically burn our tongues, and our bodies combat those burns with these natural painkillers. It feels good when the endorphin painkillers kick in to soothe the burning. People who enjoy hot foods think that they eat spicy foods for the spice, but according to opponent-process theory, they’re just a bunch of endorphin junkies, they’re burning their tongues in order to benefit from the opposite or
opponent
reaction of endorphin release.
So far, none of the theories on motivation have addressed the power of emotion to spur us on or initiate action. Emotion and motivation are intimately related. When we need something or when a need isn’t being met, we’re motivated to satisfy that need. When our stomachs growl, we know we’re hungry. But how do we know when other, more psychological needs aren’t being met, like the need for self-esteem? When needs such as these aren’t being met, our emotions let us know. Our emotions tell us that we’re not meeting our motivational goals (in the form of disappointment, for example) or that we’re meeting our motivational goals (maybe in the form of happiness).
An
emotion
is a complex phenomenon with three interrelated components:
Subjective experience:
When I have a particular emotion, I call this a
feeling.
My experience of sadness may consist of wanting to cry and lacking energy or motivation. This is my experience of sadness; it’s subjective.
Physiological response:
All emotions are comprised of responses that involve brain and nervous system activity. When we’re angry, our hearts beat fast, and our breathing rates increase. When we’re sad we may feel tired.
Expressive component:
Each emotion is expressed and communicated in a unique way. Facial expressions, body language, posture, words, phrases, gestures, and numerous other means of expression accompany and communicate the experience of an emotion.
Feelings help us functionIn addition to serving as signals of whether we’ve achieved our goals or not, Frijda identifies a couple of other functions of emotions. Emotions can prepare us for and alert us to potentially dangerous situations. Gavin De Becker sings high praises for this function of emotions in his book,
The Gift of Fear
(Dell Publishing). In a sentence, fear saves our lives. Have you ever been in a situation where you got that feeling that something just wasn’t right? That “feeling” was your emotions alerting you to the possible presence of danger that you may have not consciously observed or been aware of. De Becker advocates listening to that voice more often and being more attuned to it — it’s a powerful survival tool.Positive emotions can provide us with relief from the trials and tribulations we all face. Happiness feels good. What would life be like if we never felt happy? Pretty miserable obviously! It’s easier to have a good relationship with someone who is happy. Happiness leads to socializing, which may lead to romance, which may lead to children, which may lead to passing on whatever genes worked to produce that happy procreator in the first place. Emotions make us more attractive companions and allow for us to socially connect.
Another theory of emotions that has gained more support over the last few years comes from
evolutionary psychology.
Psychologists subscribing to this perspective view specific behaviors and mental processes as adaptive responses developed through natural selection. Emotions are assumed to be part of this adaptation process.Cosmides and Tooby propose that we possess an extensive set of behavioral and mental programs (think computer programs) that help us address the challenges of survival. Each program functions independently, which creates a logistical nightmare. If you think getting ready for a camping trip is logistically difficult, try coordinating all the behaviors and mental processes that we possess. This is where our emotions come into play. Cosmides and Tooby view our emotions as “master programs” of sorts, working to organize and integrate all those behaviors and thoughts. From this perspective, our emotions serve a regulatory function. They help us figure out what we need to do in a particular situation and whether or not we’ve accomplished a desired goal.
If emotions consist of three components, subjective experience, physiological reactions, and the expressive component, which comes first? Do I think and feel angry before my muscles tense up? Do I say I’m angry before I know I’m angry? Figuring this process out can get pretty confusing — it’s kind of like the chicken or the egg argument for emotions. But don’t worry; Farmer Cash is here to put all the eggs in the right basket. There are three main theories that address which of the components of emotion comes first.
The
James-Lange theory
attempts to make sense of this mess. When we encounter a situation or stimulus that leads to an emotional reaction, our bodies react first. We all possess a set of automatic physical reactions to emotional stimuli. Our sensory systems respond by sending signals to the emotional centers of our brains, creating a state of arousal. After our physiological reaction, our brains analyze what is occurring. Finally, after arousal and appraisal, the subjective experience of the emotion occurs. Our brains then recognize fear, for example, after interpreting this long chain of physiological reactions. After we’ve recognized our experience of the emotion we are able to express this experience.
First we see the bear. Then our hearts start pounding, and other fear-related physiological reactions occur. The analysis may be, “My heart is pounding, and I’m running away from the bear. I must be scared.” Only after the analysis, are you able to communicate, “I’m scared.”
The
Cannon-Bard theory
of emotion is a variation on the James-Lange theory. This theory also proposes that we physiologically react to stimuli before we subjectively experience an emotion, but there’s a little twist. Cannon-Bard doesn’t subscribe to the idea that the complex activities of muscle activation and the subsequent actions (like running from a bear) are the first physiological processes to get involved.
Specific parts of the brain that are considered less sophisticated are activated first. These “lower” parts of the brain then simultaneously send signals to three “higher-level” brain areas: the appraisal area, the arousal area, and the experience area. The main difference from James-Lange is that arousal, analysis, experience, and expression all occur at the same time, but only after more basic areas of the brain are cued or activated. So, I encounter the bear, my lower brain areas activate, and then I run, analyze my running, realize I’m scared, and yell out, “Help, I’m going to die” all at the same time. You can read more about the brain in Chapter 3.
As if things aren’t confusing enough, Schacter and Singer came up with a third variation on the emotional process. Their
two-factor theory
takes elements from James-Lange and Cannon-Bard but changes things around just a tiny bit. Instead of having an initial reaction from the body or lower brain areas followed by the evaluation process, the two-factor theory states that physiological reactions and cognitive appraisal occur together, creating a feedback loop and co-producing the subjective experience of an emotion. Information from the situation and the environment are used in the appraisal process. Emotional arousal is seen as
generic
(not specific to a particular emotion) until an evaluation is conducted.