User:MichelleK/e-Portfolio

 E-Portfolio 

Lecture 1: Introduction
What causes behaviour?

It puzzles me to think why a unit, whose primary focus is on motivation, is taught in the final year of my Psychology degree, and not the first year? I'm sure there will be many practical exercises that I could adopt personally to help me get through those tough and time-consuming studies! Given that I still have a couple of challenging years left to complete a double degree, I await with an open mind for the concepts that will be presented in this unit to advantage me in future. I imagine the purpose of this portfolio is to provide a place for me to take the concepts I have learned and give them practical application in various aspects of my life.

Along with the obvious academic application, I hope to learn a few "tricks" to help me achieve other personal goals. Firstly, I have started training to run my first marathon in January 2011. As a mature age student, the physical challenge will require quite a bit more mental energy to stay on course, as compared to running such a distance when I was 18. Whilst I feel I have the right attitude to complete my goal, I still visit several different websites on a weekly basis, specific to keeping up the motivation of training for such an event. One such site is http://www.marathon.ipcor.com/ which I find to have regularly updated articles on all aspects of running, including the mental, physiological and social aspects that all contribute to keeping me on my feet. I have already recognised these aspects as being important influences on my level of motivation each day.

Secondly, and this is more a full-time occupation rather than a goal, I hope I will learn from this unit some key points that I can pass on to my 12 y.o. son, as I constantly battle with his pessimistic attitude... I am also really interested in learning about the genetic basis for such 'negative' traits, like pessimism.

Whilst I am sure the depth of knowledge that will be presented in both the lectures and textbook (Reeves, 2009) will be extensive, it is my intent to summarise over the following weeks, the sections which stimulate my interest, and I will present the information which I feel that I would benefit from further reinforcement and reflection. As an additional note, I will favour the use of diagrams and other creative aids to help represent the important concepts which I feel I will need quick access to!

The textbook "Understanding Motivation and Emotion" by Reeves (2009) introduces the first chapter with a table of reasons to exercise. I'm including an abridged version here with the addition of another personal reason to run, so I can readily access it in times of need (42km, 42km, 42km....). Whilst I'm not totally conversant of the sources of motivation listed here as yet, I'm certain it will become clearer as I work my way through the unit.



According to Reeve (2009) motivation is the study of one's behaviour, it's direction and intensity. The sources of emotion appear simple enough; being derived from either internal motives (as in needs, cognitions and/or emotions), and external events. However, as in the example of a student sitting at a desk, there are so many motives going on within and around us, without our total consciousness of it. In this example, the motive to read a book, have a drink, adjust our environment to increase comfort and effectiveness; are just a few of the behaviours going on. Why then, do we consciously have to apply mental effort to motivate ourselves in some instances, while other motives remain relatively automatic and unconscious?

Motivation serves several purposes:
 * benefits adaption
 * directs attention and prepares for action
 * influences behaviour
 * includes approach & avoidance tendencies
 * reveals what people want

I would like to include the information from Figure 1.5 from Reeve (2009), which succinctly describes the framework of motivation, though I have also included external events as a form of motive.

Antecedent Events → Motive (Needs/Cognitions/Emotions/External Events) → Sense of wanting to (Approach vs Avoid) → Motivation is Expressed (Behaviour/Engagement/Physiology/Self-Report)

A practical example to visualise this:

Being threatened (antecedent event) → Fear (motive:emotion) → want to flee (sense of want) → runaway (behaviour); processing information (engagement); increase in heart rate (physiology); worry, nervousness (self-report)

The study of motivation has been prevalent for less than 100 years. There are several grand theories that have evolved to explain motivated action and surround the concepts of will, instinct, and drive; as well as mini-theories attributing such factors as personality, cognitive processes, and the social environment. Whilst earlier I said that motivation can be simply broken down into internal motives and external events, to draw out what is really happening within these headings brings about a much more complex combination of possible events. Breaking it down further we need to consider more perspectives:


 * Behavioural - Environmental incentives
 * Neurological - brain activity
 * Physiology - hormones
 * Cognitive - mental thoughts and events
 * Social-cognitive - thoughts guided by exposure to others
 * Cultural - society
 * Evolution - genetics
 * Humanistic - encouraging the human potential
 * Psychoanalytical - unconscious mental processes

It has already become clear to me that to understand what causes behaviour will require more introspection than simply "why did I do that?". It is a combination of motives that are drawn from intrinsic and extrinsic sources, sometimes requiring conscious effort, and other times from automatic and unconscious actions.

Lecture 2: How to use Wikiversity
This lecture served as more a functional experience on the ins and outs of writing in wiki mark-up. I am approaching this medium with some in trepidation for two reasons:


 * It's a new language with stringent copyright rules
 * my personal reflections and writing skills will be on show for the world to make comment

Nevertheless, I'm sure that as I take small steps towards completing each assessment, my fear of this form of information exchange will dissipate....

James Neill provided a good timeline to complete each phase of our assessments, and highlighted the importance of integrating theories with current research.

A good starting point to get our head around why we are here was to create an introduction wikiversity page about ourselves, our expectations and our goals for the unit. I think this was a valuable and low pressure activity, and I felt comfortable after this to tackle the textbook chapter with some sense of hope.

Coming from a photographic background, I actually found the copyright requirements of uploading or using imagery on wikiversity quite overwhelming. Perhaps a small component of this lecture in the future could focus on the importance and procedure of imagery copyright.

Tutorial 1
The first tutorial, as always, is a meet & greet experience, for both the students and the lecturer. I always find it a good icebreaker, as there are always students present that have come from other strands of study that bring with them different personalities and ideas.

In small groups, we were asked to define motivation and emotion. I believe most of the ideas put forward were similar, indicating that the concepts of motivation and emotion seemed quite universal amongst the class.

We followed this conversation by creating some topics of interest relating to motivation and emotion. My group proposed:


 * How do you sustain motivation over a time period of say, greater than 12 months?
 * To what extent can you you read emotions through non-verbal cues?

Clearly, I was quite interested in both these topics. To sustain motivation to achieve long term goals is a challenge to me, but a necessary skill in life.

Having perused the topics for out textbook chapter assessment, I chose Basic/Core Emotions: Ekman; hence the second topic of interest on non-verbal cues was largely driven by me :)

In the final discussions of the tutorial, we reviewed the requirements of the textbook chapter assessment, with some very helpful ideas and directions from the lecturer. We discussed our choices within the smaller groups, and I was quite motivated by the interest that my group members expressed in my chosen topic. Whilst the task initially seems overwhelming in volume and content, coupled with working in an environment that I am unfamiliar with (wiki), I am nonetheless very keen to produce something where I can utilise more visual creative expression, as opposed to solely essay writing.

Lecture 3: Brain & Physiological Needs
The brain is the centre for motivation and emotion.

As if the brain wasn't complex enough, I now learn, through Reeve (2009), that the brain can be further divided into two functions:
 * 1) Motivated Brain (whether or not you want to do it)
 * 2) Emotional Brain (what mood is being expressed while you are doing the activity)

Reeve (2009) further illustrates in this chapter the three principles of brain-based motivation:


 * specific brain structures will generate specific motivations;
 * for example, the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex is responsible for goal setting


 * biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures;
 * this explains how the brain is stimulated or surpressed, through neurotransmitters in the nervous system, or hormones in the endocrine system


 * daily events stir biochemical agents into action;
 * for example, sleep deprivation will stimulate hunger. (Is that the origin of a 'midnight snack'??)

The cerebral cortex and the limbic system (eg. amygdala, hypothalamus) are central to the brain's involvement in motivation and emotion.

Relating to my need to understand negative traits, such as pessimism, it is of interest to me that the prefrontal lobes are divided into left and right, and that a dominance in either of these lobes help determine personality. For example, people who have sensitive right prefrontal lobes are vulnerable to negative emotions. From a desire to find out more than what the textbook touched on, an article by Davidson (2002) discusses the evidence that lesions on the prefrontal cortex will influence positive and negative affect, and that these results can be reproduced in an experimental setting using negatively or positively induced affect. The article is a good explanation of this activity, and can be found at Anxiety and Affective Style: Role of Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala.

What I have also found particularly interesting in this topic is that different individual areas of the brain are responsible for either our approach or avoidance response. Only one area of the brain is known to switch between the two, and that is the anterior cingulate cortex, which is responsible for our day to day decision making.

As for approach we turn to:
 * hypothalamus to regulate hormonal and neural activity
 * medial forebrain bundle, which are the fibres that connect the hypothalamus to other limbic structures, and is also responsible for that feel good we receive from positive reinforcement
 * orbitofrontal cortex which also works to help us process options, for example, to decide what to drink or eat when presented with choices.

To control our avoidance response, we consider the influence of:
 * amygdala to regulate those emotions such as fear, anger and anxiety
 * septo-hippocampal circuit, which compares incoming sensory information with what we expect as an outcome, based on memories and imagination.

An interesting point about the function of the amygdala as compared to other brain structures is that of its proposed evolutionary deficit. Apparently, because our ancestors have primarily expressed primitive forms of emotions in times of action, these emotions will take precedence over weaker emotions that we might consider as socially more appropriate to express at that time. I can only suppose that the amygdala hasn't evolved as other biological components have due to the importance of our fight or flight model for survival. Having had personal experience with depression (like so many others), understanding the biomechanics of emotions has helped me gain a deeper understanding of the effect that drugs, such as antidepressants, have on emotional stability. Depression can be caused by two different chemical imbalances:
 * 1) serotonin deficiency will render a person less likely to cope with stressors, and
 * 2) dopamine deficiency can reduce the ability of a person to anticipate and recognise rewards or pleasure.

The difficulty of creating a wonder drug is attributed to the inverse effect that serotonin has on dopamine. Increasing the levels of one will reduce the effectiveness of the other.

Chapter 4 of the textbook focusses on the role that motivation has in achieving stable physiological regulation. Reeve (2009) defines need as any condition that is necessary for life, growth and well being. Three primary needs are discussed in this chapter, and they are thirst, hunger 'and' sex. When talking about needs, I immediately recall Maslow's hierarchy of needs, however Reeve (2009) uses Hull's Drive Theory to explain how physiological needs maintain homeostasis.

There are two main points I took away with me from here. Firstly, the processes that the body goes through to regulate weight in a society influenced by body image and a wasteful abundance of food is a challenging task to balance. Obesity is a major problem in western countries. The prevalence of fad diets in the media on a daily basis does little more than confuse the average consumer as to what, when and why they should eat. Ultimately, exercise motivation is the key to controlling obesity. Although I have only been marathon training for a couple of weeks, I have already noticed a change in the nutritional needs that my body craves. Saturated fat foods no longer hold the same attraction, though this could be motivated by a combination of the desire to lose weight to facilitate a stronger run, and the realisation of just how much effort is required to rid the body of unnecessary baggage. The second point of interest is the concept of self-regulating physiological needs. The example of alcohol consumption is of personal relevance here, stemmed from several years of military service; an institution which both supplies and encourages alcohol consumption for unifying its members. The desire to consume alcohol, or rather, experience the effects that alcohol has on the body, can at times be overwhelming, and this is when our conscious mental state is actively engaged to overcome our physiological need (alcohol craving). This is the process of self-regulation. Self-regulation fails when our mental state cannot become the dominant force, and this may happen for 3 reasons:
 * 1) we underestimate the biological force
 * 2) we set unrealistic and unattainable standards
 * 3) we fail to effectively stay tuned and monitor the event.  eg. alcohol reduces self-awareness, so a rational mental state is diminished.

I believe that to overcoming insatiable desires, such as excessive food intake or excessive alcohol use, will require significant consideration of the role of social needs and expectations also.

Lecture 4: Psychological & Social Needs
Our psychological needs, in the context of motivation, can be surmised under three themes:
 * autonomy - to be able to determine our own directions and actions
 * competence - to interact effectively with our environment and seek challenges to sharpen our skills
 * relatedness - a need to belong

Psychological needs emphasise the interactive and reciprocal relationship between the individual and the environment. For example; my desire to run is facilitated by opportunities presented in my environment, such as the time needed to train, a place to run, and an organised event in which to participate & complete my goal. Whilst autonomy (choosing how, when & where I train) and relatedness (being a part of a group of athletes) contribute to my goal, the feeling of competence surely plays a major part for me here.

The activity presented in Reeve (p. 150, 2009) is an excerpt from the Problems in Schools Questionnaire. I can relate directly to Jim's situation, as I immediately thought of my son and the related frustrations of instilling good homework skills (and I'm sure many parents have a similar battle with sons!). Having read the four motivation options, I personally selected two of the styles to help Jim, if this problem were presented to me. I would:


 * show value for the participation and work Jim shows, and
 * impress upon Jim the importance of completing his assignments.

According to the outcome of the questionnaire, I have lead with an autonomy-supportive style, and followed with a more controlling style of motivation. I would have to agree with this combination of motivation styles as a reflection of me, as I believe that problem solving often requires input from more than one approach.

Competence is rated according to a skill versus challenge relationship. To benefit maximum satisfaction of competence, skill and challenge must be weighted equally. An imbalance of this relationship can lead to anxiety or frustration, as in the case that the challenge is too great; or boredom and disinterest if the challenge is too little (well, not really a challenge at all).

Whilst the textbook mentions the importance of feedback to complete the competence loop, it doesn't define the sources of feedback. Having given some thought, I believe that personal feedback, that is feedback from within, is the strong driving force to complete challenges, however external feedback, say from family or peers, is the acknowledgement we most attribute to the feeling of satisfaction.

I have reflected on the impact that feedback has on our psychological needs further.. Having attended full time university for nearly three years, with still a few more to complete, I find myself at times feeling unfulfilled and questioning if 'this is for me'. I assumed that this is a normal milestone for most students after a prolonged period of study, as I have received similar thoughts from other students when engaged on this subject. However, reading these passages on competence and feedback have brought to my attention a possible reason. Prior to studying, I spent many years (18+) employed as a photographer/videographer. This occupation was very rewarding for me for many reasons, but notably:


 * the tasks I was regularly assigned were often very challenging (predominantly working in a military environment), hence I pushed myself to capture the best result within the environment
 * as a result, I received consistent praise and gratitude on almost a daily basis for the work I produced.

So considering this, I wonder if unconsciously, my psychological need for feedback (via reward or encouragement) is not being adequately fulfilled within the university environment, leaving me feeling lower levels of satisfaction and competence?

I've included the summary presented by Reeve (p. 165, 2009) as I believe it is succinct in reminding me of the concepts of psychological needs.

The next topic, Social Needs and Quasi-Needs are known as acquired psychological needs. These needs are a result of our personal life experiences and social interactions.
 * Social needs include: achievement, affiliation, intimacy and power.
 * Quasi-needs are dependent on the situation at that moment; for example, an umbrella in the rain or a high GPA to enter post-studies.

Personally I think we often put more emphasis on social needs as compared to quasi-needs. If we are caught in the rain without an umbrella, it's hardly the end of the world. However, there are greater psychological pressures and consequences if we cannot reach a designated achievement status, or secure meaningful relationships with others.

Achievement motivation is theorised as a process of approach versus avoidance. To put this in context, whilst the challenge of success can be exciting and energising (approach), it may be coupled with underlying feelings of of anxiety related to failure (avoidance). The weight of approach and avoidance may be largely related to the competence of the individual. Once again, positive and negative personality affects may be a driving force in the approach vs avoidance models: if you believe you will fail, then you probably already have

On a final note, I would like to draw attention to the leadership motive pattern, which is discussed in reference to the need of power. It states characteristics of:
 * a high need for power
 * low need for affiliation/intamacy
 * high inhibition

In my observations, I am surprised by the inclusion of low need for affiliation/intimacy, as we constantly witness political leaders promoting themselves as one of the people (affiliation) and parading around with his/her supportive and loving family (intimacy). Therefore according to this leadership model, why doesn't this style of campaigning work against them?

Tutorial 2
Unfortunately I was unable to meet the time slot of the tutorial this week, being due to my situation as a sole parent with limited social support (temporarily Canberra based) to supervise my son.

However, I have reviewed the requirements posted by James and will endeavour to make comment regardless :-)

I have confirmed my textbook chapter with James, as being Ekman's contribution to emotions. I have discussed my plan of attack for this topic with a small group of my colleagues,and have received positive feedback from all. One of my fellow students has vowed to watch the television series Lie To Me on a regular basis now, with the knowledge that there is actually scientific basis to the themes presented. Whilst the physiological needs are clearly of paramount importance as displayed in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, at the other end of the model is the concept of self-actualisation. I've always likened this concept to the goal of those who follow Buddhism, and would like to propose the question of just where in the hierarchy of needs would the Dalai Lama place self-actualisation? I would guess it would be placed much closer to physiological needs, and that would suggest that this model is subjective to cultural needs.

I feel that I did a reasonable and relevant summary of the brain structure, and its role in motivation, along with our physiological needs in my lecture/textbook review above, so I won't comment too much on that. I do find the biochemical aspect of brain functions very interesting though, and reviewed the information presented in the tutorial handout.

I also reviewed the information on psychological and social needs.

I am pleased to announce that my confidence with wiki is growing well! James has been helpful in sorting out the lack of copyright I apparently didn't put on my title image I created, resulting in a big red warning on my talk page... Thanks James!

Lecture 5: I-E Motivation & Goal Setting
A goal without a plan is just a dream.

At the start of the semester, when asked to think about what motivation means to us, I admit that incentives where the first thing that I felt drove motivation. Having read the previous chapters so far, I have been since enlightened to physiological, psychological and social aspects also. Still, I think many of us can relate to an incentive-based motivation approach to life.

Intrinsic motivation is based on our psychological need for autonomy, competence and relatedness. It applies to those situations that we do for enjoyment or challenge. Persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding and optimal functioning and well-being are the rewards associated with intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation is driven by incentives and consequences, arising from our environment. These can be material, such as money, or achievement based such as status and recognition. Alternatively, the incentive could be the removal of an adverse condition, like being at the bottom of the food chain in the workplace.

I would think extrinsic motivation is the first incentive-based motivation that we learn as an infant. Infants respond to the smiles and praises of parents, as they reach developmental milestones. As children get older though, this often is not enough, and a common parenting style is to introduce more material extrinsic motivation to yield required results. For example, offering sweets as incentive for tidying up, allocating tv time for good behaviour, and so forth. Unfortunately, according to Reeve (2009), this style of parenting doesn't emphasise the intrinsic reasons for doing the activities, such as behaving appropriately or keeping a tidy environment. Unfortunately now, this "what's in it for me" thought process seems to continue throughout early adulthood, until we generally reach an age where we begin to reflect on mortality, and switch to intrinsic motivations; doing things because it's enjoyable, or helping others because it fulfils relatedness needs.

How effective is extrinsic motivation? In my previous experiences as a manager, I have found that people gain more self-satisfaction from being given greater responsibilities, providing them with the opportunity of more challenges, than monetary rewards alone. This would suggest to me that intrinsic needs are ultimately more motivating than extrinsic rewards and consequences. So to, in the argument of offering an extrinsic reward to an activity that is already intrinsically motivated, extrinsic rewards in my view are incentives to complete activities that aren't necessarily enjoyable, thereby suggestively decreasing the pleasure derived from a previously intrinsically motivated activity.

The next major area of study in the textbook deals with the cognitive aspect of motivation.

Essential elements involved in the cognitive process include:
 * making plans to take a person from the present state to the (self-perceived) ideal state
 * goal-setting to motivate attention and action to the end result/accomplishment
 * mental simulations of how to attain the goal (not focusing on the goal itself)
 * implementation intentions which require a start action, persistence, and commitment.

I consider myself a goal-orientated person, though am certainly much more successful at attaining short-term rather than long-term goals. I have taken the information provided in Reeve (2009), Steps in an Effective Goal-Setting Program, and created the table below to help me accomplish my marathon run.

In just 4 weeks using some of the goal-setting tools specified above, I have progressed from running 2kms to 14kms! The best motivating strategy for me so far is using performance feedback to intrinsically reward me. I believe this helps to break down the long-term goal of the marathon into smaller yet significant milestones. For me, the training commitment is a much bigger challenge than the actual running part...

Lecture 6: Control Beliefs & The Self
I would rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not. Lucille Ball

People exert personal control through influencing their environment to produce desirable outcomes, or prevent undesirable ones. The strength with which people will exert personal control is reliant on their expectations of how likely they perceive the outcome will occur. This expectation can be broken down into two distinct forms:
 * efficacy expectation, "can I do it?"
 * outcome expectation, "will what I do work?"

To reinforce this theory with my run example:

Me (Person) → If I can increase my distance by 10% each week (Efficacy expectation) → Train/Run (behaviour) → I will comfortably run 42.2km in Jan 2011 (Outcome expectation) → Successful marathon run! (Outcome)

To achieve my goal, I need high self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the have I got what it takes? aspect of self-motivation. Without the belief that I can do it, it's unlikely I would even entertain the thought to try. Self-efficacy is influenced by several factors:
 * prior history of the task at hand
 * observations of comparable people doing the same
 * verbal encouragement from those around you
 * physiological state (am I healthy enough to complete it??)

Because these factors are both intrinsic and extrinsic influences, self-efficacy is a dynamic construct, and can be strengthened, as in the case of the mastery modelling program.

I see self-efficacy as an analytical tool used in decision making. For example, if I want to know if I can run 10km in under 2 hours, I would assess my current running ability, do I have any injuries that may be an obstacle, consider the environment and weather in which I'll be running, and what mood I am likely to be in at the time. However, a lot can be said for verbal encouragement from those around you, and this can help to strengthen my belief that I can achieve my objective, providing all else is possible. I've already learned that running in an organised event with many others will encourage better performance.

Learned Helplessness is a term that brings ill feeling to me. To be in a situation where you would feel no sense of control must be very difficult psychologically, and at times, physically. Take for instance women who stay in abusive relationships, or the plight of refugees. Reactance Theory is also a perceived state of uncontrollable outcomes. I immediately turn to my knowledge and experience of parenting skills with this one..As a child tries to establish autonomy, rebellion for the sake of rebellion can often occur. Unfortunately, as Reactance Theory states, if the child cannot gain control of the event as it is beyond his/her competence ability, then helplessness can result. The important course of action for a parent, I believe, is to create a balance between autonomy and personal control, and helplessness.

An interesting point James Neill brought up in the lecture however, is that helplessness can at times be a smart approach: why persist with a situation if it is clear that the situation is, in fact, hopeless?

Chapter 10 of the text (Reeve, 2009) reiterates what we need as individuals to be psychologically well and self-functioning; have positive self-regard, positive relationships, autonomy, mastery, purpose, and finally, a sense of growth. The challenges we face are:


 * defining the self (who are we & how do others define us?)
 * relating the self to society (what social role do I play; where do I fit in?)
 * discovering and developing personal potential (investigate what interests us; develop skills, meaning and relationships)
 * managing or regulating the self (make judgements on how to enhance self-functioning)

A lightbulb moment occurred for me upon reading the Seligman quote (Reeve, 2009) which compares self-esteem to performance. Boosting a person's self-esteem does little to increase performance. What is needed is actually an improvement in skills to provide the desired outcome. This actually makes a lot of sense to me. Time and time again I have praised my son for his efforts in sport, school or band practice; and if his self-verification disagrees with my statement, then he calls me on it! For example, I'll say "you did a great job on the footy field today" and he'll say "but I didn't even touch the ball...". Perhaps in future I'll do less praising and show more discipline in encouraging him to improve his skills, which in turn will make my positive reinforcement of his efforts mean much more to him.

Beliefs of the self (self-schemas) aren't innate, but start to develop from the moment we are born. These self-schemas work together to maintain, through specific behaviours, our self-concept, and what we imagine ourself to be in the future. This requires constant movement towards goals, development, and self-regulation. Prior to this lecture/readings, I had no idea that (my)self was so complex!

Tutorial 3
This weeks tutorial investigates student motivation and optimism. This tutorial was of great interest to me, as I am both a student and an optimist!

People have a multidimensional list of motivations to achieve their goals, for example, studying at uni may enlist several motivating factors. According to Functionalist Theory, we can determine student satisfaction by comparing students' expectations to the outcome.

During class, we completed two questionnaires to help us reflect on our motivations and expected outcomes. The motivation questionnaire reflected common reasons of what motivates students:
 * Career/qualifications
 * Learning
 * Social Opportunities
 * Altruism
 * and Social pressures

My results reflected I was both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to study at University, which wasn't a surprise to me when I reflect on my original reasons for starting my degree. Overall I am very fulfilled by the outcomes of my university experience thus far.

Of even greater interest to me was the subject of optimism. James Neill described optimism as a self-serving bias, for which I can relate to. In this vein, I would describe pessimism as a self-sabotaging bias. We completed the Learned Optimism Test (Seligman, 1991) which consisted of 48 questions posing a choice of 2 answers each. I was very surprised that upon completion and scoring, I was labelled as pessimistic! I have always strived to have a positive and optimistic attitude in all aspects of my life.. As some consolation, this pessimistic slant seemed to surprise other students also, so in discussion we questioned the validity of the scale.

In the remaining minutes of the lesson, we completed the Life Effectiveness Questionnaire. Life effectiveness in essence describes one's ability to handle the demands of life. James discussed some previous results he had attained which illustrated life effectiveness for outdoor education program participants. Unfortunately we had little time to really discuss our results of the questionnaire in depth.

I look forward to reading a copy of Learned Optimism by Seligman (1991), when I finally shelve the textbooks for another semester.

Lecture 8: Nature of Emotion
Do we experience emotions as happening to us, or are they chosen by us? (Ekman, 1992)

Reeve (2009) walks us through an introduction on Emotions by posting five key questions:
 * 1) What is an emotion?
 * 2) What causes an emotion?
 * 3) How many emotions are there?
 * 4) What good are the emotions?
 * 5) What is the difference between emotion and mood?

Having already begun drafting my personal input on the textbook chapter assessment Basic/Core Emotions:Ekman, I feel I have learned in part how to answer most of these questions, albeit from an Ekman point of view.

It's the relationship of emotion and motivation which is important to me today. Why are these two terms associated together in this textbook, and this unit?

Reeve (2009) states two ways in which motivation and emotion are related.
 * Emotion is a form of motivation. It can energise and direct behaviour toward a desired outcome.
 * Emotions also serve as a form of self-feedback. Positive emotions would indicate progression towards a goal or desired state, whilst negative emotions indicate the opposite direction.

How often do we ask ourselves how do I feel about that? That is a question that others usually ask of us, to encourage reflection on the past, present or future event. It is generally an unconscious process within the self, yet considered the first point of call in the emotion-motive sequence of events.

I have found in my research of core emotions so far, much contention as to what is a basic emotion, and no definitive list of core emotions. This, I suppose, is synonymous with the field of psychology as there seems to be many ways to define concepts. I have found that the 6 core emotions stated by Reeves from an Ekman reference actually differs from the majority of Ekman articles I have researched at the same timespan to more recent. His inclusion of interest has seldom been mentioned by Ekman, with the majority of votes going to surprise, and a later addition in the 1990's of contempt. The viewpoint that emotions are short-lived is consistent with my readings (according to Ekman, Levenson, & Friesen (1983) can be expressed as fast as a fraction of a second), and the introduction of the term mood is a good addition to cover the positive or negative affect we feel over a prolonged period.

Having spent some time travelling and working in South-East Asia, I have developed an interest in the teachings of Buddhism. The comments made at the start of the chapter from the Dalai Lama on destructive emotions is interesting as it suggests that our emotions are adaptive and can evolve to reflect our environment. I wonder then, in a perfect world where everyone exudes love and respect for self and others, would the emotions of anger and disgust actually disappear, or just remain dormant?

I will admit to be experiencing an array of emotions right now, as a leg injury has thwart my goal of running in January... Relating back to the last lecture on optimism, my optimistic can do attitude encouraged me to overtrain (I thought I could push through the pain), ending in an injury which, according to my Physio, will take 2 months to right itself. This is an example of why overly optimistic people can fail, whilst some pessimism can be beneficial in assessing the reality of a situation! I have learned a valuable lesson: there must be a realistic balance between what the cognitive self and the biological self can achieve together.

Tutorial 4
This weeks tutorial was on Emotions. Unfortunately I was unable to attend due to illness, however given my keen interest in emotions I will endeavour to consult the notes posted by James when I get back on top of it all...

Lecture 9: Aspects of Emotion
As my study of Ekman is culminating into an orderly textbook chapter, I find myself even more intrigued by the complexity of emotions, and specifically facial expressions.

The chapter reading for this week begins by discussing the biological aspects of emotions. As I read about the physiological changes that accompany each specific emotion, I tried to analyse my own experiences of non-verbal cues that my body expresses when eliciting emotions. Given that we have previously established that emotions have a very short lifespan, I found it difficult to consciously list more than 3 or 4 different physiological responses per emotion. I thought that the difficulty might lay in the fact that to experience a spontaneous emotion removes the opportunity for thorough cognitive analysis of that experience, as my cognitive resources are probably engaged in what provoked that emotion. I do find myself being conscious of my heart rate, muscle tension, or perspiration, likely because these responses require a gradual gradient to return to a baseline state. I am also conscious of my facial movements, though this could be an information bias of expectation, given the amount I have read on facial expressions lately.

I highly recommend reading the book Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions from Facial Expressions written by Ekman & Friesen (2003).

It is interesting to learn that of all the emotions we think we feel (as explained by Ekman, basic emotions can combine as units of more complex emotions), research has revealed only about 10 basic emotions that can be recognised through biological responses of the autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, neural circuits and firings in the brain, along with facial expressions.

The essence of the cognitive aspects of emotions lies in the appraisal process. Lazarus' appraisal model of emotions incorporates: This appraisal model enables the regulation of our emotions that are elicited from threat, harm or benefit. It is hard to deny, given the arguments for both the biological and cognitive aspects, that there is validity for both in emotional expression.
 * primary appraisal to determine if our self-preservation is under threat, or the safety of others;
 * secondary appraisal is the reflection process of what we need to do to cope under the circumstances presented.

The social and cultural aspects of emotion is a also valid area for consideration. I was first alerted to this aspect whilst watching the tv series LIE TO ME which is based, albeit in Hollywood fashion, on the research and experiences of Paul Ekman. The synopsis is based on detecting emotions by analysing facial expressions. One particular episode centred on a woman being investigated for murder. She showed no facial indication of sadness, guilt or remorse when interrogated. As it turns out, she had undergone cosmetic surgery, thereby removing the physiological movements of specific muscles in her face. This is an example of the consequence of western cultural practices (botox!). Another episode, as highlighted by Reeve (2009), is that in Asian culture, children are raised to refrain from certain emotional expression, which to western society may come across as insensitive or indifferent.

This area of study just reinforces the challenges faced by researchers.

Lecture 10: Personality & Emotion
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do, are in harmony. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Am I happy?, Reeve (2009) asks... Upon reflection, I think that my mood is generally one of a happy and positive affect, as I feel quite fortunate for where I am in life, and grateful for those around me. On retiring from full time service in the Air Force several years back I received a farewell memento (a framed photograph which I had shot, which remarkably became my legacy) which was signed by quite a number of colleagues and friends I had worked with. The recurring theme of the well wishes was that I will be most remembered for my smiling face and happy disposition. In this case, I would have to answer Reeve's question as yes, I am happy, and I express this by smiling and responding with positive regard. I suppose the next question is how do I differ or how am I similar to others?

This week, we look at how happiness, arousal and control are experienced by different personalities in different scenarios. Happiness, arousal and control are present on a sliding scale in each event presented to us. To take the example from the textbook of the experience of sitting an exam; low level of happiness (in the form of stress) may be experienced, as well as some arousal, and a feeling of control over how well we do.

The concept of a happiness set point seems tangible, yet I wonder at what stage of development that this point is set, and why? One reason is that happiness has a genetic basis, as does personality (Reeve, 2009). High reports of happiness is traditionally linked with extroverts, as they have a stronger behavioural activating system enabling them to inherently experience positive emotions more readily than unhappy or neurotic people..

Arousal refers to cortical, behavioural and autonomic mechanisms that elicit feelings of alertness, wakefulness and activation. The inverted-U diagram shown here illustrates the relationship that varying levels of arousal have on performance, efficiency and affect. Low to medium levels of arousal result in alertness, interest and positive emotion. These people will be characterised as sensation seekers, looking for extra stimulation to increase arousal. Conversely, higher levels of arousal lead to emotional disturbance and anxiety, and these people will try to seek a place of calm. In my personal experience, I feel I am often in a state of calm, and to have a tendency to seek out constant stimulation. I would suggest that is another reason why my career as photographer was well suited to me, given the volume of travel, opportunities and new people that I was exposed to. (Hmm, maybe I'm not suited to an 'office job'...)

Control is divided into two personality types also: perceived control and desire for control. Perceived control is dependant on the engagement an individual has with the event. If an individual has little engagement with the event, how could they feel any sense of control over it? Desire for control includes a need for leadership, autonomy of own decisions, and increased preparedness in any event. Whilst desire for control types are often high achievers, not being in control can have severe side effects such as distress and depression. With this in mind, it is in my view that those who perceive control would be afforded more stability and realistically attainable opportunities in life. For any successful outcome, engagement is the common factor.

Tutorial 5
The first half of this tutorial began as a wiki mark-up troubleshooting guide, as I believe most of us are in the process of attempting to visually and functionally elaborate our textbook chapters with tables, imagery, quizzes etc.. Although I have coped with this new medium so far with only a little frustration, it was very beneficial for me as listening to the questions from other class members stimulated my ideas on how to improve my themes and concepts. I have decided to use some of my video editing software to create my multimedia version & upload it to youtube, however, seeing the process of recording a powerpoint presentation with voiceover was very interesting. Kudos to James for his patience and knowledge!

Unfortunately I had to leave early to retrieve my son. From what I can see from James' tutorial instructions on wiki, the class revisited the Big 5 personality traits, and completed the Sensation Seeking Scale, which is broken up into 4 factors:
 * thrill and adventure seeking
 * experience seeking
 * disinhibition
 * boredom susceptibility

I decided to complete the Sensation Seeking questionnaire via one of the links that James posted, and received a total score of 20/40. The most extreme score I received was a 1/10 for boredom susceptibility, suggesting that I have an aversion to repetitive experiences, and have a propensity to restlessness. I tend to agree with this, as I have been told by friends that unless I'm engaged in a movie, I seldom sit still.. Perhaps this also contributes to my attraction to dedicating 6 months of my life to marathon training!

Lecture 11: Unconscious Motivation
Whilst Freud may have developed a greater following of critics than any other of his time, his work on psychoanalysis is still discussed today. Frued's focus of the unconscious was based on sexual and aggression themes, whilst modern researchers now focus on motivational and cognitive aspects. The unconscious mind is a fascinating and existential subject to study, and is more commonly referred to today as psychodynamics. Psychodynamic theory is based on four principles:
 * The Unconscious. Thoughts, feelings and desires exist at an unconscious level and therefore drive people to behave in ways that they can't show direct control of.
 * Psychodynamics. Motivational and emotional processes often work in parallel, and can have opposing unconscious and conscious thoughts at the same time.
 * Ego Development. The development process from dependance and immaturity, to independence and maturity.
 * Object Relations Theory. The way that we create constructs of self and others forms in childhood, and remains stable throughout the lifespan, influencing our ability for relationships and motivational relatedness.

Out of all four principles, I find the unconscious to be the most fascinating, and also most frustrating. How can we say that most of our mental life is unconscious, when we can't physically measure it to make a concrete comparison? Or is it because we can't measure it, that we make this assumption. I do hold some regard for Frued's unconscious view and dream analysis. For as far back as I can remember, I have always remembered my dreams after each sleep, and can more often than not relate them to events from my past, present or future (which has freaked several of my close friends out!). I personally believe that you can be trained to recall your dreams, and also create your own symbolism or realism to motivate you towards positive or away from negative outcomes. Dreams are not the only channel to the unconscious though. Reeve (2009) discusses the adaptive conscious and implicit motivation, to explain our automatic and unconscious actions. But they are near as interesting as Freud for me to discuss here :-)

I can also relate to the suppression aspect of psychodynamics. How many times have we had an insatiable desire for something (food, drink, new camera lens), and find ourselves conscious telling ourselves to think of something else. This thought process can become so obsessive, that eventually the conscious self gives in. I appreciated the advice from Wagner (as cited in Reeve, 2009) that confronting the unconscious will is the only way to dissipate it. Once an unconscious thought becomes conscious, we are able to control it.

I find it difficult to discuss ego development in detail, as to me it appears a holistic term that encompasses all development from infancy to adulthood. What I did question is the lack of genetic influence on the unconscious development of the individual, as the processes described in the textbook (such as impulse, conformity, autonomy) all coincide with biologically based personality traits.

In my opinion there is a lot of validity in object relations theory, as it is hard to discount the numerous accounts of children growing up in abusive family units adopting these views of 'normality' and suffering as an adult from a lack of relatedness and intimacy. On the up-side, raising children as an integral and loving member of the family is more likely to promote positive psychological wellbeing and valued member of society.

Lecture 12: Growth & Positive Psychology
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become. (Buddha)

We all have biologically inherent temperaments. We are either on a scale of being naturally inhibited and introverted, or we are impulsive and extroverted. We are also influenced by the behavioural expectations that society places on us. Therefore each person is motivated by both their biological temperament and culturally determined expectations. The problem here-in lies that if cultural expectations are so strong as to dominate biological temperament, this poses a personal growth risk. This leads into Humanistic Psychology or Holism, which explores the human potential and encourages its development of personal growth as its motivational force.

Positive Psychology on the other hand, investigates positive subjective experiences, such as wellbeing, contentment, satisfaction, hope, optimism, love, courage, and so forth. Positive psychology differs from humanistic psychology in that it is scientifically testable.

Positive psychology works towards building the conditions and skills to enable the understanding of enjoyment of positive states of being.

What I like about positive psychology is in the 'phrasing' of motivation. Instead of asking:
 * How can we correct people's weaknesses?

instead we ask:
 * How can we develop and amplify people's strengths?

I try to think and communicate in this manner as I really believe in it's ability to initiate a positive baseline of discovery and action. In an example I gave earlier in my e-Portfolio (the example of Jim not doing well at school), I expressed that my 'plan of attack' was to commend Jim on his valuable contributions (positive approach), and then provide reason and direction for completing his tasks. I would do this to help build Jim's confidence and strength, which in turn I would hope facilitate in directing his skills and persistence towards achievement. There is a reason why I started this chapter off with a quote from Buddha. I believe Eastern philosophy has great value, not only as a relationship with the themes of positive psychology, but also with the concept of self-actualisation.

Rogers (1980, as cited in Reeve, 2009) describes self-actualisation as an underlying flow of movement towards constructive fulfilment of inherent possibilities. It is a state of autonomy, where an individual can regulate one's own thoughts, feelings and behaviours; and also commands an openness to experiences. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs has it placed at the top of his pyramid, suggesting that self-actualisation is the last need to be fulfilled. As I have mentioned in an earlier chapter, I wonder where the Dalai Lama would place self-actualisation if he prioritised his needs, as I liken this to the philosophy of Buddhism and the Buddhist's common goal.

Reeve (2009) illustrates an example of a nine month old infant persisting to learn to walk, even though it causes much struggle and pain. Reflecting on how motivated we generally are not to endure towards a goal that requires great struggle and pain, I wonder if there is a defining point in our developmental lifespan that we start to sabotage our self-motivation and need for self-actualisation. If this is true, I would think the responsibility falls within the realm of social influence, as at the infant stage our social experience is quite limited. This can also be said for the Buddhists monks who isolate themselves from the general population to facilitate their own self-actualisation.

As humans, we all need to have a meaning and purpose in life. We also have a need for positive regard, such as acceptance, love and approval, from others. Because this need leads to the sensitivity of feedback from others, we find ourselves automatically evaluating ourselves through the viewpoint of others. This becomes our perceived condition of worth and has a great effect on our motivations and behaviours. Because of this, it is important that we raise children with unconditional positive regard to foster internal actualisation growth, and deter internalised social conditions of worth. The only warning to accompany this parenting tip is that unconditional positive regard can nurture bad behaviour, if not dealt out with care.

The last topic for this lecture is evil. Evil is a deliberate, voluntary, intentional infliction of pain and suffering on another organism without respect of his/her humanity (Reeve, 2009). Some humanists believe that evil is a byproduct of past violence within relationships experienced by the individual. The alternative view to this is the altruism and evil are present in all beings, and that it's presence is influenced by social conditions.

As for my thoughts on the subject? It doesn't matter which point of view you subscribe to, positive parenting skills can go a long, long way to suppressing evil.

Lecture 13: Summary & Conclusion
Wow!

I will admit at the first sound of completing a journal of my reflections and experiences as we explored the subjects of motivation and emotion, I wasn't entirely receptive. Now looking back over all the work I have put in, and the numerous examples of being able to relate the subject matter to my own experiences and ideals, I'm actually really pleased. It has been a good learning reinforcement tool and I have learned quite a lot.

I would like to list some of the major points I have taken away with me on this journey:


 * Motivation has direction and intensity, and influences behaviour.
 * Motivation is influenced by physiological,psychological, and social needs.
 * There is more to achieving goals than just imagining the end result.
 * We are motivated to maximise positive outcomes and minimise negative outcomes.
 * Happiness, arousal and control occur in varying degrees in each event we experience.
 * Most of our mental life is unconscious, and can't be changed until we bring those thoughts to the conscious.
 * Optimism can be taught and learned.
 * Self-Actualisation will enhance the experience of self

and the last point:
 * wiki isn't scary anymore!

The exercise of creating a textbook chapter was fun for me, as it offered the opportunity to be more visually creative. I thoroughly enjoyed my subject topic of Dr Paul Ekman, and will continue to read his publications for my own interest. In my final reflection, I believe this unit has enhanced my understanding of the complexities of motivation and emotions, and encouraged me to incorporate physiological, psychological, and social ideals to holistically approach this subject as it applies to me in the future. I have re-evaluated my marathon goal and will give myself 12 months to train sensibly and aim at it again in January 2012. I believe I will be a more valuable parent and role model to my son, as he progresses through his teens and early adulthood. And lastly, I hope to perform as a better student during the remainder of my time at UC.