Motivation and Emotion — Class 11 Psychology

Motivation explains what moves behaviour; the term comes from the Latin movere, meaning to move. Motivation is goal-directed and is described through the motivational cycle of need, drive, arousal, goal-directed behaviour and achievement, with the concepts of instinct, drive, need, goal and incentive. There are two broad types of motives. Biological (physiological) motives such as hunger, thirst and sex are guided mainly by physiological mechanisms involving the hypothalamus, liver and blood chemistry. Psychosocial motives are mostly learned through interaction with the social environment and include the need for affiliation, the need for power, the need for achievement (n-Ach), and curiosity and exploration. Maslow's hierarchy of needs arranges motives in an ascending pyramid from physiological needs, through safety, belongingness and esteem needs, to self-actualisation at the top. Emotions are complex patterns of arousal, subjective feeling and cognitive interpretation; basic emotions identified across cultures include joy, anger, fear, sadness, disgust and surprise, with theorists such as Izard and Plutchik proposing sets of primary emotions. Emotions are expressed through verbal and non-verbal channels including facial expressions, paralanguage, gestures and gaze, and both expression and labelling are strongly shaped by culture. The chapter also explains managing negative emotions such as anger and examination anxiety, and enhancing positive emotions for well-being.