BPY11033 : Emotion and Motivation : Key Theories of Motivation

1. Describe the key theories of motivation.

2. Describe the key theories of emotion.

3. Describe the relationships between the key theories of motivation and emotion.

4. Explain how emotions and motivation affect health and personal growth.

Introduction: 

The motivation is the internal state which activates and provides direction to the thoughts, feelings and actions of the individuals. The emotions are the experience of feelings. The motivational theories explain the reason behind behaviours of individuals whereas the emotional theories explain how emotions are experienced and inferred on the physiological, cognitive and social level. This report defines the key theories of motivation along with the key theories of emotions. These theories focus on the procrastination as an issue. The procrastination leads to the action of delaying something. Further, the relationship between key theories of motivation and emotions is explained. Finally, the effect of motivations and emotions on health and personal growth is described.

Key theories of motivation 

The motivation theories help in determining what drives persons to work towards a goal. The procrastination leads to the issues like fear of failure, perfectionism self-handicapping, rebelliousness and more. The motivation theories are important because it help in motivating employees by ignoring the act of procrastination (The Washington Post, 2018). The motivated individuals are more productive which leads to the more economic use of resources. The key theories of motivation are:

 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: It is the most famous theory of motivation. It comprises the basic needs of humans which should be meeting before they motivated to achieve higher needs. This theory includes five levels:

• Physiological: The physiological needs should be met by a person in order to survive. For instance, food, water and shelter (Simple Psychology, 2018).
• Safety: It embraces the special security, financial safety, relationships and the family.
• Belonging: It comprises the necessity for friendships, relationships and the family.
• Esteem: It is the need to feel self-assured and appreciated.
• Self-actualization: It is the desire which a person wants to achieve.

Hertzberg’s two-factor theory: This theory includes the two factors which influence the employee motivation and satisfaction:

• Motivator factors: These factors motivate employees to work harder and lead to satisfaction. For instance, enjoying work, feeling recognised and career development (Business Jargons, 2018).
• Hygiene factors: The absence of these factors causes dissatisfaction and lack of motivation. For instance, salary, policies, relationship with managers and co-workers.

Hawthorne effect: This is the best theory to overcome the procrastination issues. According to this theory, some people have a tendency to work harder and perform better if they are being perceived by researchers. For instance, the employees are motivated to work harder if they are being paid attention by the higher authority (Contactzilla, 2014). The employees tend to work hard if they are being observed. The feedback also works the same.

Key theories of emotion  

The emotions play a huge role in the interaction. They restrict or widen the behaviour as per the situation. The emotions involve feelings, thinking, physical changes and interactive changes such as facial expressions.  There are various theories concerning how and why people practice emotion. The key theories of emotion are given below:

The James-Lange theory: This theory proposes an idea which challenges the common sense belief about emotions. These are the emotions which lead to the procrastination issues and causes to ignore the work (Explorable, 2018). As per this theory, people experience emotions because they identify their bodies’ physical reactions to the external events. For instance, people do not cry because they feel sad. People feel sad because they cry. This theory also recommends that different physical states relate to diverse capabilities of emotion.

 Evolutionary theories: The emotions were advanced in the past because they had adaptive value. For instance, fear developed because it assisted people to act in a way to enhance the chance of endurance. As per this theory, the facial expressions are essential. It allows people to judge someone’s hostility, friendliness or communicated intentions. The recent theory of emotion considers emotions to be essential responses to inducements. According to this theory, all human cultures share primary emotions comprising happiness, dislike, surprise, antipathy, anger, fear and sadness (The Emotions, 2018).

Facial feedback theory of emotion: The feedback is one of the ways through which emotions can be expanded. The emotions occur in the multiple ways, out of which facial expressions is the primary means. This theory is focused on how facial expressions influence emotional experiences. The facial expressions have the capability to increase feelings of happiness or humour with the appropriate muscle movement.

The relationships between the key theories of motivation and emotion 

The key theories of motivation and emotions motivate a person to act and perform towards the preferred goal. The emotions theories are connected to the motivation theories in a way that human beings accomplish things which lead to pleasure, contentment and other positive emotions. This way, emotions can be regarded as the incentive or punishment for the particular motivated behaviour (Brain Blogger, 2014). Both motivational theory and emotional theory activate behaviour. The motivational theories are often accompanied by the emotional theories.  The emotions have motivational properties. The motives and emotions activate and affect behaviour.

The emotional theories cause to feel in a certain way such as anger, fear, joy and sadness which leads motives to engage in those behaviours. These motives are needed, want and desire which drives people in a certain direction to take action. The emotions have motivational properties (Virtual eUniversity, 2018).

Effect of emotions and motivation on health and personal growth 

The emotions and motivations are the most effective way of achieving personal growth and better health. The emotions which are experienced and expressed without any judgement do not affect the health of individuals. On the other side, the procrastination issues can obliterate mental energy, affects the body in a negative way and lead to the health problems. The thoughts which are managed negatively are not good for the health and create chronic stress which upsets the hormonal balance of the body, reduces the brain chemicals requisite for happiness and harms the immune system. It actually decreases the lifespan. The hostility also results in hypertension, digestive disorders, cardiovascular diseases and infection and creates an obstacle to the personal growth of an individual (Lumen, 2018). However, the positive emotions put a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of people. The procrastination represents the problem of self-regulation and leads to the ignorance of work. It results in incompletion of work and affects the personal growth of individuals.

The motivation ignores the procrastination issues and leads to the personal growth as it connects to the goals and purposes. The personal growth leads to the growth, maturity, success and happiness. It also spread awareness for the possible opportunities around. The motivation helps to cope up with the stress which prevents illness and promotes good health (Reeve, 2014). The motivation helps to set goals and fix problems which as a result promote better mental and physical health.

Conclusion:

The motivation is a force which energises, activates and directs behaviour. It provides direction and persistence to the individual’s behaviour. The emotions predict the behaviour of a person. The emotions represent the procrastination issues such as lying to himself and no willingness to work. The emotions and motivations are linked to each other as motives are usually accompanied by the emotions. In this report, the theories of motivation and emotions have been explained which helps to resolve procrastination issues. There is a relationship between the key theories of motivation and emotions which is supported by the facts explained above. At last, the effect of emotions and motivations on the health and personal growth is discussed which is supported by both positive and negative aspects.

References:

Brain Blogger, (2014). Comparing the 5 Theories of Emotion. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://brainblogger.com/2014/10/22/comparing-the-5-theories-of-emotion/

Business Jargons, (2018). Theories of Motivation. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://businessjargons.com/theories-of-motivation.html

Contactzilla, (2014). 5 Psychological Theories of Motivation to Increase Productivity. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://contactzilla.com/blog/5-psychological-theories-motivation-increase-productivity/

Explorable, (2018). James-Lange Theory of Emotion, 2018 from https://explorable.com/james-lange-theory-of-emotion

Lumen, (2018). Theories of emotion. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/theories-of-emotion/

Reeve, J. (2014). Understanding motivation and emotion (6^th ed.). New Jersey: Wiley. Shiota,M. N., & Kalat, J.W. (2012). Emotion (2nd ed.). USA: Wadsworth.

Simple Psychology, (2018). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

The Emotions, (2018). Five Theories of Emotion. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://www.the-emotions.com/theories-of-emotion.html

The Washington Post, (2018). The real reasons you procrastinate- and how to stop. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/27/why-you-cant-help-read-this-article-about-procrastination-instead-of-doing-your-job/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d689038b384e

Virtual eUniversity, (2018). Psychology-Emotion and Motion. Retrieved on 10 July, 2018 from https://virtualuniversity.in/mod/book/view.php?id=382&chapterid=1224