OpenStax Psychology 2e
Chapter 10 - Emotion and Motivation
Motivation
An act towards a desired goal
Motivation is a psychological feature that arouses an organism to act towards a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal-directed behaviors. It can be considered a driving force; a psychological one that compels or reinforces an action toward a desired goal. It is the purpose or psychological cause of an action.
Motivation has been shown to have roots in physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social areas. It may be rooted in a basic impulse to optimize well-being, minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure.
Six Universal Emotions
During the 1970s, psychologist Paul Eckman identified six basic emotions that he suggested were universally experienced in all human cultures.
The emotions he identified were happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger.
Modeling Six Universal Emotions
Psychological research has classified six facial expressions which correspond to distinct universal emotions: disgust, sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise. It is interesting to note that four out of the six are negative
What happened to contempt?
Paul Ekman, a widely recognized psychologist, found six emotions that were universally recognized: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise.
Findings on contempt are less clear, though there is at least some preliminary evidence that this emotion and its expression are universally recognized.
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PsychLab Emotional Check-in
Click the color wheel to begin
Explaining ones emotional state can be difficult. It really depends on the language you use daily. For instance if I said SNOW, FLURRY, BLIZZARD, these words probably conjure up different images in your mind, however they are all SNOW. Likewise if i said "I am angry", I could be irate, annoyed, irritated displeased, resentful, furious or enraged. Are they all the same? You probably are thinking they are all very different. If it is difficult for us to explain how we feel, trying to have a child explain how they feel.
A better way to explore emotions might be using COLOR. Explore this idea by completing the Emotional Check-in
Ekman and Emotions
Disney/Pixar 'Inside Out' (2015)
In late 2009, director Pete Docter noticed his pre-teen daughter, Elie, exhibiting similar shyness. "She started getting more quiet and reserved, and that, frankly, triggered a lot of my own insecurities and fears," he said. He imagined what happens in the human mind when emotions set in. The idea to depict it through animation excited Docter, who felt it the ideal form to portray "strong, opinionated, caricatured personalities".
He began researching information about the mind, alongside Jonas Rivera, a producer, and Ronnie del Carmen, a secondary director. They consulted Paul Ekman, a well-known psychologist who studies emotions, and Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Ekman had early in his career identified six core emotions—anger, fear, sadness, disgust, joy, and surprise. Docter found surprise and fear to be too similar, which left him with five emotions to build characters around.
Other emotions considered for inclusion during the development process were schadenfreude, ennui, pride, and hope. Keltner focused on sadness being an emotion that strengthens relationships. Both emphasized how emotions organize social lives and the structuring of interpersonal interactions.
