Week One: Introduction to Motivation & Emotion - 

       To begin with, my last exam for semester one was in early June... so I've had a HUGE break, and while at the beginning of the break I still felt a nervous anxiety that I should be doing some sort of study (or essay!) although now that semester two is on my motivation is strangely on and off. Why have i chosen to start writing this blog now and not earlier? Why have I chosen to stay inside and study, or gone to the gym rather than go out with friends? Well... now that I think about it... I've always taken motivation for granted and often not looked that deeply into it. However after our first lecture I have a refreshed perspective and a greater motivation to understand how myself and others are motivated to make these choices and why.

        I have seen that motivation is made up of two critical elements, Energy & Direction. 
        I have perceived energy to be state of arousal, that is, the energy of our behaviour can be either strong intense and persistent or it can be passive and lacking. Our direction is behaviour geared toward achieving ones goals (Reeve 2009 & Neill 2010). For example, some of us may have a lecture at 9am and know its important to wake up and attend that lecture in order to learn for our degrees. So some days our energy will be strong and this helps us to achieve our goals, whereas some days our energy may be lacking and, while our goals are still important to us, may make it a little harder to achieve.

  

        In our study of motivation it is clear we are making the effort to understand two main questions:

What causes behaviour and why does behaviour vary in its intensity (Reeve 2009 & Neill 2010)?

         From what I learnt so far I believe the core issues (Reeve 2009) that we should address in our studies should be:

1. Why does behaviour start? Why are we studying??
2. How is it sustained? Why do we keep studying??
3. Why are we directed to some goals but away from others? Why did we decide to go to the bar rather than read that chapter on....
4. If behaviour changes its direction, why? Why did we decide to stop going to the bar and read those chapters instead...?
5. Finally, why does behaviour stop? Why did we decide to not to go to the bar this weekend??

        Clearly motivation is not as simplistic as I am studying in order to get a degree. I am aware that motivation is multilevel being primarily made (Reeve 2009) up of four factors:

• Needs: This may be the physiological feeling of hunger, we eat in order to satisfy this need.
• Cognitions: An individuals religious beliefs may effect the way they behave.
• Emotions: If I have broken up with my partner my motivational energy may be quite low.
• External Events: Cultural values may effect the goals and direction of behaviour.

        The history of motivational study was interesting and important to have covered. Examining the grand theories of motivation (will, instinct and drive) to the rise of the mini theories (active nature, cognition and applied social research). Furthermore,  I believe its important to have an understanding of the origins of what you are studying/participating in. We could all do well to remember the following Chinese proverb: "When you drink the water, remember the spring."

References

         Neill, J. (2010). [Introduction to Motivation and Emotion Lecture]. Lecture presented at the University of Canberra, ACT. [Lecture notes]. Retrieved from http://learnonline.canberra.edu.au/course/view.php?id=4208

         Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding motivation and emotion. USA: Wiley.