Blog 1

In post will briefly discuss theories in psychology that concern motivation and emotion. These will be related to the priorities of the UK’s education system.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Azjen, 1991)) is used in Health Psychology to predict behaviour. It takes into account perceptions of the likelihood of an expected outcome, behavioural self control, subjective evaluation of risks and benefits of outcomes and attitudes towards behaviour. The theory doesn’t take into account emotion however. Current theories of motivation state that it is a combination and conflict of cognitive and affective processes that drives behaviour, and define emotions as physiological changes in chemical secretion that affect physiological changes such as heart rate and energy use (Phillips, Drevets, 2003).

In my other blog written for the Psychology of Education module, I asked the question: What are we educated for? It is my contention that the exploration of psychology, in cognition, emotion, motivation and development, is changing to an exploration of neuroscience. The evidence for this trend comes from the project choices we have for our third year: most concern cognitive or neurological theories of biological processes, or, applications of psychology to intellectual disabilities, education or consumerism.

In Psychology of Education, the course tutor wants to change the education system to be more effective through applying research on motivation. However, for what purpose are people educated, what is their motivation? The field of Evolutionary Anthropology studies human evolution from social behaviour in the 190 or so species of primates alive today and fossil records. It gives a very good explanation for the events that have occurred in modern history. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, social groups have been changed by overcrowding in cities (The Shock Doctrine, 2007). Before this, communities lived in groups of around 150, as predicted by Dunbar’s Number (Youtube, 2010). This is the number of stable relationships, relationships that contain obligation and trust, that a person can sustain at one time. Self regulation of these communities meant that self-interest was punished and cooperation rewarded (Morris, 1967). If one person acted in self-interest, somebody would point them out to the group. However, the Industrial Revolution allowed transportation of resources and the accumulation of money by the owners of production. Money acts a representation of value, for things such as food and shelter, but its flaw is that its use is not fully regulated between people.

Distribution of labour, a method of increasing production, is the division of parts of production to different people. A person does a job the same way in repetition, causing boredom and frustration. This contrasts to the theory of Flow, wherein tasks are implicitly motivating (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, 1993). Without motivating tasks, achievement, one of the components of Positive Psychology, disappears (Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).

Implicit Motives are “intricately involved in nonconscious cognitive and affective processes such as attentional orienting, implicit learning, and hedonic evaluation, including their physiological consequences such as hormone release.”

Explicit motives “guide strategic, declarative behavior, such as goal setting, decision making, and self-regulation. (Erlangen.de)

So implicit motivation is not present in much of formal education. However, implicit motivation can be found in science education, which is on the rise (IB TIMES, 2013). This is because science holds the answers to social and environmental problems, as well as technological advances (Savill, 2013).

References

Ajzen, I. (1991) The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Rathunde, K. (1993). The measurement of flow in everyday life: toward a theory of emergent motivation.

Differences between implicit and explicit motivation. Uni-erlangen.de. Retrieved October 23^rd, 2013, from http://www.psych2.phil.uni-erlangen.de/~oschult/humanlab/research/differences.htm

Morris, D. (2010). The naked ape: A zoologist’s study of the human animal. Random House.

My Bright Idea: Robin Dunbar. Youtube.com. Retrieved October 23^rd, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZKtGosG-4I

Kerur, B. (2013). India, Russia to Collaborate on Energy, Education, Science and Technology. IBTimes.com. Retrieved October 23^rd, 2013, from http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/515804/20131022/india-russia-collaboration-energy-education-science-technology.htm

Phillips, M. L., Drevets, W. C., Rauch, S. L., & Lane, R. (2003). Neurobiology of emotion perception I: The neural basis of normal emotion perception. Biological psychiatry, 54(5), 504-514.

Seligman, M. E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: an introduction. American psychologist, 55(1), 5.

Savill, S. (2013). Anthrozoology, Climate Change and Overpopulation. Retrieved October 23^rd, 2013, from https://simonsavill.wordpress.com/.

The Theory of Planned Behavior. Sph.bu.edu. Retrieved October 23^rd, 2013, from

http://sph.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/SB721-Models/SB721-Models3.html.