POLS 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Mathematical Optimization, Abraham Maslow, Belongingness

• School: Emory University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 110
• Professor: Reinhardt Eric

Document Summary

Motivation = a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it towards a goal. Emotion = the feelings that emerge from the motive or drive, from the achievement or failure of the desired goal. Different ways of thinking of the way motivation works: An instinct is a fixed (rigid and predictable) pattern of behavior that is not acquired by learning and is likely to be rooted in genes. Hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:862)(cid:374)esti(cid:374)g(cid:863) (cid:271)eha(cid:448)ior: (cid:449)hat hu(cid:373)a(cid:374)s do i(cid:374) preparatio(cid:374) for (cid:449)he(cid:374) the(cid:455) are e(cid:454)pe(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g a child. Characteristics of behaviors motivated by instincts: unlearned, uniform in expression, universal in a species. Evolutionary perspective humans display general patterns of motivated behavior which can be explained as emerging through natural selection. A drive is an aroused/tense state related to a physical need such as hunger or thirst. Drive-reduction theory states that humans are motivated to reduce these drives, such as eating to reduce the feeling of hunger.