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Chapter
Motivation and Emotion
- understand the nature of human motivation,
- describe the nature of some important motives,
- describe the nature of emotional expression,
- understand the relationship between culture and emotion, and
- know how to manage your own emotions.
After reading this chapter, you would be able to
Introduction Nature of Motivation Types of Motives Biological Motives Psychosocial Motives Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Self-Motivation (Box 9.1) Nature of Emotions Physiological Bases of Emotions Physiology of Emotion (Box 9.2) Lie Detection (Box 9.3) Cognitive Bases of Emotions Cultural Bases of Emotions Expression of Emotions Culture and Emotional Expression Culture and Emotional Labeling Managing Negative Emotions Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Box 9.4) Management of Examination Anxiety (Box 9.5) Enhancing Positive Emotions Emotional Intelligence (Box 9.6)
Key Terms Summary Review Questions Project Ideas
Contents
Motivation and Emotion
Emotion has taught mankind to reason.
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Sunita, a girl from a little known town, puts in 10-12 hours of hard work everyday in order to get through the various engineering entrance examinations. Hemant, a physically challenged boy, wants to take part in an expedition and trains himself extensively in a mountaineering institute. Aman saves money from his scholarship so that he can buy a gift for his mother. These are just a few examples, which indicate the role motivation plays in human behaviour. Each of these behaviours are caused by an underlying motive. Behaviour is goal-driven. Goal-seeking behaviour tends to persist until the goal is achieved. For achieving their goals people plan and undertake different activities. How is Sunita going to feel if after all the hard work she has put in, she does not succeed or Aman’s scholarship money gets stolen. Sunita, perhaps, will be sad and Aman angry. This chapter will help you to understand the basic concepts of motivation and emotion, and related developments in these two areas. You will also get to know the concepts of frustration and conflict. The basic emotions, their biological bases, overt expressions, cultural influences, their relationship with motivation, and some techniques to help you manage your emotions better will also be dealt with.
Introduction
N ATURE OF M OTIVATION
The concept of motivation focuses on explaining what “moves” behaviour. In fact, the term motivation is derived from the Latin word ‘movere’ , referring to movement of activity. Most of our everyday explanation of behaviour is given in terms of motives. Why do you come to the school or college? There may be any number of reasons for this behaviour, such as you want to learn or to make friends, you need a diploma or degree to get a good job, you want to make your parents happy, and so on. Some combination of these reasons and/or others would explain why you choose to go in for higher education. Motives also help in making predictions about behaviour. A person will work hard in school, in sports, in business, in music, and in many other situations, if s/he has a very strong need for achievement. Hence, motives are the general states that enable us to make predictions about behaviour in many different situations. In other words, motivation is one of the determinants of behaviour. Instincts,
drives, needs, goals, and incentives come under the broad cluster of motivation.
The Motivational Cycle Psychologists now use the concept of need to describe the motivational properties of behaviour. A need is lack or deficit of some necessity. The condition of need leads to drive.
Fig.9.1 : The Motivational Cycle
Need
Reduction of arousal
Goal-directed behaviour
Achievement
Drive
Arousal
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Hunger
When someone is hungry, the need for food dominates everything else. It motivates people to obtain and consume food. Of course we must eat to live. But, what makes you feel hungry? Studies have indicated that many events inside and outside the body may trigger hunger or inhibit it. The stimuli for hunger include stomach contractions, which signify that the stomach is empty, a low concentration of glucose in the blood, a low level of protein and the amount of fats stored in the body. The liver also responds to the lack of bodily fuel by sending nerve impulses to the brain. The aroma, taste or appearance of food may also result in a desire to eat. It may be noted that none of these alone gives you the feeling that you are hungry. All in combination act with external factors (such as taste, colour, by observing others eating, and the smell of food, etc.) to help you understand that you are hungry. Thus, it can be said that our food intake is regulated by a complex feeding- satiety system located in the hypothalamus, liver, and other parts of the body as well as the external cues available in the environment. Some physiologists hold that changes in the metabolic functions of the liver result in a feeling of hunger. The liver sends a signal to a part of the brain called hypothalamus. The two regions of hypothalamus involved in hunger are - the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and the ventro-medial hypothalamus (VMH). LH is considered to be the excitatory area. Animals eat when this area is stimulated. When it is damaged, animals stop eating and die of starvation. The VMH is located in the middle of the hypothalamus, which is otherwise known as hunger-controlling area which inhibits the hunger drive. Now can you guess about people who overeat and become obese, and people who eat very little or who are on a diet?
Thirst
What would happen to you, if you were deprived of water for a long time? What makes you feel thirsty? When we are deprived of water
for a period of several hours, the mouth and throat become dry, which leads to dehydration of body tissues. Drinking water is necessary to wet a dry mouth. But a dry mouth does not always result in water drinking behaviour. In fact processes within the body itself control thirst and drinking of water. Water must get into the tissues sufficiently to remove the dryness of mouth and throat. Motivation to drink water is mainly triggered by the conditions of the body: loss of water from cells and reduction of blood volume. When water is lost by bodily fluids, water leaves the interior of the cells. The anterior hypothalamus contains nerve cells called ‘osmoreceptors’, which generate nerve impulses in case of cell dehydration. These nerve impulses act as a signal for thirst and drinking; when thirst is regulated by loss of water from the osmoreceptors, it is called cellular -dehydration thirst. But what mechanisms stop the drinking of water? Some researchers assume that the mechanism which explains the intake of water is also responsible for stopping the intake of water. Others have pointed out that the role of stimuli resulting from the intake of water in the stomach must have something to do with stopping of drinking water. However, the precise physiological mechanisms underlying the thirst drive are yet to be understood.
Sex One of the most powerful drives in both animals and human beings is the sex drive. Motivation to engage in sexual activity is a very strong factor influencing human behaviour. However, sex is far more than a biological motive. It is different from other primary motives (hunger, thirst) in many ways like, (a) sexual activity is not necessary for an individual’s survival; (b) homeostasis (the tendency of the organism as a whole to maintain constancy or to attempt to restore equilibrium if constancy is disturbed) is not the goal of sexual activity; and (c) sex drive develops with age, etc. In case of lower animals, it depends on many physiological
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conditions; in case of human beings, the sex drive is very closely regulated biologically, sometimes it is very difficult to classify sex purely as a biological drive. Physiologists suggest that intensity of the sexual urge is dependent upon chemical substances circulating in the blood, known as sex hormones. Studies on animals as well as human beings have mentioned that sex hormones secreted by gonads, i.e. testes in males and the ovaries in females are responsible for sexual motivation. Sexual motivation is also influenced by other endocrine glands, such as adrenal and pituitary glands. Sexual drive in human beings is primarily stimulated by external stimuli and its expression depends upon cultural learning.
Psychosocial Motives
Social motives are mostly learned or acquired. Social groups such as family, neighbourhood, friends, and relatives do contribute a lot in acquiring social motives. These are complex forms of motives mainly resulting from the individual’s interaction with her/his social environment.
Need for Affiliation
Most of us need company or friend or want to maintain some form of relationship with others. Nobody likes to remain alone all the time. As soon as people see some kinds of similarities among themselves or they like each other, they form a group. Formation of group or collectivity is an important feature of human life. Often people try desperately to get close to other people, to seek their help, and to become members of their group. Seeking other human beings and wanting to be close to them both physically and psychologically is called affiliation. It involves motivation for social contact. Need for affiliation is aroused when individuals feel threatened or helpless and also when they are happy. People high on this need are motivated to seek the company of others and to maintain friendly relationships with other people.
Need for Power Need for power is an ability of a person to produce intended effects on the behaviour and emotions of another person. The various goals of power motivation are to influence, control, persuade, lead, and charm others and most importantly to enhance one’s own reputation in the eyes of other people. David McClelland (1975) described four general ways of expression of the power motive. First, people do things to gain feeling of power and strength from sources outside themselves by reading stories about sports stars or attaching themselves to a popular figure. Second, power can also be felt from sources within us and may be expressed by building up the body and mastering urges and impulses. Third, people do things as individuals to have an impact on others. For example, a person argues, or competes with another individual in order to have an impact or influence on that person. Fourth, people do things as members of organisations to have an impact on others as in the case of the leader of a political party; the individual may use the party apparatus to influence others. However, for any individual, one of these ways of expressing power motivation may dominate, but with age and life experiences, it varies.
Need for Achievement You might have observed some students work very hard and compete with others for good marks/grades in the examination, as good marks/grades will create opportunities for higher studies and better job prospects. It is the achievement motivation, which refers to the desire of a person to meet standards of excellence. Need for achievement, also known as n-Ach, energises and directs behaviour as well as influences the perception of situations. During the formative years of social development, children acquire achievement motivation. The sources from which they learn it, include parents, other role models, and socio-cultural influences. Persons high in achievement motivation tend to prefer tasks that are moderately difficult and challenging.
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must be noted that very few people reach the highest level because most people are concerned more with the lower level needs.
realise our goal. The blocking of a desired goal is painful, but all of us experience it in life in different degrees. Frustration occurs when an anticipated desirable goal is not attained and the motive is blocked. It is an aversive state and no one likes it. Frustration results in a variety of behavioural and emotional reactions. They include aggressive behaviour, fixation, escape, avoidance, and crying. In fact frustration-aggression is a very famous hypothesis proposed by Dollard and Miller. It states that frustration produces aggression. Aggressive acts are often directed towards the self or blocking agent, or a substitute. Direct aggressive acts may be inhibited by the threat of punishment. The main sources or causes of frustration are found in: (i) environmental forces , which could be physical objects, constraining situations or even other people who prevent a person from reaching a particular goal, (ii) personal factors like inadequacies or lack of resources that make it difficult or impossible to reach goals, and (iii) conflicts between different motives.
Conflict Conflict occurs whenever a person must choose between contradictory needs, desires, motives, or demands. There are three basic forms of conflicts, for example, approach- approach conflict, avoidance-avoidance conflict, and approach-avoidance conflict. Approach-approach conflict comes from having to choose between two positives and
Actual actions sometimes contradict the hierarchy of needs. Soldiers, police officers, and fire personnels have been known to protect others by facing very endangering situations, seemingly in direct contradiction to the prominence of safety needs. Why does it happen? Discuss it in your group and then with your teacher.
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Frustration and Conflict
So far we have taken a look at the various theoretical perspectives on motivation. They explain the process of motivation and what leads to motivated action and what are the reasons for different motives. Now we will try to understand what happens when motivated action is blocked or it fails due to certain reasons. We will also try to understand what happens when one is faced with more than one motive or need at the same time. These two concerns can be explained in the form of two important concepts related to motivation, namely frustration and conflict.
Frustration
We come across many occasions when things go in an unexpected direction and we fail to
Fig.9.4 : Need-Conflict-Frustration Route
Drive
Arousal
Need
Target Behaviour
Aggression
Failure
Alternative Pathways
A
Conflict Frustration
A
A
A
A
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desirable alternatives. Avoidance-avoidance conflict comes from choosing between two negatives, or mutually undesirable alter natives. In real life, these double avoidance conflicts involve dilemmas such as choosing between the dentist and tooth decay, roadside food and starvation, etc. Approach- avoidance conflict comes from being attracted to and repelled by the same goal or activity. These types of conflicts are also difficult to resolve, as they are more troublesome than avoidance conflicts. A central characteristic of approach-avoidance conflict is ambivalence — a mix of positive and negative conflicts. Some examples of approach-avoidance conflicts are: a person wanting to buy a new motorbike but not wanting to make monthly payments, wanting to eat when one is overweight, and planning to marry someone her/his parents strongly disapprove of. Many of life’s important decisions have approach-avoidance dimensions. A major source of frustration lies in motivational conflict. In life, we are often influenced by a number of competing forces that propel us in different directions. Such situations demonstrate the condition of conflict. Hence, the simultaneous existence of multiple wishes and needs characterise conflict. In all the cases of conflicts, the selection of one option against the other depends on
the relative strength/importance of one over the other, and environmental factors. Conflicting situations should be resolved after due consideration of the pros and cons of each of the choices. A point to note here is that conflicts cause frustration, which in turn, can lead to aggression. For instance, a young man who wants to be a musician but is pursuing a course in management due to parental pressure and is not able to perform as per the expectations of his parents may turn aggressive upon being questioned on his poor performance in the course.
Try to answer the following questions and work on the weaker areas:
1. List the plans/activities you intend to _undertake during this week.
- Do you have any goals set for the month_ _ahead? If yes, what are they? Try to list them.
- Do you have a daily routine chart? If not, then_ try to prepare one by distributing your time judiciously for studies, rest, recreation, and _other activities, if any.
- Are you able to follow your routine chart_ _successfully? (If you already have one).
- If you are not able to follow a routine_ successfully think about the ways in which you could overcome your irregular habits and try to follow them.
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Here are a few ways of motivating your own self as well as others:
1. Be planned and organised in whatever you _do.
- Learn to prioritise your goals (Rank them 1,2,_ _3…).
- Set short-term targets (In a few days, a week,_ _a month, and so on).
- Reward yourself for hitting the set targets (You_ could reward yourself with small things like a new pen, chocolates or anything that you want
BoxBoxBoxBoxBox 9.1 Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-MMMMotivationMotivationotivationotivationotivation
to have but attach it with some small goal).
5. Compliment yourself on being an achiever each time you hit a target (Say “Cheers! I did it”, “I am really good with that”, “I think I can do things smartly”, _etc.).
- If the targets seem difficult to attain, again break_ them up into smaller ones and approach them one _by one.
- Always try to visualise or imagine the outcomes of_ all the hard work you have to put in to reach your set goals.
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supported by Lange, hence, it has been named the James-Lange theory of emotion (see Fig.9.5). The theory suggests that environmental stimuli elicit physiological responses from viscera (the internal organs like heart and lungs), which in turn, are associated with muscle movement. For example, startling at an unexpected intense noise triggers activation in visceral and muscular organs followed by an emotional arousal. Put in other words, James-Lange theory argues that your perception about your bodily changes, like rapid breathing, a pounding heart, and running legs, following an event, brings forth emotional arousal. The main implication made by this theory is that particular events or stimuli provoke particular physiological changes and the individual’s perception of these changes results in the emotion being experienced.
However, this theory faced a lot of criticism and fell in disuse. Another theory was proposed by Cannon (1927) and Bard (1934). The Cannon-Bard theory claims that the entire process of emotion is mediated by thalamus which after perception of the emotion-provoking stimulus, conveys this information simultaneously to the cerebral cortex and to the skeletal muscles and sympathetic nervous system. The cerebral cortex then determines the nature of the perceived stimulus by referring to past experiences. This determines the subjective experience of the emotion. At the same time the sympathetic nervous system and the muscles provide physiological arousal and prepare the individual to take action (see Fig.9.6). The ANS is divided into two systems, sympathetic and parasympathetic. These two
The nervous system, central as well as peripheral, plays a vital role in the regulation of emotion. Thalamus : It is composed of a group of nerve cells and acts as a relay center of sensory nerves. Stimulation of thalamus produces fear, anxiety, and autonomic reactions. A theory of emotion given by Cannon and Bard (1931) emphasises the role of thalamus in mediating and initiating all emotional experiences. Hypothalamus : It is considered the primary center for regulation of emotion. It also regulates the homeostatic balance, controls autonomic
BoxBoxBoxBoxBox 9.2 Physiology of EmotionPhysiology of EmotionPhysiology of EmotionPhysiology of EmotionPhysiology of Emotion
Fig.9.5 : James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Perception of physiological changes Emotion experienced
Road accident Increased heart rate, perspiration Fear
Stimulus
Specific physiological changes
activity and secretion of endocrine glands, and organises the somatic pattern of emotional behaviour. Limbic System : Along with thalamus and hypothalamus the limbic system plays a vital role in regulation of emotion. Amygdala is a part of limbic system, responsible for emotional control and involves formation of emotional memories. Cortex : Cortex is intimately involved in emotions. However, its hemispheres have a contrasting role to play. The left frontal cortex is associated with positive feelings whereas the right frontal cortex with negative feelings.
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systems function together in a reciprocal manner. In a stressful situation the sympathetic system prepares the body to face the situation. It strengthens the internal environment of the individual by controlling the fall in heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. It induces a state of physiological arousal that prepares the individual for fight or flight response in order to face the stressful situation. As the threat is removed the parasympathetic system gets active and restores the balance by calming the body. It restores and conserves energy and brings the individual back to a normal state. Though acting in an antagonistic manner, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are complementary to each other in completing
the process of experience and expression of emotion.
C OGNITIVE BASES OF EMOTIONS
Most psychologists today believe that our cognitions, i.e. our perceptions, memories, interpretations are essential ingredients of emotions. Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer have proposed a two-factor theory in which emotions have two ingredients: physical arousal and a cognitive label. They presumed that our experience of emotion grows from our awareness of our present arousal. They also believed that emotions are physiologically similar. For example, your
Fig.9.6 : Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
Stimulus Thalamus
Cerebral cortex
Subjective experience of the emotion
Physiological changes enabling action
Sympathetic nervous system, Muscles
Lie detectors are also called polygraphs because they graphically record several bodily reactions simultaneously which measure the bodily arousal of the individual. Typically a lie detector measures changes in blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate and depth, and the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) which indicates variations in the electrical conductivity of the skin. The individual being tested is first asked a series of neutral (control) questions to establish the baseline. Simple questions are followed by specific questions that are designed to evoke responses from a guilty knowledge supposedly indicating the individual’s involvement in the
BoxBoxBoxBoxBox 9.3 Lie DetectionLie DetectionLie DetectionLie DetectionLie Detection
crime being investigated. The lie detector or the polygraph records the changes in neurophysiological activities that occur while the suspected individual answers these questions. Though the polygraph makes several objective recordings, the interpretation of these records relies heavily on the subjective judgment by the examiner. It is also probable that several unrelated factors like fear, pain or anxiety being felt by the individual during the test may affect her/his level of arousal. It is possible for the individual to lie with it. The validity of polygraph results is doubtful; however these are still used by law-enforcing agencies for lie detection.
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Culture and Emotional Expression
The verbal channel of communication is composed of spoken words as well as other vocal features of speech like pitch and loudness of the voice. These non-verbal aspects of the voice and temporal characteristics of speech are called ‘paralanguage’. Other non-verbal channels include facial expression, kinetic (gesture, posture, movement of the body) and proximal (physical distance during face-to-face interaction) behaviours. Facial expression is the most common channel of emotional communication. The amount and kind of information conveyed by the face is easy to comprehend as the face is exposed to the full view of others (see Fig.9.8). Facial expressions can convey the intensity as well as the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the individual’s emotional state. Facial expressions play an important role in our everyday lives. There has been some research evidence supporting Darwin’s view that facial expressions for basic emotions (joy, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise) are inborn and universal. Bodily movements further facilitate the communication of emotions. Can you feel the difference between your body movements when you feel angry and movements when you feel shy? Theatre and drama provide an excellent opportunity to understand the impact of body movements in communicating emotions. The roles of gestures and proximal
behaviours are also significant. You must have seen how in Indian classical dances like Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathak and others, emotions are expressed with the help of movements of eyes, legs, and fingers. The dancers are trained rigorously in the grammar of body movement and non-verbal communication to express joy, sorrow, love, anger, and various other forms of emotional states. The processes involved in emotions have been known to be influenced by culture. Current research has dealt more specifically with the issue of universality or culture specificity of emotions. Most of this research has been carried out on the facial expression of emotions as the face is open to easy observation, is relatively free from complexity and provides a link between subjective experience and overt expression of an emotion. Still it must be emphasised that emotions are conveyed not only via face. A felt emotion may be communicated through other non-verbal channels as well, for example, gaze behaviour, gestures, paralanguage, and proximal behaviour. The emotional meaning conveyed via gestures (body language) varies from culture to culture. For example, in China, a handclap is an expression of worry or disappointment, and anger is expressed with laughter. Silence has also been found to convey different meanings for different cultures. For example, in India, deep emotions are sometimes communicated via silence. This
Fig.9.8 : Sketches of Facial Expressions of Emotions
Fear Anger (^) Happy Sad
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freely, the North American subjects produced 40 different responses for the facial expression of anger and 81 different responses for the facial expression of contempt. The Japanese produced varied emotional labels for facial expressions of happiness (10 labels), anger ( labels), and disgust (6 labels). Ancient Chinese literature cites seven emotions, namely, joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, dislike, and liking. Ancient Indian literature identifies eight such emotions, namely, love, mirth , energy , wonder , anger, grief , disgust, and fear. In Western literature, certain emotions like happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust are uniformly treated as basic to human beings. Emotions like surprise, contempt, shame, and guilt are not accepted as basic to all. In brief, it might be said that there are certain basic emotions that are expressed and understood by all despite their cultural and ethnic differences, and there are certain others that are specific to a particular culture. Again, it is important to remember that culture plays a significant role in all processes of emotion. Both expression and experience of emotions are mediated and modified by culture specific ‘ display rules’ that delimit the conditions under which an emotion may be expressed and the intensity with which it is displayed.
MANAGING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
Try living a day in which you do not feel any emotion. You would realise that it is difficult even to imagine a life without emotions. Emotions are a part of our daily life and existence. They form the very fabric of our life and interpersonal relations. Emotions exist on a continuum. There are various intensities of an emotion that can be experienced by us. You can experience extreme elation or slight happiness, severe grief or just pensiveness. However, most of us usually maintain a balance of emotions. When faced with a conflicting situation, individuals attempt to adjust and derive a coping mechanism either with task or defense- oriented reactions. These coping patterns help them prevent abnormal emotional reactions
may convey embarrassment during communication in Wester n countries. Cultural differences have also been found in the gaze behaviour. It has been observed that the Latin Americans and the Southern Europeans direct their gaze to the eyes of the interactant. Asians, in particular, Indians and Pakistanis, prefer a peripheral gaze (looking away from the conversational partner) during an interaction. The physical space (proximity) also divulges different kinds of emotional meaning during emotional exchanges. The Americans, for example, do not prefer an interaction too close; the Oriental Indians consider a close space comfortable for an interaction. In fact, the touching behaviour in physical proximity is considered reflective of emotional warmth. For example, it was observed that the Arabs experience alienation during an interaction with the North Americans who prefer to be interacted from outside the olfactory (too close) zone.
Emotional expressions vary in their intensity as well as variety. In your spare time, try collecting from old magazines or newspapers as many pictures of different individuals expressing various emotions. Make picture cards pasting each photograph on a piece of cardboard and number them. You can make a set of such cards that represent different emotional expressions. Involve a group of your friends in the activity. Display these cards one by one to your friends and ask them to identify the emotions being portrayed. Note down the responses and notice how your friends differ from each other in labelling the same emotion. You can also try to categorise the pictures using categories like positive and negative, intense and subtle emotions, and so on. Try to notice how people differ from each other in expressing the same emotion. What could be the reason for such differences? Discuss in class.
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Culture and Emotional Labeling
Basic emotions also vary in the extent of elaboration and categorical labels. The Tahitian language includes 46 labels for the English word anger. When asked to label
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faith in yourself and lead to enhanced feeling of wellness and contentment.
- Engage in self-modeling : Be the ideal for yourself. Repeatedly observe the best parts of your past performance and use them as an inspiration and motivation to perform better in the future.
- Perceptual reorganisation and cognitive restructuring : Try viewing the events differently and visualise the other side of the coin. Restructure your thoughts to enhance positive and reassuring feelings and eliminate negative thoughts. - Be creative : Find and develop an interest or a hobby. Engage in an activity that interests and amuses you. - Develop and nurture good relation- ships : Choose your friends carefully. In the company of happy and cheerful friends you will feel happy in general. - Have empathy : Try understanding other’s feelings too. Make your relationships meaningful and valuable. Seek as well as provide support mutually. - Participate in community service : Help yourself by helping others. By doing
For most of us an approaching examination brings about a feeling of a churning stomach and anxiety. In fact, any situation which involves performing a task and the awareness of being evaluated for the performance is an anxiety-provoking situation for most people. A certain level of anxiety is definitely essential as it motivates and pushes us to put up our best performance but a high level of anxiety becomes an impediment in optimum performance and achievement. An anxious individual is highly aroused physiologically and emotionally, and hence is not able to perform to the best of her/his abilities. An examination is a potentially stress provoking situation and like other stressful situations coping involves two strategies, i.e. Monitoring or taking effective action, and Blunting or avoiding the situation. Monitoring involves taking effective and direct action to deal with the stressful situation. The following strategies can be used for monitoring :
- Prepare well : Prepare well for the examination and prepare well in advance. Give yourself ample time. Familiarise yourself with the pattern of question papers and frequently asked questions. This gives you a sense of predictability and control and reduces the stress potential of the _examination.
- Have a rehearsal : Make yourself go through_ a mock examination. Ask your friend to test your knowledge. You can also rehearse mentally in your mind. Visualise yourself taking the examination completely relaxed and confident and then passing with flying colours.
BoxBoxBoxBoxBox 9.5 Management of Examination AnxietyManagement of Examination AnxietyManagement of Examination AnxietyManagement of Examination AnxietyManagement of Examination Anxiety
- Inoculation : Inoculate yourself against stress. Exposure through rehearsals and role- playing prepares you physically and mentally to face the examination situation better and with _confidence.
- Positive thinking : Have faith in yourself._ Structure your thoughts with systematically listing the thoughts that worry you and then rationally dealing with them one by one. Emphasise on your strengths. Suggest to yourself to be positive and _enthusiastic.
- Seek support : Do not hesitate to ask for help_ from your friends, parents, teachers or seniors. Talking about a stressful situation to a close person makes one feel light and helps gain insight. The situation may not be as bad as it seems.
On the other hand, blunting strategies involve avoiding the stressful situation. True, avoidance is neither desirable nor possible in an examination situation, but the following techniques may prove useful:
- Relaxation : Lear n to relax. Relaxation techniques help you calm your nerves and give you an opportunity to reframe your thoughts. There are many different relaxation techniques. In general, this involves sitting or lying down in a comfortable posture in a quiet place, relaxing your muscles, reducing the external stimulation as well _as minimising the flow of thoughts and focusing.
- Exercise : A stressful situation overactivates the_ sympathetic nervous system. Exercise helps in channelising the excess energy generated by this. A brief period of light exercise or active sport will help you concentrate better on your studies.
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community service (for example, helping an intellectually challenged child learn an adaptive skill), you will gain important insights about your own difficulties.
Think of an intense emotional experience you have gone through recently and explain the sequence of events. How did you deal with it? Share it with your class.
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- Do not ascribe intentions and ulterior motives to others.
- Resist having irrational beliefs about people and events.
- Try to find constructive ways of expressing your anger. Have control on the degree and duration of anger that you choose to express.
- Look inward not outward for anger control.
- Give yourself time to change. It takes time and effort to change a habit.
ENHANCING POSITIVE E MOTIONS
Our emotions have a purpose. They help us adapt to the ever-changing environment and are important for our survival and well-being. Negative emotions like fear, anger or disgust prepare us mentally and physically for taking immediate action towards the stimulus that is threatening. For example, if there was no fear we would have caught a poisonous snake in our hand. Though negative emotions protect us in such situations but excessive or inappropriate use of these emotions can become life threatening to us, as it can harm our immune system and have serious consequences for our health. Positive emotions such as hope, joy, optimism, contentment, and gratitude energise us and enhance our sense of
Managing your Anger
Anger is a negative emotion. It carries the mind away or in other words, the person looses control on behavioural functions during the state of anger. The major source of anger is the frustration of motives. However, anger is not a reflex, rather it is a result of our thinking. Neither is it automatic nor uncontrollable and caused by others but it is a self-induced choice that the individual makes. Anger is a result of your thinking and hence is controllable by your own thoughts only. Certain key points in anger management are as follows:
- Recognise the power of your thoughts.
- Realise you alone can control it.
- Do not engage in ‘self-talk that burns’. Do not magnify negative feelings.
Expressions of emotion depend on regulation of emotion for self or others. Persons who are capable of having awareness of emotions for self or others and regulate accordingly are called emotionally intelligent. Persons who fail to do so, deviate and thereby develop abreaction of emotion, resulting in psychopathology of certain kinds. By emotional intelligence, we understand ‘the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions’ (Mayer & Salovey, 1999). The concept
BoxBoxBoxBoxBox 9.6 Emotional IntelligenceEmotional IntelligenceEmotional IntelligenceEmotional IntelligenceEmotional Intelligence
of emotional intelligence subsumes intrapersonal and interpersonal elements. The intrapersonal element includes factors like self-awareness (ability to keep negative emotions and impulses under control), and self-motivation (the drive to achieve despite setbacks, developing skills to attain targets and taking initiative to act on opportunities). The interpersonal element of emotional intelligence includes two components: social awareness (the awareness and the tendency to appreciate other’s feelings) and social competence (social skills that help to adjust with others, such as team building, conflict management, skills of communicating, etc.).
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- Explain the concept of motivation.
- What are the biological bases of hunger and thirst needs?
- How do the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power influence the behaviour of adolescents? Explain with examples.
- What is the basic idea behind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Explain with suitable examples.
- Does physiological arousal precede or follow an emotional experience? Explain.
- Is it important to consciously interpret and label emotions in order to explain them? Discuss giving suitable examples.
- How does culture influence the expression of emotions?
- Why is it important to manage negative emotions? Suggest ways to manage negative emotions.
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- Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, analyse what kind of motivational forces might have motivated the great mathematician S.A. Ramanujan and the great shehnai Maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan (Bharat Ratna) to perform exceptionally in their respective fields. Now place yourself and five more known people in terms of need satisfaction. Reflect and discuss.
- In many households, family members do not eat without bathing first and practise religious fasts. How have different social practices influenced your expression of hunger and thirst? Conduct a survey on five people from different backgrounds and prepare a report.
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