Motivation and emotion - Assignment Example

Motivation and Emotion Your School This paper was prepared for the ________, taught by _________. Knowing one’s self is the key to improve personality. This is because you will know one’s weaknesses and will continue to explore different areas of personality and this gives a person a chance to modify certain traits that need improvement. Weakness would also show what area of personality a person should avoid, if he cannot at all modify it. This exercise of knowing one’s self is a good way of introspection too.

Motivation and Emotion A person is shaped by how he or she is motivated. This is also true for emotions. Motivations are sometimes called instincts, and they help us survive. Emotions are expressions of selves and they are indicators of feelings and psychological dispositions of persons. To understand more of them, questions were posed and then answered. Do you consider yourself a sensation seeker? Why or why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your level of sensation seeking?  According to the Sensation Seeking Scale by Zuckerman, I found out that may level is high.

This means that I am more adventurous than most people. According to psychologists, individuals with high SSS enjoy new experiences, and they engage in more risky sports, occupations and hobbies. These individuals also seek variety in sexual experiences and drug experiences (Atkinson, 1993). They also have less phobias, prefer exotic foods and gamble more. Basically, being a sensation seeker is being a risk taker. The main advantage of this trait is that learning is very concrete and hands-on.

As they say, learning is not limited to the four walls of the classroom and by experiencing new things, learning is optimum. This is because the sensory faculties get stimulated. It was noted that sense stimulation increases one’s ability for normal perception and intellectual functioning. The downside of this trait is that it is dangerous. The thrill that comes from some of these activities, like bungee jumping, probably stems from the fact that the player can die anytime, or injured at least.

How would you rate your own achievement motivation? Why? In what ways is this an advantage to you? In what ways is it a disadvantage?  I think I rate high in terms of achievement motivation. I want to be successful as much as possible and I never settle for failures, and if I do, I try my best to make it up by being perfect on the next time. This is probably because I was raised in an environment where successful people are always rewarded and praised. This is advantageous for me because I tend to look for quality all time, especially on my part.

By being somewhat of a perfectionist, my outputs are all considerably good and this is good for my job, friends, and family. The disadvantage for this is that it makes me anxious and tense every time I could not deliver a perfect job that I expect of myself. It is sometimes debilitating, which is paradoxical to the fact that I am a perfectionist. What did you learn about yourself from reading about the trait theories of personality?  Reading about the trait approach to personality, I found that I am very Open but not exactly Agreeable.

I am friendly too, but I guess I choose friends and I am vocal about opinions, not caring if people are offended by my opinions. Open, in a sense that I am more interested in art, although not all aspects of it, and seek experiences to complement the education I receive in the classroom. This is compatible to the result of me being sensation seeking. What did you learn about yourself from reading the other theories of personality? (List and explain at least three things.)  Freud’s psychonanalytic theory states that there are stages a person could be stuck in, and that ultimately defines his personality.

These are oral, anal, phallic and genital stages. I think I am stuck in the oral stage because I really like to eat and drink especially when stressed, which is bad because poses problems for health. If taken in using the Social Learning Approach, my tendency to [over]eat is the result of my experiences of eating and drinking as a child. Growing up, my mother always made it a point to feed me, even in between meals and every success I encountered was always rewarded with food, like having a perfect exam means having a celebratory cake.

This always made me feel good, and the association is always food and success. But this is untrue if taken under Maslow’s approach. In his hierarchy of needs, food is at the bottom of the pyramid, which means that I am still on a long way towards self actualization; it also implies that I don’t feel safe and secure, or worse, I don’t care for my cognitive and aesthetic needs, which is wrong. Although I like to eat, I think my place in the hierarchy of needs is definitely not at the bottom.

How will you use this material on personality to improve your relationships (personal and/or professional)?  This chapter on personality revealed that I am vulnerable in some areas, but strong in others. According to SSS, I am a risk taker, especially when it comes to satisfying curiosity and it is quite dangerous sometimes. Maybe I should taper it off for safety. When it comes to personality, I realized that I am a bit tightly wound and should shake it off a little, and maybe be a little friendly too, to improve my relationships with people.

Eating also defines my personality and this reflection that it somehow relates it to my achievements sort of freaks me out. Maybe I should not eat much. This section on personality also let me understand people a lot, so it makes me more understanding in nature. References: Atkinson, R. Atkinson, R., Smith, E., and Bem, D. (1993). Introduction to psychology. Orlando, FL, Harcourt Brace.