Self-Motivation Tools and Emotional Response - Assignment Example

1. Explain the roles of primary and secondary appraisal coping. Cite your references using real-life examples. Simply put, primary appraisal is defined as an evaluatory initiative in order to identify the significance of a stressor or threatening event. Secondary appraisal is the evaluation of how controllable the stressor is as related to the person’s coping resources. Put together, these tools are an effective means in creating appraisal coping efforts in order to address the stressor (Larsson, 1990). One such case is when a stressful event arises such as the death of a member of the family. Primary appraisal kicks in as the remaining family members evaluate as a group or individually the situation at hand. They analyze the situation, share thoughts with each other and determine the best possible means in order to address the problem at hand. Secondary appraisal kicks in as the remaining family members start to determine the controllability of the problem and what are their resources in order to cope up with problem. Essentially, there are trying to determine the workability of the environment they are in, and in doing so determine what are their resources available. Put together, they can determine the best course of action for the death in the family. Coping efforts are the actual coping strategies created by the individuals involved in the problem. In our case, the solutions made by the bereaved family are the coping actions that will be put into place once they have agreed on the most prudent course of action. 2. As stress rises in an individual, a set of responses begins within a human being. Discuss each response and explain the outcome of each citing real-life examples. As stress rises in an individual, a set of responses usually comes into play (Field, 1985). The first kind of response a person would usually feel is fear. Fears of losing to something, fear of losing to a deadline, essentially fear towards something. When a person encounters fear he/she is compelled to act on it. Take for instance in making a report with the deadline creeping up and the paper is still halfway done. Fear takes the person as the deadline closes up on him. This is the first emotion that the person usually feels. The second emotional response is motivation. Fear can motivate a person into finishing the paper and meeting the deadline. In our case, when the student becomes fearful of a very low grade, he/she is motivated to push harder in order to finish the paper on time. This kind of motivation though induced by fear actually helps him to finish the task at hand faster than without having a sense of fear of the deadline. The third kind of emotional response is desperation. When a point in time comes when the person is already past the point of motivation and stress continually rises, people then tend to become desperate and try to do things in order to hasten the process and reduce the stress. In our case, the student is then left with the problem of an unfinished report and the deadline has already past. In order to pass the paper the student becomes desperate and tries to find ways in order to finish the paper so that he/she can pass it. This kind of emotional response often results in very negative results, as the logical part of the brain tends to naturally shut down as desperation kicks in. 3. Identify and discuss ways one can cope with stress. Support your discussion with real-life examples. Stress is an everyday part of life. Recent studies have shown two main kinds of stress: Distress – the kind of stress that hinders growth and can emotionally and physically damage a person, and Eustress – the kind of normal stress people are expected to encounter that actually promotes better growth and actualizes a person’s potential (Ron de Kloet, Joels & Holsboer, 2005). In order to become an effective person one has to identify and be able to ways and techniques in order to cope up and effectively manage these kinds of stress. If not handled properly, stress can cause very severe and long-term problems (Monat, 1977). Stress above all else is mainly psychological and as such should be handled psychologically. One way in order to minimize stress is to look stressful situations in a positive note and focus more on finding positive solutions to the problem at hand. By being able to not dwell on the problem (the one that gives stress to the person) and focus on finding a situation, the person is effectively shielded from the harmful effects of stress. In addition, one has to always keep in mind the limits of oneself. People are not supermen and women and as such should be able to identify his/her limits. By doing so, people are not so often immersed in situations that provide distress to individuals. Being able to know one’s capacities and limits assures the person that he/she can avoid (as much as she can) stressful situations unless it is utterly important that he/she is forced to tackle a stressful situation. 4. Explain the roles of the prefrontal cortex in human motivation. Each member of the class should expand the explanation through a real-life scenario describing when the prefrontal cortex comes into play in a situation what would be the most effective intervention in the event of dysfunction? The prefrontal cortex is typically used to differentiate thoughts such as what is good and bad, what is better and worse, what is the same and what is different, what is the consequences of actions done today and in the future, predicting what will be the outcome of a specific event, expectation based on actions, and the ability to control natural urges (Miller, E.K., Cohen, J.D., 2001). In addition, the prefrontal cortex is said to control working towards a defined goal. In other words, it is the part of the brain is solely responsible for motivating individuals into doing a specific item or task. As such motivating oneself is highly dependent on the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex comes into play in such situations where people tend to lose hope or are given a challenge where the person needs to be motivated in order to achieve the task at hand. Injecting thoughts of not accepting defeat and never giving up usually is derived from the prefrontal cortex. In cases of human dysfunction, the prefrontal cortex stimulates the human to be motivated to overcome the dysfunction and strive to achieve tasks and duties that would promote regeneration and normality. It is important to note that aside from personal motivation people around the dysfunctional person should also introduce motivation into the person in order for faster recovery and healing. 5. Discuss why learned helplessness can be damaging to a person who is working toward achieving a specific goal. Support your discussion with real-life examples. Learned helplessness is a state wherein people are taught that they are limited to this kind of state or are limited to a set of actions only and nothing more. Take for instance a caged bird from birth till the bird is mature. Learned helplessness is evident as this bird is no longer capable of long distance flight, has no more desire or need to go out of the cage, to feel the urge to hunt as food is already served – essentially the bird is domesticated to the point that he/she is different and limited to his/her full capacity (Petersen, C., Maier, S.F., Seligman, M.E.P., 1995). Such is the case of humans that are caged by learned helplessness. They are encapsulated in their own bubble, taught that they cannot extend further and outside the bubble. Taught that this is only what you can do that this is what you will be forever. People then lose their grip on their goals in life and start to accept that they have nowhere to go and have nothing else to do. This kind of learned helplessness, although grotesque and untimely is evident in a considerable number of people. They just don’t admit it but they have learned already that they cannot achieve the dreams that they had dreamed before when they were kids. They had accepted the fact that this is only what they can do and this is only what they will ever achieve. With a kind of mentality like that, people start to lose their potential or desire to achieve more, and thus is stuck in that kind of level. People who are in the grip of learned helplessness are stuck in a stagnated state of complacency and accepting the given. Never desiring more than what is achievable (without extra or no effort at all) and what is given to them by the people that perpetuate this kind of psychological state of mind. 6. Based on personal experience and prior learning, explain the role of ego in personal happiness. Ego is defined as the projection of the consciousness and is often identified as the personality of the person. As Ego is essentially defined as the center of one’s being and as the mediator between the superego and the Id, personal happiness is related to having a very strong Ego-sense or rather having a highly developed Ego (Groddeck, G.W., 1928). By having a strong ego, one can easily balance emotions, wants and desires. As such one has a very strong sense of control with one’s emotions. By being emotionally in control, one can be content with what the person has and can opt not to desire more than what he or she already has. Take for instance a man contented already with having a good family to go home to, a strong and sturdy house to live in, a stable job and a loving wife. One can be contented with such with a very stable emotional base – the ego. However, having an unstable Ego can tip the balance of the scale. One cannot be contented anymore with the things that surround him/her. One is hungry for more than what he/she has. This kind of imbalance is common, as people with this kind of imbalance tend to become easily tired of materials that he/she currently has and desires more. As such he/she is not contented and forces himself/herself to look for ways in order to get what he/she wants. This promotes imbalance to the self and to the people around him, undue stress and physical and emotional fatigue that can lead to disease and even death. 7. Discuss the value of exploratory behavior in human learning and motivation and cite examples from real life. Humans are inherently explorers. People always want to explore. It is evident in all aspects of human dynamics. In almost every aspect of our society there is a portion that is tailor fit to address the desire and the need of people to explore. People are highly motivated when confronted with situations where they need to explore new and uncharted things. They are inherently challenged by the fact that they will analyze and be immersed in situations that is uncommon and sometimes unique. One such example is the relationship between the exploratory behaviors of people when it comes to learning. People when confronted with something new and uncommon are inherently forced by their innate desire to learn more about the mysterious confrontation. A person confronted with a uncommon sound will inherently react and discern almost immediately what and where is the sound. A person that was able to witness a meteorite from the sky would inherent approach it to check it out. Human’s desire to learn about things motivates them to do what people would usually find absurd and unwise. This is because it is our nature to explore things that we do not understand. And by this innate feature we are compelled and we are further motivated to explore and learn new things about the mysterious. 8. On pages 344-345 of your text (Franken, 2004) you will find a survey to test your sensation-seeking tendencies. Answer the 13 items and score the results. Remember this abbreviated version gives you some indication of your rating. Discuss what you learned from this exercise with the others in the class. The student was able to get a score of 12 that, according to the survey, indicated that the student is a very high sensation seeker. In the study, it was explained that most thrill seekers and adventurers involve the acquisition of a set of skills that is typically viewed as behavioral coping skills and the release of internal bodily enhancers such as norepinephrine that promotes a positive mood within the individual. In addition, thrill seekers are prone to make fear and uncertainty their jumping point in order to trigger arousal and that can give them the needed psychological high. According to the reference, thrill seekers such as the student are able to effectively discern risk and also control their negative thoughts because both of these factors lead to avoidant motivation. Such is the case as this student with a high score can effectively control and modulate his fear and utilize it to assess a situation and know what needs to be done in order to minimize risk. Self-efficacy models suggest that thrill seekers are able to create risk avoidance models and precautions by being able to acquire the necessary skills for a particular activity. Such is the case of the student when faced with new thrill-filled tasks; he is able to masterfully accomplish the task with very minimal risk to him and to his companions. 9. Discuss how motivation influences creativity. Offer real-life examples that illustrate how motivation can enhance creativity or halt it. A very motivated person influences several facets of an individual’s persona. This is done because motivating someone to do something or being able to make this person believe that he/she can do this actually breaks the concept of this person that he/she cannot do a given task. In breaking this kind of learned helplessness or constrictions, one is pushed beyond to think of innovative ways in order to achieve the task at hand. Being able to achieve a certain task or duty using innovative ways is called creativity (BCA, 2006). Motivation unlocks creativity within a person, as motivation is able to empower someone to believe that he/she can do this task. A person loses the mental chain that actually inhibits a person from using his/her creativity in assessing a situation or task. People that are highly creative are actually highly motivated as well, thus it can be asserted that creativity and motivation are directly proportional to each other. One cannot be as creative as he/she actually is if he/she is not motivated. Killing motivation kills creativity (Geen, 1995). One example is when people in work are highly motivated in achieving the organizational goals; the organization and the management can expect large volumes of innovative input on how to achieve the goals of the organization. A Workforce that is highly motivated and are free to think and to express and suggest productive thoughts towards the growth of the company encourage the employees to utilize their creative “juices” and actually make the employees feel that they are not just employees but stakeholders to the company as well. 10. Discuss how parents can facilitate their childs development of a sense of competence. Use real-life examples to illustrate your understanding of the role that parents play in competence development. Parents can develop their child’s sense of competence by providing venues wherein the child is brought into situations that focuses on several aspects of the child’s psycho-dynamics that will actually train the child and give him/her the necessary experience in order for him/her to acquire a sense of competence. Take for instance walking. Children are constantly given the opportunity to walk and in times stumble in order for them to develop a sense of competency. Parents should also give a sense of trust and freedom to their children to experience falling, stumbling from time to time in order for them to really what it means to walk. This gives the child a sense of competency as he/she learns from experience. And there is no better teacher than experience. Another example is when children are given their first bicycle. Children develop competency-using tools such as bikes by giving them the opportunity to experience what it means to ride a bike and how to use it. Children who learn how to use bikes are given proper amounts of liberty in using bikes in order for them to truly learn how to use a bike. Essentially what is important for children to learn what it means in to gain competency is to give them the proper space that they need in order to try and gain experience. It is because with experience children learn what to do and how to do it. 11. Explain what happens to an individual via a real-life scenario when he or she attempts to control an uncontrollable situation. Controlling an uncontrollable situation is inevitably futile. There is no point in even attempting to control something that cannot be controlled to begin with. Take for instance the attempt of an individual to beat death. Death is as inevitable as night and day and can happen at a moments notice, thus it is uncontrollable. People try to cheat death and its effects (such as aging, sickness, etc.) by purchasing and demanding items that claim to deter and slow down the aging process, and slow down people from dying. But when you notice it, there is nothing that can really cheat death. People, in their attempt to cheat death, are forced by their own fear of death to demand more and more and further impress unnecessary stress on them and towards the people around them. Unnecessary stress or distress is then actually making their bodies more and more prone to the aging process and therefore speeds it up and pushes them closer to death. Attempting to control an uncontrollable situation/element is just giving people unnecessary stress as they aspire to find a solution to problem without a solution that would suit their mindsets. In our example of people that would want to cheat death, people should just accept it as a fact of life. Accepting that something is uncontrollable frees someone with the burden of looking for a solution to an uncontrollable situation. When look closely, people who accept death actually livelonger lives and live with less stress on their shoulders. They are freer and are not susceptible to such constrictions as “death-cheating” items. 12. Identify three short-term goals and three long-term goals you have for yourself. Discuss the steps you took when you set these goals for yourself. Identify your achievement orientation and discuss how it will affect your goal setting process and the achievement of your goals. I’ve narrowed down what I want to do in Life into just one statement: being able to fulfill my purpose. After years of discernment I have fully realized what I want to do with my life. I want to be able to fulfill what was set to me by God to do in this Earth and with my life. I’ve come to the realization that in order to fulfill one’s purpose one has to align his/her long-term and short-term goals in order to achieve his/her purpose. By being able to align your long term and short-term goals with your purpose in life, you are more and more pushed to achieve these goals because if you are not able to achieve these goals, then you have not fulfilled your purpose. Given this, what is my purpose in life? I’ve come to the conclusion that I am here in this earth to serve and to empower. My purpose is to provide venues for long-term national and socio-economic development within this country and to empower my countrymen in actualizing their potentials in their respective fields. In doing so, I aim to instill into them that communal sense of being, that everyone, in his/her own capacity should aid another being into reaching a state where he/she is fully maximized. As such with long-term goals, one has to plan set smaller goals in order to achieve the greater plan of action. As the saying goals, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In order to achieve the goals I’ve set for myself, I aim to maximize my own potential and capacity. Ensuring that I am financially capable and sound in order to provide others with the capacity to actualize them can do this. In this time and age, money is truly a consideration that cannot be avoided. Lastly, I aim to gain as much experience in organizational development and socio-economic development. I believe that this two aspects is essential in creating sound and effective development programs for other people. 13. Discuss the multidimensionality of the self and its role in human motivation using real-life examples. People are essentially multi-dimensional. We are a composition of different personas, levels of experience, and levels of intellectual capacity that is encapsulated into one being. That is why people are so diverse and so unique. Multidimensionality often finds its role in the human psyche particularly in human motivation when people are faced with a problem that essentially tackles only a part of our multidimensionality. When people are faced with problems, these problems often only tackle a single part of the human dimension. As such the other dimensions of the human psyche often react to it and compensate as a means of addressing the issue. In order to address the issue, the most dominant aspect of our multidimensionality that is still not affected by the problem acts on it by motivating the individual (often by the means of the prefrontal cortex) to overcome the problem by utilizing other perspectives brought about by the other dimensions of the human psyche (Deci & Ryan, 1985). This compensation method helps the individual cope with the problem as the other dimensions of the human psyche in a sense help out and address the situation until the issue is solved and the problem is closed. Odd as it may sound, multidimensionality should not be confused with dual identities. Merely it should only be considered that humans have varying dimensions molded into one being and as such these dimensions are prone to stressors. Being that the single dimension is affected, the other dimensions kick in to motivate and encourage the person to innovate and think of ways in order to identify the most proper solution to the problem at hand. 14. Discuss the possible selves a person may develop as a result of trying to develop their self-concept. Offer real-life examples of how these selves affected the persons behavior. As people try to determine their real selves, people often end up creating identities or dimensions to themselves that affect their behavior (Purkey, n.d.). As a person tries to find himself/herself, the person is pushed into several avenues wherein he/she picks up that may be essentially classified as good and bad. In addition to this simple classification, it can be further classified into being transitory and permanent “selves” that adds up to the overall persona of the individual (Hamachek, 1978). Take for instance a growing child that is nurtured and cared for by a good family. This kind of upbringing brings about a strong sense of positive self that is imbibed into the child. However in the case where the child is brought out of this environment and is pushed into a life of drugs and violence, a negative self that can scar him for life supersedes the child’s initial self. In addition, the latest addition to the child’s psyche does not coincide with the initial dimension of the child, and creates further conflict within him. This results in massive changes in his persona and with his attitude and behavior. The once sweet kid is transformed into a very violent child. However the initial dimension of the child still props up within him hence the conflict within. That is why children like this are brought to child welfare in order to effectively erase the developed self (violence and hatred intertwined with kindness) and essentially the child is brought up again from the start and a new “self” is introduced that coincides with the previous “selves” but essentially supersedes it. However this added dimension envelopes the other two dimensions and encloses it so that the new self surfaces without any conflict with the two previous ones. 15. Discuss the value of developing a high self-esteem. Offer examples of when a person with a high self-esteem may be consider destructive to themselves and to others. Being able to develop a high self-esteem unlocks that person’s full potential and empowers this person. Having a strong sense of self-worth gives a person a kind of direction and a sense of belongingness – in terms that this person knows where he/she should be and whom he/she should be involved with. In addition, this person also has a very strong sense of self-awareness. He/she knows what he/she can and cannot do in any given situation. This helps the person in conducting himself/herself in a given situation and people around him/her know what he/she can and cannot do. People can depend on him/her to accomplish a specific task that is fit to his persona or capacity. Lastly, having a strong sense of self-esteem actually relates to having a strong sense of dignity within this person (Baumeister, 2003). On the other hand, having a high self-esteem can actually limit oneself and can limit ones growth and potential. Take for instance having a strong sense of belongingness can actually inhibit someone from joining other groups and niches that are outside the person’s community. This limits a person from extending his/her network and reaching other people that may actually provide him/her with other opportunities that can accelerate him/her in his/her field. Having a strong sense of self-awareness can actually limit oneself in exploring other activities and other things outside of what he/she knows he/she cannot do. As a last example, having a strong sense of dignity can also be seen as a negative point as this can limit a person’s capacity to interrelate to other people, similar to the negative effect of having too much of a sense of belongingness to a certain group of people (Baumeister, 2005). REFERENCES: 1. Baumeister, R.F. (2003). "Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles?", Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4 (1), pg.1–44 2. Baumeister, Roy F. (2005). Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth, Scientific American. 3. BCA (2006). New Concepts in Innovation: The Keys to a Growing Australia. Business Council of Australia. 4. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985) Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. 5. Field, T. M., McCabe, P. M., & Schneiderman, N. (Eds.). (1985). Stress and Coping. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 6. Franken, (2004). Growth Motivation and Self-Regulation. 7. Geen, R. G. (1995), Human motivation: A social psychological approach. Belmont, CA: Cole. 8. Groddeck, G.W. (1928). The Book of the It, Nervous and Mental Diseases Publishing Com, New York 9. Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Encounters with the self (2nd ed.). New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston. 10. Larsson, G. (1990). Appraisal and Coping Processes Immediately Before Ejection: a Study of Australian and Swedish Pilots. Military Psychology, 2(2), 63-78. 11. Miller, E.K., Cohen, J.D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience 24: 167-202. 12. Monat, A. & Lazarus, R. S. (Eds.). (1977). Stress and Coping: An Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press. 13. Petersen, C., Maier, S.F., Seligman, M.E.P. (1995). Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control. New York: Oxford University Press. 14. Purkey, W. (n.d.) An Overview of Self-Concept Theory for Counselors. Retrieved July 6, 2007, from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/self.htm 15. Ron de Kloet, E; Joels M. & Holsboer F. (2005). Stress and the brain: from adaptation to disease. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6 (6): 463-475. Read More