Final Project Post.

In this class we talked about Motivation, hence the title of the class “Motivational Psychology”. Students learned about what motivates us to do the things we do, how we get the motivation, and the different types of motivations we have and use. What does it mean to be motivated? In class we were taught that motivated is to be moved to action/behavior, motive is an internal disposition to approach or avoid an incentive, and lastly, an incentive is environmental stimulus that attracts or repels. We need a push which would be a motive that would make us get to our goal or end state. An example that we used in class was hunger is a push towards food. For an incentive they pull people toward the end state, which could be chocolate pulls the person to the end. And we learned that events at end of motivation sequence or journey is what motivates behavior. As class went on during the semester we learned different areas like, sources of motivation, internal sources, and energy for motivation physical and psychological, knowledge, competence and motivation.

One topic I liked was addictions and addictive behaviors. We talked about drugs of abuse and addiction, theories of drug addiction, and behavioral addictions. An addiction is an intense craving, seeking out, and use of a particular drug. I always find it interesting that caffeine is an addiction because I know I have to have some sort of caffeine it seems, to get through the day. I have at least 3 cups of coffee when I’m working at Wawa, especially since it is free when we are on the clock; it’s hard to not drink it. I see the addiction of nicotine at my job very frequently so I find it interesting to talk about it in class. I have customers that buy a pack on Tuesday and when I’m there Thursday, they get another pack or even more then one to satisfy their addiction. When we talked about craving, I know I have the kind of feeling for my cup of coffee in the morning. I usually don’t want people to talk to me till I have my caffeine in my system. When I don’t have coffee, I get headaches, which some could say it’s my withdrawal symptoms. However, I can live without caffeine if it was doing or die. Another fun thing I would like to add about this class was learning about the different foods that people try to eat for the preferences they like. My favorite was the guy who ate the ghost pepper. Very funny video but also crazy. I know I wouldn’t do that but I’ am not a picky eater when it comes to food; espically cause I love food but who doesn’t.