During this course I have learned about many different factors that motivate people towards a desired outcome or goal. Everyone has something or someone that motivates them to do or not do something. The constant push and pull of motive and incentive drive a person through out their lives to make decisions that will have lasting effects on themselves and others. The concept of motivation was not something that I had really thought about before and did not realize how many decisions that I make in one day that effect my future in positive and negative ways. What motivates a person to do something varies from each individual and every person has different incentives that move them towards an end point.
This class has really helped me to think in depth about who and what motivates me in my life. One huge motivating factor is my family. I strive to do my best and follow through on every task so that I can make my family proud of my accomplishments. This summer I am completing my bachelors degree and in reflecting back on the journey to reach graduation I have really surprised myself. I never thought that I could have been so successful in my academic career. I found within myself that I am an extremely motivated person and it feels so good to have almost accomplished a goal that I have worked so hard for.
I really enjoyed taking this course and in particular I found the sections about sexual selection, emotions, and stress to be fascinating. I never really thought about the process of selecting a mate and the outside factors that play a role in this decision making process. I enjoyed several of the videos about sexual selection and found the experiments about rating your mate to be really interesting. The section on facial expression and emotions was really fascinating because universally we all understand facial expressions that are linked to emotions. When someone smiles, frowns, or scowls we are able to understand and read this emotion without even saying a word. This concept allows all humans to understand one another even if there is a language barrier. The section about stress really hits home for me because I feel like for the past three years I have been in constant stress mode. This section helped me to understand how the process of becoming stressed occurs and how to deal with the effects of stress.
Motivation is made up of the push of motive and the pull of incentive. This push and pull is a wonderful thing because it has helped me to reach my goals and accomplish feats that I never thought were possible. This course has helped me to learn alot about myself and to better understand others. Throughout this course I have been able to reflect on my life’s journey and how to improve myself for a better future. Thank you to the class for your informative and interesting blog posts and to Professor Berg for presenting the course material in such a cohesive and enjoyable manner. I wish everyone the best of luck in their futures and enjoy the rest of the summer!
When you do think about motivation, it is fascinating. Like you mentioned there are many different areas that motivate us. I, like you, was motivated to go to college. My children were my main source of motivation. It was not pleasurable at all but I made it, we made it. I am also graduating with a bachelor’s degree. This was my last course and I am happy and proud to have had the strength to come this far. So, congratulations because it is a tough journey. I wish you the best on your next adventure; hopefully your MSW… you can do it… we can do it!
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