Motivation as defined by Lambert
Deckers, the author of our textbook, is the process by which a person is moved
into action. Motivation is an intensely strong force which can originate from both
our internal sources (biological and psychological) and our external sources
such as goals or incentives. One of the first pieces of information I learned
from the textbook and PowerPoint’s was that emotions are a “special” case of
internal motivation. I also find it interesting that the textbook states: “The
source of motivation determines specific behaviors as if the person had no
other choice in the matter.” It is amazing to me that our brains are so smart
that we literally trick ourselves into becoming motivated for a goal, acting as
if there is no other option. Before taking this class I never knew how much
biological involvement there was in a human being’s motivational decisions.
In this class I enjoyed the many
videos and learning tools Professor Berg used to show different motivation
topics. Chapter 4 on drug abuse and addiction was very interesting because the
power substances can take over your body is incredible. I was not surprised to
see caffeine as being named the most widely used psychoactive stimulant in the
world. This fact learned in class has helped me outside the classroom and has
made me want to limit my daily cups of coffee to now one or two. I strongly
believe next to the drug abuse and addiction chapter the next best chapter to
help students take what they have learned in this class and live a better life
outside, was chapter 7 on stress, coping, and health. There are many physical
and psychological health related issues due to stress. I learned that It is
important to try and de-stress as much as possible and find solutions to
problems without getting overly stressed or strained.
My favorite day in class was when
we talked about, and watched the video by Brian Wansink and his “bottomless
soup bowl experiment”. At first this concept made me laugh, then made me think,
do I do this? The idea of the experiment is genius. The more food people see in
front of them, the more they are likely to eat. The two videos on Wansink’s
study were great and a fun way to describe palatability. I’ll never forget that
video and have shown it to many of my friends and family.
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