M3.5 Discussion: Emotion and Motivation – Personal Examples CLASSMATE REPLY ONLY

References

Reeve, J. (2018). Chapter 12 Nature of Emotion: Six
Perennial Questions. Chapter 13 – Aspects of Emotion Understanding Motivation
and Emotion (7th ed.). Wiley Global Education US. Retrieved from https://ecampus.vitalsource.com/books/9781119367659

Response:

• Your replies to classmates must be substantive; posting “I agree” is a start, but you also should explain why. Replies should contribute to the discussion by integrating what you have learned from your required readings. When participating in the discussion forums, be both honest and respectful of ideas and comments from your classmates. Please remember the board discussions take place in an open forum, so refrain from vulgar language and racial, sexist, or any other comments that an individual might find offensive.

• Discussions are academic discussions. Therefore, in all your writing, to include discussion posts, or papers asking for your opinion, you should always validate your arguments with evidence of research.

• Consider is to provide a different perspective on your classmates’ original postings. It is okay to agree with their comments, but it is also acceptable to disagree and provide a different perspective. I think it would increase the value of the discussions. The intent is to share knowledge.

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Emotions are motives that vitalize, guide, and continue a specific behavior. The relationship between emotions and motivation is complex. Depending on the emotion, the body will react in different ways, and this is because emotions can be thought of as a driving force to a particular behavior. Whether the emotion is positive or negative, there is still a sense of purpose and a goal to be reached. 

No. Fear can get an individual out of a potentially dangerous situation. If a person is in a dangerous situation and does not have the proper amount of fear, potentially horrible things could happen to that person. For example, in law enforcement, it would not be wise to stand in the middle of a shootout with a suspect but instead get some cover behind a squad car or building for cover and concealment. A reasonably-minded person would have some fear of being shot and passing away. Without the necessary amount of fear within, the individual puts themselves in greater danger. 

About two years ago, I experienced an intense situation that left me without a job, with two dogs, and with only a few hundred dollars to my name. I had many negative emotions during this time, but I found something in me that motivated me. 

My experiences in universities as a TA and a tutor helped me get a job with an online tutoring company. During the first almost five months, I only had fewer than a handful of clients, so I was also searching for another teacher job in South America. After a few rejections, I became frustrated and focused my feelings, bodily responses, sense of purpose, and expressive behaviors on tutoring students virtually. 

The most predominant of the components of emotion experienced was that of a sense of purpose. Reeve (2018) states in the textbook, “The purposive aspect generates an impulse to action that explains why people want to do what they do during an emotion.” My goals were to improve my mathematics tutoring skills and find enough students to tutor as a career and a full-time job. I wanted to take the necessary action to become this well-known and good mathematics tutor. 

In doing so, I learned to cope with the stress of only having a few students and looking for another job by turning it into motivation to become a great mathematics tutor. The meaning-focused coping method helped me understand and regulate my situation. In short, I had to improve at individually teaching students if I wanted this career. In the article Are Your Coping Skills Healthy? by Peebles (2023), “Cognitive tools that help us gain a broader understanding of stressful situations so that we can see them in context, and thus manage them.” I found stress relief in returning to university and taking online courses in virtual teaching because they helped me develop my tutoring skills. After some time, I also improved the technology I used for virtual tutoring sessions by purchasing a fast, new computer, an excellent HD webcam, a professional drawing tablet, and a professional microphone. 

However, there was a time when the frustration and anxiety of not being hired as a teacher made me think that maybe it was just not meant to be that I continued teaching math. I applied for other jobs in the US, such as insurance sales representative, transcriptionist, education consultant, data entry clerk, and proofreader, but did not hear anything back. This took time away from improving my tutoring style and learning to attract more clients. This hindered my goal of being a great tutor due to the accumulated stress of not being hired in these fields. Eventually, I stopped applying to jobs and revised my goal to become a great virtual tutor. 

References: 

Peebles, H. (2023, June 20). Are your coping skills healthy? https://meetmonarch.com/health-resources/articles/coping-skills/healthy-coping-skillsLinks to an external site.

Reeve, J. (2018). Understanding Motivation and Emotion (7th ed., pp. 81-85). Wiley.

Classmate 2 Initial Post: Courtney A.

In your own words, describe the relationship between emotions and motivation.

Emotions are our primary and evolutionary motivational systems that drive our behavior(s). Based on our life experiences, these physiological and psychological manifestations of our emotions can adapt according to how our brains are perceiving the world around us. This is similar to Bucks’ two systems view (Reeve, 2018) discussed in chapter 12 of our text. I believe that all emotions can have both positive and negative results, but that our interpretations of them can manifest depending on our experiences and cognitive processes. I think it’s also important to note that emotions are very complex and can often consist of a multitude of variations (Reeve, 2018). From a young age, our society, at least here in the U.S,. really only highlights a handful of “basic” emotions, when in reality, there are dozens of different sub-variations of each. They all serve a purpose, whether for a functional and biological survival/natural selection purpose, or for dealing with everyday fundamental life tasks (Reeve, 2018). Emotions such as fear and anger, can serve both negative and positive results. They can cause us to be reactive, which can be seen as negative when yelling or having explosive behavior towards someone that wasn’t deserving of such, or can be positive when we are advocating about an injustice. The effects of our emotional behaviors can in turn motivate us to avoid, or upon reflection, can motivate change within us to alter behavior. 

Personal example

Name the task/behavior at hand: Starting a new business venture

The experienced emotion: fear (of being perceived, of failure, imposter syndrome)

The cause of the emotion: anxiety of being perceived as not-qualified or living up to expectations (imposter syndrome), uncertainty about the market (my specific niche is still understudied & researched so there is little to base my model on for examples), fear of financial instability, concerns about failure (being my own boss and not having someone to drive me to get tasks done is stressful to me)

Its impact on your motivation: Fear can inhibit motivation by creating internal doubt and makes it difficult to take risks our of fear of negative outcomes which can hinder any progress toward launching a new business. For example, starting my own business means I don’t have a company to fall back on for insurance or healthcare, a steady income if I just show up and put in the work, etc.

How could you have used the regulation strategies to control your emotions and increase motivation at times when your emotions blocked your action? In an attempt to control my emotions and increase motivation, I can implement various strategies like doing market intensive market research on my target audience and what they are looking for. This can be both tricky to get results because my particular niche is untapped so I have to develop the research really specifically, but because it’s untapped, possibilities are endless and really reaching out directly to what the consumer is looking for can be incredibly helpful. Additionally I can create a business plan with a clear cut business model, mission, vision, and goals. This plan can help me feel more confident and prepared with understanding potential risks and issues that may arise. I can also reach out to others in the field for mentorships or guidance. Most importantly, the best strategy I can implement is incorporating a reframe from fearful to an opportunity to explore, learn, grow, and help others. By embracing my own challenges, I can help inspire others to explore their resiliency and encourage others to cultivate their own sense of purpose by living and leading by example.

References:

Reeve, J. (2018). Understanding motivation and emotion. (7th ed). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.