October 16, 2010 2:55 PM
most of behavior is ongoing routine action patterns. what does it mean to ask about motivation? actions are initiated, inhibited, stimulated, adjusted, halted and what not. action patterns vary in manner, style, etc.
action patterns are composed of a hierarchical arrangement of sub-patterns. For example, nest building is a routine pattern. It is made up of many sub-patterns such as spotting objects, digging objects loose, placing objects, etc. Each of those action patterns are composed of sub-patterns for vision, motor control, etc.
The top of one hierarchy is the organism, an autonomous entity from a social reference (depending on cultural variations such as east and west). The ecological system is another top of the hierarchy from a global reference.
For example, ironically, I am sitting here writing an essay and making notes. At my age and social connections, it is not very likely that this material will be published or referenced by anyone other than myself. So why am I writing normal narrative style as if others will read it? I am simply engaging in an action pattern that I learned well earlier in life. So, I keep repeating the action pattern.
So, now the $64 question. What is motivation? What urges, drives, stimulates us to engage in action patterns in a particular manner.
[December 6, 2011 Current wiki page is much better than when I first saw it
Motivation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reading the wiki page makes me want to set the record straight. The current page’s account of motivation theory is awful. However, it would be a project to write up a better account. What would motivate me to do that?
in another entry (review of...) I say:
Now I really wonder about the whole idea of affect (the experience of feeling or emotion). How does it relate to motivation, arousal, drive, determination, attitudes, moods, obsession, compulsion?
Or “Affects such as sarcasm, contempt, dismissal, distaste, disgust, disbelief, exasperation, boredom, anger, joy, respect or disrespect, sympathy, pity, gratitude, wonder, admiration, humility, and awe are frequently conveyed through paralinguistic mechanisms such as intonation, facial expression, and gesture...” (wiki)
motivation:
“psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior”
System’s view: homeostasis or control system view of motivation: “actions are performed in order to approach desirable input and avoid undesirable input” Input includes internal neurological process or experience as well as perceptions from the external environment.
learned and developed
functional localization
endocrine substrate
dimensions of motivation
- external trigger, initiate the start or the change of an activity
include mirror mimicry causes
- external situation affords an activity
- internal arousal, marshaling and focusing of energy
- internal trigger, initiate the start or the change of an activity
- energize - amount of effort put into a task
- persistence, determination, consistent focus, commitment, sustaining
- responsive - timely covariance with changing situation
- purpose as implied by apparent target or path
- value valence as implied by choice, selection
- recall, now experience, future expectation
control theory - homeostatic regulation
- goal or reference
- sensor and monitor
- evaluator of goal vs actual
- effector
evaluation/appraisal of goals, beliefs, etc. and one's environment -> emotion
descrepancy -> negative emotions
confirmation -> positive emotions
conditioned motivation
instrumental association with reward or ?
concurrence association
neurobiological emotion models mention brain structures like the amygdala, the accumbens, the septum, the hippocampus, the hypothalamus, the thalamus, the basal ganglia, the prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the ventral striatum, the insula, etc.