Lesson 10

People often ask, “Do we really have control over our own emotions all the time?” For example, if your partner insists that you go to a dinner party and you realize that you cannot stand some of the guests, are you able to “fake it” and pretend that you are happy to be there or does your facial expression give you away? Why is it that, upon hearing the death of a loved one, some people become overwhelmed with emotion while others appear stoic or unaffected? Can you make yourself happy?

In this lesson, we will learn about some theories of emotional response and explore the physiological and biological approaches in explaining emotion.

In her book, "My Stroke of Insight", which documents her own personal experience having a stroke, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor explains the role that emotions play in day to day experience very well...

"Sensory information streams in through our sensory systems and is immediately processed through our limbic system. By the time a message reaches our cerebral cortex for higher thinking, we have already placed a "feeling" upon how we view that stimulation -- is this pain or is this pleasure? Although many of us may think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, biologically we are feeling creatures that think." (p. 19)

Emotions play an extremely important role in our day to day experiences...how we react to situations, how we control our emotions, and how we experience our emotional world is one of the most colorful and exciting aspects of our existence.

TED Talks are famous for revealing some of the prevailing perceptions on topics. The TED Talks Playlist for "What makes you happy?" includes titles such as these:

For many years the field of psychology has focused on developing a deep understanding of the dysfunctions of the human mind. Troubled minds and mental illness have dominated research in psychology for obvious reasons...people who are "well" do not need to see the "doctor"!

It is highly recommended that you take our course called "Positive Psychology" after you have completed PSY 101

Psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman is the author of "Working With Emotional Intelligence". Goleman believes that I.Q. is not longer as valued as it once was as being an indicator of a person's success. Now it is Emotional Intelligence that has become the new yardstick. Emotional Intelligence refers to areas like self-awareness, empathy and social skills, and it is these qualities that employers are now looking for.

One of the more famous analyses of Motivation was accomplished by Maslow. He conceptualized a hierarchy of needs that must be satisfied, in hierarchical order, and go far to explain why people act the way they do.

Later in life he distanced himself from the concept that they needed to be done in a specific order (such that physiological needs had to be satisfied before safety needs)

Maslow's theory has been a useful tool for me in my own clinical work. I have often used it to assess an individuals psychosocial situation when working with them in a rehabilitation capacity. Although we are not stuck to achieving these needs in this order, we can understand the idea that feeling "safe" may have to precede feeling "belonging"

However, consider the individual who feels trapped in a dangerous relationship (abusive/neglectful). It seems that the strong sense of "belonging" may out-weigh the sense of safety...in addition, the "esteem" gained from keeping a marriage together against all odds may be more important that there being any love in that relationship.

A self-actualizer is a person who is living creatively and fully using his or her potentials. In his studies, Maslow found that self-actualizers share similarities. Whether famous or unknown, educated or not, rich or poor, self-actualizers tend to fit the following profile.

David Mcclelland's Motivational Needs Theory

American David Clarence McClelland (1917-98) achieved his doctorate in psychology at Yale in 1941 and became professor at Wesleyan University. He then taught and lectured, including a spell at Harvard from 1956, where with colleagues for twenty years he studied particularly motivation and the achievement need. He began his McBer consultancy in 1963, helping industry assess and train staff, and later taught at Boston University, from 1987 until his death. McClelland is chiefly known for his work on achievement motivation, but his research interests extended to personality and consciousness.

David McClelland pioneered workplace motivational thinking, developing achievement-based motivational theory and models, and promoted improvements in employee assessment methods, advocating competency-based assessments and tests, arguing them to be better than traditional IQ and personality-based tests. His ideas have since been widely adopted in many organizations, and relate closely to the theory of Frederick Herzberg.

David McClelland is most noted for describing three types of motivational need, which he identified in his 1961 book, The Achieving Society:

Achievement Motivation (n-ach)
Authority/Power Motivation (n-pow)
Affiliation Motivation (n-affil)

David Mcclelland's Needs-based Motivational Model

These needs are found to varying degrees in all workers and managers, and this mix of motivational needs characterizes a person's or manager's style and behavior, both in terms of being motivated, and in the management and motivation others.

Need for Achievement (n-ach)

The n-ach person is 'achievement motivated' and therefore seeks achievement, attainment of realistic but challenging goals, and advancement in the job. There is a strong need for feedback as to achievement and progress, and a need for a sense of accomplishment.

Need for Authority and Power (n-pow)

The n-pow person is 'authority motivated'. This driver produces a need to be influential, effective and to make an impact. There is a strong need to lead and for their ideas to prevail. There is also motivation and need towards increasing personal status and prestige.

Need for Affiliation (n-affil)

The n-affil person is 'affiliation motivated', and has a need for friendly relationships and is motivated towards interaction with other people. The affiliation driver produces motivation and need to be liked and held in popular regard. These people are team players.

McClelland said that most people possess and exhibit a combination of these characteristics. Some people exhibit a strong bias to a particular motivational need, and this motivational or needs 'mix' consequently affects their behavior and working/managing style. McClelland suggested that a strong n-affil 'affiliation-motivation' undermines a manager's objectivity, because of their need to be liked, and that this affects a manager's decision-making capability. A strong n-pow 'authority-motivation' will produce a determined work ethic and commitment to the organization, and while n-pow people are attracted to the leadership role, they may not possess the required flexibility and people-centered skills. McClelland argues that n-ach people with strong 'achievement motivation' make the best leaders, although there can be a tendency to demand too much of their staff in the belief that they are all similarly and highly achievement-focused and results driven, which of course most people are not.

McClelland's particular fascination was for achievement motivation, and this laboratory experiment illustrates one aspect of his theory about the affect of achievement on people's motivation. McClelland asserted via this experiment that while most people do not possess a strong achievement-based motivation, those who do, display a consistent behavior in setting goals:

Volunteers were asked to throw rings over pegs rather like the fairground game; no distance was stipulated, and most people seemed to throw from arbitrary, random distances, sometimes close, sometimes farther away. However a small group of volunteers, whom McClelland suggested were strongly achievement-motivated, took some care to measure and test distances to produce an ideal challenge - not too easy, and not impossible. Interestingly a parallel exists in biology, known as the 'overload principle', which is commonly applied to fitness and exercising, ie., in order to develop fitness and/or strength the exercise must be sufficiently demanding to increase existing levels, but not so demanding as to cause damage or strain. McClelland identified the same need for a 'balanced challenge' in the approach of achievement-motivated people.

McClelland contrasted achievement-motivated people with gamblers, and dispelled a common pre-conception that n-ach 'achievement-motivated' people are big risk takers. On the contrary - typically, achievement-motivated individuals set goals which they can influence with their effort and ability, and as such the goal is considered to be achievable. This determined results-driven approach is almost invariably present in the character make-up of all successful business people and entrepreneurs.

McClelland suggested other characteristics and attitudes of achievement-motivated people:

achievement is more important than material or financial reward.
achieving the aim or task gives greater personal satisfaction than receiving praise or recognition.
financial reward is regarded as a measurement of success, not an end in itself.
security is not prime motivator, nor is status.
feedback is essential, because it enables measurement of success, not for reasons of praise or recognition (the implication here is that feedback must be reliable, quantifiable and factual).
achievement-motivated people constantly seek improvements and ways of doing things better.
achievement-motivated people will logically favor jobs and responsibilities that naturally satisfy their needs, ie offer flexibility and opportunity to set and achieve goals, eg., sales and business management, and entrepreneurial roles.

McClelland firmly believed that achievement-motivated people are generally the ones who make things happen and get results, and that this extends to getting results through the organization of other people and resources, although as stated earlier, they often demand too much of their staff because they prioritize achieving the goal above the many varied interests and needs of their people.

Interesting comparisons and relationships can be drawn between McClelland's motivation types, and the characteristics defined in other behavioral models, eg:

John Adair's Action-Centered Leadership model: Achievement-motivated managers are firmly focused on the Task, often to the detriment of the Individual and the Team. Affiliation-motivation people are Team and Individual centered. (Note that John Adair's Action-Centered leadership model is ©John Adair.)

Katherine Benziger's Thinking Styles model: Achievement-motivation is a double-frontal brain mode style; affiliation-motivation is right basal (rear); authority-motivation is arguably left basal (rear).

DISC (Inscape, Thomas International, etc) system: Achievement-motivated people are 'D' profiles - results-driven, decisive, dominant, etc. Affiliation-motivated people are I (proactive) and S (reactive) profiles. Authority-motivated people are S and C profiles.

Hersey/Blanchard's Situational Leadership® model: Achievement-motivated people tend to favor the styles of the first and second modes ('telling' and 'selling'); affiliation-motivated people tend to favor the third mode ('participating'); and the authority-motivated people tend to favor the style of mode four ('delegating'). Please note that Situational Leadership® is protected intellectual property: Situational Leadership® is a trademark of the Center for Leadership Studies. Situational Leadership II® is a trademark of The Ken Blanchard Companies. Use of material relating to Situational Leadership® and/or Situational Leadership II® requires license and agreement from the respective companies.

McGregor XY Theory: Achievement-motivated people tend towards X-Theory style, due to their high task focus; there are plenty of exceptions however, and training definitely helps the n-ach manager to see the value of employing Theory Y style. n-pow managers are definitely Theory X. n-affil are typically Theory Y and if not can relatively easily be trained to be so.

Herzberg motivators and hygiene factors: n-ach people are more responsive to the Herzberg motivators (especially achievement obviously) than n-affil and n-pow people.

In this section you will find a list of the required Assessments that accompany this Lesson. The Lesson Discussions are designed for the ONLINE and HYBRID versions of this course. If you are not in an ONLINE or HYBRID version of this course you can ignore these instructions unless otherwise guided by your instructor.

Based on what you learned about Emotional Intelligence in the video, describe your own personal "emotional intelligence" and how you think this trait has either helped or hindered you.

People often ask, “Can money really buy happiness?” While we all need a minimum number of resources to survive, is more always better? Why or why not? (Please base your responses on what you have learned about emotion as well as your personal experiences).