The Impact of Motivation and Affect on Judgement
The Impact of Motivation and Affect on Judgement
Tutor: Danya Marshall
Tutorial: Tuesdays 12-1pm
“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves” (O’Brien, 1956/1991). In order to accomplish the purpose of this paper and show how it is that motivation and affect impacts judgement there are some key terms which need to be defined. The first is judgement, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (n.d.) this is defined as the ability of an individual to make a decision or come to a conclusion after careful thought. The second term is motivation and that is “an inner state that energizes, directs and sustains behaviour” (Ellis-Omrod, 2012). The final term, affect, is defined as “any feelings, emotions and moods that a learner brings to bear on a task” (Ellis-Omrod, 2012).
Motivation and affect can be said to be intertwined in forming Hot Cognition. Hot cognition focuses on the mental processes that are driven by an individual’s desires (goals) and feelings (affect) (Kunda, 1999). The two (motivation and affect) are important because of how they may influence our thought processes that are used to arrive at judgements and influence which concepts or beliefs are applied to judgement. In addition to this hot cognition influences our judgements in terms of how we process information. Take for example a scenario of two women, Sally and Jane. Jane has just moved into Sally’s apartment building and no one knows anything about her except that she is always seen going out at nights and coming in early mornings. If Sally uses the little information available to her and comes to the conclusion that Jane is a stripper though using inferential shortcuts. However if Sally and Jane’s sons attend the e same school and Sally goes to visit her mother at a nursing home and sees Jane then she will come to a judgement about Jane through elaborate systematic reasoning.
Motivation can be seen as a very important factor in our lives. It is the most
Tutor: Danya Marshall
Tutorial: Tuesdays 12-1pm
“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves” (O’Brien, 1956/1991). In order to accomplish the purpose of this paper and show how it is that motivation and affect impacts judgement there are some key terms which need to be defined. The first is judgement, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (n.d.) this is defined as the ability of an individual to make a decision or come to a conclusion after careful thought. The second term is motivation and that is “an inner state that energizes, directs and sustains behaviour” (Ellis-Omrod, 2012). The final term, affect, is defined as “any feelings, emotions and moods that a learner brings to bear on a task” (Ellis-Omrod, 2012).
Motivation and affect can be said to be intertwined in forming Hot Cognition. Hot cognition focuses on the mental processes that are driven by an individual’s desires (goals) and feelings (affect) (Kunda, 1999). The two (motivation and affect) are important because of how they may influence our thought processes that are used to arrive at judgements and influence which concepts or beliefs are applied to judgement. In addition to this hot cognition influences our judgements in terms of how we process information. Take for example a scenario of two women, Sally and Jane. Jane has just moved into Sally’s apartment building and no one knows anything about her except that she is always seen going out at nights and coming in early mornings. If Sally uses the little information available to her and comes to the conclusion that Jane is a stripper though using inferential shortcuts. However if Sally and Jane’s sons attend the e same school and Sally goes to visit her mother at a nursing home and sees Jane then she will come to a judgement about Jane through elaborate systematic reasoning.
Motivation can be seen as a very important factor in our lives. It is the most
References: Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. (2010). Goal orientations theory of motivation. Retreived from http://www.counsellingconnection.com/index.php/2010/11/18/goal-orientations-theory-of-motivation/ Forgas, J. (1994). The role of emotion in social judgments: An introductory review and an Affect Infusion Model (AIM). European Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 1-24. Forgas, J. (1995). Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model (AIM). Psychology Bulletin, 117, 39-66. Johnson E., & Tversky A. (1983). Affect, generalization, and the perception of risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,45,20–31. Judgement. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/judgment Kunda, Z. (1999). Social Cognition: making sense of people. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Kanfer, R. (1991). Motivation theory and industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology,vol. 1. California: Consulting Psychologists Press. Schwarz , N., & Clore, G.L. (1983). Mood, misattribution and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,45,513–523.