Abstract
Psychological theories addressing how individuals see their emotions and actions include the self-perception theory, overjustification, and the two-factor theory. The self-perception hypothesis states that people may infer their attitudes and beliefs from their actions and the context in which they act. Overjustification is when people ascribe their conduct to the reward rather than their internal reason, undermining intrinsic motivation. According to the two-factor approach, physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation are the causes of emotions. These ideas affect various issues, including social influence, emotional control, and motivation. Knowing these ideas can help guide efforts for behaviour change and enhance emotional well-being by revealing how people understand their own experiences and the world around them.
Keywords: self-perception theory, overjustification effect, two-factor theory of emotion, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation.
Social Theory in Psychology
The scientific study of how individuals act feel, and think in social contexts is known as social psychology. It investigates how individuals connect and perceive, and are impacted by others. For example, social psychologists examine interpersonal attraction, bias, and group dynamics. The influence of social influences on people’s behaviour, attitudes, and beliefs is another area of study for social psychologists. Their work advances our knowledge of human behaviour and aids in creating plans for enhancing social interactions and resolving social problems.
Self-Perception Theory
According to Strehlow et al. (2021), the self-perception theory emphasizes the role of social influences in determining our self-concept, which is the collective of a person’s views about themselves. According to cognitive scientists, this notion entails “self-schemas” that control how self-relevant information is processed. Self-schemas influence how individuals see themselves in connection to the outside world, much like theories’ hypotheses or libraries’ volumes. Individuals can have several self-schemas, as demonstrated by those who identify with two different cultures and may have various self-schemas that are appropriate for each.
Body weight is one example of a self-schema that can cause ideas about the self in those who view their weight as excessive or a significant aspect of their identity. Conversely, those who don’t value their weight are arithmetical about it. The use of imaging modalities, including PET and fMRI, has shown that the self is a full frame of reference that affects our beliefs, emotions, and behaviours. For example, some brain parts are more active when an individual sees a photo than others. The earliest concrete demonstration of the sensation of “me,” a quality shared by particular creatures, including chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, is the capacity to identify oneself in the mirror. Yet, the research found that children in Kenya and Fiji failed the self-recognition test despite being able to recognize themselves in the mirror or the mark that was placed on their faces. This implies that self-awareness may not be a characteristic shared by all civilizations, and mirrors are ineffective in establishing self-recognition and the impacts of culture on self-recognition.
Strehlow et al. (2021) suggest that the self-perception theory, “Looking-glass self,” implies that we base our sense of self on how we believe others see us, using them as a mirror to observe and perceive ourselves as a factor in our shaping. We get to know ourselves by envisioning what essential people think of us and combining these impressions into our self-concept. We can discriminate between how we see ourselves and how others view us, and often our self-concept matches perceptions of what others think of us, a meta-insight. Introspection is turning inward to examine one’s thoughts and feelings to learn more about oneself. This process can provide information about one’s beliefs, emotions, wants, and personality. However, human beings may not understand the causes of their behaviour or have biased self-perceptions, such as overestimating our positive qualities. However, introspection can help gain self-knowledge; its limitations and biases remain unknown, a factor in its ineffectiveness.
Social variables significantly impact a dynamic and complex idea, the self-concept. Self-schemas determine how we see ourselves in the context of the outside world, and an introspection is a tool that may provide us with more understanding of our ideas and feelings. Yet, our impressions of ourselves may not always match reality, and society influences how we see ourselves. Therefore, we may manage our interpersonal interactions more effectively and develop higher self-awareness if we understand the complexity of the self-concept.
The Overjustification Effect
As Park and Kim (2022) stated, the overjustification effect is fascinating, highlighting human motivation’s complex nature. For example, receiving extrinsic incentives for an activity that a person already finds enjoyable might gradually reduce their intrinsic desire for that activity. This effect can create ambiguity about a person’s motivation, mainly regarding activities once pursued purely for pleasure.
As Park and Kim (2022) suggested, the marker study mentioned in the reading provides an excellent example of how the over-justification effect can manifest in real life. Park and Kim (2022) suggest that preschoolers who were given a chance to play with markers were more intrinsically motivated the more time they spent doing so. However, when some children were rewarded for drawing pictures using the tags, their intrinsic motivation for playing with them decreased. On the other hand, the children who received the unexpected reward remained intrinsically motivated, suggesting that rewards not tied to a specific behaviour may not undermine intrinsic motivation.
This finding has implications for how rewards motivate people in various contexts, like workplaces where employees are often given bonuses or other extrinsic rewards for meeting specific targets or goals. While these rewards may initially increase motivation, the over-justification effect suggests that employees may begin to view their work as purely instrumental rather than intrinsically rewarding over time. The concept of the self is also a fascinating area of study that has received considerable attention from psychologists. The passage emphasizes how people’s descriptions of themselves distinguish them from others around them. This indicates that the self is relative and that we partly define ourselves by using others as a benchmark. Furthermore, changeable, the self may modify how we define ourselves based on the social setting in which we find ourselves.
Generally, research into the overjustification effect and the idea of the self is crucial since it can aid our understanding of human motivation and behaviour. For example, the overjustification Effect reminds us that rewards and incentives must be carefully considered to avoid undermining intrinsic motivation. In contrast, the concept of the self highlights the social nature of our self-definitions and the role that others play in shaping our identities. We will surely learn new things about the intricate ways the human mind functions as we continue to research these and other psychological areas.
Two-Factor Theory of Emotion
According to Pace-Schott et al. (2019), in the two-factor theory of emotion, a person needs both physiological arousal and a cognitive interpretation explaining the cause of that arousal to feel a particular emotion. This theory proposes that people sometimes look to others to help them interpret their arousal. These participants were left alone with a male confederate who acted euphoric or angry. Participants who were uninformed about the drug’s effects looked to the confederate’s behavior to help them interpret their arousal and reported feeling relatively happy or angry, depending on the confederate’s performance.
This study shows the significance of social signals and environmental elements in influencing emotions. Although there has been some debate about this study’s conclusions, the notion that other individuals may affect our emotions is still pertinent and crucial to comprehend. It is essential to realize that other people may act as models for our emotional responses when we’re unclear about our feelings. However, the influence of other people on our emotions has some limitations. Firstly, for other people to influence our emotions, our level of physiological arousal cannot be too intense; otherwise, the arousal will be experienced as unpleasant regardless of the situation. Secondly, other people must be present as a possible explanation for arousal before its onset, meaning that external factors do not entirely determine people’s emotional responses. People can still interpret their arousal without any external influence.
This idea has significant ramifications, particularly regarding social and interpersonal circumstances. It implies that feelings may spread contagiously from one person to another. People must thus be mindful of their emotional reactions in social settings since they can significantly influence others. For instance, if one person in a group has an inadequate emotional response, others in the group may experience the same thing, which might spread negativity. On the other hand, happy emotions may spread from one person to another and promote a pleasant environment. This theory also highlights the significance of appropriate emotional labelling since incorrect dynamic interpretation might have unintended consequences. For example, a person may behave poorly, resulting in misunderstandings and conflicts, if they incorrectly assess their emotional state based on outside stimuli. Being aware of how external factors affect emotions might aid people in having more accurate and sensible emotional reactions.
The two-factor theory of emotion suggests that external cues and environmental factors can influence emotions. However, this influence is limited and only occurs when individuals are uncertain about their emotional state. Hence, one must know how emotions affect social interactions and classify emotions appropriately to prevent bad results. Better interpersonal communication and fruitful social interactions can result from understanding the function of outside influences on emotions.
Conclusion
Emotions are intricate, multifaceted experiences impacted by various variables, including physiological reactions, cognitive interpretations, and social cues. The Two-Factor theory of emotion expands on previous ideas by proposing that physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation are required to feel a particular emotion and that social cues from others can influence our mental interpretation of the arousal. However, significant debate has been surrounding this notion, and study replications have shown inconsistent findings. Nonetheless, grasping the many theories of emotion and the elements that influence them may aid in our ability to appreciate human behaviour and decision-making better. Emotions are essential to our everyday lives and significantly impact our social and personal well-being.
References
Pace-Schott, E. F., Amole, M. C., Aue, T., Balconi, M., Bylsma, L. M., Critchley, H., & VanElzakker, M. B. (2019). Physiological feelings. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 103, 267–304.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.05.002
Park, S., & Kim, S. (2022). Points and the delivery of gameful experiences in a gamified environment: Framework Development and Case Analysis. JMIR Serious Games, 10(3), Article e35907.
https://doi.org/10.2196/35907
Strehlow, S., Foster, S. J., Fuller, R., Ridpath, B. D., Fridley, A., & Stokowski, S. (2021). Division I college athletes’ self-perception: Investigating the impact of race and discrimination. Journal of Athlete Development and Experience: 3(3), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.25035/jade.03.03.01
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