An intrinsically motivated behavior is one undertaken and enjoyed for its own sake, apart from external controls or ends. Expectancies are competence cues which focus on an individual's ability without providing objective information for ongoing comparison and competence development. This study focused on the role of affect in mediating the…

Research both in cognitive psychology and psychobiology suggests that political behavior is often less rational than individuals believe it to be. Information processing, memory, and decision making are interlinked processes. Studies in cognitive psychology reveal that even though decision making requires rationality, individuals often adopt…

This study examines the utility for understanding loneliness of a model of social identity intended to represent the psychological effects of demographic variables and their interactions. The results are discussed in terms of the contribution of the identity model to predicting and understanding the relationships of social structure to loneliness.…

Substantial research has been done on gender differences in relation to various aspects of learning and teaching. In the field of language learning learner's gender and its relationship with emotional (affective) components of language study has been a subject of numerous academic inquiries. These studies have focused on female and male students'…

A central theme of Mandler's theory of emotion is that the interruption of a cognitive activity sets the stage for emotion. Mandler's theory is particularly applicable to mathematical problem-solving experiences. Mandler's linking of emotion to perception also makes emotion during problem solving an excellent candidate to be modeled with…

In recent years, the relationship between moods and thoughts has been the focus of much theorizing and some empirical work. A study was undertaken to examine the intraindividual relationship between negative affect and negative thoughts using a Box-Jenkins time series analysis. College students (N=33) completed a measure of negative mood and…

The most general explanation of the impact of positive and negative affect on prosocial behavior has been based on the notion that prosocial responses are self-reinforcing. Accordingly, people who are feeling good are inclined to help others in order to maintain their pleasant affect, whereas those who are feeling badly are likely to help in order…

This document defines suffering as the affective aspect of the pain experience while the cognitive aspect of the pain experience is the sensation of pain. It considers personal suffering, which mean's one's own suffering, and not the suffering of other people. It notes that a particular interpretation of suffering may be formulated in any number…

This paper describes the Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model of social behavior which consists of three variables: the psychological closeness of another, the relative performance of that other, and the relevance of the performance dimension to one's self-definition. The SEM model is described as involving two processes, the reflection process…

Most people are raised in a traditional environment which teaches that someone-winning implies that someone-loses. However, psychology and the examples provided in the Watergate scandal demonstrate that such a philosophy is neither productive nor beneficial. A "win-win" philosophy of cooperation, not competition, is needed for…

Many researchers have paid attention to the potentiality and possibility of the shared mental model because it enables teammates to perform their job better by sharing team knowledge, skills, attitudes, dynamics and environments. Even though theoretical and experimental evidences provide a close relationship between the shared mental model and…

A theoretical model and methodology is presented that allows the path or trajectory of an individual's emotional experience during problem solving to be depicted and empirically studied. The trajectory of one's emotional experience reveals how well the individual copes with the frustration of problem solving by indicating how quickly recovery…

This study attempted to improve on the shortcomings of a much publicized previous study (Morris, 1988) which examined the effects of parenting at an older age and concluded that children of older parents had a generally unfavorable view of late parenting and would not choose it for themselves. For the new study, data was gathered from college…

The focus of this paper is not on the events that occur in the classroom but rather on the meaning of those events. An overview is presented of how affective assessment may be conducted in the elementary school physical education class so that teachers may more effectively observe responses of the pupils to their actions and interpret the meaning…

Considerable attention in recent years has focused on the consequences of social comparisons and has suggested that learning that one's outcomes or abilities compare unfavorably to others' is an unpleasant, if not painful experience. Indeed, upward comparisons have been shown to result in negative affect, loss of self-esteem, stress symptoms, and…