Emotions & Goal Directed Motivation

When looking at emotions and the role that they play on your goals and motivations, they are linked. This learner has chosen to consider the emotion anxiety and the role it plays, and this learner is writing to express the clearly demonstrated effects of anxiety on an individuals goals or motivations. Normal symptoms of anxiety can vary from physiological reactions, to cognitive, to coping strategies. These can look like, “muscle tension, irritability, fatigue, restlessness, insomnia, poor concentration, unrealistic assessment of problems, worries, avoidance, procrastination, and poor problem-solving skills” (PersonalityProject.Org, N.D.). The list is fairly extensive, as anxiety and depression are not minor issues.

Anxiety has historically been classified as a disorder and can manifest itself in a variety of commonly known ways: “generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, separation anxiety, and post-traumatic stress” (PersonalityProject.Org, N.D.) disorders are all varieties of anxiety. The PersonalityProject.Org (N.D.) conducted a study similar to that of the Clark Hull Drive Reduction Theory who studied mostly overt behaviors and resulted in behaviors that were necessary to achieve certain goals or to satisfy needs being achieved, and once achieved the drive was then reduced and the optimal state of being was restored (Jpetrovic, 2013). According to Jpetrovic (2013) Hull’s theory was mostly abandoned by the 1970’s, however it was inspiration for many additional theories later on (i.e., Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—which we have looked at fairly closely these last couple of months).

When you look at Maslow’s Need Hierarchy, see below (McLeod, 2020):

You can start to see where if anxiety were involved (i.e., panic attacks, irritability, restlessness, worrying, etc.) you would not be able to fully feel comfortable moving up the hierarchy level. Therefore, it will either pull back down in a lower level on the hierarchy for mental stability or survival, or you will stay stuck on a level without any progression occurring (means of survival by staying stagnant).

For example, if you are in the level of self-actualization or esteem and you have anxiety about the fact that during COVID-19 a lot of individuals have lot their jobs, and you are concerned because of the fact that individuals from your own company specifically have lost their jobs, that maybe you could lose your job as well. You could begin to feel like the world is falling down around you, especially if that layoff does occur, which would be exactly what is occurring by being forcefully pulled into a different level in the hierarchy. You could get pulled from one of those top two tiers all the way down to one of two bottom tiers. Either you are concerned about finding a new job, keeping your current job, or what the effect could have on your living situation if you lost your job.

• Would you still be able to pay for daycare?

• Would you still be able to pay your mortgage or your rent?

• What about electricity?

• Water?

• Garbage?

• Pet food?

• Health care bills?

What about how your children feel? How will they react to this anxiety? Students and youth that experience symptoms of anxiety have been shown to have a diminished or lack of ability to think and concentrate (American Psychiatric Association, and DSM-5 Task Force, 2013). If parents are able to have enough presence and involvement in the day-to-day activities with their children then it could help children improve, and possibly would even decrease said anxiety or depressive symptoms relating to academic motivations (Elmelid, A., 2014) however, without that presence or involvement children could continue to suffer from continued anxiety and a lack of academic motivation.

Elmelid (2014) additionally states that there is additional research detailing the effects of anxiety or depression on child functioning or adjustment (i.e., development) and this could hinder a child’s academic or even their personal achievements. “One way in which depression might lead to lower motivation is by reducing perceived levels of energy and by increasing susceptibility to fatigue as well as by reducing the capacity to think or concentrate,” (Thapar, Collishaw, Pine & Thapar, 2012). These would certainly effect the way a child were to perceive or perform in an academic setting.

Now, going back to the parent that houses this child, who is concerned that they could potentially lose their job due to COVID-19—if you take into consideration the same facets that lower academic motivation in youth, those same facets exist in adults. These same issues face each adult that suffers from anxiety and depression, or they very well could. An adult could have a loss of energy due to fatigue caused by excessive worry, which would cause them to reduce their concentration skills. Any employer who is looking to layoff employees, would need to look further than current performance in order to determine who is to be laid off.

This learners thinks that additional research could be conducted into work performance due to anxiety and depression. Additional research could be conducted into Hull’s theory of overt behaviors because anxiety does not simply live on the surface. It is not only an overt behavior, but also a cognitive behavior, therefore one would necessarily need to study internalized behaviors—things not seen on the surface. Human Resources could look at an employee and simply see that they are under performing, or a teacher could look at a child and say that they are under performing. However, what is going on inside of the individual? What is causing this under performance?

In this learners employment field, a policing profession, this is when one would need to do community policing. Law enforcement officials see a reoccurring issue, and it needs to stop. But how do you stop it? You need to get to know the people. Spend time in their community. Get to know their culture, their environment, learn how the community thinks, and reacts—this will help you, help them. Human Resources or teachers would need to police their own. Spend time with them, learn what makes them tick, and you could be that source of stability, or that source of motivation.

This learner believes that siloed, these studies could be beneficial. However, when considering a much larger picture on a much grander scale, with an anxious and depressed parent as well afraid of losing their job and everything that could follow—it would lead individuals to want to look further. Not only how can you help the individual, but how could you help the family? The situation itself?

But how is an employer to help an individual with anxiety or depression? Even if the employer does not understand the reasons why, the employer could still see that an employee is underperforming and there is a leading cause to understand why. Gallo (2014) states that is important to acknowledge the problem, figure out what is going on with the employee, seek advice from other individuals about pieces to the puzzle that you may be missing, talk to the individual themselves, and determine a cause of action—whatever that may be (i.e., coaching, letting the employee go if necessary, mentorship) you cannot figure out what to do without these pieces of the puzzle until they are fully laid out on the table.

Police your own—simply put.

For this learner, she experienced a great deal of trauma at a past employer and her performance on the job did not necessarily dimmish, but her social life inside and outside of work did. Interpersonal skills had apparently taken a hit after the effects of this trauma, and it caused this learner to shut down. Having been through a great deal of trauma previously, this learner has adjusted and acquired skills to keep pushing forward through anxiety and depression. However, trauma takes its toll, and some things end up lacking. For this learner, it was the interpersonal relationship skills that took a back burner while this learner focused solely on performing (i.e., continuing to show up and get the job done no matter the circumstance). However, shortly not long after this sense of a means for purposes of survival, FMLA was taken for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder—which is a symptom of anxiety and depression).

In this case, the employer did not take the time to sit and discuss what had been occurring by some of their own employees—and it opened the employer up to liability from a legal and Human Resources standpoint. This also could have been entirely avoidable, had the situation been handled by a superior. In this instance, this learner did not wait for a superior to come to her, she went to the superior and the superior turned her away. Therefore, this learner, is a huge advocate for taking the time you need to get a job well done, but also to police their own—in more ways than one. You never know who could be hurting morale and creating anxiety and depression in your employees. COVID-19 itself creates enough of a dilemma in todays world.

Resources

1. American Psychiatric Association, & DSM-5 Task Force. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. Arlington, VA.: American Psychiatric Association.

2. Elmelid, A. (2014, May 9). Depressive Symptoms, Anxiety and Academic Motivation in Youth: Do Schools and Families Make a Difference? https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:756580/FULLTEXT03

3. Gallo, A. (2014, June 23). How to Help an Underperformer. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/06/how-to-help-an-underperformer

4. Jpetrovic. (2013, September 30). Drive Reduction Theory. Learning-Theories.Org. https://www.learning-theories.org/doku.php?id=learning_theories:drive_reduction_theory

5. McLeod, S. A. (2015). Freud and the Unconscious Mind. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/unconscious-mind.html

6. PersonalityProject.Org. (n.d.). Anxiety, Negative Effect and Avoidance Motivation. https://personality-project.org/revelle/syllabi/301/301.anxiety.pdf

7. Thapar, A., Collishaw, S., Pine, D. S., Thapar A. K. (2012). Depression in adolescence. Lancet, 379, 1056-1067