Understanding Psychology

Chapter 12: Motivation and Emotion

Student Web Activites

"Four Three-Legged Racers"

Introduction
Imagine you are at your annual family reunion and everyone has spent hours eating and visiting. Now it is time to start some games! As family team captain, it's your responsibility to inspire your team to win the three-legged race. Your father, who is super competitive, should not need any encouragement, but your younger brother is tired and cranky. It's your thirteen-year-old step-sister's first time at the reunion, and she's afraid she'll be embarrassed. What can you do to motivate your team members to secure a win for the family? Luckily, you remember the discussion about motivation in your psychology class and the information you found at the Motivation Web site.

Web sites
Motivation
Review the definition, importance, and theories of motivation at this Web site.

Motivation Tools
You can do anything if you really want to. Browse the elements of motivation at this Web site and see what new ideas you can come up with to motivate yourself to do something you've always wanted to do!

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Activity
On a separate sheet of paper, make a chart with three columns and label the columns "motivating factor" and "intrinsic/extrinsic" and "action." For each person, including yourself, describe the factor that best describes the motivation of each team member, whether the motivation is intrinsic or extrinsic, and what action you could introduce to secure a win for the family.