MOTIVATIONAL SYSTEMS & PULLS

 

MOTIVATIONAL PULLS

Motivations refer to momentum, or a “pull” towards an action. There are two overarching core motivational systems that underlie our emotional responses and reflect and influence what is important to us and what we set out to do in our lives: safety and reward.

The Safety System

  • All of us have a safety system, it’s essential to our survival instinct, and involves protection from harm while increasing our sense of security. Learning to reliably detect and respond to cues that signal a clear and present danger is crucial for survival. However, equally important is learning to accurately detect and differentiate safety cues from actual threat, so that we do not expend valuable resources (e.g., time & energy) in attempts to escape from 'non-threats.’ The ability to consistently and effectively make this discrimination and respond accordingly represents this all-important function of the safety system. It is completely normal in the course of healthy lives to notice and respond to actual or perceived threats. When facing these types of real threats, emotions such as fear or anxiety signal a discrepancy between our actual and ideal pulls of safety motivation - we want to feel safe, but we don’t - and this leads us to appropriate action.  

  • Keep in mind that safety motivation captures different types of pulls, including:

    • Securing your environment (e.g., check that you locked the door)

    • Protecting yourself (e.g., change subway cars when a stranger is staring at you)

    • Preventing a negative outcome (e.g., study hard for an upcoming test to avoid failure)

    • Wanting to feel relief (e.g., ask a friend if they’ll let you know when they are home safe)

    • Reducing risk (e.g., only swim when there is a lifeguard on duty)

    • Freezing, sheltering, avoiding detection (e.g., not moving to avoid notice during an altercation between others) 

  • An example of acting on our safety motivation might be if we hear the economy is bad and feel scared and anxious, so we work longer hours to improve our standing at our job to prevent getting laid off.

The Reward System

  • The reward system reflects our desire to build our lives, to gratify ourselves, to be successful, to love and be loved, to make joy for ourselves and our loved ones. When following the pull of reward, we are concerned with creating advancement, accomplishment, fulfillment, and excitement. We may be “pulled” to learn a new skill, create new relationships, attend school, or apply for a new job. Simply stated, acting on our reward motivations is when we want to make good things happen. Rather than just survive, we aim to thrive. We look to find new things in our environment. We crave novelty - a new book to read, a new restaurant, a new idea, a new relationship. Interest and joy are also key emotions that signal the pull of reward. These emotions assist in mobilizing us towards new growth and expansion in our lives. When rewards are blocked or lost, emotions such as sadness or hopelessness signal a discrepancy between where we see ourselves and where we desire to be in a given moment. Over time, lost or blocked rewards may lead to feelings of disinterest or depression.

  • Keep in mind that reward motivation captures different instances of reward pulls, including:

    • Pull to enhance our lives (e.g., pick up a hobby)

    • Pull to promote ourselves, loved ones, or causes we care about

    • Pull to advance in our careers or relationships

    • Pull to engage in meaningful activities

    • Pull to gain a promotion

    • Pull to approach a new activity

  • An example of acting on our reward motivation might be if we see a posting for an interesting job with a higher salary and feel excited, so we apply for the job to advance our career. 

    When we feel an emotion, it signals to us that one or both of these motivations are important to the situation or concern. Yet, despite their strong pull, motivations are not destiny; they are not set in stone. If we see an interesting job posting, then get excited and notice we have a strong desire to apply, we do not automatically fill out an application just because it is there. In this example, we might hold back on taking actions that would bring us gratification because there is risk, such as an increasingly bad economy.

    Other times we set aside the sense of risk and danger because the potential payoff is worth the risk. We quit that “secure and boring job” to find a new, more exciting one; however, finding a new job involves interviews, possible rejection, learning new skills, and meeting new people. We can all relate to the confusion of having multiple emotions at once, and thinking about the two primary motivational pulls of safety and reward can be a helpful way to understand our complex emotional experiences. Emotions can signal safety motivations, reward motivations, or both!

    When we feel an emotion, it signals to us that one or both of these motivations are important to the situation or concern. Yet, despite their strong pull, motivations are not destiny; they are not set in stone. If we see an interesting job posting, then get excited and notice we have a strong desire to apply, we do not automatically fill out an application just because it is there. In this example, we might hold back on taking actions that would bring us gratification because there is risk, such as an increasingly bad economy.

    Other times we set aside the sense of risk and danger because the potential payoff is worth the risk. We quit that “secure and boring job” to find a new, more exciting one; however, finding a new job involves interviews, possible rejection, learning new skills, and meeting new people. We can all relate to the confusion of having multiple emotions at once, and thinking about the two primary motivational pulls of safety and reward can be a helpful way to understand our complex emotional experiences. Emotions can signal safety motivations, reward motivations, or both!

The Orchestra Metaphor

Knowing what motivations are being conveyed by emotions is difficult when some of our emotions are more intense than others, as they can overshadow other emotions and corresponding motivations. For this reason, it is important to listen carefully to all the various emotions that arise in a moment, like instruments in an orchestra.

An orchestra is made up of different instruments, each playing its own part, but when those parts are put together, they make up the whole composition. If we listen carefully, we can hear what each instrument is playing and can isolate the sound it makes. Likewise, when we pay attention to our emotions, we can notice which ones are present in a particular situation and what information each one is contributing. We can notice whether or not the composition - our emotional experience - is harmonious.

For instance, when we experience intense anxiety, we often get strong signals that we are being pulled towards wanting safety that can drown out other motivations. It’s like a tuba being played way too loudly and drowning out the other instruments. Or perhaps we get strong signals that we are being pulled towards wanting reward that drowns out all other motivations. This could be like the percussion section playing a drum beat that takes over the composition, so that no other instruments are heard.

Another problem can arise when we feel many emotions at once and have trouble gaining a sense of what motivations they are conveying.  It’s like a melody being performed by the orchestra that becomes disharmonious because too many instruments are playing independently, without attuning to each other. For instance, the tuba could play its own melody, while the percussion section drums to a completely different beat. In these instances, it becomes harder to tell what motivations we want to act upon. 

To see past disharmonious emotions, we need to listen carefully to all the various emotions that arise so that we can get a better sense of the motivational information they are conveying. 

MOTIVATIONAL “MODES”

There are four different “modes” of motivational imbalance that can lead to cycles of responding reactively through worry, rumination, and self-criticism: 1) safety-first, 2) low-reward, 3) high distress, and 4) reward overdrive. 

"Safety-First”

A “safety-first” mode causes virtually everything else in one’s life to take a back seat to protecting oneself. A very narrow focus only on possible dangers can keep us from becoming fully aware of all the information being conveyed by our emotions, particularly in regard to other motivations. For instance, when struggling with intense anxiety, safety-first mode overshadows our ability to attend to and follow pulls of reward. In some instances, we lose touch with reward motivations all together. In other instances, we notice a desire to enhance our lives, but the focus on safety overshadows our willingness to follow the pull of reward. Importantly, relief is not reward. We often feel relieved in the short-term after taking an action to seek safety, such as asking a friend for reassurance that you locked the door, but keep in mind that relief reflects a reduced pull towards safety and not the addition of something rewarding or meaningful. There are potentially great costs in adopting a safety-first approach to life.

 “Low Reward”

In a “low reward” mode, we may feel uninterested, disengaged, hopeless, or find things less pleasurable. It’s possible that we also may feel irritable and angry or frustrated. Or we may be extremely focused on something, or someone lost. In each of these instances, the absence of a reward pull is most salient. The discrepancy between the low reward pull we feel currently and how much we would want to feel pulled by reward produces conflict. In these times, we often take an “inside-out” approach—we wait for our mood to improve, an external situation to feel less depriving or more certain, for our emotions to subside, or for our motivations to move us in a particular direction. A significant problem with this approach is that the “situation” in question (i.e., re-engaging with work or social activities after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic) may not necessarily feel less depriving or become more certain. Human motivations are an important part of getting ourselves moving, and understandably, humans sometimes proclaim that they lack the motivation to get going. Strictly taking an inside-out approach and waiting to be moved or compelled to take action can result in a long delay in action, missed opportunities, and regret

 “High Distress”

A “high distress mode” occurs when a distressed individual experiences strong pulls in both safety and reward systems simultaneously. For instance, at times, we may feel both excited (i.e., reward system) and scared (i.e., safety system) by the prospect of starting a new romantic relationship with someone to whom we are attracted. In this context, there may be motivational conflict, being faced with a potentially rewarding yet potentially threatening situation. For instance, we may want to act upon a desire for a new romantic relationship by asking this person for a date. At the same time, we might feel scared of being rejected and start to dwell on all the things that could possibly go wrong. Despite wanting to be in a romantic relationship, the potential threat of being rejected can lead to freezing and inaction.

 “Reward Overdrive”

Finally, the “reward overdrive” mode involves an increased focus on attaining reward without attending to safety pulls, to the detriment of useful safety concerns. In distress, we may become very focused on an unexpected or highly desired reward and begin to lose perspective taking and self-control around engagement with that reward. And so, we can experience strong reward pulls that overshadow safety pulls, leading us to fixate on reward to have difficulties delaying our pursuit or attainment of reward. Emotional eating, excessive drinking or drug use, and risky sexual behaviors are often the result of reward overdrive mode.

CLARITY FOR COUNTERACTION

Clarity for counteraction involves noticing the arising of emotions, considering the information your emotions are conveying, and helping you determine the best course of action in the important moments of your life—without relying on reactive responding. When experiencing strong emotions or in the face of distress, gaining clarity for counteraction can help you respond COUNTERACTIVELY instead of REACTIVELY. 

To gain clarity for counteraction, one imagines engaging in actions that might even feel opposite to the emotions and pulls you feel in a moment. The Catch Yourself Reacting exercise is meant to help us do this in difficult moments.