Arousal Theory of motivation - IAS psychology notes download

Hope you have read the earlier theory of motivation, the drive theory of motivation. If not go through it before continuing here. 

The Clark Hull's drive reduction theory described earlier is reduction of tension when a behaviour is completed. 
You feel hungry > drive to eat food> ate food> drive reduced (with time hunger/drive comes again, behavior repeated. 

The issues in describing certain behaviors like sexual motivation etc gave rise to the Arousal theory of motivation. The important factor of the theory is that arousal needs to be optimum for an activity. One of the very often shown picture is that of a smiling gentleman skydiving. What on the world motivates him to do it?. 

I remember the behavior of a college batch mate of mine, i call him genius ray as he can pass any exam after studying just 3 hours. The hard workers study endlessly and he completes the same task in exactly 2 to 4 hourrs. Once i asked, Dude why you wait till morning 7:00 to start reading for exam at 10:00. His answer was simple, its boring to read before. His level of arousal to read for an exam comes just few hours before the exam. 

source:www.verywell.com

Arousal theory of motivation: This theory suggests that human beings need an optimal level of arousal for a behavior.

An aspirant may read psychology at a different level of arousal and GS at another level of arousal. The behavior (to read a subject) various with the level of arousal in him/her. (Variation in arousal regarding activity). The ability to read depends on the level of arousal. In case, you didn’t have a meal or you had a tiring day, then the arousal level may be low. The time spend in reading may go in vain. You may sit with book but the reading might be slow. This is a situation where the arousal is low. Hence, you may need good rest or sleep to bring back arousal to optimum level so that you can read psychology and clear UPSC!(optimum level of arousal needed for an activity)

What I have put as arousal-performance relation is known by a cute name “Yerkes-Dodson law”. This law describes the arousal-behavior curve.  Eg: You have studied everything for psychology exam and tomorrow is psychology exam, the performance (motivation to write) vary with level of arousal. If you are too excited or too low (two sides of arousal – low and high), the performance might go down. This is why it’s often asked to take deep breath and take a break before exam. Too much last minute reference etc may push the arousal high and hamper, similarly too much coolness can also spoil the outcome.

To submit the law as is: Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that level of arousal beyond which performance begins to decline is a function of task difficulty.

The issue with the theory is describing and measuring the optimal arousal. The arousal of a person may be different from another. How to measure? How to find the optimal arousal for a particular activity?

The arousal theory considers the individual differences in motivation, differences in motivation with respect to activity. It also can explain the difference in motivation during various times of a day.

In all the theories of motivation, think of situation where it can be applied. An original example cited by you would be of much use than a copy paste from a book. Also keep in mind it will be often asked along with Clark Hull's drive reduction theory. Don't be bogged down by these hard names - Clark Hull or Yerkes Dodson, keep your arousal optimum. 

Best-

Goods Services Tax India

GST – It is a type of value added tax, which will replace the indirect taxes levied on goods and services.

Value added tax is a multi-stage tax, here tax is levied at each stage of value addition. Eg: - When wood is converted to paper, there is value addition. Similarly when this paper is converted to a greeting card, there is value addition. In VAT, the tax will be levied only to the value added at each stage.

source:www.kinibiz.com

Why GST?

India presently has multitude of indirect taxes. This creates confusion, tax evasion and inefficiency. To reform the present system to create a unified tax collection, GST is being introduced.

GST will :

• ·         Simplify the tax structure (the multitude of the indirect taxes will be abolished after GST)
• ·         Broaden tax base and rationalise tax collection.
• ·         To create a common tax base across states. (States and centre will implement GST)
• ·         Increase growth by increasing export and import

What is objection regarding GST?

States fear loss of revenue and fiscal autonomy.

Solution: Compensation formula after consultation with states.

Geography as civil service exam optional

Geography is a very popular optional in civil service exams. The benefits of geo are

It’s simple – land, water, plants, animals, air – aren’t we familiar will these terms?. Almost all jargons in the geo are easy. There are no tongue twisters.

The boundaries are defined. By learning a defined number of books, we can manage the subject. Even “out of syllabus” type questions can be managed. This is in contrast to subjects like psychology where only god knows where they ask the questions from?

The geo is cool subject. It helps in gen studies paper also.

There are some wonderful well written books in this subject. Majid Hussain deserves a good applause for writing books in lucid style.

There is hope for application of “theory of gasification” in this subject to some extent.

The effective presentation of geo answers can be made easily through diagrams.In case you are averse to drawing even a doodle, then geo may not work for you. In case 2D orientation (maps, diagrams) isn’t your area, then too geo won’t be a good idea for you. (There are some people who even if they try day and night won’t be able to get the 2d view. Dont worry, one of my friends who have such a problem is now working as a sugeon!).

Mr Abhiram Shanker has given a complete list of methods in his writing. Read it here (From website indianofficer). To add anything to it will be grave injustice to the subject. 

How to start studying for civil service exams?

After hearing all about the civil services, a question remains in the mind of aspirants. How to study for civil services?. The long list of books and magazines are not useful for a humble beginner. I would elucidate some steps which might be of help

Step1 : First see the syllabus. Dont panic and don’t worry. Just see it as you are watching a art film. Do not be excited or desperate seeing the jargons. It is to make you aware of what is actually civil services.

Step2: Start reading newspaper. The newspaper is something in which the happenings of past things occur. For the ultimate newbie, start with the headlines. At first even headlines can be heavy. Just see it. You don’t need to read all headlines. Start reading national, international headlines. Don’t read all the local politics, or the fashion page; the upsc isn’t interested in knowing if bebo is size zero or johny has 6 packs.

Step3: Start with ncert books. The ncert publishes books which are easy to read and these books do not cause indigestion even for the ultimate newbie. Start with the ncert books of geography, civics, etc from standard of ninth. If the single letter class text make you feel silly, then go for the tenth standard books.

The above three steps are the first steps for creating a big stairway. When an aspirant asks – how do i start – the answer is slowly. Start slowly, start with headlines (national, international headlines), ncert books, and seeing syllabus (without fear).

Many aspirants keep on asking, how to start a thousand times. Instead of keeping on asking, go and start. See if its for you. If its not, there is nothing to be worried. There are unlimited number of jobs and options in life. Don’t start with dialogues like , “ i will do this or die”. Those are for loosers. Start with “ I would try this, see if it suits me; else bye bye”.

If you have found the toddler steps 1, 2 ,3 interesting then you have passed the KG section in UPSC. Game abhi bhi baaki hai dosth.

Now you can move on to the next step. Which i will cover in another post.2

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