1. The title of the textbook includes three primary sources of motivation. Explain the definition of each source, whether each of those sources is internal or external, and provide an example of each one as it relates to the motivation to exercise more in your life.
(FYI – have three separate paragraphs, one for each of the sources of motivation. Each paragraph should be concise and at most small-to-medium length).

2. Describe the nature of the Person x Situation concept, and provide an example of two ways in which they inter-relate.
(FYI – have three paragraphs. The first paragraph defines the Person x Situation concept. Then, pick two of the Six Ways that the Person x Situation interact, and have a separate paragraph for each one in which you provide an example of it. Each paragraph should be concise and at most small-to-medium length).

1)Different People respond differently to the same Situation
2)Different Situations prime different parts of the same Person
3)Situations choose the Person
4)Persons choose the Situations
5)Persons change the Situation
6)Situations change the Person

First, what is the Person x Situation?

The purpose of last week was to focus on the internal vs external nature of motivation, so I explained how there are only two aspects to motivation, such as everything you do arises from either an external source (earning a grade in a course) or an internal source (you want to feel positive about yourself by doing well in a course). We then engaged in that activity of pitting all your various goals against each other.

The external and internal distinction, though, is part of a larger conceptualization within the field. I explained the nature of the internal vs. external distinction within the context of something called the Person (internal) x Situation (external) concept, but today is when we start to understand that concept.

The textbook touches on this subject but it does so only briefly and spread throughout the book, so I wanted to provide a detailed and centralized explanation of this important concept.

For example, the reason this is so important is that it’s the highest level of analysis for understanding human nature, and thus has the most predictive power for understanding emotions and motivations. It’s the highest-level of analysis because there are only two aspects: internal and external. In terms of motivation, everything you do arises from either an external or internal source, as explained last week. In terms of emotions, the causes and consequences stem from either an external source (something in the environment like a quiz causing you stress) or an internal source (a personality trait like being easily worried or low self-esteem as the source of stress). In fact, those two aspects relate to all components of human nature (emotions, thoughts, motivations, behavior, biology, etc). The activity this week will explore that larger relationship.

The words “internal” and “external” though are not sufficient or fully explanatory. Within the literature we use the terminology “Person” to refer to everything inside of you, such as thoughts, feelings, motives, needs, personality, even your sense of self. The word “Situation” refers to the outside world, and everything outside of the self. There are many words for the “Situation”, such as external, extrinsic, incentives, stimulus, and environment.  All of them are referring to the same component, which is everything outside of yourself.

When the textbook uses any of those words for the aspects inside or outside of yourself, they are encompassed within this Person x Situation distinction. That distinction is the primary building block of human nature and the main explanatory model in social sciences