One Hundred Years of Empirical Aesthetics

This article reviews the history of empirical aesthetics since its foundation by Fechner in 1876 to Berlyne’s new empirical aesthetics in the 1970s. The authors explain why and how Fechner founded the field, and how Wundt and Müller’s students continued his work in the early 20th century. In the United States, empirical aesthetics flourished as part of American functional psychology at first, and later as part of behaviorists’ interest in reward value. The heyday of behaviorism was also a golden age for the development of all sorts of tests for artistic and aesthetic aptitudes. The authors end the article by covering the contributions of Gestalt psychology and Berlyne’s motivational theory to empirical aesthetics.

Defending the motivational theory of desire

In this paper I offer a defense of the motivational theory of desire. According to the motivational view, a desire is basically a disposition to bring about the desire’s content. First, I argue that two rival views on the nature of desire, the evaluative theory and the deontic theory, fall prey to the problem of the death of desire and that, when one tries to develop a plausible version of these theories which is able to overcome this problem, one ends up with a view that is not relevantly different from the evaluative view. Second, I respond to some objections to the claim that motivations are sufficient for desire, namely, the Radioman objection and the objection that some motivational states like intentions and habits are not desires.

One hundred years of Empirical Aesthetics: Fechner to Berlyne (1876 – 1976)

In this chapter, we review the history of Empirical Aesthetics since its foundation byFechner in 1876 to Berlyne’s New Empirical Aesthetics in the 1970s. We explain whyand how Fechner founded the field, and how Wundt and Müller’s students continued hiswork in the early 20th century. In the United States, Empirical Aesthetics flourished aspart of American functional psychology at first, and later as part of behaviorists’ interestin reward value. The heyday of behaviorism was also a golden age for the developmentof all sorts of tests for artistic and aesthetic aptitudes. We end the chapter covering thecontributions of Gestalt psychology and Berlyne’s motivational theory to EmpiricalAesthetics.

Satisfied or Frustrated? A Qualitative Analysis of Need Satisfying and Need Frustrating Experiences of Engaging With Digital Health Technology in Chronic Care

Introduction: Digital health technologies such as self-monitoring devices and apps are becoming increasingly important as tools to promote healthy habits and support individuals in their self-care. There is still a scarcity of research that builds on motivational theory to better understand the functioning of digital health technologies. The self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of motivation that delineates three basic psychological needs that are linked to different types of motivation and lead to well-being when satisfied and illbeing when frustrated.Objective: To explore how the use of a digital tool for self-monitoring and communication with healthcare satisfies or frustrates basic psychological needs across four spheres of user experience: interface, task, behavior, and life.Methods: The study was conducted in a Swedish primary care setting with individuals who participated in a pilot study of a digital health intervention for self-monitoring in chronic care management. Data from a follow-up survey with participants 7 months after recruitment were analyzed using a thematic approach mixing inductive and deductive analysis. The unit of analysis is based on a total of 642 individual answers to seven open-ended questions, from 121 respondents.Results: The analysis identified positive and negative influences of self-monitoring and digital communication with healthcare on all three psychological needs. Three main findings are that: (1) data covered all four spheres of user experiences, but most user experiences concerned the behavior and task spheres; (2) satisfaction and frustration of competence needs was more prominent than influences on other needs; (3) the same experience may be perceived as both need frustrating and need satisfying, which suggests a tension that reflects individual differences.Conclusion: Designers of digital health technologies need to take into account basic psychological needs within all spheres of user experience, from interface to life in general. Because some features may be simultaneously experienced as satisfying and frustrating by different users, these types of tools need to be flexible to accommodate for variation of user experiences. Careful design considerations that take motivational theory into account would contribute to the transformation of care for individuals with chronic conditions.

Following the Drum

This chapter provides an overview of motivational theory from adult education, psychology and educational psychology, spanning nearly 60 years. The first half of the chapter focuses on the motivational theories in terms of their developmental genesis, while later sections examine the relationship between motivation and learning resistance and engagement. Final sections suggest conclusions regarding the importance of studying learning resistance as a construct over and beyond motivational theory and position learning resistance scholarship as a learner-centered, positive approach to adult learning.

A motivational theory perspective on entrepreneurial intentions: a gender comparative study

Purpose This study aims to analyze individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions from the perspective of motivational theory and examines the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on entrepreneurial intentions of male and female individuals. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from students graduating from Pakistan’s largest university. A structural equation modeling technique was used for model testing. Findings Intrinsic factors such as intrinsic interest and community feeling aspiration and extrinsic factors such as perceived relative income and occupational prestige positively affect attitudes and, in turn, stimulate entrepreneurial intentions. Further, as intrinsic interest and perceived relative income scored higher among men, gender moderates those effects. Conversely, the entrepreneurial attitudes of women were primarily driven by community feeling aspiration. Notably, the positive effect of occupational prestige did not vary among men and women. Originality/value This paper explores the roles of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the entrepreneurial intentions of men and women. The integration of motivational theory with gender provides insights into the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in South Asia.

Teori Motivasi Mcclelland dan Implikasinya dalam Pembelajaran PAI

The issue of learning achievement for students needs to be an important discussion because it can affect the education of a nation. Among the causes of low student achievement is motivation. All parties involved in education should contribute to solving the problem. This article aims to explore McClelland's motivational theory and actualize it in Islamic education (PAI) learning. The approach used is a qualitative approach by conducting literature studies or library research in accordance with the theme of the main topic. The analysis used is discourse analysis to examine the value or message contained in a text, especially about McClelland's achievement motivation theory and PAI learning. The results of this study indicate that PAI learning should contain McClelland's motivation regarding achievement motivation, power motivation, and affiliation motivation to support the interests of students. This is also supported by the argument from the Qur'an and the Hadith.