Alexithymia, Motivation, and Human Development: A Psychology Reference

Psychology:

Alexithymia

Alexithymia is a condition that consists of the inability to identify and describe one's own emotions and the difficulty in expressing them verbally.

In 1972, Sifneos coined the term alexithymia to designate the following characteristics:

• Difficulty identifying and describing feelings and emotions
• Difficulty distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations accompanying emotional activity
• Reduced symbolic thinking capacity
• Dreams and preoccupation with external events

Secondary characteristics of alexithymia

• A high degree of conformism, which can be confused with normal behavior, since the individual is rigid and follows conventional rules.
• Alexithymic people are well adapted and may appear normal on the surface, but their behavior is rigid and dependent on social conventions.
• Impulsivity, a secondary characteristic, referring to the tendency to externalize impulsive actions and conflicts without reflecting on the underlying emotions and relationships.
• A tendency to establish stereotyped interpersonal relationships, along with isolation and dependency.
• Poor capacity to observe and empathize in interpersonal relationships.
• Difficulty with introspection, which explains the problems of alexithymic individuals in inquiring about what they feel and think.
• The presence of physical sensations that are hard to characterize clearly, and the use of bodily malaise as an emotional signal.
• Low emotional reactivity and difficulty expressing individual emotional arousal, even in the face of emotionally moving situations.
• In the distribution by gender, alexithymia is found more frequently in men than in women.

Types

• Primary: predominantly biological in origin.
• Secondary: predominantly sociocultural in origin.

Motivation

Motivation is a set of factors that act to drive the capacity to cause and direct behavior toward maintaining an objective. For example, if the motivation is thirst, the objective is to drink water.

• Motivation is considered a driving force that pushes a person to act and to choose the most appropriate alternatives among those that present themselves in a given situation.
• Motivation is related to the behavior that is driven by it.

Impulse: an internal energy that urges action in order to satisfy a specific need.

• The more intense the impulse, the greater the drive for survival, to the point of dislocating life.
• Impulses are followed by the satisfaction of primary and secondary needs.

Motivation and Behavior

Three premises exist to explain the behavior of human nature:

• Behavior is caused.
• Behavior is reasoned.
• Behavior is goal-oriented.

Behavior is caused

Behavior exists because of an original internal or external cause that influences human behavior.

Behavior is motivated

Impulses, drives, or needs are the reasons behind behavioral tendencies.

Behavior is goal-oriented

Every behavior is given a cause and is directed toward some objective.

Motivational Cycle

To satisfy needs, a motivational cycle arises. Its stages are:

• Homeostasis: the body is in a state of momentary equilibrium.
• Stimulus: an external or internal stimulus generates a need.
• Need: the unsatisfied need leads to a state of tension.
• Drive: the tension produces a impulse that leads to behavior or action.
• Behavior: the individual acts to satisfy the need and reach the goal.
• Satisfaction: if the need is satisfied, the body returns to equilibrium, and another stimulus may appear later. Satisfaction throughout the cycle basically reduces tension and allows a return to the previous homeostatic state.

When needs are not satisfied within a reasonable time, certain reactions may occur, such as:

• Disorganization of behavior (apparent illogic without explanation)
• Aggressiveness (physical, verbal, etc.)
• Emotional reactions (anxiety, grief, nervousness, and other manifestations such as insomnia, circulatory and digestive problems)
• Alienation, apathy, and disinterest

Needs

• Needs are everything that determines human behavior at specific moments of life and that pose no major difficulty.
• A need is the thing whose absence the body notices.
• Each person's needs are shaped preferentially by psychosociological factors, their culture, their level of education, the environment, and so on.

Primary or physiological needs

• These arise from physiology and include hunger, thirst, breathing, temperature regulation, sleep, sex, and so on.
• They are essential for survival and for the preservation of the species.
• While these needs are universal, they vary from person to person and are conditioned by social practice.

Secondary or psychological needs

• These are represented by the needs of the mind and the spirit rather than the body. Examples include self-esteem, assertiveness, receiving affection, a sense of meaning, knowledge, and partnership.
• These needs vary in equal or greater degree than primary needs, depending on each person, time, and circumstance.
• These needs are conditioned by the experiences a person has. They vary in intensity, and subjects change over time.
• Although not always consciously recognized, they logically influence behavior and are more frequent within groups than in isolated individuals.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

The basic foundation of this hierarchy is that higher needs only occupy our attention once the lower needs have been satisfied.

Physiological needs

These maintain basic physiological homeostasis and relate to health. The most evident include breathing, drinking water, eating, maintaining body temperature balance, and resting and sleeping.

Safety and protection needs

These arise when physiological needs are reasonably satisfied. They include feeling safe in performing daily activities within certain limits, such as:

• Physical and health safety
• Employment safety, income, and resources
• Moral safety, family, and private property

Membership and affection needs

• These are related to the emotional development of the individual and include the needs for partnership, participation, and acceptance.
• They are satisfied through services and activities such as sports, recreational, and cultural activities.

Esteem needs

• Esteem needs are described at two levels: high and low.
• High esteem concerns respect for oneself and includes feelings of confidence, competence, mastery, achievement, and independence.
• Low esteem concerns respect from others and includes the needs for attention, appreciation, recognition, reputation, status, dignity, fame, glory, and even dominance.

Self-actualization

• This need is known by multiple names, including growth motivation, the need to be, and self-actualization.
• These needs sit at the top of the hierarchy. They are satisfied through the development of one's potential in an activity that gives meaning to life.
• This level is reached when the earlier levels have been reasonably satisfied.

Life Cycle

This section covers the life stages from adolescence onward.

It was once thought that little change occurred during this period. Today, studying these stages is important because of the increased life expectancy.

The life cycle is a progressive development seen as a sequence of stages from birth to death. According to Erikson, each stage presents new demands and crises that require new coping mechanisms and adaptation to the environment.

Each stage is more complex than the previous one. Once a crisis is successfully resolved, it leads to new possible developments.

Stages of development

1. Prenatal: from conception to birth. Rapid physical growth and the development of all body structures.
2. Neonatal: birth to 4 weeks. The baby adapts to life outside the womb and learns to breathe, regulate temperature, respond to pressure, and so on.
3. Infancy: up to 2 years. Rapid growth and the acquisition of psychomotor skills and basic cognitive abilities, leading to gradual independence.
4. Childhood:
   • a) Preschool (2 to 6 years): the symbolic function appears, with important changes in language, thought, socialization, emotions, and self-regulation.
   • b) School age (6 to 9 years): consolidation of socialization, physical development, and logical thinking.
   • c) Preadolescence (9 to 12 or 13 years): a transition stage in which the child becomes an adolescent, with organizational changes, hormonal changes, and growing interest outside the home.
5. Puberty and adolescence (13 to 20 years): preparation for adulthood, the search for identity, psychological maturity, the definition of values, and the development of self-concept, needs, and more.
6. Adulthood (20 to 65 years):
   • a) Young adult (20 to 30 or 35 years): a stage of consolidation around social, emotional, and vocational goals.
   • b) Middle adult (30 or 35 to 50 years): a productive stage in which the individual has stabilized, often including building a family and producing for society.
   • c) Late adult (50 to 65 years): a stage of accepting the inevitability of aging and reflecting on life.
7. Old age (65 years onward): confronting the end of life, with the decline of physical and social roles, retirement, and facing death.