PSYb1060 Psychology of emotion and motivation

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2026
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Lenka Štěpánková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Miroslav Šipula (lecturer)
Mgr. Pavla Palkovičová (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Lenka Štěpánková, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lenka Štěpánková, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Psychology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Mon 14:00–15:40 P51 Posluchárna V. Čermáka
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! PSY106 P. of emotion and motivation
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 18 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Abstract
The course is conceived as a basic introduction to psychology of emotion and motivation.

The lectures are focused on main concepts and theories.

Seminars are dedicated to practical examples, examples of typical research methods, research findings, and their applications, analysis of affective/motivational processes and their internal and external symptomps.
Learning outcomes
At the end of this course, student should be able to:

1. understand main concepts, concept relations, phenomena, theoretical approaches in the areas of emotion and motivation, mentioned below; to understand, differentiate and to use precisely the terminology in this part of general psychology.

2. describe phenomenology of emotions and motivation as well as the hidden mechanisms of human behavior; to identify the emotions as an important factor of many types of human behavior; to assess the role of external and internal sources of motivation while analyzing human behavior; to name an expertly substantiated spectrum of plausible motives of each type of behavior.

3. generalize from the particular ("real-life") experiences to psychological terms; to name number of specific examples of each term or phenomenon.
Key topics
  • • What´s en emotion? Functions of emotions, various theories of emotions (EG.: James-Lange; Ekman).
  • • Biology of emotions, evolutionary standpoint, cross-cultural study of emotions and facial expressions
  • • Regulation of emotions, emotions and cognition, emotions and performance.
  • • Motivation: terminology, basic concepts, theories of motivation.
  • • Self-regulation and procrastination.
  • • Motivation and performance, Yerkes-Dodson law, flow phenomenon, creativity and motivation, motivation for altruism and prosocial behavior.
Study resources and literature
    required literature
  • REEVE, Johnmarshall. Understanding motivation and emotion. Seventh edition. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Custom, 2018, xix, 540. ISBN 9781119510260. info
    recommended literature
  • Petri, H. L., & Govern, J. M. (2012). ). Motivation: Theory, research, and application. Cengage Learning.
  • Handbook of emotions. Edited by Lisa Feldman Barrett - Michael Lewis - Jeannette M. Haviland-Jones. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2008, xvi, 848. ISBN 9781609180447. info
    not specified
  • DAMASIO, Antonio R. Descartesův omyl : emoce, rozum a lidský mozek. Translated by Lucie Bankovská Motlová - Alžběta Hesová. Vydání první. Praha: Mladá fronta, 2000, 259 stran. ISBN 8020408444. info
Approaches, practices, and methods used in teaching
1. Lectures
2. Discussion questiones regarding the studies research articles

4. Study of literature
Method of verifying learning outcomes and course completion requirements
Student's work evaluation includes the evaluation of:

1. Class exercises participation and discussion (mendatory, no points)
2. An essay (no points)
3. Midterm exam (20 points)
4. Computer-based final exam (50 p.)

This is the main part of the course syllabus. The whole syllabus containing all the evaluation system details will be available (in Czech) in the Interactive syllabus within the Information System of MU.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
Interactive syllabus (in Czech): https://is.muni.cz/auth/el/fss/jaro2020/PSYb1060/index.qwarp?mode=edit
Teachers´ contacts:
r. Lenka Štěpánková, Ph.D., consultations on Tuesday at 10:00, room 2.47.
Mgr. Miroslav Šipula, Room 2.54, Office hours ideally upon email agreement.: miro@fss.muni.cz.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2027.
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